Description
Changing spatial requirements of two research institutes necessitated a comprehensive and fundamental redevelopment of the existing campus. The some decades old 7 ha campus is situated north of Tübingen’s town centre and borders onto residential areas in the south and southwest, a public green space to the northeast (where building is prohibited since it serves as an aisle for fresh air for the town situated in a valley) and the University Observatory and a business park to the west.
The new spatial requirements resulted from current scientific developments at the Max Planck Institutes for Developmental Biology and Biological Cybernetics. Both institutes are extended; an already closed institute and existing buildings of both institutes, which are no longer useful for technical and operational reasons, will be demolished subsequently to open up new opportunities for future development. This may include additional extensions or the construction of further scientific facilities. The creation of such opportunities to promote the formation of scientific clusters and centres of excellence was an essential aspect of the urban redevelopment concept.
The new master plan was derived from the particular topography of the site sloping towards the south as well as the system of paths and the existing buildings. It proposes volumes positioned alternately parallel (existing buildings) and perpendicular (new buildings) to the slope. This creates a well-proportioned sequence of interspaces between the buildings and makes the contours of the slope readable.
The urban design concept is also reflected by the terraces inside the central entrance hall of the Institute for Developmental Biology. The hall is the major circulation axis connecting different areas within the building and also forming a link to the business park to the west. The Institute for Biological Cybernetics receives two extensions: a laboratory building with a separate technical area for three magnetic resonance scanners and a test hall with large equipment for the simulation of ”virtual reality”.
The framed reinforced concrete structures have post-and-beam façades with a secondary structure of horizontal timber slats in front. The use of untreated timber and exposed concrete refers to the extensive research field of Life Sciences and the sloped and almost rural context of the campus.
Drawings
Site plan
Schematic sketch of building
Second floor
North elevation
Photos
The new campus is embedded harmoniously in its sourroundings
Model photograph showing characteristic wooden louvre structure
Originally published in: Hardo Braun, Dieter Grömling, Research and Technology Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2005.