Description

250 scholars, natural and social scientists – mainly molecular biologists, zoologists, psychologists, and linguists – work together in this institute. Cooperating in a unique way, anthropological research is pursued through the analysis of genes, cultures, cognitive abilities, languages, and social systems of human populations and groups of primates closely related to man.

In the new building, three research divisions with a high degree of mechanical services are separated from three study and office divisions that do not require more than average services. The formation of functional units – comparable zones were put together and stacked above each other – enables an economic operation of the complex.

The institute’s site is dominated by Deutscher Platz, a square important on an urban scale. This public green space marks the entrance to the old trade fair site and is situated exactly on the axis between the New Town Hall in the historical centre and the Völkerschlacht Memorial on the eastern outskirts of Leipzig. A dense row of trees underlines the oval shape. The design of the institute directly relates to this context: to the German Library in the northeast that traces the oval square and to a U-shaped institute building located in the southwest opposite a major thoroughfare.

A curved six-storey volume, containing very diverse functions like laboratories, offices, technical spaces, and apartments faces Deutscher Platz. A three-storey building with reduced ceiling height and a central corridor that accommodates theoretical study rooms was placed facing Zwickauer Straße.

The size and shape of the entrance hall that can be accessed directly from the main entrance at Deutscher Platz was consistently derived from the depth of the site and the geometry of the context. This space is dominated by a freely positioned auditorium raised on stilts, by the slender structure of a ramp system bridging the various levels, and by the views of the water pond in the courtyard. The hall is the building’s circulation hub and can be used for multi-functional events or exhibitions on the ground floor.

While the laboratory façade and the crowning residential floor are fully glazed towards Deutscher Platz, the offices received a ventilated aluminium cladding structured by windows. The casement windows of the stucco façades facing the thoroughfare to the southwest received additional glazing for sound protection.

---

Originally published in: Hardo Braun, Dieter Grömling, Research and Technology Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2005.