Description

People who develop Alzheimer’s retain their colour memory longest. Accordingly, colour plays a prominent role at the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). Green and orange tones, in the form of light-deflecting coloured glass lamella, define the elevations of this building and bed it into the surrounding open woodland of pine and oak trees. In Germany, more than 1.5 million people currently suffer from dementia, with a further 300,000 new cases arising every year. Alongside cancer and diabetes, dementia is therefore one of the six most widespread diseases in Germany. The sheer number of patients with neurodegenerative diseases makes research into the causes and the search for new therapies a politically and socially relevant task. In response to this, the German government founded the DZNE in 2009, which now has nine locations.

The DZNE in Bonn consists of three buildings and is situated in the grounds of the University Hospital on the Venusberg on the outskirts of the city. The first of the three is the entrance building with clinic and administration, with the laboratories in the central building and the Preclinical Institute in the third. The three slightly-rounded building volumes give the impression of having been scattered like randomly thrown pebbles between the tall pine trees, touching each other at a single point where a cylindrical circulation element acts as a notional hinge and connector while simultaneously bridging the height differences of the site. The varying coloured panels of the building façades respond to each other without compromising the symmetry of the individual buildings.

The impression of movement created by the rounded forms is, however, only illusory – or at least partially: the 2403 glass lamellae, printed with different colours turn individually in response to the position of the sun. Each lamella comprises two parallel panes of glass bonded together to form laminated safety glass: one is fritted with a fine pattern of dots – black overprinted with a colour – while the other has a protective sun-reflective coating. The fine dot screen acts as a light filter while the black inner dot prevents coloured reflections in the workplaces in the interior. The computer-controlled lamellae swivel automatically to make optimum use of daylight at all times of the day and year. The energy concept is likewise sustainable and minimises the consumption of resources through the use of geothermal energy and a combined heat and power unit for generating heat and electricity.

Visitors and staff enter the DZNE via a bright, spacious atrium that extends along the transverse axis of the entrance building. The amount of space dedicated to the moment of entry is surprisingly generous: one has a sense of being in contact with the outside world after having only just entered. Everything else recedes into the background, with only black and white colours, unobtrusive forms, direct pathways and a stair in the centre.

On the ground floor, to the right of the entrance is the cafeteria and to the left a lecture hall with 300 seats. To gain sufficient height, the hall is burrowed into the ground, descending towards the stage, with an additional sense of height created by the shallow dome-like openings embedded in the ceiling between the structural beams. These not only serve as sound absorbers but also conceal technical equipment. The wood fittings, floor and auditorium seating, as elsewhere throughout the centre, add a warm, natural feel to the otherwise neutral interiors. On the upper three floors are the offices of the approximately 100 employees and the board of directors, as well as a small number of patient rooms used by the clinical research unit. A tunnel at the lower ground level connects the DZNE with the neighbouring Centre for Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychosomatics, allowing patients to reach the MRI examination rooms in the new building. The remainder of the two below grade levels houses the majority of the centre’s building services so that the roofs can remain free.

The central building, the largest of the three parts, contains four floors of laboratories divided by an off-centre axis into biomedical research labs on the left and research group leaders’ offices on the right. Each floor has four laboratory units, each 400 m², in two groups of two with a corridor between them that leads on to the Preclinical Institute. The laboratories are up to 17 metres deep. The internal arrangement of the individual areas, many of them equipped with state-of-the-art technology, follows the respective requirements of the working conditions but is sufficiently flexible to allow the individual working groups to subdivide according to their needs. In most cases, computer workstations are located close to the windows, while technical equipment is concentrated in the interior of the building where the safety regulations are also stricter. In all areas, a view through the coloured lamellae onto the surrounding woodland is not far away. As research is conducted not just in the labs but also in more informal surroundings, such as the kitchenette or corridors, the buildings provide numerous opportunities for interaction between the 400 scientists. The cylindrical connectors between the three buildings – the so-called transfer zones – include comfortable blue niches with benches as a welcome retreat from the workplaces.

The final link in the chain is the Preclinical Institute, which docks onto the eastern flank of the research building. The hygienic standards and safety requirements are particularly strict, and this building is therefore not open to the public. From the outside, however, all the buildings have been given the same treatment and the articulation of the façade avoids all indication of hierarchy. The glazed ground floor with its anthracite-coloured aluminium profiles forms the base of the building and affords views in and out of the building on all sides. Rooms that require more discretion are located on the wood-ward side of the building. The few non-glazed panels, behind which technical installations lie, have been given the same anthracite colour. Above the base level, all the upper floors are clad with rows of floor-to-ceiling glass lamellae.

Colour is also used to provide orientation within the building. The wayfinding system, developed by Andreas Uebele, assigns each building a specific shade of blue, violet or green – which takes the form of brushstrokes magnified to 400% – spray-painted onto the walls of the respective atria and corridors. These large and vigorous dashes of colour have been applied with almost uncanny realism by the artist Harald F. Müller. As one of the first indications of the onset of Alzheimer’s is a change in one’s handwriting, Uebele elected to write all the inscriptions by hand on the walls with a brush.

Originally published in Bauwelt 12.2017, pp. 28-37, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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