Description

At Wolfsburg’s “Nordkopf”, at the end of the main axis of the Porschestraße, next to the Phaeno Science Centre, a small high-rise building rises from the edge of the urban block and forms the final piece of a long process of urbanisation at the north entrance to the city. The basis for the entire urban arrangement is the masterplan drawn up in 1938 by the city planner Peter Koller for the National Socialist model city on a site opposite the Volkswagen factory, which is on the other side of the Mittelland canal. The axial sight line between Klieversberg – the southern entrance to the city, marked since 1973 by Hans Scharoun’s theatre – and the castle on the other side of the canal has since become known as the “Koller axis” and is sacrosanct. At the Nordkopf, the axis breaks down into a system of intersecting building lines and regulated eaves lines to which all new buildings must adhere.

The “Nordkopf Tower” was built in 2017 within this corset-like framework and significantly extends an existing building from 1962. Built as the headquarters of the municipal utility company and the energy provider LSW, it unusually incorporates a large data centre and fibre-optic node for the entire city’s broadband connection. Such facilities, which require emergency fallback systems and dedicated fire safety facilities, are usually built out of town on open greenfield sites.

The volume of the building has been perfectly inserted into the system of building heights and street lines. It comprises a ten-storey tower that lends it its name, a four-storey linear block and to the rear of the site a parking deck that connects directly to the office floors via air locks. A small extension connects to the old building, which was gutted and is now incorporated into the ensemble as the staff cafeteria and additional rental offices.

From an organisational point of view, the building makes no attempt to innovate with “work environments of tomorrow” or zones for power napping or constant communication. Via a two-storey entrance hall with consultation areas for meeting with clients, one reaches office levels with traditional office cells for two to eight employees plus one or two open meeting points per floor for when the staff need some fresh air and orientation. The only space in the entire building that seems surplus to requirements is the large roof loggia along almost the entire west flank of the tower. In terms of its presence in the urban realm, it is similarly unspectacular: as an architectural statement for a company headquarters it is a piece of remarkable understatement.

Originally published in Bauwelt 14.2018, pp.46-51, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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