Originally erected in the 1970s, the office building houses the administration of the 'Innung der Bauunternehmer', the guild of building contractors. It was designed by the renowned firm Ackermann Architekten BDA to complement the historic villa structure that shaped the Esperanto-Square, which is the main entrance to the 'Theresienwiese' where the yearly Oktoberfest takes place. The technical condition of the facade and the building services required substantial refurbishment. Since the client could not come to an agreement with the original architect, he decided to organise a competition for the complete redesign of the outside of the building.

Our winning proposal changes the facades completely in order to assimilate the building more fully into its historic context. To achieve this, we drastically reduced the percentage of openings while maintaining the rhythm and alignment of the functional office building, thereby creating a sculpturally contorted rhombic facade.

We worked with Rieder-Beton, a pioneer in fibre-cement, to realize the precast concrete parts of the façade, which were conceived as a lightweight construction to be directly fixed to the existing structure. The interior of the building was cleaned out and the building service systems were completely renewed. During this process the attic floors had to be kept intact and inhabitable. The building now complies with the newest technical and energy standards.

The entire structural skeleton of the building and some parts of the original design, such as the staircase, were preserved and reused. The layout of the office spaces follows the original concept, however, wide openings have been added where the interior corridors meet the facade. The subterranean entrance area was redefined as one big space, to be freely transformed into different set-ups through the use of specially designed multi-layered curtains.


Bavariaring on Baunetz