Last year, Archi.ru wrote about the commissioning of the first stage of the development of the new quarter Europaallee, located behind the Central Station of the city. The UBS office complex, named Europaallee 21, is the next stage in the development of the block, the so-called S.
In the case of the first "construction site", Max Dudler was responsible for all the buildings. This time we see the result of his close collaboration with two other architectural firms - David Chipperfield (Haus Freischützgasse) and Gigon / Guyer (Haus Lagerstrasse). However, Dudler prevails here too: he designed two buildings for UBS, Haus Europaallee and Haus Eisgasse.
It is important to note that in the competition for the Europaallee 21 project, Dudler won first place and could take it alone, but convinced the customers to involve colleagues who had shared the second prize in the design.
Four buildings are united by a common spacious courtyard, which can be accessed from the four streets surrounding the complex, mentioned in the names of the buildings. These buildings are connected by overhead passages that allow you to go around the complex in a circle without going outside. Also, these passages form "arches" leading to the courtyard.
The "harsh style" of the quarter, which manifested itself already in the development of the first stage, is supported here as well. Nevertheless, the buildings differ from each other in appearance, although they are united by the relationship between the basement floors and the rest of the facade: in all of them, the first tier received a different rhythm than the upper floors.
In the 8-storey building of Haus Freischützgasse by Chipperfield, the wall panels are positioned at an angle to the façade, with their slope on different floors directed in opposite directions. Due to this technique, a game of openness and closeness, heaviness and lightness is created when changing lighting during the day.
The Lagerstrasse Haus office, built by Gigon / Guyer, has a two-layer façade: the inside is made of glass and metal panels, and the outer shell is made of solid glazing with inserts of shiny metallised fabric. In addition, the shell panels are placed at an angle to each other, which makes it flicker in any light. This building is perhaps the least similar to the neighboring buildings.
Both of Max Dudler's buildings look harsher than the work of his colleagues, although such a ponderousness is his "corporate style": "The bureau is true to itself here, since this is our identity," the architect emphasized in an interview.
The final completion of the Europaallee quarter is scheduled for 2020. It will include 6,000 jobs, 2,500 classrooms, 300 apartments, a hotel, shops, restaurants and other leisure facilities.
