Projects

The wide, airy hall beneath the honeycomb-shaped, unclad concrete elements recalls the grand entrance halls of 1960s airports. Why shouldn't Swabian workers enjoy a touch of cosmopolitan flair with their midday meal? Outwardly, the polygonal pavilion is striking for its cantilevered roof. There are certainly echoes of Mies van der Rohe here: once again, only the best associations.

A building with two faces: a metallic, glassy, cold exterior and an airy, open interior lent solidity by the wood panelling. But the buildings in Ditzingen (including the restaurant) are far removed from the pseudo-baroque of lounge culture: the dominant quality here is hard-edged, cubic succinctness, and the fine-grained, unclad concrete underlines the Protestant rigour that stands behind Trumpf's business ethos to this day, having long since made the company a legend in Germany.

When Bruno Taut built himself a white wedge in the east of Berlin, his colleague Hans Poelzig teased him, 'If you build another one of those, you'll have a whole house!' Obliged to adapt to local conditions, Barkow Leibinger came up with an entirely new interpretation by way of a zinc roof and strikingly staggered windows. On a surface of 100 m² the building unfolds as an expressive crystal.

Thanks to Trumpf – who commissioned this project, too – Barkow Leibinger crossed the border into Switzerland. The use of materials and the almost playful form (folded facades, protruding mullions and transoms) make this complex one of the firm's most multi-faceted.