ADAC Headquarters by Sauerbruch Hutton Architects

ADAC Headquarters by Sauerbruch Hutton Architects
The design for the new ADAC Headquarters was generated with three objectives in mind: firstly, its building volume reacts to the varied nature of the site – with a heterogeneous street on one side and train tracks on the other; secondly it enables an economical internal structure which allows for easy orientation and a high degree of flexibility; and thirdly the building will give Germany's largest Automobile Association an unmistakeable brand image.

The headquarter's five storey socle responds to the space of the street and frames a neighbouring building under conservation order, whilst internally it creates a dynamic courtyard.

The articulation of its 'patchwork' fa�ade suggests a unified structure of great variety, appropriate for this club of many individuals.

The sixteen storey high-rise tower, making the new complex very visible in the wider context, has been placed beside the S-Bahn tracks, so that it neither casts shadows onto the courtyard or neighbouring buildings nor does it dominate Hansasstrasse.

Instead the tower punctuates the fast space of the tracks, creating an identifiable location for the existing transport interchange.