Zukunftszentrum Herten

The Zukunftszentrum was developed on the basis of a competition held within the framework of the Internationale Bauausstellung (construction exhibition; IBA) Emscher Park won by the architects Kramm and Strigl in 1992. The building is right on the northern edge of the city centre and was planned in conjunction with Technologiepark Herten.
The complex consists of three parts: The machine shed, the office building with its glassed-in entrance hall and greenhouse and the lab building. The Zentrum was built on the 6.5ha large area of the former Hese machine factory. The architecture combines new and old. The old trussed Hese machine shed from the 1920s was converted and completed by a new building.
The building has the following design: three-storey reinforced-concrete-frame office building, concrete block shell, glass-steel curtain wall, green roof, glass roof (greenhouse). On the slightly inclined south facade at the main entrance we find a solar power system. The new building’s distance from the machine shed made for access and installation space and a view of the shedl from the labs. The office is separate from the lab building and a pedestrian traverse in the pipeline. In the shed from the 1920s, lab boxes were put in.
The idea was a sunrise technology centre that deals with such technologies both architecturally and in terms of contents and integrates them in the building in order to come up with a very ecological and sustainable building. The target group were innovative businessmen and women and start-ups from the microbiology, recycling and disposal technology sector.

Author: Stadt Herten
Last changed on 21.04.2008

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Architecture » Commercial Buildings » Technical
Architecture » Commercial Buildings » Offices