EZ Campus

The structural expansion of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Berlin is planned between the Topography of Terror museum, the Martin-Gropius-Bau and Anhalter Strasse. The aim of the competition was not to determine the architectural design of the future building ensemble, but rather to develop an attractive urban development concept for the entire site.

HENN's design adds two structures to the existing Europahaus and Deutschlandhaus buildings. The arrangement and heights of the planned duo is based on the existing buildings, which together form a separate campus. New visual axes and visual relationships are created that respond to the local historic environment. The block's existing spacious green spaces are to be acknowledged and preserved.

The new buildings, with square floor-plans of five and eleven stories respectively, are planned with sturdy columns on the ground floor, which give the structures a structurally and visually secure base. The common areas, such as exhibition areas and library, are located here on ground level. The offices above are each arranged in a ring around an open inner courtyard so that they can be lit by daylight from two sides. Both structures are connected with each other via an access bridge on the 1st floor and the cross struts of the bridge construction are continued throughout the entire floor to visually emphasise it as a communication level.

The key design idea is to create a new urban communication space that reverses the current relationship between public and non-public space, transforming the area between the buildings into a publicly accessible passageway. This underlines the relevant connection of the new campus with the urban structure.