Office building unIQus in Bad Homburg finished

02.04.2020
Photo: Pielok Marquardt Architecture by Canzler, Thomas Ott

Pielok Marquardt Architecture by CANZLER planned the unIQus building in Bad Homburg on behalf of OFB Projekt­entwicklung. On the 3,400 square metre site in Horexstraße, a conversion area of the former cargo railway station in Bad Homburg, a U-shaped office building with a rental area of 7,700 square metres was initially constructed until 2017. Now, an L-shaped extension with 4,700 square meters of rental space completes the office building to form a horizontal "E", which simultaneously created a second courtyard at the rear of the building.

Besides an economical, flexible and sustainable building concept, Pielok Marquardt Architecture by CANZLER designed the two-part office ensemble unIQus with clear geometric cubatures. Both parts of the building have four full floors and one staggered floor. The ground floor, which opens to the street, is set back; in addition, three portals mark the entrances to the building. In addition to the foyers, there are conference and office rooms and the cafeteria. The upper floors can be divided up variably: In the first section, up to four rental areas are possible, in the second section two; these can be designed as individual, group or open-plan offices. In addition, the first and second upper floors as well as the staggered floor have roof terraces in front of them.

"We have designed the building very flexibly for different user requirements", explains the responsible project architect Michael Maas of Pielok Marquardt Architecture by CANZLER. If required, the rental areas on the first and second floor in both parts of the building can be combined to a large area of approx. 3,200 square metres on one level. In the meantime the LEED certification GOLD, which was aimed for at the beginning of the planning, has been achieved, which underlines the sustainability.

 

Facade as a prominent eye-catcher

The architects designed the champagne-coloured facade not only as a special eye-catcher, but also as a connecting element. "The clear geometry is overlaid by the abstract facade designed in the sense of a barcode and thus seems to be in motion," says Maas. This effect is further enhanced by the fact that the window frames are concealed and only glass and aluminium surfaces are visible to the viewer, with the window openings appearing to be punched. "The offset of the facade creates a plasticity which provides an extraordinary and diversified appearance with a high recognition value", Hans-Martin Marquardt, one of the managing directors of CANZLER GmbH responsible for the architectural brand Pielok Marquardt, explains the elaborate facade construction.

After Fresenius has rented space in the first building since 2017, the global health care group moved into the second building from unIQus after completion at the end of 2019. Around 250 office workplaces were created there.

 

Further information www.pielokmarquardt.de