New working environments
A well-rounded affair: collaboration is being reimagined at the Datev eG office building in Nuremberg
New working environments
- Programme
Office building for 2,500 employees of the software and IT service provider DATEV based on the principles of activity-based working, including 1,475 flexibly usable workstations in open office zones, informal work areas, co-working, conference, event and exhibition spaces, learning environments, sales, catering and a fitness centre
- Size
71.624m² GFA
- Status
Invited competition, 2019
- Place
Proeslerstraße 1, 90431 Nürnberg (DE)
A confident solitary building on the outskirts of Nuremberg: the new Datev eG office building remains in the memory as a striking logo.
Activity-based working
Your office is where you are: activity-based working, an office concept developed in the early 1970s, remains as relevant today as it was five decades ago. The idea of abandoning fixed workstations in favour of open, flexible working environments not only meets the demand for greater flexibility, but also for more community spirit in everyday working life. When there is a daily renegotiation of who uses which workstations, and when managers sit alongside employees, this promotes social interaction.
Organisational chart
Based on the concept of activity-based working, Datev eG, one of Germany's largest software and IT service providers, has used a virtually ideal, fractal-like organisational chart as the basis for the construction of a new office building for 2,500 employees in Nuremberg: A multifunctional centre (mega hub) connects to five sub-centres (midi hubs), which in turn lead to five sub-sub-centres (hubs), which form the communal areas of the actual workplaces (home zones). While the home zones have classic, flexibly usable workplaces and meeting rooms, the hubs, midi hubs and mega hub offer informal work opportunities and meeting situations.
Gebäudegliederung
Site plan
Solitaire
Based on this organisational diagram, a solitaire is proposed that provides a confident response to both the complexity of the internal organisation and the urban planning situation on the outskirts of Nuremberg. Its simple yet generous basic form – a circle with a diameter of 180 metres – creates an unexpected sense of calm in its changing suburban surroundings and remains in the memory of those passing by on the nearby motorway as a memorable logo. At the same time, the circular building directly reflects Datev's innovative office concept.
To surround the multifunctional mega-hub, which extends from the ground floor to the second floor and contains numerous public and semi-public areas (co-working, conference, event and exhibition spaces, learning environments, retail, catering, fitness centre), the home zones are arranged concentrically from the second floor upwards and can be reached quickly via the midi hubs and hubs. The ring-shaped arrangement of the midi hubs allows direct routes from one midi hub to the next, and cross-connections between midi hubs are also possible via the mega hub.
Patios and open spaces
The new working environments are structured by numerous patios, which ensure that all areas are well lit and create a flowing sequence of spaces that supports the flexible, variable demarcation of individual functional areas. To provide light for the interior of the mega hub, individual patios extend further into the lower floors, offering sheltered open spaces down to the ground floor.
The patios create open spaces that are directly accessible from the building and are equipped with a differentiated open space concept, each with its own distinct identity. The open space concept is continued in the design of the open spaces around the building, which are being developed as an innovative hybrid between a park and a car park.
Complex interior: Paths lead directly from the multifunctional mega hub up to the new working environments. Patios bring light down to the lowest floors.
Floor plan ground floor