Sparkassenhaus

e construction project for the Kreissparkasse savings bank in Reutlingen’s ‘Orschel-Park’ development will create a new administrative office building, designed for about 400 employees, with a diverse assortment of shared areas for training and consultation sessions plus a staff restaurant. At an urban scale, the new Sparkassenhaus positions itself confidently as a strong, yet differentiated free-standing building whose unique, tripartite configuration with three atriums carved out from its interior mediates between the urban, organisational and spatial requirements, both inside and out.

While the differentiated massing creates usable open spaces of different function and character outside (fore-court, outdoor restaurant area, viewing terrace, atriums), the developed building form constitutes a highly versatile structure on the inside, ideally suited for contemporary work environments, that is characterised by clear orientation, good use of daylight and structural openness and which promises a work atmosphere of high quality.

Served by an impactful central circulation space, the office areas on the typical floors, which are closely interconnected and highly conducive to good interpersonal communication, are grouped around each of the unroofed inner courtyards and offer not only open-plan areas but also possibilities for retreat and zones for informal exchange. The structure allows for the subdivision and individually customised spatial articulation of discrete departments, yet its centred and continuous figure underscores the character of a ‘unified home’ for the savings bank .

Typologically, the new building is conceived as a light, three-storey form with a setback top floor, sitting on top of a massive, monolithic plinth that compensates for the topographical differences in height on the site and establishes a strong relationship to the surrounding orchards. The transparent metal and glass facade uniformly clads the building’s entire complex shape. Its unvaried character is an expression of the internal structural openness and its deep vertical and horizontal articulating elements gives it a high degree of light-ness and three-dimensionality.