In a narrow time frame of just 21 months, a four-storey institute building has been both designed and built for the University of Saarland, creating a gatehouse situation for the eastern entrance of the University.

The CISPA Centre for IT Security, Privacy and Accountabilitywas recently given an award as one of three lighthouses for IT security in Germany, and represents a focal point for informatics in Saarbrücken.

135 work places, meeting and conference areas and an auditorium have been created around a generous illuminated foyer four-storeys high. The atrium cascades over the four floors and thus forms work and communication zones on each floor. This cascade is legible on the west façade in a stair-like arrangement of glazed surfaces. On the ground floor, full-height glazing encloses presentation rooms, larger lecture rooms and the auditorium. On the first to third floors offices and meeting rooms in a range of sizes are located.

One characteristic of the new building is the austere façade with stepped ribbon-like bands of windows and parapets. These clustered modulations reveal the IT functions within the building.

The special caracteristic of this project is the way of its planning and implementation as hybrid design build. In the unusually brief period of only 21 months from the award of contract award and the start of planning through to handover to the client, the building was designed, planned, approved and implemented. For this, the client and the user, the general contractor and the architect have come together to form a tight construction team and the building developed together in very close period.

Location
Campus E9.1, 66123 Saarbrücken
Client
University of Saarland
Architects
Veauthier Architekten
Services
Architectural design phases 1-5
Completion
2015
Size
5.230 m2 BGF
Image rights
Veauthier Architekten