New trade association office, Hanover
The Bavarians and the Lower Saxons have much in common. For instance, their stubbornness and their clear enunciation.
(Franz Josef Strauß)
On a very small plot in 'Am Roderbruch' in Hanover, adjacent to the Medical School and the administrative building of PREUSSAG, now TUI, a linear building has been designed which accommodates the different development needs of the trade association office and the leased space. By splaying out the office wings, attention has been focused on the main entrance from the city, and space was created within for a glass-ceilinged entrance hall which, with its galleries, curved staircases and wedge-shaped configuration, forms the backdrop for an appropriate, representative style of self-expression and, by virtue of its interior quality character, an orientational focal point.
The gradation from three to two floors with zinc-covered monopitch roofs and the contour of the light aluminium façade, which is curved out towards the open space, creates a coherent conclusion to the inner-city area. In this way, the somewhat inhospitable neighbouring building is concealed. The large boardroom is situated axially on the ground floor within the curved façade.
The problem of designing for those in the building trade undoubtedly lies, on the one hand, in the striving for harmony between the builder’s own sphere of activity and the resulting structure which is to represent his work, and on the other hand in the wide-ranging personal experience in constructional design and pertinent realisation. Consequently, the load-bearing structure and the design of the façade underwent a process of continuous evolution. The steel frame construction with trussed steel girders used for the hall morphed into a conventional steel frame structure with wooden girders, and the façade mutated from enamelled elements via natural stone to a brick façade typical for northern Germany. It was possible to preserve the basic room layout of the building.
