MDR radio station, Leipzig
It is more difficult to build a good chair than a skyscraper.
(Mies van der Rohe)
The new construction of the MDR building was designed so that it included a large green area as a front and spacing zone between it and the older buildings and main entrance through its spatially effective, semicircular figuration. This results in a spacious ensemble - "embracing" open spaces - of old and new buildings without causing a break in the architectural scale - which would have been possible due to the difference in structural volumes.
The figuration also results in an independent significance appropriate to the importance of the building task, also due to its diagonal relationship to the main entrance.
The semicircular wing is graded towards clearance in its floor arrangement so that a "shell shape" results facing the green areas.
The semicircular main structure takes over both central and sectional functions (main administration, LFH etc.).
Due to the vertical distribution node a direct diagonal connection with the studio areas as short routes ‑ for the public as well ‑ is created. The program areas are staged in "ridge form" around the core, i.e. the studio area, tangentially in accordance with functional importance.