Administrative buildings

Economic development in the new German federal states was largely contingent upon the rapid creation of a well-functioning infrastructure, including an efficient telecommunications network.  After it had initially been planned to build an extensive technical facility on the prime city centre site near the opera house and Gewandhaus concert hall, which was later moved to Holzhausen, it was considered expedient to extend the existing telecommunica­tions offices instead.

The rudimentary existing building block was finished as a 7-storey block with the required staircases subdividing the natural stone facade at regular intervals.  A round stair and lift tower, the central, vertical development node, highlights the corner and entrance off Grimmaischer Steinweg, the main artery between the city centre and the former trade fair site.

Apart from pure office areas, the telecommunications office also contains the following functional units:

-a telephone connection node and interface, i.e. rooms for transmission and switchboard equipment with the associated battery and rectifier rooms
-a canteen for 600 people complete with the pertinent kitchen
-an EDP centre
-retail space on two floors in the arcade area
- an underground car-park for approx. 600 vehicles.

The main problem confronting those planning the project was how to interweave the various functional, technical and design needs to create a functioning whole, given the different heights of the floors, the location of the supports, the loads concerned and the ventilation areas.  At the same time, the slightly sloping gradient of the property had to be taken into account and it had to be ensured that the telecommunications technology could be installed on the lower floors as building work proceeded.

The determination of demand for structural engineering planning which proceeded in parallel, and which was qualified by the fact that the maximum possible technical infrastructure was to be created in the shortest possible time in order to improve Leipzig’s telecommunications structure, was, with hindsight, to prove somewhat detrimental to the building project.  It was clear that shortly after the German reunification no final assessment of the overall technical demand was readily available.  As a result, the design of the ventilation system had to be changed constantly because of varying waste heat values – with all the consequences that this entailed for structural engineering planning.  A total of approx. 1 million m³/h of air was supplied and discharged.

The pioneering spirit which sought to be a benefit for economy and society as a whole was, as construction work proceeded, supplanted by a bitter dispute which disrupted progress, rooted – internal office politics quite apart –  mainly in the assertion of commercial interests by the companies carrying out the work, and in the inadequate performance of one of the specialist planners.

The transition of the client from a public authority into a private-sector property developer, which took place during the commencement phase of the construction work, resulted in a necessaryx and extensive restructuring of project management.  The realisation that architecture can be largely dependent upon individual political and commercial interests was particularly salient during this project.