New construction of a service building of the German Pension Insurance Association, Eisenzahnstrasse, Berlin

Green Dunes

Konzept

With the new office building of the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, situated in Berlin‘s Eisenzahnstrasse, one of the largest employers in southwest Berlin has chosen to concentrate the company organs in one place.

The view out of the window provides the 1000 office workers with symbolic impressions of their work: the theme of the four life phases of childhood, youth, adulthood through to retirement is represented by different planting concepts for the modelled „dunes“ in four rear courtyards of the buildings.

Derived from a typical element of Berlin‘s original landscape, the differently planted, playfully arranged and elegantly shaped dune hills convey a fascinating picture of garden culture. Individual tree solitaires, which grow in a particularly sculptural way, complete the concept. Skylights are included in the design and lie flush in the inclined surfaces of the hills. In the adjacent access courtyards further planted hills and loosely distributed solitary trees complete the picture of the dune landscape.

The simple design idea in combination with a large number of planned trees, the light-coloured floor materials and the varying planting of the courtyards convey a convincing and pleasantly reserved image of urban nature and architecture.