Axel Springer Campus, Berlin
Architect: OMA - Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Year: 2020
Location: Berlin, Germany
Category: Headquarters / office / Commercial / Office
Status: Unbuilt
About
The German publishing group Axel Springer is currently shifting from print to digital media. To launch this move the company decided to call a competition to extend its Berlin headquarters with a new building that would act both as a symbol and as a tool in this transition. The new offices will occupy a prismatic volume that adapts to the form of the site. The block is injected with a central atrium that opens up to the publisher’s existing buildings. This atrium takes shape by way of terraced floors that together form a ‘digital valley,’ a place that will become the new meeting point of the company. The form of the terraces is symmetrically repeated on the upper floors to create the roof atrium, perforated by large skylights that strategically illuminate the interior. The ground floor of the building houses public spaces to open up the building to the city, such as studios, event spaces, and restaurants. The public can experience the building on three levels: the ground floor lobby, the bridge-viewing platform over the atrium from which visitors can witness the daily functioning of the company, and the rooftop bar.