By 2025, a concise, x-shaped building will be constructed, which will link the existing urban quarter of Wuppertal-Cronenberg with the existing factory site in an inviting and open manner. At the same time, the new building incorporates the established landscape and the Sambatrasse cycle path into the new disposition of the site as a prelude to the KNIPEX Campus. Spatially integrated, socially networked and structurally communicative, the new three- to four-story building complex mediates between small-scale residential development, mature green space and the existing factory site and its production buildings. The heart of the new building is the central atrium, which connects the forecourt and the campus courtyard and at the same time enables visual relationships and communication between the different levels of use. While a place of dialogue is created inside the building, the spatial references in the urban space enable a new perception of the entire neighborhood and the KNIPEX plant.
"With the KNIPEX new building, we are creating a sustainable, innovative and ecological building with an exemplary function. A timber-hybrid-support-structure, which was planned predominantly on a modular basis using a DFMA concept (Design for Manufacture and Assembly), ensures a time-efficient execution of the construction, optimizing costs and construction time," says Hubertus Klemmer, Head of Plant Planning and Engineering at KNIPEX. In addition to the timber hybrid construction, the building roof also forms sustainable added value for the site and its surroundings. By forming part of the roof as a green roof, valuable habitat is created that also improves the microclimate. The additional installation of photovoltaic modules is emblematic of the energy-efficient operation of both the company headquarters and the entire KNIPEX campus. "The pincer-like building structure links our new factory building with the Cronenberg district in a completely new and innovative way. KNIPEX becomes an even stronger part of the neighborhood, with focus on people, communicatively and in scale," adds Ralf Putsch, Managing Director of KNIPEX, which has been run as a family business for many generations.
