Environmentally and user friendly architecture and working environments
Vodafone Campus Düsseldorf
Client: Objekt Düsseldorf VCD-Realisierungs-GmbH & Co. KG
Location: Düsseldorf Heerdt / GFA: 155,000 m² / Workstations: 5,000
Completion: 2012 / Green Building: LEED Gold
Services: Master planning, Architecture, Interior design
The remit
The various divisions of the telecommunications company Vodafone, which were previously scattered throughout the city, were to be combined in one campus.
Creating a campus of this size and impact, with flexible working environments and a wide range of services in the shortest possible time posed a particular challenge.
Visualisation, Copyright: Cadman
Urban integration
The construction of the new Vodafone Deutschland Headquarters and its campus took place on an unused site on the left bank of the Rhine at Seestern in Düsseldorf. It resulted from the conversion of a former brewery premises.
The campus has excellent accessibility, being loccated directly on the Heerdter Dreieck motorway junction with a multi-storey car park close by.
The campus is oriented in height and arrangement to the residential development opposite, and is thus integrated into the neighbourhood.
A promenade will open up the area towards the Albertus lake, incorporating the adjacent Stadtwerke site with a view to future development and connecting the green belt zones.
Requirements of the design
Our objective in designing the Vodafone Campus was to create a striking entrance in the west of the city, not just an office building, but a new centre with its own unique appearance.
Our client had a high expectations of the design standard: the façade, open spaces and office facilities were to reflect the corporate identity and the core themes of the Vodafone brand such as communication, dynamism and connectivity.
Volker Weuthen, HPP Senior Partner"The dynamism of the horizontally-arranged façades underscores the corporate identity"
The Campus
The visual focus for the new campus complex is an oval, 19-storey skyscraper that also signals the main entrance and establishes itself as a new landmark in the cityscape.
Together with an adjoining arched structure, this high point forms the spatial conclusion to the Heerdter-Dreieck, a heavily frequented traffic junction, serving as a prominent feature of the established Seestern location.
Two further six- to eight-storey buildings form the self-contained campus. Its focal point is a triangular plaza that extends generously between the skyscraper and the solid block structure. The individual buildings are accessed from here. Both the innovative architecture and the open square design of the Vodafone Campus reflect the communicative and team-oriented corporate culture.
The campus also boasts a variety of amenities - all of which are oriented towards the square - and a new open-plan layout offering direct access to the general public, as well as urban qualities that further contribute to encouraging the staff to identify themselves with it.
The Façade
The defining feature is the horizontally structured façade with external shading elements made of white, perforated aluminium panels, which are aligned differently depending on their orientation. As an expression of the corporate identity of the company, they convey the impression of speed and dynamism and create a homogeneous image.
Staggered façade banding gives structure to the buildings along the perimeter.
Working environments
Based on an open layout concept, the sole tenant's corporate headquarters provides space for up to 5,400 Vodafone employees (desk-sharing and home office included).
The office blocks are around 20 metres deep and a façade/fit-out grid of 1.25-1.35 m, which allows for flexible division of the open, communicative spaces.
Standard storey layout
In addition to office, there are around 4,000 other work and seating areas as well as retreat and meeting rooms for employees.
The mobile and open working environment supports flexible and ergonomic working. The open structure is subdivided by functional elements such as conference rooms, meeting points and lounge modules.
In order to increase the quality of use, the employees were able to help design their office areas.
The headquarters sets new standards: not only in terms of the work concept of the future, but also in terms of the services offered to employees. In addition to office space, the ground floor houses a nursery and a kindergarten, a restaurant, shops, a doctor's practice and a fitness area with its own range of activities.
The Vodafone Campus - a Green Building
The Vodafone Campus Düsseldorf has been awarded the LEED Gold certificate, a uniform standard for particularly sustainable buildings. The criteria for sustainability include water and energy efficiency, the efficient use of materials and resources, spatial quality and a careful approach to the design and innovation processes. Intelligent building technology combines high quality of use with energy efficiency.
Green Building
The Vodafone Campus in Düsseldorf was granted LEED Gold certification on the basis of its exceptional sustainability.
