Portfolios - United Architektur

Ideas Competition Tempelhofer Feld

Phase I
Berlin, Germany

Client

Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung, Bauen und Wohnen

Project Date

2024-25

Category

Given the great societal challenge of accommodating Berlin’s growing population and creating over 222,000 new apartments by 2040 (StEP Wohnen 2040, 9/2024), there are strong economic, social, and cultural arguments for developing inner-city quarters and building on Tempelhofer Feld. This urban development initiative aims to address the pressing need for additional housing in Berlin while leveraging the potential of inner-city areas. By building on Tempelhofer Feld, the project seeks to create a vibrant and sustainable urban quarter that can contribute to the city’s overall growth and development.

1. The principle of density and social mix:
The building follows the Berlin block structure, creating a dense, socially mixed quarter. There will be 18,000 housing units for 72,000 residents and 20,000 jobs. The new urban quarter, designed as a 15-minute city, includes 50% municipal owners and cooperatives, and 50% building groups and private owners. The urban structure is formed by two former runways, connected by a ring road. The new main street branches off diagonally and connects the center with the new ring railway S-Bahn station.

2. Green spaces and urban connectivity:
Park strips and city squares serve as public, non-commercial spaces. In the outer meadow ring, a landscape area connects the surrounding city, including open parkland, a public sports area, a forest strip as a buffer zone, and an event space.

3. Nature conservation and climate adaptation:
The design includes measures like street trees, water management, certified sustainability standards, CO2 emission reduction, and solar power. Despite reduced cooling from building on the central meadow, the outer meadow ring and Hasenheide City Park will positively affect the cooling of adjacent areas.

4. Equal mobility and pedestrian friendliness:
Streets are planned as shared spaces for pedestrians, cyclists, delivery traffic, and emergency vehicles, promoting sustainable transportation and reducing car dependence. Public parking garages on the ring road provide resident and visitor parking. The quarter will have a new tram line, ring railway connection, and expanded bus lines, cycle highways, and soft mobility.

Architect: Jens Brinkmann
Collaborators: Adriano Gaubeur, David Strüning, Saba Babak

United-Architektur-New-Tempelhof-Diagram 3-EN

United-Architektur-New-Tempelhof-Diagram 1-EN

United-Architektur-New-Tempelhof-Diagram 2-EN

United-Architektur-New-Tempelhof-3section

United-Architektur-New-Tempelhof-1Materplan

Pilot areas of modern office environments at the BMJ

Berlin, Germany

Client

Bundesministerium der Justiz

Project Date

2024

Category

Design project

The design for pilot areas of modern office worlds in the Federal Ministry of Justice in Berlin follows the 4 guidelines defined as overarching goals before the award procedure:

1. Promoting personal exchange:
An open-space concept encourages interaction by opening up workspaces through the partial dismantling of non-load-bearing partition walls. New communication zones are created with meeting rooms, tea kitchens, and retreat spaces. An outdoor meeting area for 4-6 employees is also included.

2. Optimizing space usage:
The workplace offering is densified while enhancing quality with flexible workstations. Daylight enters from two sides, creating open visual connections. The desk-sharing concept accommodates up to 44 employees, and materials from dismantled walls are recycled.

3. Inclusive and barrier-free environment:
Accessible and flexible work and communication areas are created, with barrier-free meeting rooms and easily accessible printers. Existing ramps and a central elevator provide easy access for wheelchair users. Wide doors are installed, and a new unisex barrier-free restroom replaces the women’s restroom.

4. Attractive workplace design:
Aspects of light, acoustics, colors, and plants make workplaces attractive. Height-adjustable tables with storage spaces are provided, with adjustable lighting for ambiance. Excellent acoustics are ensured through plants, partitions, and ceiling baffles. Personal lockers are available in corridor areas, a cyclist changing room with a sink is included, and power, IT, and telecommunications connections are safely routed through the ceiling.

Architects: Jens Brinkmann
Collaborators: Juliana Ambros Cammerer, Silas Mazet, Stephanie Katcipis, David Strüning

St. Jakob Sport Park, Basel, Switzerland

Stand and Service Unit

St. Jakob Sport Park, Basel, Switzerland

Client

Bau- und Verkehrsdepartement des Kantons Basel-Stadt

Project Date

2012

Category

Competition · Design project

The design concept for the new grandstand building of the St. Jakob athletics stadium in Basel follows four basic design considerations:

1. Permeable Building in the Landscape:
The new building is characterized by large glazed areas (multi-purpose room and two-storey access corridor to the south), adapting well to the sensitive Brüglinger Ebene recreational area.

2. Grandstand as a Public Platform:
The new grandstand completes the existing athletics stadium by providing a public platform. This platform matches the height of the existing surrounding stadium grandstand, creating a cohesive single space.

3. Spatial Joint as a Linear Access System:
The access concept features a two-storey spatial joint with increased glazing towards the south, forming an access zone on the ground and basement floors that allows natural light into all rooms.

4. Expanded Metal Facade as an Adaptation to the St. Jakob Site Material Context:
The building’s appearance incorporates the material and color palette of the St. Jakob site, including the football stadium and other sports and event buildings in the Brüglinger Ebene. The new building features exposed concrete, expanded metal with prints, and semi-transparent components. The grandstand facade is protected by an expanded metal skin, with clearly marked entrances and information for better orientation.

Architects: Jens Brinkmann, Bernd Huckriede
Collaborators: Juliane Hummel, Carolin Paschke, Robert Schöps

Cooperation with:
General contractor: CAS Chappuis Aregger Solèr Generalunternehmung AG, Luzern
Structural engineers: Ingenieurgruppe Bauen, Berlin
Landscape architecture: Fugmann Janotta Büro für Landschaftsarchitektur, Berlin
Gebäudetechnik: Todt Gmür + Partner AG, Klima- und Energy technology, Zürich
Electrical planning: HHM, Hefti, Hess, Martignoni, Zürich

United-Architektur-St-Jakob-Sportspark-Lageplan

United-Architektur-St-Jakob-Sportspark-Diagram-EN

United-Architektur-St-Jakob-Sportspark-Schnitt

United-Architektur-St-Jakob-Sportspark-Schnitte

United-Architektur-St-Jakob-Sportspark-Render

United-Architektur-St-Jakob-Sportspark-Render2

House F, Heidelberg, Germany

House F

Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Client

Private

Project Date

2024-25

Category

Under Construction

Openess and View
Openness and view are the design themes for the new construction of a modern detached house close to Heidelberg. Terrace, living room, kitchen and dining area and a large balkony combine to form a spatial continuum that characterizes the entire living level. A long window facing south opens up an expansive view over the valley and the small town of Bammental to the south-west of Heidelberg.

Adaptation to the Topography of the Site
The house adapts to the challenging topography of the steeply sloping plot. Due to the hillside location, the living level is on the upper floor, while the first floor accommodates the private rooms of the house. A long staircase leads from street level to the entrance level and on to a large terrace at living level. As the central access to the entire property, the staircase shapes the image of the house outside.

Minimalist Appearance
The classic house shape of the two-storey structure with a pitched roof is derived from the tight specifications of the development plan and the typical local building style. Light-colored plastered facades and generous window areas with light-colored window frames emphasize the minimalist appearance of this house both outside and inside.

Architects: Jens Brinkmann
Collaborators: Juliana Ambros Cammerer, Stephanie Katcipis, David Strüning, Adriano Gaubeur

Construction Company: Kurpfalz-Massivhaus GmbH

United-Architektur-Haus-F-Erdgeschoss-NewVersion

United-Architektur-Start-Construction-House

United-Architektur-Start-Construction-House2

United-Architektur-Start-Construction-House3

Law Firm Ogletree Deakins, Berlin

Law Firm Ogletree Deakins International

New Office Concept, Berlin

Client

Ogletree Deakins International LLP

Project Date

2022-23

Category

Completed · Construction · Design project

The new Berlin office of US American Law firm Ogletree Deakins International LLP is located within a historically protected building at Tauentzienstraße in the district of Charlottenburg.
Following the tradition of United Architektur, we created a 1:50 physical model to help explore design ideas and present them to our clients in the clearest way possible. Our design concept makes internal circulation the central theme. The cellular office structure on both sides of the corridor is broken up by four communal areas for special uses: Office library, conference and meeting area, flexible working and office kitchen. The areas differ in terms of their shape, furnishings and lighting concept. Glass walls create an atmosphere of openness. They contrast with new color layers of complementary colors such as blue and red tones. This creates constantly changing and surprising impressions between the objects and wall levels, filling the office with life.

Architects: Jens Brinkmann
Collaborators: Emily Pearce, Cécile Bernard
Photos: Anna Fraire

United-Architektur-Ogletree-Deakins-Law-Firm-Office1

United-Architektur-Ogletree-Deakins-Law-Firm-Office2

United-Architektur-Ogletree-Deakins-Law-Firm-Office3

United-Architektur-Ogletree-Deakins-Law-Firm-Office4

United-Architektur-Ogletree-Deakins-Law-Firm-Office5

United-Architektur-Ogletree-Deakins-Law-Firm-Office-Modell

House N, Uckermark Lakes Nature Park

House N

Uckermark Lakes Nature Park, Germany

Client

Private

Project Date

2020-22

Category

Completed · Construction

The two different purposes of the new house, which lays in the Uckermark Lakes Nature Park, are the architectural theme of our construction plan. The room arrangement consists of a weekend cottage for a family of four and at the same time of rooms that can be used for workshops and seminars. The one-story building with a gable roof picks up the typical design of the region. The black wooden facade and black concrete roof tiles blend in with the nature and the forest that surround the property on three sides.

In contrast, the white face masonry and the white of the natural wooden surfaces of the interior contrast with the exterior colour scheme. The living area and the academy are each placed at the ends of the long building. They open up to the roof. A functional core with a bathroom, kitchenette and the mechanical room is placed in between these main rooms. The bedrooms and a second bathroom on the upper floor of the central part of the house are accessible through a staircase in the living room. On the ground floor, a black wall in the entrance area picks up the colour scheme of the facade. and makes use of the psychological phenomenon that dark surfaces increase ones sense of spatial depth.

Architects: Jens Brinkmann
Collaborators: Emily Pearce, Carolina Vital do Rêgo, Raquel Malagó Garcia, Chiara Sanguin
Fotos: Anna Fraire, Jens Brinkmann

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Siteplan.jpg

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Garden-View

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Facade1

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Stairs

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Icon01

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Sliding-Door

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Tiles Bathroom

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Garden

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Roof

United-Architektur-House-Uckermark-Lakes-Nature-Park-Entrance

Meditation Farm Conjunto Nacional

Honorable Mention, Meditation Farm Conjunto Nacional

São Paulo urban rooftop rehabilitation as community practice, Brazil

Client

NonA Architecture Competitions

Project Date

2024

Category

Competition · Completed · Design project

Meditation Farm invites you to a meditative experience in urban nature. The contemplative act of tending useful plants anchors the user in the present, engaging them with sustainable agriculture and conscious consumption. The project proposes to restore and repurpose the unused steel structure of the clock and temperature display on the roof of the Conjunto Nacional in São Paulo into a giant trellis and urban garden. Open to the public, it becomes a catalyst for local community development.

Thriving in São Paulo’s subtropical climate, the urban garden adapts to alternating periods of intense sunshine and rainfall. A water reservoir supplies both the farm and the building below. The food grown can be taken away, prepared and eaten on site, or sold to the restaurants in the building for further processing. With its unity of architecture and nature, the Meditation Farm demonstrates the potential for urban regeneration of the unused rooftops of South America’s largest metropolis. As both a meditation space and a model for sustainable regeneration, it improves the quality of life in the city.

Architects: Jens Brinkmann, Philipp Nass
Collaborator: Aleyna Pakize Mutlu
Renders: Thomas Saint-Guillain

United-Architektur-Meditation Farm-Conjunto-Nacional-Metal-Structure

United-Architektur-Meditation-Farm-Concept-Word-Diagram

United-Architektur-Meditation-Farm-Bird-Perspective-of-Sao-Paulo

United-Architektur-Meditation Farm-Conjunto-Nacional-Woman-coming-up-stairs

United-Architektur-Meditation Farm-Conjunto-Nacional-People-doing-yoga

United-Architektur-Meditation Farm-Conjunto-Nacional-Man-watering-plants

Yew Tree Living

Conversion and Extension of a historic 1920s house in Berlin, Germany

Client

Private

Project Date

2020-23

Category

Completed · Construction

The design concept for the conversion and extension of this 1920s Berlin house is the intersection of interior and exterior spaces. A new sequence of rooms connects the elevated kitchen with the living and dining room at garden level. The differentiation between the old and new is made visible through glazed joints.

Location

The existing house is part of a historically grown development structure along a lime tree-lined street. The deep plot retains several space-defining trees, including an old Irish Yew Tree (Taxus baccata) integrated into the terrace area.

Space

The entrance vestibule is in line with the extension’s facade, allowing visitors to look through the new building into the depths of the property as they enter the house. The extension is set against the garden-facing gable wall of the house. A large opening connects the raised kitchen to the new space. From the elevated vantage point of the kitchen, the nine-metre wide glass facade appears to fill the entire width of the garden.

Materiality

Exposed concrete surfaces, a polished screed floor and a solid oak staircase define the materiality of the interior. Original features of the historical house such as the staircase, windows, doors and fittings have been retained and refurbished. Externally, the new building is clad in light silver fir siding.

Energy concept and user comfort

The design decision to energetically upgrade the roof and windows preserves the historic character of the facades. For comfort, there is a solar thermal system and underfloor heating. The new layout and garden facade ensure constant sunlight. The roof is designed as a green roof.

Architects: Jens Brinkmann
Collaborators: Chiara Sanguin, Raquel Malagó Garcia, Carolina Vital do Rêgo
Photos: Anna Fraire, Matthias Heurich, Chiara Sanguin

Image2-Yew-Tree-Living-terrace-with-yew-tree_NEW

United-Architektur-Yew Tree Living-horizontale Holzverschalung01

United-Architektur-Yew Tree LivingS-horizontale-Holzverschalung02

United-Architektur-House-BS-materiality-kitchen

Honourable Mention, Greenhouse Restaurant, Iceland

Honourable Mention, Greenhouse Restaurant

Mývatn, Iceland

Client

Bee Breeders Architecture Competitions

Project Date

2022

Category

Competition · Completed · Design project

United Architektur won an honorable mention in an international design competition for a greenhouse restaurant in Iceland. The competition’s idea is derived from Iceland’s growing greenhouse revolution. It seeks to use its local renewable resources to support food production and suggest iconic solutions for the ‘farm-to-table’ concept. Named “Mývatn Windows”, the project unites a large-scale greenhouse and a restaurant within the spectacular landscape of Mývatn Natural Baths, Hverfjall volcano and Lake Mývatn in the distance. The restaurant opens on all sides, a technique that strengthens the building’s relationship to its place. A single long window in the facade has an undisrupted view of the landscape, while the windows to the side and rear visually connect the restaurant to the greenhouse and birch tree gardens.

Participation in the competition provided a platform to explore new possibilities for future responsive architecture. United took advantage of the opportunity to learn from combining two defined building typologies, ultimately creating a new cultural program in Iceland.

Farm to table

The design uses a farm-to-table approach – an ecologically transparent production process from planting, farming and processing in the greenhouse to eating fresh fruit and vegetables in the restaurant. This process runs through the three modules, starting from the greenhouse to the functional block and the restaurant. Each module shares important visual and physical relationships with the other.

future responsive design

United chose to work alongside Iceland’s reforestation program whose long-term objective is to re-establish forests in up to 25% of the country’s area. As an educational gesture to this program, two birch tree gardens were designed between the polycarbonate wall planes of the restaurant. The number of green areas is maximised. Moss fields, planted stone walls, birch tree gardens and green roofs increase the building’s green footprint and act as a stormwater management system.

All building modules use the geothermal energy from the local Bjarnarflag Geothermal Power Station, the first built in Iceland. It supports the heating system in the restaurant, as well as root level heating and the radiators in the greenhouse.

Relationship to Place

Mývatn Windows takes the characteristic of transparency from the greenhouse structure as a departing point for the design. Two large-scale planes of polycarbonate on a steel structure enclose the restaurant, forming a physical coherency with the greenhouse. This gives the building a sense of lightness within the landscape, merging with the horizon.

The greenhouse aesthetic is translated inside the restaurant. Polycarbonate ceiling panels diffuse soft light into the restaurant while their form reinterprets the shape and pattern of the greenhouse roof. Contrary to the exterior, the lightweight glulam timber trusses adapt to the human scale.

Architects: Jens Brinkmann
Collaborators: Nicole Salfatis Sadka, Chiara Sanguin, Emily Pearce
Renders: Thomas Saint-Guillain

United-Architektur-Iceland-Greenhouse-Restaurant-Landscape

United-Architektur-Iceland-Greenhouse-Restaurant-Site-plan

United-Architektur-Iceland-Greenhouse-Restaurant-Floorplan1

United-Architektur-Iceland-Greenhouse-Restaurant-view-timber-structure

United-Architektur-Iceland-Greenhouse-Restaurant-SectionBB

United-Architektur-Iceland-Greenhouse-Restaurant-SectionCC

United-Architektur-Iceland-Greenhouse-Restaurant-Diagram-Axo1

United-Architektur-Iceland-Greenhouse-Restaurant-Entrance

Start-Up Incubator, Cottbus

Start-up Incubator/Co-working Space

Cottbus, Germany

Client

Gebäudewirtschaft Cottbus (GWC)

Project Date

2018-21

Category

Building permit · Design project

The Start-Up Incubator and Co-working Space in Cottbus official opened on October 15^th 2021. The building aims to promote innovation and creativity to generate new forms of work in both the city of Cottbus and surrounding Lausitz region in the wake of the political decision to phase out coal nationwide. Located next to the campus of the Brandenburg Institute of Technology (BTU), it concentrates tech start-up activities in a single center while adding another resourceful community building anchored along the axis of principle buildings in the campus.

Multi-layer Façade
The dynamic exterior façade is made of perforated carbon fibre textile panels that provide shading and act as semi-transparent screens for private working areas of the building. Behind the shading screens, the wall is clad with perforated aluminum sheets fixed to panels with a black UV resistant membrane. Sustainable prefabricated timber wall panels are integrated between the concrete slab structure and are left exposed on the inside.

Public Threshold
The architecture is designed to welcome community use. The ground floor becomes emblematic of this idea with its predominantly glazed façade that creates a transparent connection between happenings inside the building and in the public square. Combined with the textile shading elements projecting out into the sidewalk, the interior space becomes a natural extension to the sidewalk, street and new community square.

Multi-Functional Foyer
The entrance foyer and the ground floor workshops form the communicative center of the building. The foyer is a multifunctional space, serving simultaneously as an access zone, public work area and lounge with a coffee bar. The level difference between the entrance and the area for workshops is designed as a staircase and seating grandstand for informal presentations and events. The foyer’s façade can be opened up to place outdoor seating beneath the extended marquees.

Co-working Office Spaces
The large co-working office spaces on the 1^st floor contain desks that can be rented by start-up founders. Further working spaces with mobile partition walls and independent offices can be found throughout the building. Furniture was sourced from the Spanish interior design company, Dynamobel.

The prefabricated timber wall panels are exposed from the inside. Alongside the concrete columns Acoustic baffles, lighting fixtures and air conditioning systems form part of the buildings transparent design aesthetic and expression of materials.

Design Architects: Prof. Bernd Huckriede, Dr. Jens Brinkmann, Ludwig Heimbach. Further planning in co-operation with Cottbuser Gesellschaft für Gebäudeerneuerung und Stadtentwicklung. The project was funded by the State of Brandenburg.