Portfolios - United Architektur

Ideas Competition Tempelhofer Feld

30,000 Apartments for Berlin, Tempelhofer Feld

Phase I
Berlin, Germany

Client

Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung, Bauen und Wohnen

Project Date

2024-25

Category

Competition

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

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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

Modern open-plan office interior design rendering, showcasing integrated workstation desks, large charcoal-colored planter boxes with lush green plants, and private phone booths.

3D office interior rendering highlighting a collaborative breakroom space with concrete floors, modular ceiling acoustic panels, a yellow kitchenette, and a semi-transparent circular zoning element.

High-end architectural rendering of a corporate break area, displaying a minimalist yellow kitchen hub, multiple dining tables, and a curved yellow partition under soft track lighting.

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

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

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House F, Heidelberg, Germany

House F

Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Client

Private

Project Date

2024-25

Category

Under Construction

The concept for this this new house close to Heidelberg follows three main ideas: Openess & Views, Adaptation to Topography, Minimalist Aesthetic.

Openess and View
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. The living level is on the upper floor, while the ground floor accommodates the private rooms of the house. As the central access to the entire property, a long staircase shapes the image of the house outside. It leads from street level to the entrance level and on to a large terrace at living level.

Minimalist Appearance
Informed by the tight specifications of the development plan and the local building style, the design features light facades, large windows, and a pitched roof that blend local traditions with modern simplicity.

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

Construction Company: Kurpfalz-Massivhaus GmbH

Architectural floor plan drawing on a black background, showing the residential layout, furniture placement, terrace grid, and an outdoor parking space.

Architectural cross-section diagram showing a two-story residential house integrated into a sloped hillside terrain surrounded by trees.

Modern 3D architectural rendering of a two-story white residential house on a sloped green hillside, featuring a concrete balcony and a minimalist driveway.

Construction site phase showing an excavator claw demolishing an old white brick building with a tiled roof.

Ground preparation and earthworks on a steep residential plot, featuring an orange excavator digging the foundation on a hillside terrain.

Construction site progress showing concrete pouring for a strip foundation with steel reinforcement mesh on a residential plot.

High-angle view of a freshly poured concrete slab foundation with vertical rebar starters on a sloped construction site.

Lobende Erwähnung, Greenhouse Restaurant, Island

Lobende Erwähnung, Greenhouse Restaurant

Mývatn, Island

Client

Bee Breeders Architecture Compeitions

Project Date

2022

Category

Completed · Design project · Competition

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.

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

Law Firm Ogletree Deakins, Berlin

Law Firm Ogletree Deakins International

Neues Bürokonzept, Berlin

Client

Ogletree Deakins International LLP

Project Date

2022

Category

Design project · In progress · Construction

Unser Entwurf für die neue Kanzlei von Ogletree Deakins International in Berlin Charlottenburg macht die innere Erschließung zum zentralen Thema. Die klare Zellenbürostruktur auf beiden Seiten des Flurs wird durch vier Gemeinschaftsbereiche für besondere Nutzungen aufgebrochen : Kanzleibibliothek, Konferenz- und Besprechungsbereich, Flexibles Arbeiten und Kanzleiküche. Die Bereiche unterscheiden sich durch Ihre Form, Möblierung und das Lichtkonzept. Glaswände entland des Flurs öffnen die Kanzlei zur Straßen- und zur Hofseite und schaffen interessante Durchblicke. Wie immer haben wir unser Entwurfskonzept anhand eines Modells, diesmal im Maßstab 1:50, entwickelt.

Das Büro befindet sich in einem denkmalgeschützten Gebäude im Bezirk Charlottenburg. Unser erster Entwurfsansatz war es, die Oberflächen, Materialität und Kontraste des Stadtraums in die Kanzlei zu holen. Industrieelle Materialien wie Glasflächen, polierte Oberflächen und Streckmetall brechen, reflektieren und kontrastieren mit neuen Farbschichten komplementärer Farben wir Blau und Rottönen. Auf diese Weise schaffen wir Kontraste zwischen den Objekten und Wandebenen, welche immer wieder wechselnde und überraschende Eindrücke schaffen und die Kanzlei mit Leben füllen.

Architekt: Jens Brinkmann
Mitwirkende: Emily Pearce, Cécile Bernard

House BS, Hohen Neuendorf

House BS

Hauserweiterung und Renovierung

Client

Mr. Schwake and Mrs Brockmann

Project Date

2020-22

Category

In progress · Construction

Architekt: Jens Brinkmann
Mitwirkende: Chiara Sanguin, Raquel Malagó Garcia, Carolina Vital do Rêgo

Law Firm Ogletree Deakins, Berlin

Law Firm Ogletree Deakins International

New Office Concept, Berlin

Client

Ogletree Deakins International LLP

Project Date

2022-23

Category

Construction · Planning Completed

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

Bright corporate office interior showing a long white meeting table with vibrant orange chairs in front of a white wall shelf filled with colorful law books, opening into a wide wooden floor corridor.

Office break room featuring small white tables, blue plastic chairs, a colorful striped bench cushion, and a wall completely covered by a large Berlin transit map graphic next to glass office partitions.

Long office hallway with light oak flooring and white walls, looking past a transparent glass partition that reveals a minimalist white kitchenette with people walking in motion blur.

Bright, modern office interior divided by a central white partition wall, showing a woman working at a desk on the left and empty workstations with vibrant orange office chairs on the right.

Group of four people walking through a large, completely empty raw office space with unfinished concrete floors, a grid ceiling, and a long row of windows prior to renovation.

Architectural scale model of the office floor plan layout, detailing miniature white desks, a mesh partition screen, dark wall panels, and individual room spatial divisions.

House N, Uckermark Lakes Nature Park

House N

Uckermark Lakes Nature Park, Germany

Client

Private

Project Date

2020-22

Category

Completed · Construction

New build residence in Brandenburg — the two different purposes of the new house, which lies 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

Architectural site plan drawing showing the residential building layout, property boundaries, and surrounding trees.

Modern residential house integrated into a natural forest landscape, featuring a dark brick ground floor, large windows, and three skylights on a steep gabled roof.

Sunny exterior view of a modern house corner featuring dark timber cladding, a steep gabled roof, and a large sliding window showcasing a glimpse of the dining interior.

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Modern residential building facade with horizontal dark siding, large glass sliding doors reflecting the forest, and a rustic cobblestone patio.

Modern solid oak staircase with natural wood grain, illuminated by soft natural light from a skylight window above.

Large square window with a deep natural oak frame used as a window seat, set in a white brick wall.

Architectural close-up of custom interior carpentry featuring light wood slats, integrated sliding door tracks, and minimalist white finishes.

Minimalist bathroom wall featuring vertical iridescent white ceramic tiles with subtle pastel rainbow reflections.

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

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

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30,000 Apartments for Berlin, Tempelhofer Feld

Phase IBerlin, Germany

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Project Date

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Pilot areas of modern office environments at the BMJ

Berlin, Germany

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Project Date

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Stand and Service Unit

St. Jakob Sport Park, Basel, Switzerland

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House F

Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

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Lobende Erwähnung, Greenhouse Restaurant

Mývatn, Island

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Farm to table

future responsive design

Relationship to Place

Law Firm Ogletree Deakins International

Neues Bürokonzept, Berlin

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Category

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House BS

Hauserweiterung und Renovierung

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Law Firm Ogletree Deakins International

New Office Concept, Berlin

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House N

Uckermark Lakes Nature Park, Germany

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Honorable Mention, Meditation Farm Conjunto Nacional

São Paulo urban rooftop rehabilitation as community practice, Brazil

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Phase I
Berlin, Germany