The Beams of Energy Effectiveness

On August 22, Berlin saw an official opening of the new HQ of the energy company Vattenfall, the office complex named EDGE. One of its buildings is Germany’s biggest wood hybrid building. The term means that its supporting frame is made of glued timber, but in certain places wood cooperates with metal, reinforced concrete and fiberglass. Below, we are sharing about the inner design of this structure, not just environmentally friendly but energy efficient as well.

Written by:

Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

22 August 2022

Object

The EDGE complex is situated in the very beginning of the so-called Schöneberger Linse – an area in Berlin’s southeast between Highway A100, the 6-lane Sachsendamm Straße and railroad tracks. Situated between the roadways, this area lay undeveloped for a long time, even though in recent years Linse has been getting some office centers, shopping malls, and residential buildings. The proximity of the two thoroughfares, on the other hand, creates good transport accessibility – a hundred meters away from the EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin, there is the Suedkreuz U-Bahn station, which explains this “addition” to the name of the complex.

EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin consists of two seven-floor buildings separated by a new city plaza – its public space also serves as a pedestrian path to the station. The smaller building, named Solitaire, is essentially a single-cut parallelepiped. The larger four-section building is constructed around a spacious light atrium in a slightly asymmetric triangle with a contour that follows the shape of the site. It also received a “telltale” name of Carré.

zooming — Location plan. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten

The facades of both buildings are formed by a regular grid of panels made of fiberglass concrete with a common rhythm: everywhere, the horizontals received a light-sand hue, while the verticals are different from building to building: in Solitaire, they are dark-gray, in Carré crimson terra cotta. Sometimes, the grid is livened up with large stained glass rectangles, recessed balconies and terraces – but on the whole the buildings look very reserved and austere, very much in the spirit of Berlin’s modern office architecture.

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The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The Carre building. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The Carre building. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten

What really makes EDGE unique is the combination of construction scale and construction method. By the moment of writing this article, Carré is the largest wood hybrid (i.e. combining a wooden framework with other materials) building in Germany and one of the largest in Europe. Its area is about 20,000 sqm (the entire area of the complex is 32,000 sqm).

The client of the project is Vattefall energy company. In 2019, 35% of the company’s total capacity was accounted for by renewable energy sources: solar, wind and water. In the future, this indicator is expected to increase significantly.

EDGE became for Vattenfall not just a new HQ in Europe but also a “trademark” tower: it is largely built using sustainable, climate- and resource-saving technologies of modular construction and, most importantly, it is built of wood – here it is about 60% of the total volume of materials, and it is used everywhere: in load-bearing structures, ceilings and interior decoration. The construction took about 1,300 firs grown in Slovakia. They were used to manufacture 1190 hybrid wooden ceiling elements resting on 1280 glued facade supports and 445 wall sections with a total area of 16,000 square meters.

Meanwhile, wood was used in the construction of this building for a reason:

Sergey Tchoban, TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten

Building a wooden house” has now become one of the popular dreams of a modern architect. But in this case, in addition to working with wood as a renewable resource and generally a very pleasant material, we set ourselves other tasks – specifically, to make the building easier, its construction more accurate, and the construction process faster. To lighten the total mass of materials, to reduce structures in the cross–section, and, as a result, to reduce energy costs both for construction and for subsequent operation and maintenance of the building. This is exactly the kind of almost scientific task that was set for us, including by climate experts.

Both buildings of EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin are constructed in accordance with the technology of modular construction. The wall and the ceiling wooden modules, just as the ceiling modules of fiberglass concrete, were prefabricated and then assembled on the construction site – this ensured an exact schedule and a faster, i.e. more efficient, construction process. Due to the fact that the weight of a wood hybrid building is about a third of a conventional concrete structure of a similar size, the architects were able to make the foundation plate 30% thinner than is usually done for such a volume. The small weight is an advantage – and, at the same time, a weakness – of a wooden framework. Being lightweight, it requires reducing the weight of all the other construction elements as well: first of all, a wooden framework cannot support a stone or a brick facade. And in this case the fiberglass concrete turned out to be a game changer: glass fiber reinforcement makes the plates strong and light, their weight is about 30 kg/m2; in addition, their outer surface is able to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

The company often describes the project as “smart”. It is the “smart” ratio of wooden and concrete structures that allowed the architects to save up to 80% of carbon emissions per square meter of the area. Reinforced concrete is only used for the foundation plate, fireproof partitions and stiffness ribs. Metal is only used for columns, staircases, and the roof construction. According to Tchoban Voss Architekten, the carbon emissions constituted just 0.15 ton instead of 0.75 ton, which would have corresponded to a building of similar size constructed in a traditional way. Wood turned out to be unparalleled by this and many other parameters: it is lighter in transportation than mineral building materials, and it has a high heat capacity, which means it cools down more slowly, retains heat better, and requires less heating.

And, finally, timber, unlike other materials, is capable, thanks to sheer exposed beams alone, save office spaces from feeling “sterile”. And, while on the outside the EDGE facades display very little noticeable wood, the imagery and emotional coloring of the interiors is defined by wood and wood alone. It sets their character, adding life and clarity, and being omnipresent: from beams and supports to windows and doors and staircase railings.

In this sense, both buildings turn out to be a “box with a secret” of sorts because all the exclusive things in terms of not just construction technology and space but also means of artistic expression are hidden inside.

Particularly interesting in this sense is the Carré building. Its conceptual and compositional center is a square atrium with ribbed tree-like columns that look like giant mushrooms due to their plated structure, which is also conditioned by the use of wood.

On the inside, the columns are made of metal, just as the staircases and bridges – according to Sergey Tchoban, their shapes and constructions grew from the architects’ desire to create an interesting volume and at the same time make the most of the materials used. The columns have two main functions: they support hovering staircases and overpasses, and they serve as places for rest; it is planned that tubs with trees will be installed on them. The staircases rise from the floor up to the top tiers – accordingly, the columns, which support the node platforms of this path, grow gradually, again, like mushrooms: the initial column barely rises with its umbrella head above the floor (height 4.28 m, diameter 7.2 m), while the fourth, final, stretches to its full height (height 14.87 m, diameter 6.2 m).

The atrium is filled with natural light that streams from a height of 26 meters through a transparent roof of three-ply EFTE film, as well as from the windows – in all of the offices, they run from floor to ceiling on both sides – and a panoramic window in the hall. Currently, while tenants have not yet moved in, the offices look particularly transparent.

The construction of the atrium coverage, to a large extent due to the small weight of the EFTE film, is light and transparent: two levels of elegant-looking wooden beams are supported by a network of seemingly even more fragile metallic structures of white color – for them, for the sake of better precision and strength, special nodes were developed. The top beams are arched, which gives the coverage a sail-like look; we will emphasize that the film is laid not in rhombuses but in bands running from one wall to the other. Its layers are capable of coming together and going apart under the pressure of the air, thus regulating the tension of the roof that is designed to withstand very significant wind loads.

Meanwhile, the film was chosen to make the translucent coverage not just for its lightness and transparency: it also provides protection from the sunlight and absorbs sounds – there is virtually no echo in the atrium. In the event of a fire, the film simply melts down, and it is not as dangerous as glass. By the way, there are no sprinklers in the building at all – they were made redundant due to the fact that the modern wooden structures were specially treated to become totally fireproof.

The “cobweb” of pedestrian connections – the authors call it “architectural network of communications” – hovering in the wide space of the atrium, is connected by bridges to each of its four walls, forming alternative and free ways of getting to various floors of the building, from second to sixth, where a sky lounge commanding the view of north Berlin is situated – Alexanderplatz, the TV tower, and the cathedral. This end-to-end recessed balcony, organized in the two upper floors of the entrance volume, is very interesting composition-wise. Its integral see-through space unites the two top floors just as the two bottom floors are united by the bottom lobby; between them, the three “office” tiers are hovering.

The stained glass window of the warm contour divides the upper recessed balcony into two spacious terraces: one of them is open to the city, its walls painted white (and this is the only place from the city sides where the wooden beams are exposed), and the other one, which is deeper, overlooks the atrium, its walls painted light-gray, like everything else inside.

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The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The Carre building. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: Photograph © Ilia Ivanov / TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten

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Sergey Tchoban speaks about EDGE Seudkreuz Berlin as a “pioneer” project that develops the progressive European trends of energy-effective modular smart construction, and is essentially “the next big thing”. Meanwhile, on the other hand, the project is an experimental one: we cannot tell for sure how these wooden buildings will “behave” in a few decades’ time – the architect stresses. But then again, misgivings are an inevitable companion of any innovation. The number of buildings like this will probably grow in proportion to the use of renewable energy – and the technique that has been fully tested here has every chance of becoming a given for many other projects. In any case, for Sergey Tchoban, the work on the complex marked a certain turn in his professional thinking.

Sergey Tchoban, TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten

Personally for me, this is a whole new story. Until recently, I supported and defended the fundamental values of architecture, such as materiality, tectonic nature of the building, and the depth of detailing. But any massive elements are by definition very resource-consuming. And the current prices for construction and energy, as well as the general state of the climate, do not fall in with this trend. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that architects, although they remain the organizers and catalysts of project activities, are increasingly working with specialists whose efforts are not aimed at making the building more complex and sculptural. Rather, on the contrary, buildings designed for fast and efficient construction, convenient maintenance and even, if necessary, for dismantling and recycling with minimal energy consumption are becoming more and more relevant today.

EDGE is Germany’s first project to be awarded the golden WELL Core & Shell certificate. This certificate is awarded by the International construction institute WELL (IWBI), the world leader in the field of evaluating the influence of architecture on people’s health and well-being. The building was also awarded the golden certificate of DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen, the German Council for Sustainable Development), a voluntary certification system designed to support green construction, and assessment of environmentally friendly, economically and energy efficient buildings. Now EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin has been shortlisted for the WAF 2022 award.

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The Carre building, cross-section by the atrium. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The Carre building, the northeast facade. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The Carre building, the west facade. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The plan of the first floor. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The Solitaire building, the east facade. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The Solitaire building, the north and south facade. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The Solitaire building, longitudinal cross-section. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten
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The plan of the standard floor. The EDGE HQ for the energy company Vattenfall

Copyright: © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten

22 August 2022

Written by:

Translated by:
Anton Mizonov

Headlines now

The Big Twelve

Yesterday, the winners of the Moscow Mayor’s Architecture Award were announced and honored. Let’s take a look at what was awarded and, in some cases, even critique this esteemed award. After all, there is always room for improvement, right?

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Above the Golden Horn

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Nuanced Alternative

How can you rhyme a square and space? Easily! But to do so, you need to rhyme everything you can possibly think of: weave everything together, like in a tensegrity structure, and find your own optics too. The new exhibition at GES-2 does just that, offering its visitor a new perspective on the history of art spanning 150 years, infused with the hope for endless multiplicity of worlds and art histories. Read on to see how this is achieved and how the exhibition design by Evgeny Ace contributes to it.

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Blinds for Ice

An ice arena has been constructed in Domodedovo based on a project by Yuri Vissarionov Architects. To prevent the long façade, a technical requirement for winter sports facilities, from appearing monotonous, the architects proposed the use of suspended structures with multidirectional slats. This design protects the ice from direct sunlight while giving the wall texture and detail.

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Campus within a Day

In this article, we talk about what the participants of Genplan Institute of Moscow’s hackathon were doing at the MosComArchitecture booth at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition. We also discuss who won the prize and why, and what can be done with the territory of a small university on the outskirts of Moscow.

Overview

Vertical Civilization

Genpro considered the development of the vertical city concept and made it the theme of their pavilion at the “ArchMoscow” exhibition.

Interview

Marina Yegorova: “We think in terms of hectares, not square meters”

The career path of architect Marina Yegorova is quite impressive: MARHI, SPEECH, MosComArchitectura, the Genplan Institute of Moscow, and then her own architectural company. Its name Empate, which refers to the words “to draw” in Portuguese and “to empathize” in English, should not be misleading with its softness, as the firm freely works on different scales, including Integrated Territorial Development projects. We talked with Marina about various topics: urban planning experience, female leadership style, and even the love of architects for yachting.

Interview

Andrey Chuikov: “Optimum balance is achieved through economics”

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The Fulcrum

Ostozhenka Architects have designed two astonishing towers practically on the edge of a slope above the Oka River in Nizhny Novgorod. These towers stand on 10-meter-tall weathered steel “legs”, with each floor offering panoramic views of the river and the city; all public spaces, including corridors, receive plenty of natural light. Here, we see a multitude of solutions that are unconventional for the residential routine of our day and age. Meanwhile, although these towers hark back to the typological explorations of the seventies, they are completely reinvented in a contemporary key. We admire Veren Group as the client – this is exactly how a “unique product” should be made – and we tell you exactly how our towers are arranged.

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Crystal is Watching You

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The Secret Briton

The house is called “Little France”. Its composition follows the classical St. Petersburg style, with a palace-like courtyard. The decor is on the brink of Egyptian lotuses, neo-Greek acroteria, and classic 1930s “gears”; the recessed piers are Gothic, while the silhouette of the central part of the house is British. It’s quite interesting to examine all these details, attempting to understand which architectural direction they belong to. At the same time, however, the house fits like a glove in the context of the 20th line of St. Petersburg’s Vasilievsky Island; its elongated wings hold up the façade quite well.

The Wrap-Up

The competition project proposed by Treivas for the first 2021 competition for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025 concludes our series of publications on pavilion projects that will not be implemented. This particular proposal stands out for its detailed explanations and the idea of ecological responsibility: both the facades and the exhibition inside were intended to utilize recycled materials.

Birds and Streams

For the competition to design the Omsk airport, DNK ag formed a consortium, inviting VOX architects and Sila Sveta. Their project focuses on intersections, journeys, and flights – both of people and birds – as Omsk is known as a “transfer point” for bird migrations. The educational component is also carefully considered, and the building itself is filled with light, which seems to deconstruct the copper circle of the central entrance portal, spreading it into fantastic hyper-spatial “slices”.

Faraday Grid

The project of the Omsk airport by ASADOV Architects is another concept among the 14 finalists of a recent competition. It is called “The Bridge” and is inspired by both the West Siberian Exhibition of 1911 and the Trans-Siberian Railway bridge over the Irtysh River, built in 1896. On one hand, it carries a steampunk vibe, while on the other, there’s almost a sense of nostalgia for the heyday of 1913. However, the concept offers two variants, the second one devoid of nostalgia but featuring a parabola.

Review

Midway upon the Journey of Our Life

Recently, Tatlin Publishing House released a book entitled “Architect Sergey Oreshkin. Selected Projects”. This book is not just a traditional book of the architectural company’s achievements, but rather a monograph of a more personal nature. The book includes 43 buildings as well as a section with architectural drawings. In this article, we reflect on the book as a way to take stock of an architect’s accomplishments.

Inverted Fortress

This year, there has been no shortage of intriguing architectural ideas around the Omsk airport. The project developed by the architectural company KPLN appeals to Omsk’s history as a wooden fortress that it was back in the day, but transforms the concept of a fortress beyond recognition: it “shaves off” the conical ends of “wooden logs”, then enlarges them, and then flips them over. The result is a hypostyle – a forest of conical columns on point supports, with skylights on top.

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Transformation of Annenkirche

For Annenkirche (St. Anna Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg), Sergey Kuznetsov and the Kamen bureau have prepared a project that relies on the principles of the Venice Charter: the building is not restored to a specific date, historical layers are preserved, and modern elements do not mimic the authentic ones. Let’s delve into the details of these solutions.

The Paradox of the Temporary

The concept of the Russian pavilion for EXPO 2025 in Osaka, proposed by the Wowhaus architects, is the last of the six projects we gathered from the 2022 competition. It is again worth noting that the results of this competition were not finalized due to the cancellation of Russia’s participation in World Expo 2025. It should be mentioned that Wowhaus created three versions for this competition, but only one is being presented, and it can’t be said that this version is thoroughly developed – rather, it is done in the spirit of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, the project is interesting in its paradoxical nature: the architects emphasized the temporary character of the pavilion, and in its bubble-like forms sought to reflect the paradoxes of space and time.

The Forum of Time

The competition project for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka designed by Aleksey Orlov and Arena Project Institute consists of cones and conical funnels connected into a non-trivial composition, where one can feel the hand of architects who have worked extensively with stadiums and other sports facilities. It’s very interesting to delve into its logic, structurally built on the theme of clocks, hourglasses and even sundials. Additionally, the architects have turned the exhibition pavilion into a series of interconnected amphitheaters, which is also highly relevant for world exhibitions. We are reminding you that the competition results were never announced.

Mirrors Everywhere

The project by Sergey Nebotov, Anastasia Gritskova, and the architectural company “Novoe” was created for the Russian pavilion at EXPO 2025, but within the framework of another competition, which, as we learned, took place even earlier, in 2021. At that time, the competition theme was “digital twins”, and there was minimal time for work, so the project, according to the architect himself, was more of a “student assignment”. Nevertheless, this project is interesting for its plan bordering on similarity with Baroque projects and the emblem of the exhibition, as well as its diverse and comprehensive reflectiveness.

Report

The Steppe Is Full of Beauty and Freedom

The goal of the exhibition “Dikoe Pole” (“Wild Field”) at the State Historical Museum was to move away from the archaeological listing of valuable items and to create an image of the steppe and nomads that was multidirectional and emotional – in other words, artistic. To achieve this goal, it was important to include works of contemporary art. One such work is the scenography of the exhibition space developed by CHART studio.

The Snowstorm Fish

The next project from the unfinished competition for the Russian Pavilion at EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan, is by Dashi Namdakov and Parsec Architects. The pavilion describes itself as an “architectural/sculptural” one, with its shape clearly reminiscent of abstract sculpture of the 1970s. It complements its program with a meditative hall named “Mendeleev’s Dreams”, and offers its visitors to slide from its roof at the end of the tour.

The Mirror of Your Soul

We continue to publish projects from the competition for the design of the Russian Pavilion at EXPO in Osaka 2025. We are reminding you that the results of the competition have not been announced, and hardly will ever be. The pavilion designed by ASADOV Architects combines a forest log cabin, the image of a hyper transition, and sculptures made of glowing threads – it focuses primarily on the scenography of the exhibition, which the pavilion builds sequentially like a string of impressions, dedicating it to the paradoxes of the Russian soul.

Part of the Ideal

In 2025, another World Expo will take place in Osaka, Japan, in which Russia will not participate. However, a competition for the Russian pavilion was indeed held, with six projects participating. The results were never announced as Russia’s participation was canceled; the competition has no winners. Nevertheless, Expo pavilion projects are typically designed for a bold and interesting architectural statement, so we’ve gathered all the six projects and will be publishing articles about them in random order. The first one is the project by Vladimir Plotkin and Reserve Union, which is distinguished by the clarity of its stereometric shape, the boldness of its structure, and the multiplicity of possible interpretations.

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The Fortress by the River

ASADOV Architects have developed a concept for a new residential district in the center of Kemerovo. To combat the harsh climate and monotonous everyday life, the architects proposed a block type of development with dominant towers, good insolation, facades detailed at eye level, and event programming.

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In the Rhombus Grid

Construction has begun on the building of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) Corporate University in Nizhny Novgorod’s town of Vyksa, designed by Ostozhenka Architects. The most interesting aspect of the project is how the architects immersed it in the context: “extracting” a diagonal motif from the planning grid of Vyksa, they aligned the building, the square, and the park to match it. A truly masterful work with urban planning context on several different levels of perception has long since become the signature technique of Ostozhenka.

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Generational Connection

Another modern estate, designed by Roman Leonidov, is located in the Moscow region and brings together three generations of one family under one roof. To fit on a narrow plot without depriving anyone of personal space, the architects opted for a zigzag plan. The main volume in the house structure is accentuated by mezzanines with a reverse-sloped roof and ceilings featuring exposed beams.

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Three Dimensions of the City

We began to delve into the project by Sergey Skuratov, the residential complex “Depo” in Minsk, located at Victory Square, and it fascinated us completely. The project has at least several dimensions to it: historical – at some point, the developer decided to discontinue further collaboration with Sergey Skuratov Architects, but the concept was approved, and its implementation continues, mostly in accordance with the proposed ideas. The spatial and urban planning dimension – the architects both argue with the city and play along with it, deciphering nuances, and finding axes. And, finally, the tactile dimension – the constructed buildings also have their own intriguing features. Thus, this article also has two parts: it dwells on what has been built and what was conceived

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New “Flight”

Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.

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The Yauza Towers

In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.