Starnberg District Office
For 35 years, the district office, which is reminiscent of the great role models of Far Eastern building culture in old Japan, has been a landmark and an integral part of Starnberg. Both to the outside and to the inside, the administration building presents itself as a modern and open government office that welcomes citizens in a friendly manner.
The challenge when expanding it was to update the 35-year-old structure, materials and details for the present day. Naturally, the structural and energy requirements, which had risen sharply, were to be integrated, but at the same time the familiar appearance of the building was to be preserved. The higher static loads as well as the stricter fire protection and energy requirements all had to be taken into account.
The south-western part of the site was chosen as the construction site for the extension in order to retain the existing public access from Münchner Straße to the lakeside promenade. The comb-like structure on the west side is continued in harmony with the existing layout, thereby establishing a scale reference to the adjacent residential development.
On the east side, the more spacious, courtyard-like structure is supplemented, so that together with the youth centre and the three-storey meeting wing, a well-proportioned outdoor area is formed.
The western courtyards serve as retention areas for the natural drainage of rainwater and are designed as themed courtyards with boulders, gravel, native perennials and solitary trees.
As in the existing building, the construction of the extension is based on a continuous expansion grid of 1.2 m. This also applies to building services such as floor tanks and ventilation outlets, meaning that office space can be easily converted if necessary. The offices have an axis width of 4.8 m and can be used flexibly as double or single offices with a meeting area.
The extension continues the architectural concept of the building envelope, but with a modern and highly insulated facade with triple glazing and external solar protection. Heating and cooling are provided by component activation of the reinforced concrete composite ceiling (Holorib system), which is just 14 cm thick and rests on larch glulam beams. Empty conduits for LED lighting and electrical installations were also installed in the ceiling.
The new 250kWp photovoltaic system on the roof supplies a groundwater heat pump, which in turn enables CO2-free heat generation. The electricity produced by the PV system exceeds the district office's own needs, so that electricity can be fed into the grid. As a result, the legal energy-saving requirements have been exceeded and a KfW 55 efficiency building has been realised.
In addition to the structural and energy improvements compared to the existing building, the extension also differs from it in another respect – the transformation of the details: Subtle differences between the existing building and the extension are now visible and perceptible in the corridor walls, the glass railings and also in the facade.
