Federal Environment Agency in Dessau
Sauerbruch Hutton 

Federal Environment Agency in Dessau

Sauerbruch Hutton 


The offices for the Federal Environment Agency were relocated to Dessau to promote economic development in the east of the country. The location in a former industrial area was selected to demonstrate the possibilities (and challenges) presented by a brownfield site. Contaminated land has been treated, and both a small existing railway station and a former gas appliance factory have been integrated into the complex. The new volume is inserted as a structure of transition between the city center and the historic buildings of the train station, both joined by a park. The overall form of the building was designed so that a large portion of the site could be transformed into a linear park accessible to citizens. The complex is entered via the Forum, a crescent-shaped, covered space that draws the park into the building and acts as a foyer to the public facilities that include a library, a lecture hall, and an exhibition area. The offices are then accessed through a landscaped atrium, around which the various departments of the agency are arranged. The new building combines a compact, highly insulated volume with strategies of passive engineering and the harvest of renewable energies; in particular a large geothermal heat exchange system and a variety of solar panels...[+][+]


Cliente Client
Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Arquitectos Architects
Sauerbruch Hutton

Dirección de proyectoProject manager
Andrew Kiel, René Lotz

Estructura Structure
Krebs und Kiefer

Paisajistas Landscape architect
STraum a

SuperficieFloor area
41.000m²

Fotos Photos
Bitter+Bredt; Jan Bitter; Busse; Noshe