Located in the heart of Berlin, the new headquarters of the National Metrology Institute of Germany harbors a very diverse program – including workshops, labs, storage and training rooms –, but on the outside it presents a highly compact and restrained facade where all expressivity is entrusted to a single material: brick.

Evoking the tones and finishes of the historical buildings in the neighborhood, the brick facade of this construction presents a filigree of bonds that form a grid of slightly recessed coffers, with openings of different sizes made to break the visual monotony, some of them very large and doubling as miradors.

The facade has three layers: a loadbearing inner one of reinforced concrete 25 centimeters thick; a thermal insulation stratum 14 centimeters thick; and the visible brick surface. This composition is modified in the large window openings, where the rows of bricks are slanted to create sloping parapets...[+]