Zentrum für Virtuelles Engineering ZVE – House of Knowledge
UNStudio’s design for the Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) applies its research into the potential to expand contemporary understandings of new working environments and affect a design approach that creates working environments which stimulate communication, experimentation and creativity through a new type of office building. Located on the research campus of the Fraunhofer institute in Stuttgart Vaihingen, the Centre for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) specializes in the investigation of different multidisciplinary work flows. UNStudio worked in collaboration with ASPlan from Kaiserslautern on the architectural services for the Centre.
All parts of the programme are implemented into the spatial organisation of the building. The diagrammatic approach employed combines the laboratory and research functions with public exhibition areas and a scenographic routing of the visitors in an open and communicative building concept. The geometry of the floor plan, consisting of curved and straight elements, dissolves into the saw tooth geometry of the facade whilst maintaining the effect of a continuously transforming surface.
An exceptional level of sustainability was a key consideration from the outset and upon completion the building was awarded a Gold certification by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).
