If you’re in Berlin between now and May 1, it will be worth a visit to DAZ/Deutsche Architektur Zentrum (German Center for Architecture) to see “Export,” an exhibition of 50 projects by 15 German architectural firms whose works have been “exported” to Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa.

 

Among of the firms in the show whose international profile – and portfolio – has seen rapid growth in the last few years (primarily by taking first prize in a number of high-profile competitions) is Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner. The Stuttgart- and Los Angeles-based firm is represented by seven projects that particularly demonstrate the architects’ attention to environmental issues and green building – as well as cutting-edge design.

 

Senscity Paradise Universe

Las Vegas, Nevada

 

The Senscity Paradise Universe combines elements of a typical theme park including a toy gallery, a theater, auditoria, and restaurants, with landscape and garden features, exhibition spaces, and a series of playgrounds.

 

The architects have designed an energy-efficient and enjoyable environment, rising like a green oasis form the Nevada desert. The “architectural landscape” is a central feature of the design, formed and modulated using “natural” barriers to separate and protect the park from its surroundings. A variety of spatial links – green areas, plazas, an artificial lake, and meandering paths – will make the complex easy to navigate.

 

The park’s signature will be iconic “desert flowers” – light-weight metal structures (similar to those used in the airplane industry) up to 120 feet high and 300 feet wide – that will protect the landscape (and visitors) from the desert sun. Evaporating water on the structures’ expansive “leaves” will cool the air; their enormous height will generate a down-draft airflow bringing cool air streams into the public spaces, creating a very comfortable environment. In addition, the “leaf” surfaces will be cooled down by cold air on the inside, adding radiant cooling.

 

The leaves can also be used as energy collectors. Photovoltaic cells or solar collectors can transform radiation into electricity or heat. A vertical axis wind turbine in the center of a flower could transform wind into electricity. Transsolar Energietechnik of Stuttgart, Germany is the Energy Concept Consultant.

 

The project is currently in design development and could break ground as early as next year.

 

Moscow City Transport Terminal (MCTT)

Moscow, Russia

 

Scheduled to open in 2009, the Moscow City Transport Terminal will be a gateway at the heart of the ever-growing “Moscow City” development. The 2.1 million-square-foot complex will include retail, restaurants, and an entertainment center. High above the Terminal’s public concourse, a public winter garden will provide access to office space, service apartments, a hotel, and a wellness center. The Transport Terminal will operate independently of other areas. There will be direct underground connections to neighboring properties and the Moscow Metro System, as well as underground parking for 1,000 cars. The design responds to the desire to temper the extremes of climate, optimize the use of daylight, take advantage of the views across Moscow, and combine a variety of operations within a new landmark building.

 

Millenium Biologix Headquarters and Master Plan

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

 

Behnisch, Behnsich & Partner’s master plan for the international headquarters of the biotechnology company Millenium Biologix includes sustainable design guidelines for future development of the 18.3-acre site. The triangular site slopes 20 feet from its northern boundary (bordered by a regional airport) down to its southern edge on Horsey Bay on Lake Ontario.

 

The natural environment is incorporated into the design of the 53,820-square-foot headquarters building itself. The site’s terrain – a limestone stratum – inspired the building’s layered appearance and limestone façade. A slender, two-story center hub, or “villa,” will house administrative offices, a cafeteria, meeting rooms, exhibition space, and storage and delivery rooms. Various one-level wings housing production facilities will have planted rooftops and extend from the center villa as if they were a continuation of the landscape. Carved into the sloped site, the generously-sized terraces are open spaces for informal meetings and relaxation. The building is fully oriented to the south, with expansive views of the lake and an abundance of natural light in interior spaces.

 

The architects’ zero-impact approach includes a number of sustainable solutions to reduce dependency on mechanical systems, increase reliance on natural energy sources for climatic control, maintain unspoiled lake views, and protect animal and plant life indigenous to the site. The limited depth of the building forms will use daylight and prevailing winds for natural ventilation and cooling. Thick limestone walls help retain and dissipate heat while the lake’s stable water temperature assists the winds in cooling the structure further.

 

The building is scheduled for completion in 2006. Shoalts and Zaback Architects, Kingston, Ontario, is the Executive Architect for the project. Other team members include: Knippers Helbig, Stuttgart, Germany (Civil Engineer); HH Angus & Associates, Toronto (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineer); and Transsolar Energietechnik, Stuttgart, Germany (Environmental Consultant).

 

“Ozeaneum” German Oceanographic Museum

Stralsund, Germany

 

Stralsund is a weather-beaten, urban city on the Baltic Sea with a long history of trade. The Oceanographic Museum will be a new iconic landmark in the heart of the city – a harbor promenade surrounded by historic warehouses – oriented toward the sea.

 

The 158,000-square-foot museum has no “front” or “back.” Instead, four light-filled volumes, with a variety of glazed façades and roofs offering interesting views from all sides into and through the complex, will house different functions. The seaside volume, which includes a gift shop and cafe, will lead to two aquariums – the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, as well as a “Sea for Children” and a penguin garden on the rooftop. The fourth volume will house a huge whale replica. All will be connected via stairways, elevators, and footbridges.

 

Visitors coming from the city center will reach the museum via two bridges. Round, green “seat cushions,” made of steel rings planted with grass that moves in the wind and illuminated at night, will seem to “float” above the ground, and inviting visitors to rest. Solid floor slabs extend from the outside to the interior. A water cooling system passing through the structural elements and the pile foundations will reduce the heat loads produced by both visitors and the technical installations. (A basement level was omitted to save costs.) The building’s curtainwall of large wooden panels are intended to age in the rough climate, like a sculpture shaped by wind and weather. Construction is expected to be completed in 2008.

 

Back to “Export”

 

Other Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner projects in “Export”: the Institute for Forestry and Nature Research in Wageningen, Netherlands. This is the firm’s first building outside of Germany (a 1993 competition-winning design completed in 1998), and an early EU pilot project touted as a humane and environmentally friendly building. Also included is the highly-acclaimed Genzyme Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which opened in 2004 and is set to receive a platinum LEED rating, the highest environmental rating by the U.S. Green Building Council. Plans, renderings, and concept studies for an administration building for the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland (2006), and an urban housing development at Valdamara Park in Riga, Latvia, are also on view.

 

 

Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner, founded in 1989 as a spin-off of Behnisch & Partner, is under the leadership of Stefan Behnisch and Günther Schaller in Stuttgart, Germany, and principal Christof Jantzen, AIA, in Venice, California.

 

Other firms participating in “Export” include: Auer+Weber+Architekten; Barkow Leibinger Architekten; Behnisch, Behnisch + Partner Architekten; BOLLES+WILSON; Eller + Eller Architekten; heide von beckerath alberts architekten; Henn Architekten; Ingenhoven und Partner Architekten; J. Mayer H. Architekten; Jan Kleihues und Klaus Schuwerk; Knebel & von Wedemeyer Architekten; KSP Engel Zimmermann Architekten; Léon Wohlhage Wernik Architekten mit Werner Sobek Ing. und Transsolar; modulorbeat; and Rang + Volz Architekten.