The annex building for SüdWestStrom (SWS) is located on the campus of Stadtwerke Tübingen, the city’s municipal works, which is southeast of the historic old town. The building site is characterized by existing technical buildings and confined by the spatial proximity of two existing administrative office buildings constructed for the municipal works in the 1980s. With its height, the six-story cubic form of the new building for SWS mediates naturally between the two existing office buildings and, as a clear geometric shape, completes the ensemble. The annex generates new urban spatial relationships and creates a small, internal plaza as a spatial hinge between the administrative buildings. The architectural form of the cube was selected for the new building in response to its prominent position on the property. The solid-looking building is homogeneously clad with brickwork and features striking, white inset window reveals, giving it a distinctive face toward the city: it presents itself self-assuredly in all four directions and precludes the formation of any backsides – neither to the newly designed entry court nor to the remaining premises and the neighboring hilltop, the Galgenberg. With brickwork that exhibits an emphatically lively texture of uneven surfaces, fissures, depressions, and irregular edges, the annex adopts the vocabulary of historic brick industrial buildings. This familiar image is excitingly contrasted with the large, obliquely cut white window reveals, which clearly identify the building as a work of contemporary architecture.

realisation: 2014-2018
competition: 1st prize
LPH: 1-9
BGF: 3.050 m²
BRI: 11.600 m³
builder: Südwestdeutsche Stromhandels GmbH
place: Tübingen
photos: Brigida González