ARDEX Campus, Witten (DE)

ARDEX GmbH is one of the global market leaders in high-quality special construction materials and has been on a sustainable growth course for over 70 years. For the urgently needed new workplaces, we have designed an “office building in the park” that bundles all of the company’s non-manufacturing activities.

Urban context
At the centre of the site is an old listed villa, used as a prestigious headquarters. Next to it, two other solitaires house the communication and research laboratories. The new administration building lies behind it, gently embedded in the villa’s park. Designed as a tree house, it promises fresh air, a play of light and shade and a great deal of transparency. The slight staggering of the four building sections breaks up the mass, and the greening of the terraces and façades creates flowing transitions from inside to outside. The greenery of the park is reflected in the generous glazing.

Spatial organisation
The ground floor, as the most public zone of the building, accommodates the reception and special zones with conference area, canteen and fitness area. A staircase opposite the reception area and access routes assigned to the different parts of the building lead to the upper office floors. Cut-in loggias link the office zone with the outdoor space and allow informal communication and temporary outdoor working. Exterior spiral staircases serve both as escape routes and as meeting zones for staff.

Materiality
The structure of the new administration building is planned as a hybrid in wood and concrete. The inner building brace with the vertical supply and access facilities is designed as an in-situ concrete structure. Exposed concrete on ceilings and walls as well as grey terrazzo flooring characterise the appearance. The individual office zones to the north and south are built of solid wood and rounded off with parquet flooring and wooden façade elements. Glazed to the maximum, the wooden system partitions and doors maintain the transparent effect of the building even with acoustic requirements.

Façade
The timber façade is preceded by a non-load-bearing timber structure that accommodates elegant, projecting awnings and is grown on the ground with native plants. The vertically load-bearing timber structure of the façade consists of a skeleton of columns and beams in standard glulam.

Client: ARDEX Group GmbH
Location: D-58453 Witten, Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 45
Architecture: Dietrich | Untertrifaller
Project Management: Johannes Krüger, Nina Burri
Competition: 2022, 1. Prize
Constructiont: 2023 – 2024
Area: ca. 20.000 m²
Capacity: offices, conference rooms, canteen, fitness area, underground car park

Partners
statics: merz kley partner, Dornbirn / building srvices & electrics: HL Technik, Munich / landscape: Storch Landschaftsarchitektur, Dresden / fire protection: Kersken + Kirchner, Munich /// renderings: Dietrich | Untertrifaller