New dm headquarters, called “dialogicum”, in Karlsruhe

The new dm headquarters, called "dialogicum", combine technological modernism and a human working atmosphere with the company's requests in terms of urban development and the spatial requirements of the location, thus providing a structural symbol for the corporate philosophy of the drugstore chain.

LRO Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei architects from Stuttgart positioned the administrative building on the property using a "minimally invasive" design. Contrary to the typically stringent architecture of corporate headquarters, the honeycomb-shaped floor plan with eight green patios was designed as an open floor plan with connections to the outside. With its low height of a maximum of three storeys, it blends in with the surroundings without obscuring any lines of sight or suppressing the topology of the surrounding residential areas.

True to the company's motto "Hier bin ich Mensch [...]" (Here I am human), the building offers around 1,600 workplaces on approx. 40,000 sqm, including an event hall for roughly 260 people, public meeting areas and a staff restaurant with a large outdoor area.

Challenge: prefabrication in easy-to-assemble components

Offices, public areas and meeting rooms were equipped with wave-shaped boundary elements from Vogl Deckensysteme, which provide a connection between the concrete back bars and the façade. The moulded plasterboard components were prefabricated in the factory as far as possible and conceal technical installations as well as an indirect lighting system.

Contrary to the first draft designs, it was impossible to mount the planned components, including mounted planking, ex-works on the construction site. The structural tolerances of the partly adjoining, partly penetrating back bars, as well as the necessary access to the framework during the assembly process, meant that the structure of the construction, as well as the division of the assemblies, had to be completely reviewed.
Due to fire protection specifications and the requirement to optimise the assembly process, the final implementation was then carried out using dimensionally stable components made of steel frames. These were factory-provided with brackets for fixing the lighting components and notches for CD profiles and the on-site curtain rail. Lindner SE mounted the components around the back bars using installation templates, and the varying linear areas between the back bars were subsequently connected to each other using CD profiles. Thanks to this construction, the technical installation could be fitted on site largely without thresholds. The surfaces could then be neatly planked using pre-cut plasterboard panels.

The end result impresses with a seamless organic connection of the interior with a view of the exterior. The moulded components with a high degree of prefabrication appear almost floating due to the indirect lighting and virtually frame the view "into the countryside".

zurück