OFFICE BUILDINGS

Dear Readers,

In southern Germany, dirndls and lederhosen currently dominate the cityscapes: it’s Oktoberfest time! Personally, I’m not too enthusiastic about either the Munich or Stuttgart Beer Festivals. Beer, marquee music and enthusiastically singing contemporaries are just as suspect to me as the exterior and interior of the stalls and beer tents. However, there is reason for hope – the design of marquees could become an (interior) architectural task in the future. At least, that’s the promise of a Stuttgart beer tent keeper. We’ll keep an eye on this positive development. Unaffected by the Oktoberfest fever, we have dedicated ourselves to the current theme of offices and administration, selecting office projects ranging from 335 to 29,000 square metres that impress with their outstanding design, innovative concepts and conscious use of materials. They all share the idea of using inspiring interior design to provide an attractive meeting place for communication and focused work. It’s no longer a secret, at least since post-Corona, that office spaces need to be well and efficiently planned. The changes that need to take place in today’s working environments are explored by the Munich-based interior design firm Die Planstelle in the article “Hello again!”. A workplace solution can also be a small, clever one: at the University of Coburg, Ramona Böhm focused her master’s thesis on the design of a flexible workspace called Chameleon. Office buildings built of wood are still rare but future-proof. Partner and Partner Architekten from Berlin report on their sustainable and social aspects. Our columnist Benjamin Reding experienced firsthand that working on the train is not a new invention of Deutsche Bahn but was already a common practice among political and literary celebrities. From page 58, he shares this delightful memory. As every year, we welcome the first-year students of interior design and architecture programmes with a free AIT annual subscription. Send us your name, address and enrolment certificate – we look forward to fresh impetus in our ranks!

Best wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect