22.10.2024

The Hive by Henning Larsen

Building design

The Henning Larsen office is responsible for the new business property “THE HIVE” in Munich’s up-and-coming Berg am Laim district. The signature of the office founded by the “Master of Light” is unmistakable.

Berg am Laim is a Munich district on the upswing and has undergone a profound transformation in recent years that continues to this day. First mentioned in the ninth century, the historic suburb of the Bavarian capital benefited from its fortunate location above a fertile tongue of clay. This was not only to provide fertile soil, but also, spurred on by the onset of the industrial revolution, to help the local brick production boom. Today, bricks from Berg am Laim can be found in large parts of Munich’s city center, most prominently in the Frauenkirche, for example. At the end of the 20th century, when the last industrial chimney in Berg am Laim had long since gone out, the largest party and event area in Europe was created here on around nine hectares of land belonging to a former potato processor. Since then, Berg am Laim has been home to some of the most exciting urban development projects in the Bavarian capital. In addition to the hip cultural and commercial center “Werksviertel”, as the former party area is now called, the recently completed creative quarter “Die Macherei” with its mix of office, hotel, retail and restaurant space is particularly eye-catching.

Just around the corner, a short walk from both the Werksviertel and the Macherei, is one of the latest development projects in Berg am Laim: “THE HIVE”, a business property that lays claim to premium status in terms of architecture, materiality and design, and underlines this with the choice of architects. Henning Larsen’s signature is unmistakable in the building design as soon as you enter the building, as he is known to have placed great value on a finely balanced relationship between light and space during his lifetime. With THE HIVE, the Copenhagen office leaves nothing to chance in either respect, leaving no ray of sunlight unthought of and no cubic centimetre unused. It may be driven by a certain Scandinavian longing for warmth and brightness, as people in the north are forced to make careful use of the available hours of sunshine: Every detail in THE HIVE is designed to create a cozy lighting atmosphere. This is evidenced not only by the floor-to-ceiling windows, which allow maximum daylight into the building, but also by the color scheme and surface finish of the accent elements such as panels and window frames. They emphasize the warm overall impression of the natural interior lighting concept and create a constantly changing, subtle play of light with golden reflections in the interior throughout the day. This is emphasized by the office areas on all sides with window fronts in all directions. Stairwells and sanitary facilities are concentrated in the middle of the floor plan, allowing the office areas to be flooded with light all around.

At THE HIVE, Henning Larsen placed particular emphasis on offering the greatest possible degree of spatial design freedom in order to implement individual office solutions and, if necessary, to be able to react flexibly to changing business situations. After all, the feel-good factor in the office is becoming increasingly important, as it is now competing more and more with your own living room. An excellently designed office concept can also tip the scales in the search for highly qualified personnel. THE HIVE takes these facts fully into account, with a floor plan that places as few restrictions as possible on the design options of future users and allows for all kinds of modern office concepts, from individual offices to open creative landscapes. In addition, open spaces are seamlessly integrated into the spatial concept on and around the building. While the inner courtyard on the first floor is ideal for integrating a restaurant, among other things, the higher floors have terraces that can be individually designed. Finally, the roof garden, which can also be customized, offers green retreats with far-reaching views over Munich.

In terms of energy, THE HIVE is designed according to the latest state of the art. Despite being connected to the city’s district heating network, THE HIVE is equipped with a water-to-water heat pump that regulates the building’s temperature. The district heating is then only required during temperature peaks. Because current weather forecasts are also taken into account when regulating the flow temperature, the temperature of the building can also be controlled particularly proactively and efficiently. Heating and cooling energy is supplied to the rooms via concrete core activation and optionally via additional ceiling sails, whose connections are already pre-installed. Thermal insulation glazing ensures that the interior spaces do not heat up excessively even in summer, despite the generous window areas. Aspects of the sustainable concept at THE HIVE can also be seen in initially inconspicuous details, such as the facility management’s e-service tractor. The area surrounding THE HIVE offers numerous options for getting to and from the building by public transport. The two train stations Berg am Laim and München Ost are just a few minutes away on foot or, if you want to travel a little faster, by bus. From there, it’s just a stone’s throw to destinations such as the city center, the main train station or Munich Airport. The numerous dining and shopping options in the Werksviertel and Macherei districts are also within easy walking distance – for lunch breaks, for example.

More information about The Hive can be found on the project website.

Pictures: Dominik Baur-Callwey

22.12.2024

EVA Conference 2015

Building design

A conference on the quality of digital media and techniques The EVA (Electronic Media and Visual Arts) conference took place for the 22nd time at the beginning of November at the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts. This annual gathering of users, developers and mediators of electronic documentation and communication techniques has been held at an international level for 26 years, with venues such as London, Florence, Moscow and Jerusalem […]

A conference on the quality of digital media and techniques

The EVA (Electronic Media and Visual Arts) conference took place for the 22nd time at the beginning of November at the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts. This annual gathering of users, developers and mediators of electronic documentation and communication technologies has been held at an international level for 26 years, with venues including London, Florence, Moscow and Jerusalem. Even if the focus changes from year to year, the EVA conference, with its seismographic recording of technical trends, has become an integral part of the cultural sector.

While in recent years the focus has been on the development of 3D technologies or the digitalization of soundscapes, this year’s conference focused on the quality of digital media and technologies. A wide range of questions relating to visualization, digitization and staging were discussed in lectures and workshops. How unique are works of art if they can be perfectly reproduced or scanned in high resolution? What possibilities does this open up for everyday museum life? What is it like to live in a “smart city”? Electronic documentation and visualization techniques in the cultural sector were presented and discussed in a practical way.

For example, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research in Darmstadt presented the spectacular 3D visualization of the Pergamon Altar. In a record time of just one week, the entire altar was captured in 47 scan positions with 180 million generated pixels. The post-processing of the data naturally required an enormous amount of personnel and technical effort, but the result is a technical masterpiece that will delight the public. Will this set the standard for future projects of this kind? The work has not yet been completed and will be presented to the public at the beginning of next year.

Elisabeth Markevitch, who has created a user-friendly tool for designing exhibition spaces with her “IkonoSpace” software, showed that three-dimensional digital techniques can be a great help in curatorial and restoration work. Joachim Weinhold, a mathematician (3-D laboratory at the Institute of Mathematics at TU Berlin), described the exciting reconstruction of the foot of an Achilles sculpture in the tea room of the Berlin City Palace using 3-D printing.

Will digital technology replace the “analog” museum? Dr. Andreas Bienert from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB) does not see this danger. Rather, the complexity of perceptual possibilities and the new digital representations would complement the haptic museum offer. Bienert has been the initiator and organizer of the conference, which always attracts top-class speakers, for many years and advocates open and open-minded communication between technical experts and cultural partners. In his opinion, the EVA events are legitimized and justified by interdisciplinarity and mutual exchange.

With almost 200 visitors this year, he draws a positive conclusion from EVA Berlin 2015, noting that in addition to the presentation of technical innovations, there has recently been an interest from political and cultural institutions in questions of culture and computer science. Unfortunately, this is also due to the disturbing reality of the major destruction of cultural heritage in the Middle East, said Bienert on the fringes of the exciting conference.

The comprehensive conference proceedings are available to download free of charge on the EVA platform.
You can find an interview on the significance of the conference in today’s academic world here.

02.06.2020

Design

Scenes from the Cimetière Saint-Pierre in Marseille

Building design

STEIN presents a photo gallery featuring historic tombs from France’s third-largest cemetery.

Steinonline_Titel — Saint-Pierre has plenty of sculptures like these to offer. Photo: Anne Fischer

Steinonline2 — Local limestone is the primary material used for most of the tombstones. Photo: Anne Fischer

Steinonline3 — And depending on the section of the cemetery, they can be quite impressive. Photo: Anne Fischer

steinonline4 — A stone picture frame as a grave ornament. Photo: Anne Fischer

steinonline5 — In the background, a touch of modernity—in the form of large urn fields. Photo: Anne Fischer

steinoline6 — Even a hundred years ago, there were already off-the-shelf products—just on a mausoleum scale. Photo: Anne Fischer

steinonline7 — The ravages of time take their toll; the administration cannot preserve all the gravestones. Photo: Anne Fischer

steinonline9 — A mausoleum door clad in natural stone. Photo: Anne Fischer

Steinonline10 — The historic gravestones are mostly found on pine-covered hills. Photo: Anne Fischer

steinonline8 — A flagship project, certainly even at the time of its creation. Photo: Anne Fischer

The mausoleums are falling into disrepair, while the urn fields are expanding

The Cimetière Saint-Pierre is one of the newer cemeteries of its kind: it was established in 1855 and officially inaugurated eight years later. Previously, the people of Marseille buried their loved ones in smaller parish, monastery, or hospital cemeteries—or at the central Saint-Charles Cemetery. Located in the city center, the latter quickly ran out of space and was permanently closed in 1876. Saint-Pierre replaced it, covering an area of 63 hectares.

At first glance, this seems overwhelming. But visitors quickly find their bearings by following the greenery: wherever pine trees grow on small slopes, they are sure to find the historic burial sites. Dozens of renowned French entrepreneurs and artists—including painters, sculptors, and singers—are buried here. Among them is the composer Vincent Scotto. He wished for the following epitaph: “All my life I have composed; today I am decaying.” However, it never came to pass—Scotto’s wife deemed this final wish inappropriate.

Saint-Pierre stands as a striking testament to the changing funeral culture in our neighboring country as well. Extraordinary—and above all, an extraordinary number of—mausoleums, sculptures, and funerary monuments commemorate the cemetery’s heyday—even if some of them are now aging and falling into disrepair in a regrettable state. Huge urn burial grounds down the hillside serve as their modern counterpart.

In total, around 150 employees now work at the cemetery, which contains 100,000 graves. Unusual to German eyes are the cars that, while not numerous, do pass through regularly. Saint-Pierre has a road network totaling 15 kilometers. In Marseille, too, the city administration is working to find solutions for the changing face of cemeteries. Among other initiatives, it has launched grave sponsorship programs and is attempting to catalog as many of the graves as possible in an online database. There is an interactive terminal at the cemetery (and also at the 20 others scattered throughout the city). Interested visitors can use it to search for the graves of famous people—or to find that of a relative on the vast grounds.

 The editorial team will continue the series “Impressions from the Cemetery” at irregular intervals—and welcomes suggestions and requests via email to redaktion@stein-magazin.de