Iridescent lozenges made of cast glass: the Futurium in Berlin

Exactly how this building will be used must still be clarified. The user, the Futurium GmbH, is currently developing concepts. Although completed at the beginning of the year, the building will only be officially opened in spring of 2019. However, the sculptural volume already determines the character of urban space. The floor slabs that cantilever up to 18 metres to the north and south form large, covered forecourts. Furnished with bench seats and planters, already they are a popular place for people to spend time. The ground that rises towards the building has been given a pattern of dots that lends it a very individual character.

From the very start collaboration between the specialist planners in this project was highly important and a precondition for its success. It was not only the structural engineer on whom demands were made but, in particular, also the facade planner. The coffer elements, more than 8000 in number, are not a standard product but were developed especially for this project. Each measuring 70x 7O cm, they consist of differently folded metal reflectors and ceramic printed cast glass and together produce an appearance that alters with the incidence of light. At some places there are solid walls behind these front hung elements but at others there are openings through which light enters the offices lying behind. In these areas the lozenge-shaped coffers can be opened for ventilation purposes.

The two large areas of glazing, one in the south measuring 8 x 28 m, its counterpart in the north 11 x 28 m, are conceived entirely differently. Here large, grey-tinted panes offer spectacular views of present-day urban space from inside the “spaces of the future”.