H&dM Receives First Prize for Sustainable SBB Office Building, Wankdorf City Bern

BERN, SWITZERLAND – We are happy to share that H&dM has won the competition for the new SBB office building next to their headquarters in Wankdorf, Bern. We participated in the design and build competition in collaboration with Losinger Marazzi.

SBB’s brief was to design a sustainable office building with around 600 workstations on 5 floors. This building will allow for a closer collaboration of co-workers on one site, instead of several offices dispersed throughout the city. The floor plan is simple and highly flexible with two central cores. Two existing egress exits and shafts from the underground parking are integrated into the new building. Their organic shapes form the only two ‘disruptive elements’ of the overall linear architectural language which mirrors the geometrical grids of the surrounding office buildings while creating a strong identity for the new building.

To meet the ambitious sustainability goals of the client brief, the project team, holzprojekt, and WMM Ingenieure developed a structural system that minimizes the use of concrete. The floors above ground will be executed with a flexible timber construction that can eventually be fully dismantled and re-used. The operational energy use will be minimized through a low-tech ventilation system and energy-efficient heating/cooling systems planned by Anima Engineering AG. PV panels integrated in the façade and roof will generate the energy needed for the office spaces.

Maximizing the distance to the neighboring building allows the project to have a spacious inner courtyard. The moorland landscape concept, designed by Bryum, provides a healthy micro-climate for the site and enables low-tech rainwater management. In addition to the plants on the facade and the roof garden, the moorland is part of an overall enriched greenery concept for the Wankdorf City neighbourhood, providing natural shading and high-quality spaces for informal exchange and public life.