Z-UP Office and Residential Building by Architectural bureau Professor Wolfgang Kergaßner

A Z-shape with rounded corners and wide, white window reveals in 70s-style – the “Z-UP” Office and Residential Building.
A Z-shape with rounded corners and wide, white window reveals in 70s-style – those are the striking features of the “Z-UP” office and residential building completed in 2009, adjacent to the “Stuttgart 21” developmental area.

When driving from the B27 via Heilbronner-Straße towards Stuttgart downtown, you will be happy about the view of such an unusual building. Since where the LBBW administration building enters the stage with plenty of glass and pointy corner, the “Z-UP” boldly stands by the hillside, begging to differ. Right next to the former washhouse of the Postdörfle (postal village), renovated by Gerkan Marg and Partner.
The “Z” has been developed through an overlapping of the of the premise layout along with the Principal’s whish for a double. The “Up” stands for the development of the seven-story building with office usage and the separately erected, eight-story high residential building right behind it towards the hilltop. The offices protect the residential part from the noise coming from the busy Heilbronner Straße.

Despite the terrain’s enormous ascension the architects were successful in creating a main entrance to the office building. It cannot be reached via a flat surface, but via a generous, flatly inclined system of stairs and ramps. With a gesture like this you would expect a similar reception when entering the building, maybe a bright atrium or a lobby. Unfortunately, this is not the case, so one might think that the opening space which could not be rented out has fallen victim to “cost optimizations”. 

The offices, however, are large, bright and can be apportioned into up to four units per floor. Nearly two-thirds of the area house the “Das Beste” production headquarters of the Reader’s Digest publishing company. The opening system consisting of three parts allows for office areas to be lit by daylight all day long. Only the opening cores have been built in a massive construction. The office areas have been equipped with a component tempering. Due to the poor air quality ventilation is done mechanically.

Taking a closer look at the façade with the curved screens you will notice that there is a second façade right behind the first one with opening wings in standard dimensions for office buildings. Protected from the wind, sun shades are used for sun protection in the gap. The double façade, constructed as corridors and block façade, meets the high standards of noise and heat protection, the latter during summer.

The office building and the underground carpark stand on drilled piles up to 33 meters deep. Due to an official approval of plans they have been arranged and constructed in a way that three tunnel sections for trains of the suburban railway and the Deutsche Bahn can be pushed through in the future without shaking the building’s foundations.

Constructor: HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany
Architect: Architectural bureau Professor Wolfgang Kergaßner
Status: Completion: 2009
Size: GFA 18,300 m²