LEONARDO Brand Building in Bad Driburg

The LEONARDO glass cube appears futuristic, surreal. As if it was from another world and had just landed gently in Bad Driburg. It fascinates through its opposites: organic, flowing shapes inside a strictly geometric shell. A neuronal network of roads connects the space ship with its landing place. An inner light makes it appear vivid, so the dynamics within can be sensed.

But let’s get back down to earth and the question of how did it come to this spacey design. A building supposed to express corporate identity and providing space for creativity, exhibitions and events. This is what the Principal had in mind. His products are well-known, unconventional and popular. Trendy, shapely glass objects for flowers, beverages and salads, designed by his own or other designers, well-known on an international level. The company wants to inspire people, grab their senses, and this – apart from high aspirations regarding design – is also supposed to be expressed through architecture. 3deluxe was chosen to be in charge of the design, a transdisciplinary team combining architecture, interior architecture and art as well as graphic, media and product design with each other.

It was clear that glass was to be used, preferably for the façade. However, this component was not only to be a meeting point of inside and outside, but also of reality and surreality. This called for something filigree, a construction in which the supporting elements give way to the glass areas, rather invisible. The solution 3deluxe came up with in cooperation with the engineering bureau Schlaich, Bergermann und Partner, is simpl(e)y (and) fascinating: The glass façade, 36 meters in length on each side of the building, consists of 6 meters high, frameless LSG panes in the joints of which thin steel ropes are clamped between floor and ceiling. Disk springs compensate the deformation caused by wind pressure. A transparent printing with motives from the field of architecture and surrounding landscapes and real light reflections let reality and illusion melt into each other.

The interior’s concept is a room-within-a-room idea. Wave-like curved, white wall areas encase withdrawn showrooms and lounge areas. The construction of the freely formable inner wall is an innovation in the field of dry construction. Since the gypsum plaster boards of the outer facing can only be bent into one direction, the designers experimented with complex cuttings of oppositely bent boards.
Its neuronal structures the LEONARDO glass cube gets through the so-called genetics, pilaster-strips and network of roads. The three genetics are room-high, white sculptures connecting the individual building sections with each other and the shapes of which are mirrored in the superimposed pilaster-strips and the network of roads made of white concrete.

Invisible from outside: The 11 meters high glass cube has three floors. Via the 7 meters high first floor customers and visitors can look into the 4 meters high basement via bridges. Impressive are the vertical layouts of roads. The stairs nestle up against the curved, up to 10 meters high wall areas and remind of stairs inside a spaceship. On the way up the surreal façade look fascinates and inspires both at the same time. You may hear someone humming the Led Zeppelin ballad ”Stairway to Heaven“. It’s a shame the glass cube is anchored to the ground so firmly.

Constructor: LEONARDO / glaskoch B. Koch jr. GmbH, Bad Driburg, Germany
Architect: 3deluxe, Wiesbaden, Germany
Completion: May 2007

Floor space: 2,900 m²