Deloitte & Touche, Düsseldorf: Office Building in New Spheres
Architects Deilmann Koch have created Spherion, a remarkable new office building, for Deloitte & Touche in Düsseldorf: Its architecture reflects today’s corporate culture and sets new ecological and economic standards.Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu employs 120,000 staff in close to 150 countries world-wide, and more than 850 in Düsseldorf alone: The company’s steady growth eventually called for a new office building.
Deloitte & Touche Düsseldorf’s new building was born from the desire to create contemporary architecture reflecting the company’s identity. The new office building had to fit into the urban environment, while setting a new standard in terms of ecology and economy. With Spherion, the architectural partners Deilmann Koch have created a daylight-flooded complex which meets all these requirements.
Deloitte & Touche’s new headquarters in Schwannstraße 6 consists of four buildings in four different colours symbolising the four service areas of Audit, Tax, Financial Advisory and Consulting. The individual buildings are connected by transparent bridge structures and are arranged around a 30-metre central atrium which serves as entrance hall, hub of communication and meeting space. A delicate-looking, elliptical glass roof – with 3,500 m2 the largest unsupported dome structure at present in Europe – integrates the four buildings and the atrium into one whole, making Spherion a one-of-a-kind original.
A smart building.
Spherion is ambitious in design also because of its smart approach to energy saving: A heating/cooling system called "Temperierung" was built into the building’s core, which is heated and cooled by taking advantage of the vast area of concrete ceilings. The building is cooled at night using the available cold air, rendering conventional air conditioning superfluous.
To sustain optimum lighting conditions throughout the day, the architects integrated a decentralised, daylight-independent lighting management system for individual adjustment into the building’s artificial lighting system: This ensures the supply of exactly the amount of artificial light required under prevailing daylight conditions.
The need for flexible response to fast-changing workplace demands was also taken into account: An electronic system of electrical installations makes retrofitting electrical wiring and data/IT cables easy. A system of sprinklers covering the entire area enables the free arrangement of office floor space without requiring electrical & IT networks to be laid through fire walls and bulkheads. Together with flexible dividing walls, this system helps bring about a dynamic officescape.
Transparency, New Work and Communication.
Generous glass panel areas, especially on the six office floors, produce a positive and friendly work environment in all weather conditions. The resulting transparency ensures optimum use of daylight and supports an open and communicative work style. The building concept incorporates ideas and approaches of the New Work philosophy: The building’s floor plan is designed for flexible arrangement of departments or operational units, allowing different configurations at any given moment.
All of the approximately 800 employees have workplaces with an optimum level of openness and flexibility: For the workplaces to be organised as compactly as possible, the architects have developed workstations with a vertical organisation of most resources: Monitor, lamp and shelf boards are mounted against the wall above the workstation, next to shelves and cabinets. The desks can thus be detached from the wall, available for meetings of any configuration.
The office dividing walls, covering 3,300 running metres of wall panels and consisting of 11,000 panels for 580 office rooms, are supplied by Bene. The available 1- and 2-person offices are supplemented by open-floor areas for temporary workplace use. more
The generous atrium, which is protected from the adversities of the weather, is the undisputed hub of communication: A bar-coffee-room, a library and a training and conference centre provide a stimulating environment and serve as an ideal space for easy, laid-back communication all year round. The daylight entering through the glass dome paints changing, attractive patterns of light, colour and shadow: a natural accentuation of the vibrant and motivating work style that prevails in the Spherion. It is indeed the entire office building and not the individual office that becomes workplace for each and every employee.
