XML designed a new United Nations headquarters in Bonn. Part of the plan is a new 14,000m² sustainable building for the UNFCCC, the part of the United Nations that is involved with international consultations about climate change, including the Kyoto protocol. Providing sufficient cooling and comfortable lighting conditions are important challenges when designing an energy efficient office building. By placing the glass facades under an angle, direct sunlight is avoided in Summer, reducing the need for cooling. Comparable to traffic towers at airports, the angled facade reduces glare, providing the office workers with unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape.
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For the planting of the connecting landscape all 193 UN member states will be invited to donate a plant. This way the landscape subtly describes the global nature of the United Nations. The angled glass facades reflect the surrounding world-landscape. Here, the typically anonymous architecture of international institutions blends together with the local context and the remarkable biodiversity of the campus landscape of plants and trees from all over the world. The appearance of the building as an unfolding, reflective history becomes the representation of sustainability.
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United Natures
ClientFederal German government
LocationBonn, Germany
ProgramOffices
Size14000 m²
CollaboratorLOLA Landschape Architects
AdviserABT (structure, installations, sustainability, cost analysis)
StatusHonorable Mention (second phase international competition)
