Timber Hat: an aesthetically appealing and healthy corporate architecture

In a very normal industrial area south of Stuttgart, a corporate architecture attracts with its unusual pleasant aesthetics, even helping to recruit staff! The Timber Hat project truly influences the quality of the working experience inside

The large brimmed hat weaved with charred wood slats

The family company Hald & Grunewald commissioned the Rundzwei Architekten studio to design the new headquarters for offices and operational area, with the idea of rethinking the company, its image, and enhancing the well-being of the workers, bringing together all functions in one place. This is how Timber Hat was born: a "wooden hat" under which the company, optimized in the quality of spaces and workflow, continues its long history. The large brimmed hat, a weave of charred wood slats using the Japanese technique yakisugi, protects the building and the underlying facades in natural larch wood from weather and direct light

Architecture influences the experience of customers and workers

In contemporary industrial architecture projects, great attention is given to energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, as well as to the pleasantness of the experience not only for customers but also for workers. This is exactly the case with Timber Hat, which originates primarily from the revolution of workflow studied together with the employees. The building ends up influencing the openness of the collaborators who, proud of their headquarters, are more communicative and cooperate more easily

The large operational hall and the office volume

Hald & Grunewald operates in the sale and rental of forklifts, telescopic handlers, work platforms, and container solutions. It also provides training, maintenance, and repairs, with a total of 90 employees. The new headquarters consist of two main elements: a large operational hall 10 meters high and a three-story volume for offices and administration. The architectural principle of this building is "as much wood as possible"

As much wood as possible

The large hall is made of glulam beams and columns, with a wooden facade. The office block features a facade of precast concrete columns with wooden elements and floors in cross-laminated timber (CLT) resting on glulam beams. In the lobby, the only concrete floor is cast in place, with an oval opening at its center to accommodate a sculptural spiral steel staircase. Offices, training rooms, as well as the cafeteria and common areas are all visually connected through glass walls

Gallery

Photo credits
Top image, content and gallery images: Gui Rebelo

Drawings: rundzwei Architekten BDA

Designers credits
Architecture: rundzwei Architekten BDA
Project team rundzwei:
Paolo Bradicic, Marc Dufour-Feronce, Sunghoon Go, Asya Güney, Deborah Matter, Marie Nägele, Hannah Reckenthäler, Andreas Reeg, Shadi Zaghloul

Companies credits
Project management: Ulrich Franke GmbH, Bau Consulting + Control, Berlin
MEP engineering: Janowski Ingenieure, Berlin
Fire protection consultant: brandschutz plus, Berlin
Building physics: ELB Energieberater im Land Brandenburg, Potsdam
Structural engineering: knippershelbig, Stuttgart
General contractor: Brüninghoff GROUP, Heiden
Heating and plumbing: Gühring Heiz- und Sanitärtechnik, Rottenburg
Electrical systems: elektro breitling, Holzgerlingen

PEOPLE

Rundzwei Architekten

Goethestraße 2-3, 10623 Berlin - Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district, Germany