Sonnenhof by J. MAYER H. Architects ready for Construction
© Courtesy of J. MAYER H. Architects
A ceremony on April 16th marked the official groundbreaking of “Sonnenhof”, a landmark development designed by J. MAYER H. Architects consisting of four new office and apartment buildings extending over several allotments in the historic center of Jena, Germany.
© Courtesy of J. MAYER H. Architects
Spanning over approximately half of the lot, the four-building complex leaves a large part of the space open for public use during the day, permitting a free flow of pedestrian traffic across the area. The buildings, situated on the edges of the lot, frame a small, urban courtyard typical to medieval city structures. Passages between the individual buildings connect them to the surrounding public-use areas, making it an important junction in the urban network. The mixed-use concept supporting a small scale, flexible use scenario facilitates a seamless integration into the existing urban fabric, while the design of the outer buildings takes up the geometry of the polygonal shapes in the facade, continuing their graphics across the floor. The resulting surfaces are often extended and “programmed” into the third dimension, forming a sculptural set of wedges and steles integrating such functional elements as flower beds, ventilation openings, seating and lighting fixtures and thus transforming the open areas into attractive, urban leisure spaces.
© Courtesy of J. MAYER H. Architects
Architect: J. MAYER H. Architects, Berlin
Location: Jena, Germany
Client: Wohnungsgenossenschaft “Carl Zeiss” eG, Jena
Total Floor Area: approx. 10.000 sqm
Design Start: 2008
Construction Period: 2010 -2012
star wars/trek architecture
Horrible, fake, wannabe architecture.
Hey there – wake up to the 21st c
I don’t think it’s THAT bad… They are doing a few things right:
- Acknowledging the exiting buildings by using similar scale & massing.
- Respecting the street grid by building to the street wall, putting retail at ground level & providing mid-block courtyards that are open to all.
- Using a contemporary design language, rather than faux-historical.
Having said that, the 3 renderings don’t present a convincing argument for the strange aesthetic. For example, they could have developed an interesting contrast with the surrounding buildings, but they missed that opportunity by doing “sugar cube” neighbors. Or they could have shown us some examples of the 2D/3D integration they discuss in their last 2 sentences, but again the images are lacking. It will be really interesting to see photos of the completed project, it seems like it could flop or fly.
student project
he is repeating himself in a bad way…
i like this-the architects seem to have considered the scale of the building forms, and how it can fit into the fabric of the surrounding neighbourhood. Nice to see design is 3 dimensional, not a collection of facades and kit-of-parts components. Design is crisp, and suited to our time. I’m sure the open areas and street level retail will be more interesting in real life with additional signage, street furniture and (hopefully) soft landscaping.
On the other hand…
unless it is cleaned often, one may be concerned that the white elements, especially where the “roof” curves to become “wall”, will quickly get dirty, undermining the clean contemporary look the designers have acheived. Very careful (and potentially expensive) detailing, especially integration of messy elements (ventilation systems, rainwater control, fastening and flashings etc) plus careful construction review will be required to actualize this design concept. Perhaps in Germany this is the norm, over here this would be a significant challenge, especially for a commercial/residential development project.
Good luck, look forward to seeing the completed project.
if one of my first year students handed this up, it would probably pass, but only because it seems to have a fascination with the digital aesthetic.
otherwise, all us lecturers would gag openly and give it a low P.
hideous- digital design going too far- can’t the architect SEE this is revolting?
Why would that design, in any way, be called ‘digital’ ?
I don’t get it …
You mean ? Made by computers ?
Ahahah
I’m sure you are right, the architect would not SEE this as an argument for revolting !
Nicely Designed: Sonnenhof. http://bit.ly/cELQbE
RT @nicholaspatten Nicely Designed: Sonnenhof. http://bit.ly/cELQbE
It is the future of our cites, no restangular shapes, no Plato clear geometry… Not only for famous buildings, but for regular houses. It is close to my view of architecture.
Well you should try live in a crooked space with a triangular window… in time you’ll become crooked too.
This project is in my hometown, so I may tell you a bit more:
The client of the project is a landlord company with over 6000 flats in the city, they know exactly how buildings grow old. they want to have their own new shiny offices in this building, so they really take care of the quality!
This project is one of two parts. Next to the market place is the old building “zur Sonne”, build in the year 1370. This will be refurbished by local architects “Rittmannsperger und Partner” (www.rittmannsperger.de). The client will spend about 5,4 million € for that.
The second part is the building complex by “Jürgen Meyer H” with shops in the ground floor, office in the next floors and 29 flats in upper floors. The client will spend 21 million € for the second part.
Here is the project website of the client:
http://www.wgcarlzeiss.de/de/immobilien/Intro_Sonne-Sonnenhof/
Woah thank you Claus.
You put it in a real-estate context.
This program (mixed use office-appartment) is an everyday situation for architects , and the resulting buildings all over the globe are ALWAYS nightmares we would never even dare to mention on Arch Daily. I look at this project, and I respect everything they chose to do. Here is one that dares, but in a clever manner. It shows a lot of quality to me.
it’s good front ..but the form is strange…!!
sorry.. but i’m gonna vomit…
9:48 AM Apr 23rd
Sonnenhof by J. MAYER H. Architects ready for Construction: © Courtesy of J. MAYER H. Architects
A cere… http://bit.ly/cnJR7P #archdaily