B. Braun Administration Building - Chris Dyson Architects limited

B. Braun Administration Building

Project Description:
The new administration building for B Braun AG is an extension to the Headquarters, Production and Distribution centre, situated on the south edge of the town of Melsungen, whose first stage of construction was completed in 1992. The triangular building continues the Masterplan strategy of articulating each building in a man-made landscape in order to avoid the monotony of a large monolithic industrial complex.
The building nestles into the space created by the existing administration building as it curves away from the orthogonal pattern of the storage and distribution buildings. It continues the layered organization, material palette and recessed window pattern of the administration building, and its elevated massing maintains the visual link between the open landscape and factory buildings. Facing south, it overlooks the complex and its prismatic form provides a clear and distinct identity.
Design Input:
The project was realized whilst working as an associate at Michael Wilford and Partners, London and Stuttgart.
Creative input: As lead designer Chris worked up proposals in direct response to client meetings held in Melsungen, Germany with Herr Braun, the company owner. Herr Braun was keen to demonstrate the continuity and forward thinking nature of the pharmaceutical business creating a solid and very flexible space headquarters, eschewing the convention for glass office façades and integrating displacement air ventilation into the triangulated plan of the external wall.