taz Neubau

After 25 years at the Rudi-Dutschke-Strasse across from Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin daily newspaper moves a block further south. The purchase of the plot Friedrichstrasse 20-22 allows the taz to unite its roughly 250 employees in the future media quarters next to the Bessel Park under one roof again.

Urban Development

In its prominent corner location, the new taz building must mediate between the traditional Berlin block and the solitary buildings from the period of the IBA. Our design combines the urban block and the corner: we adopt the height of a typical Berlin eave and continue the block; a subtle setback of the façade facing Friedrichstrasse creates a clearly accentuated entrance. Street, corner, and courtyard thus become the urban leitmotiv and convert the potential building envelope of the existing development plan into a simple and concise volume.

Architecture

The architectural design of the new house for the taz recalls the Moscow "Shabolovka" radio tower by Vladimir G. Shukhov from the early 1920s. Its structural system, conceived as a network, attempts to reach the greatest possible load capacity with the fewest possible elements.

The net is a structure in which all the parts must perform equally and only together can they achieve stability. It is a system with no hierarchy. The architectural appearance of the new house for the taz thus becomes simultaneously the structure and emblem of the organization.

The main structure is composed of diagonal bracings along the periphery of the building envelope and therefore does not require any additional support on the inside. The thirteen-meter, free-spanning office floors create a row-like, workshop atmosphere and are able to respond flexibly to a variety of different forms of use.