Reflective and interactive
berlin cube (DE)
The berlin cube, an eleven-storey office building looking like a dice, stands in the heart of Berlin. It’s a building with a reflective façade and sustainable building management.
Berlin, a city in constant change. The solitary building with the name “berlin cube“ on Washington Platz, right next to the Central Station, illustrates this clearly. With its glass façade, the perfect cubic body with side lengths of 42,5 meters with five equally important facades including the roof is reminiscent of looking into a kaleidoscope.
The architects at Danish firm 3XN have applied a dynamic principle to the berlin cube. Depending on your position and viewing angle, the building's reflective façade offers a varied almost kaleidoscopic reading of its surroundings.
Interacting with passers-by and the surroundings
“Our idea behind the sculpted design of the architectural body has been to explore new ways for office buildings to engage and enter dialogue with public space,” says Torben Østergaard, partner at 3XN, the project's architect.
The layering of the two facades creates reflections that provide the kaleidoscopic effect and creates the opportunity for outside balconies on the facade. These balconies are distributed around the building in such a way, so that the façade changes dynamically and all views of the building are unique. Looking at the façade, it is clear that the berlin cube is anything but ordinary, even from the inside.
Sustainability in the square
Inside the cube, the spectacular architecture continues and goes hand in hand with sustainable building management. The compact building has a fully glazed façade. The ventilated double skin façade allows daylight to enter while providing very effective protection against heat gain. The occupants benefit from natural ventilation.
The façade is part of a high/low tech energy management system based on energy shifting, where surplus energy, for example heat in one area, is converted into cooling in another. The building is more than 25% below the German Energy Saving Ordinance.
Selflearning Brain
berlin cube takes the Smart Building concept to the next level by implementing an intelligent exchange – a self-learning 'brain', the “Cube Brain”. This virtual assistant coordinates all individual systems such as access control, lift operation, climate and lighting control, booking systems, etc. These are connected and enable a more effective and engaging user experience. Residents access the intelligent system via an app.
Torben Østergaard says: “The building is designed to enable interaction with the user needs and demands and to respond to user patterns. The concept will enable guiding the users to a more intelligent and engaging experience and help save energy.“
Know-How Installed
The syphonic roof drainage system Geberit Pluvia uses pipes with small dimensions, which fill completely with water when it rains heavily. A closed water column thus forms in the pipe, which results in natural negative pressure and also ensures a high discharge rate. This is Know-How Installed.
