Municipal Utilities Willich Meerbusch

Trade, services, production, leisure and sport as well as culture and architectural monuments and a start-up center are grouped around an approximately 800 meter long water axis.

The Stadtwerke building will be one of the last structures to be erected in this area. 110 employees will work here in the future on an office area of approx. 3,500 m². The generous, open architecture is not only evident in the interior design, but also in the view from the outside. Transparency to the outside and inside, also through a lot of daylight, is an essential feature of the planning.

Facade

The front side with the main entrance facing the Gießerallee presents itself with a distinctive facade. The colors of these reflect the typical color palette of clinker with their beige and red tones. The facade appears light and modern without appearing as a foreign body in the built environment. The curtained ceramic facade reflects a lightness through its transparency and allows views from the inside.

Foyer & Office space

Inside the building, the visitor is welcomed by an open staircase, which, like a market square, serves as a meeting point and communication area. The subject of lightness and transparency, which also takes into account the working methods and the external impact of the municipal utilities, is conveyed here. This openness continues in the office space.

Modern Working Life & Office structure

When planning these areas, the different generations of employees were taken into account. Because different generations have different demands on their workplace and different ways of working. Agreeing these without, for example, leaving generation x behind or favoring the younger generation z can be a challenge. It was therefore important for the architecture office to combine these different working approaches in a modern office concept that, in addition to open spaces and communication areas, so-called Open spaces, including places of retreat in the form of meeting points and conference rooms. Think tanks also encourage flexible and focused work. The color scheme chosen here is based on the colors of the municipal utilities and sets lively, light accents.

Energy efficiency & sustainability

The energy-efficient design and implementation are elementary in line with the core area of responsibility of the municipal utility, as an energy supplier. Here, Schrammen Architects, in collaboration with the energy specialists at stw, developed several options for addressing the issue of sustainability.