Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk

The design was submitted for a competition for approximately 30,000 m2 of administrative and television production facilities for the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk in Leipzig.

The site is the now disused city abattoir, located adjacent to the old Leipzig Messe grounds.  It contains important examples of late nineteenth century industrial architecture which were important to preserve and integrate into the new proposals.

The design locates a major proportion of the administrative functions in low rise buildings organised as linear strips interspersed with gardens.  This spatial principle governs both the conversion of an existing listed structure (by removing every alternative bay) and the new administrative buildings, which are simple structures consisting of landscaped roofs and full height vertical glazed walls. The linear buildings define a large scale central landscaped space: the Artgarten.

The TV production building integrates complex organisational requirements and addresses the larger scale of buildings along Altenburgerstrasse. The linear spatial organisation characteristic of the administration buildings is repeated here, dividing the highly serviced studio/production facilities from the editorial/office accommodation with a public glazed galleria crossed by bridges.

The landscape concept is informed by an interaction between two intersecting linear geometries generated by the architecture and by linear patterns of alternating species of grasses and orchard trees running north-south, and a variety of hard landscape materials running east-west. The grassed areas are maintained by flocks of sheep as a gesture to the past.