Office buildings

Zalando headquarters, Berlin

Berlin, Germany / 09.2016 - 09.2018

PORR was commissioned to construct two new office buildings at the headquarters of this well-known German online mail order company for shoes and clothing in Berlin. The two buildings comprise a gross floor area of around 50,000m².

The architectural design was based on the characteristic perimeter block development style prevalent in Berlin. In this case, however, the inner courtyards have been moved to the outer edges of the properties, creating a connection to public urban spaces. The translucent façade surfaces give the buildings an air of transparency and lightness.

Working environments of the future

Zalando is one of Europe’s leading online fashion retailers and places great value on innovation and creativity, not least with regard to its headquarters in Berlin. The new headquarters offer an attractive working environment that meets all the requirements of modern and flexible working. The challenges involved in the planning and execution of this complex design were correspondingly high. The heart of the main building is the vertical atrium, which extends throughout the entire building from top to bottom,

View of the pointed corner of the building; the translucent façade surfaces can be seen; an eagle flies in the sky on the right; the glass front of the neighbouring building can be seen in the background — © PORR / UBM / Linus Lintner

Facts & Figures

Company

PORR GmbH & Co. KGaA, pde Integrale Planung GmbH

Type

Office buildings, Technical building services planning, Architecture, Structural design, Building certification

Runtime

09.2016 - 09.2018

Principal

MGO I + II Development GmbH & Co. KG; Projektgesellschaften der Münchner Grund Immobilien Bauträger GmbH

Room for growth

letting daylight in as far as the ground floor. The central lobby is flanked by a staircase with seating and lounge areas and can also be used for events. The building also houses so-called “living rooms” which are designed to promote social interaction by offering a variety of communal spaces: sofa suites with a co-working flair, kitchenettes with wooden tables and bar stools, and a balustrade with space for your laptop and an unobstructed view across the entire atrium. Open staircases enhance the flow of communication and connections between these communal areas on the individual floors.

Building and planning from a single source

PORR’s scope of services included not only the construction, but also the general planning and the entire execution planning, which was carried out by pde Integrale Planung. A team of experts from PORR’s Berlin and Düsseldorf branches used BIM (building information modelling) to ensure optimum coordination between the architecture, structural design, mechanical and electrical engineering, and sustainability aspects.

Further Facts
Zalando headquarters, Berlin

Service duration: 09.2016 - 09.2018

What ultimately counts in the construction business is successfully completed projects. PORR has many of these.

Building from the inside; at the end of the wooden staircase is a glass partition wall in front of which are concrete pillars; the lights are drawn through the individual floors with LED strips; the atrium extends over the entire height of the building and also allows a view of the parapets on the 2nd and 3rd floors. — © PORR / UBM / Linus Lintner