Philological institutes – HU Berlin

The building of the Philological Institutes of HU Berlin, which was originally built in 1981 as a faculty building for physics and electronics, is to be redeveloped. In the future, the foreign-language institutes and the language centre will be accommodated in an area of around 13,000m².
The existing building is a reinforced concrete skeleton structure built in the „ SK Berlin 1972 construction system“ with façades made of pre-cast exposed concrete elements, with sandstone facings, which in some cases also have aluminium panels.
The plan is to reduce the building to its shell and rebuild it in accordance with the space requirements while retaining the supporting structure. For the purpose of this redevelopment, WGA ZT GmbH has planned to replace some panel elements with large window openings and to install insulation with external shade from the sun (external blinds).
The design wraps the building in a new façade – most floors will have expanded metal, the ground floor will have a post-and-beam construction, which will transform the out-dated prefabricated building into a modern university building.