Simon Menges, Nino Tugushi
In early 2024, the new TRUMPF training center was completed on the company campus in Ditzingen, right next to the “Blautopf” company restaurant, which opened in 2008. Both buildings share a polygonal shape, a hybrid wood construction, and their function as social hubs. The learning workshop includes training, meeting, and social rooms, as well as workshops and machine halls for teaching. Here, up to 100 young professionals are introduced to the company's process chain. The centerpiece is the auditorium, which can accommodate up to 400 people as an event space. The training center opens up to the campus, in whose park landscape it is embedded, with large-format glazing. A newly designed forecourt connects the entrance with the service center, while a terraced garden serves as a transition to the company restaurant. A partially covered outdoor area provides space for breaks and teaching activities. The floor plan is hexagonal in shape with six honeycomb-shaped room modules grouped around the central, also hexagonal, auditorium. The two-story event space can be used for teaching, breaks, and internal events. Seating steps connect the ground floor and upper floor. Curtains can be used to completely separate the auditorium. The skylight in the center of the roof structure filters daylight through a crystalline, textile diffuser construction and ensures uniform lighting. The honeycomb-shaped modules are one or two stories high, with different room heights depending on their use. Workshops are two stories high, while classrooms and reception areas are one story high. The foyer serves as a central distribution zone and exhibition area and flows seamlessly into the forecourt. The basement houses changing rooms and access to the underground tunnel system, which provides a weather-independent connection to offices and production facilities. The upper floor features flexible seminar rooms that can be divided into zones using curtains. In addition to work and training rooms, there is a band rehearsal room, which was co-designed by trainees. Natural wood surfaces create a pleasant atmosphere. All wooden components were prefabricated and assembled on site. Columns, beams, and roof trusses are made of glued laminated timber, while the exterior walls are constructed of wood panels and, in some cases, half-timbered structures. The false ceilings of the two-story honeycombs are designed as a wood-concrete composite construction. The grandstand construction in the auditorium is made of cross-laminated timber. Special attention was paid to the roof construction, whose radially running glulam beams are supported on the exterior walls and interior columns and cantilever out to the central skylight. The ring-shaped interior supports serve as pivot points for the different beam angles created by the fanning out. The skylight not only forms the center of the supporting structure, but also provides the room with natural light and served as the central crane location during the construction phase. The exterior façade forms a crystalline-looking shell with six fully glazed front sides. Between them are V-shaped wall panels on which the radially arranged wooden roof rests. In the workshop areas, the structure opens up to reveal a wooden truss that allows additional daylight to enter. Translucent profiled glass panels in front of the wall panels reinforce the lightness of the building. On the green roof, a 150 kWp photovoltaic system generates around 150,000 kWh of electricity per year, covering around 40% of the building's electricity requirements. The green roof also serves as a rainwater reservoir, cools the PV system, and improves the microclimate. The previously sealed surface of the building site was unsealed and integrated into the surrounding park landscape. Excavation was reduced by means of a smaller basement that only accommodates necessary uses.
Barkow Leibinger
