SAB, Leipzig

A new headquarters for Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB), the Development Bank of the Free State of Saxony.

Project Details +

Project Details

LOCATION: Leipzig, Germany

CLIENT: Sächsische Aufbaubank - Förderbank

DATE: 2013 - 2021

STATUS: Built

SIZE: 22,500m² office building incl 265-seat auditorium, conference centre, canteen & restaurant, basement parking, 5,500m² public realm

Credits +

Credits

ACME

Concept Design:

Rafaela Bacher, Sarah Blahut, Felicity Vergès, Eileen Chen, Erik de Haan, Cristian Gheorghe, Katharina Kohlroser, Delphine Gautier Webb, Tim Laubinger, Friedrich Ludewig, Philipp Mecke, Martin Menacher, Francesca Micco, Isabel de la Mora, Dirk Müller, Pia Schreckenbach, Heidrun Schuhmann  


Detail Design:

Sarah Blahut,  Alia Centofanti, Eileen Chen, Götz Eberding, Piotr Fabirkiewicz, Cristian Gheorghe, Katrina Hollis, Rangel Karaivanov, Katharina Kohlroser, Tim Laubinger, Friedrich Ludewig, Philipp Mecke, Dirk Müller, Pia Schreckenbach, Heidrun Schuhmann, Matei Vlăsceanu


Construction Design:

Sarah Blahut, Piotr Fabirkiewicz, Cristian Gheorghe, Rangel Karaivanov, Tim Laubinger, Friedrich Ludewig, Philipp Mecke, Dirk Müller, Pia Schreckenbach, Heidrun Schuhmann, Matei Vlăsceanu


CONSULTANTS

Site supervision: Hahn-Muno 

MEP: Winter Ingenieure

Structural and Facade Engineer: knippershelbig

Fire Engineering, Acoustic Consultant and Building Physics: Müller BBM

Lighting Designer: Bartenbach

Energy Consultant: Transsolar

Landscape Design: Vogt / Simons & Hinze


CONTRACTORS

Main concrete frame: ARGE Rohbau / Ed. Züblin

Spun concrete columns and canopies: Fuchs Europoles

Terrazzo and Pre-cast stairs: Richard Bayer R. Bayer Betonsteinwerk

Furniture: Deutsche Werkstätten Lebensräume

Visual density

Main pedestrian routes

Clearings in the public realm

Leipzig is a mercantile city in Saxony with a proud history of trade, books and exchanges. In previous centuries, the site was the location for Leipzig’s stock exchange and tanning district. The site context is rather heterogeneous, dominated by socialist apartments and hotel towers alongside 19th century grand hotels and late-20th century office blocks. More recently, it was occupied by offices of the East German computer manufacturer Robotron. Designed by Leipzig architects, Rudolf Skoda and Ulrich Quester, the Robotron building was regarded as “Eastern Modernism”. The Robotron Kombinat Leipzig was dissolved in 1990.

The site was once an important part of Leipzig’s pleasure and ornamental gardens - Löhrs Garten designed by Johann Dauthes (1749-1816), commissioned by banker and merchant, Eberhard Heinrich Löhr (1725-1798). Löhr’s garden, acres of formal gardens with long, sweeping avenues, down which the city’s residents strolled together on balmy summer evenings in the 18th century was entered through a three-wing garden palace and the inner courtyard bordered by a colonnade. The cultivation of fresh herbs and vegetables and fruit trees took up a considerable part of the overall garden. The island of the pond could be accessed via a wooden bridge. The island was also known as “Snail Mountain”.

ACME’s design reinvents the typology of a bank as an imposing institution: the usual front of columns has been dissolved into a forest of supports. Columns work hard - supporting, shading, sheltering the building and open space.

The building's organic form reflects the client aspirations and commitment in supporting sustainability and innovation.

“With the SAB-Forum we have not only built an office building, but also contribute to the development of the district with the urban ensemble and create a public space for the city of Leipzig. With events, the publicly accessible wall reliefs in the building by pioneers of the Leipzig School and the freely accessible column garden, we want to open up to the people of Leipzig and their guests. The location of the new SAB headquarters in Leipzig and the metropolitan region of Central Germany supports the planned expansion of the bank’s customer and partner orientation.”

Dr. Katrin Leonhardt, CEO of Sächsische Aufbaubank

Ground floor plan

First floor plan

Third floor plan

Articles

Bauwelt 07.2022

Bauwelt 07.2022

FAZ 08.2021

Baunetz 07.2021

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