August 2009
New Research and Development Centre for Sedus
At the end of June, after approximately thirteen months of construction, the occupants were able to move into the new Sedus Research Centre at Dogern (in Waldshut, Germany). The entire development department and the purchasing department now work in the new premises, an improvement which will enable optimal networked collaboration. Finally, all development operations are now located close to the production department; this proximity will simplify many processes for the future.
Viewed from outside, this modest building is not spectacular. And neither does it wish to be — this is where the integral, and also the confidential, core processes of the company are realised. This is where strategic product development takes place, an ongoing crucial factor in determining Sedus’ market position.
Whilst taking into account the route and visual axis lines of the site, the Berlin architects Ludloff + Ludloff have created a building, which reminds one of a crystal. The ground floor is concrete, the top floor and roof are wood; in order to waterproof the building, it was lined with a sarking membrane, rather like an undergarment. For additional weather protection and privacy, an exterior textile façade of glass fibre fabric was installed, a feature which lends the building a misty and almost immaterial air.
One enters the building into a “real” and solid world of clear-cut styling. The staircase in the reception area has been kept in rough concrete to retain the workshop character of the building. The same goes for the ceilings, floors and stairs. The walls along the stairway are a poured-in-place concrete which was subsequently chiseled. This treatment was used to achieve its textured surface.
Once in the reception area, one chooses between entering the workshops located on the ground floor or going up a level to the realm of the engineers and designers. On the upper level, where development management, designers, engineers and the purchasing department are housed, a continuous window frieze imbues the space with a light, “floating” ambience. The integrated floor areas in red, natural rubber form the platform over which the “canopy” then floats, a roof construction comprising a folded gable roof and varying eaves heights.
A small, steel spiral staircase in a separate stairway leads up into a “thinking retreat” done out entirely in light blue. Here, in the zenith of the building, the daylight streams through the textile blended, frosted glass in the roof, and tangentially down into the project room below.
Located on the ground floor are all workshops for the model building, upholstering and metalworking divisions, each of which is managed by an expert in their respective field. This is where prototypes of all new products are manufactured and executed. From here, they are adopted straight into the series.
The use of colour throughout the building is characterised by subtle tones and tasteful accentuation. Apart from the light blue ceiling of the top floor, the red flooring and the bold violet tones in the spiral stairway, the only other strong colours are to be found in the washrooms where bright yellow is contrasted with dark brown. The general restraint exercised in the use of colour and the overall minimalist, functional ambience is not accidental: It is not distracting and from a visual, aesthetic point of view, it allows employees sufficient freedom in which to develop the Sedus products of the future and provides them with a space in which to channel the associated creative chaos.
Sedus Stoll AG, Research and Development Centre,
Gewerbestrasse 2, 79804 Dogern, Deutschland
Tel. +49 (77 51) 84-269, Fax +49 (77 51) 84-360
