Location: Großhöflein, Austria.

Architect: INNOCAD architecture.

The new competence center for MAM, a market leader in childcare articles, is designed to resemble a growing organism, with the intention of developing over time. The building’s concept is based on the principle of cellular division, with new parts separated from the previous ones while remaining connected. The result is an organic, growing building in which the respective building sections flow seamlessly into each other. The design is democratic and optimally human-centered, with each part functioning on its own but benefiting and feeding off of the others.

The building’s sections follow the terrain and blend into the undulating landscape, with movable, reddish-brown, patinated, and perforated lamellae on the facade and green roofs following the natural intention of the landscape. Each building’s cell nucleus creates a two-story atrium with a greenhouse-like roof that offers the employees a hybrid between inside and outside. The atrium serves as an interaction and recreation space, as well as a thermal buffer for the energy concept. The building’s central functions are arranged around the indoor garden, followed by collaborative zones offering open communication and temporary work areas. Alongside the facade are work desks and rooms for retreat and focused working, with a single access ring of circulation connecting all zones. The building’s parts interlink at the stairwell’s intersection and allow for simple expansion should there be a need for it. The rooftop gardens at various heights in different building parts improve the overall quality of workplace life for the employees. Where the second and third construction phases overlap, there will be an atrium spanning over all levels, with a stair for lounging and split levels for open flow and various communication spaces fostering the exchange of all employees. The building embodies a highly efficient system in terms of volume and movement, with meandering circulation areas and seamless alignment of individual collaboration and core zones.

Photo credit: Dinko Jelečević (render) / INNOCAD architecture (plans).