Mattes & Düxx

2019-2023
The project marks the completion of a project development that will transform the headquarters of STRABAG in Germany, founded in 1945 on Siegburger Strasse in Cologne, into a lively office campus for various service providers. Following the relocation of the head office to the rear of the site, an architectural competition was held in 2019 to tender the extension and closure of the office park to Siegburger Strasse. As the winner of this competition, we developed two different buildings: Mattes and Düxx, which together with the head office form an urban ensemble.

The Mattes building block, a 4- to 7-storey polygonal ring, thematises the accessibility and permeability to the rear main administration building through three large-format passageways into a green inner courtyard protected from street noise, from which all units are accessed. Sculptural staircases are not only 2nd escape routes here, but also external access routes from the offices into the inner courtyard, structuring façade elements and colour accents of the building.

The Düxx building block, a 16-storey high-rise, prepares a dialogue with the future Deutz harbour development (COBE master plan, Copenhagen). A triangular open space on Siegburger Strasse is the forecourt of the office campus and arrival point for people coming from the harbour district. By twisting the base storeys of the high-rise, the administrative centre at the rear is also connected to Siegburger Strasse. The high-rise building is thus turned in the direction of the future high points of the harbour quarter in order to correspond with these in the urban space. Recesses in the cubature on the 5th and 8th floors allow for green terraces with views over the new harbour district as far as Cologne Cathedral.