The Photonics Center is the facility of an organization which conducts research into optics, optoelectronics and laser technology. Taking their cue from the research into light conducted by their client, Sauerbruch Hutton have created two curvaceous blob-like buildings in which color and lighting are used to remarkable effect. The two new buildings of The Photonics Center are conceived as volumes with soft contours which create a strong identity within the existing rectilinear context and yet which do not challenge the gentle coherence of the site.

However, the sinuous forms of The Photonics Center are at the same time a direct response to the requirements of the brief. The necessity for minimal circulation and the need for large zones without daylight (for optical laboratories) lead to a comparatively deep plan for the main building. The buildings appear even more weird and colorful through their location in an otherwise grey and depressingly functional environment of industrial-scale hangars and storage buildings.

(more…)