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.

The company is one of the first to move to the site, formerly the scene of pre-war aeronautical research, as part of the area’s transformation into Berlin’s new City of Science and Technology. The sculptural, curving forms of the buildings relate well to their disorganized surroundings, which consist largely of the carcasses of abandoned scientific facilities. Playing with visual perception, the new additions appear sensuous rather than scientific; but their appearance belies a rational response to both site and function.

Prefabricated elements, and the integration of structure and services in that latter rise vertically in shafts along the spine and are distributed horizontally within the space of precast concrete U-shaped beams, allow the scientists to reach every part of the building for maximum flexibility. While the secondary smaller building, enclosed by glass wall, its facade animated by colored louvre blinds, gives a flexible production space of 7.5 m height for large-scale experiments: it is conceived as a simple steel building with walls entirely made of glass.

The theme of light led to the spectral color treatment on the skin of the buildings: 36 variant colors (of mineral paint) have been applied to the concrete columns within the double facade, and the solar blinds between the columns have been powder-coated from the same family of colors. A central spine runs along the length of the building, and leftable units are laid out at right angles to this spine which vary in size according to the undulations.

The double-skinned facade enables natural ventilation for the layer of offices at the perimeter whilst also providing a thermal buffer. In the case of The Photonics Center in Berlin, the building is clad varying tones in a representation of the color spectrum. Combined with the undulations, it leads to a building edge which could be perceived as oscillating. The Photonics Center has received international recognition by achieving various awards, for example the AIA Awars for Design Excellence and the WestHyp Architectural Prize.

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