Alnatura Campus

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On the site of the former Kelley Barracks in the south-west of Darmstadt, the Alnatura Campus has become a remarkable place for contemporary working. The new building forms the heart of the 55,000m² headquarters of the organic food retailer and offers space for 500 employees as well as central infrastructure on a gross floor area of 13,500m².

For the first time in a project of this size, industrially prefabricated rammed earth elements with integrated core insulation and geothermal wall heating were used – a pioneering combination of traditional building material and innovative construction technology. The result is Europe’s largest office building with a clay façade – a milestone for sustainable construction.

The Alnatura Campus was awarded the German Sustainability Award for Architecture in 2019 and is a prime example of the future viability of natural building materials in an urban context – in terms of function, ecology and design.

Category

Trade

Attributes

Exterior wall, Core insulated, Thermally activated

Architecture

haas cook zemmrich STUDIO 2050

Customer

Campus 360 GmbH, Alnatura

Time period

2016-2017

Executiom

Lehm Ton Erde Baukunst GmbH

Location

DE, Darmstadt

Production type

Prefabricated production

Factory-based production, including the creation of production plans, mixing & tamping, as well as drying, packaging, & transport.

Field factory

A temporary production site set up close to the construction area, combining workshop-level quality with the flexibility of onsite manufacturing — ideally making use of locally excavated material.

Products

Wall

Walls made of 100% earth - formed & compacted on site or produced as prefabricated elements, load-bearing or self-supporting.

Impressions Building process