Lutz Krüger

The topic “office buildings of the future” deals with the changes in the work environment of service companies and how to incorporate this into architecture.

Based in the Docklands, London, this estate is only a few miles away from the city of London. This area lay fallow for over 20 years. In the 80s and 90s, at the initiative of the LDDC (London Docklands Development Corporation), the Docklands became the perfect estate dominated by
office buildings and an impressive skyline.

During my research on this topic, I quickly came to the conclusion that the “future” is already there. Man’s knowledge doubles within 4 years. We have to live with ever faster changes. From a social perspective, terms like “project groups”, “plain hierarchy”, “ad-hoc-teams”, “unofficial meetings”, “more responsibility in lower levels”, are only catchwords. On the other hand, ongoing technology requires total flexibility. The workstation is almost dead. In the near future we will all be wearing a multifunctional system on our body capable of performing different functions such as “phoning”, “computer stuff”, “clock”, “credit card”, “ID” …….. So, my conclusion is that sooner rather than later we will be working just where we are.

YOUR WORK IS WHERE YOU ARE

The entire design is subject to these principles. Voids are the main impression of the inner cube. Rotating Ls around a massive, sculptural, concrete heart shape the basic structure and access to the building. The Ls contain the main office space of the firms and companies. The voids are filled up with organic, shaped constructions which constitute the semi-public components such as barrestaurants, convention & lecture rooms, conference rooms and, last but not least, the sky lounge, located at the top.