Design Lab Part 1 Project 2001 Jürgen MüllerPablo FrankThomas BäuerleThomas KindsvaterValéry Kreissl University of Stuttgart | Germany Urban Design AspectsThe building design aims on a completion of the existing building ensemble and a fit in the surrounding green sloping down towards the street. Therefore the DESIGNLAB is organized on three different levels forming huge steps in the landscape.General Design AspectsFor maximum transparency the building has completely glazed facades. The square roof is suppuorted by slender steel columns which are in line with the glazed facades. The roof structure is a two-way load bearing system with a clear span of 32.6 meters in both directions. Barrel shaped roof panels made from ply wood are supported by a regular square grid structure of 5.4 by 5.4 meters. A constant cantilever on each building side covers space for outdoor activities and gives sun-protection. Partially transparent roof panels allow the penetration of daylight. The outer roof skin is covered with vaulted sheet metal. The open space is designed as a totally flexible working landscape. The only fixed elements are wooden lockers and a terrace which covers the workshop and supports a gallery used as a café and relaxation area. Seating steps and ramps give easy access to the building’s different levels. The multifunctional work space is meant to house start-up firms in the field of architecture and design. Glazed sliding doors protect outside teraces with the interior work space.Special Design AspectsSpecial attention was paid to the structural calculation of all load-bearing members. Innovative techniques have been used for the structural connections of the completely pre-fabricated structural elements consisting of rectangular frames made of cut-in-half I-shaped hot–rolled sections as court members and angle-shaped steel sections as posts. Pre-stressed tension members intersect these elements in an angle of 45° and for a secondary spatial bracing. The elements of the building envelope also have been carefully studied and calculated. "DESIGNLAB" was the theme of an undergraduate study project during the summer term 2001. The students worked together in groups of five. A total of 20 groups were individually tutored by professional architects, who voluntarily joined in this form of professional education. The major task for the students was to integrate different requirements and types of knowledge in a building design, which had to be developed in a process including urban design and general design aspects, as well as the development of building construction details, the calculation of all loadbearing members of the structure and the skin structure and a profound research on the insulation qualities of the buildings envelope and last but not least asthetic aspects. The special qualities in its class of the group’s "DESIGNLAB" were seen in: -a convincing dialogue with the proposed buildings surroundings, -a generous open space which is very well suited for all kinds of design activities, -an elegant steel skeleton structure with innovative joinery -a multifunctional skin structure which shows a rich relationship between inside and outside, which gives excellent sun protection by means of a projecting roof and and which provides extra daylight through partially transparent barrel shaped roof panels.The project of the group stands for a succesful integration of the different technical systems constituting a building. The strongest argument however for the groups’ design is mere asthetic.