Roche Laboratory and Office Building

Penzberg, Germany

Photo © HGEsch Photography

Drawing © HENN

Visualization © HENN

Drawing © HENN

Photo © HGEsch

Architects: HENN

Location: 82377 Penzberg, Germany
Year: 2017
Client: Roche Diagnostics GmbH
Structural Engineering: henke rapolder frühe Ingenieurgesellschaft
MEP: Süss Beratende Ingenieure
Laboratory design: dr. heinekamp
Building physics: PMI
Lighting design: Lumen³
Landscape architecture: Alexander Over Landschaftsarchitekt

The Laboratory and Office Complex is the first building at the site in Penzberg, Upper Bavaria, in which the pharmaceutical and diagnostic divisions of Roche work together under the same roof. In addition to laboratory and office workstations, the new building on the edge of the Roche company site contains a training centre, a bistro, medical services and health centre.

The six storeys of the building offering 37,900 m² of floor area are grouped around a central atrium that connects the individual floors and divisions via axes of vision so that it becomes the pulsating heart of the building. The light, bright covered space extends right up to the roof and directs daylight into the interior rooms. The ground floor provides a zone for interaction and communication that can also be used for events, which connects directly to the bistro and the conference area. While the first floor is reserved for the training centre, the upper four storeys are earmarked for laboratory and office use.

They are distributed around the central atrium with two building wings on each floor and are flanked by lifts adjacent to the circulation zones. The laboratories of the pharmaceutical group connect in the west and east with smart offices and open plan office space.The modular design of the compact reinforced concrete construction is based on strict layout grids, ensuring the greatest possible flexibility. The façade of the publicly accessible ground floor is completely glazed. The building envelope is horizontally divided in the upper storeys in accordance with the guidelines provided by Roche. Continuous prefabricated window balustrades divide the exterior appearance into horizontal bands. The window height decreases as the balustrades on the upper floors increase in height.