Expansion of the Sigmaringen County Administrative Office

The “District Administration Building” presents a striking, self-assured “face” to the outside world. The new building faces Hohenzollernstraße and is separated from the side of the old building by a glass partition. Thanks to the floating cube of the extension, the foyer of the Sigmaringen District Office opens up on all sides. This creates a dynamic, new visual impression that makes an impact in the public space. Toward the city, the existing building retains its dominance—the new building presents itself as contemporary, respectful, and at the same time self-assured. The façade concept, with its solid framing of the cubic volume and the varied glass surfaces in between, underscores this design principle. The extension houses a community center, offices, event and seminar rooms, and an archive. Wide-span reinforced concrete flat slabs allow for ceiling spans of more than 13 meters without bracing. The architecturally sophisticated staircase, designed as a self-supporting truss structure without additional supports, connects several floors. To facilitate the connection, underpinning was required for the existing buildings. The foundation consists of an elastically supported floor slab. Slender centrifugally cast concrete columns serve as supports.

Due to the building’s location in Seismic Zone 3, seismic analysis was performed using mode shape analysis on a 3D finite-element model of the entire structure.