MPI Intelligent Systems

In the new building for the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, an L-shaped structure extends along the slope as a so-called garden level and creates an exciting interlocking of building and exterior space. Different building heights with three or five office storeys are developed from the street-side structure. The garden level has a floor height of 5.40 m to accommodate the hall-like video studios. All standard laboratories and experimental special uses are also housed here. From the level of Spemannstrasse, terraces lead barrier-free to a single-storey low-rise building and offer a unique panorama of the Swabian Alb. Lounge and communication zones on five levels enclose an atrium that is naturally lit by a square skylight.

In order to design the building sustainably and use it flexibly, the construction was designed according to the basic principle of "as little supporting structure as possible - as much as necessary". Only the continuous stairwell and elevator shaft walls were used to reinforce the building on the five upper floors. In the two basement floors, the outer perimeter walls form a rigid box. Otherwise, there are hardly any load-bearing walls that restrict the flexibility of the building.

The two-storey, over 300^m2 column-free video laboratory forms a special area. Here, the column loads from the floor above are absorbed by the 14 m wide-span ceiling. The ceiling was also designed for heavy suspended loads totaling 60 tons. Instead of the conventional construction method with meter-high beams, which restrict the usable room height, a comparatively slender prestressed flat slab was used here.

Tübingen is located in earthquake zone 3, a region with the highest earthquake loads in Germany. Given the high impact and the minimized number of bracing walls, the verification of earthquake safety required a detailed simulation on a three-dimensional overall model of the structure.