Based on a globally standardized corporate design for German missions abroad, Dittel Assoziierte is responsible as general planner for the realization of the German Consulate General for the Federal Foreign Office in the largest Latin American megacity, São Paulo. The pilot project is the first holistic implementation of the design guidelines developed by the architects. In future building projects, this will serve as the basis for a uniform appearance of German missions abroad, such as embassies and consulates, which appropriately represents the Federal Republic of Germany in all countries and cultures of the world.
In an interdisciplinary competition in 2014, Dittel Assoziierte came out on top against numerous competitors with their concept for the structural corporate design of German missions abroad. The corporate design is not an exact repetition, but provides a creative framework that allows the company to respond to local conditions and individual requirements of the representations in terms of location, availability of materials or climatic conditions. In addition to a representative external image, the new design concept also has an internal effect. It offers employees orientation and identification in a high-quality working environment. “Clarity, simplicity and elegance” – three overarching concepts that convey the inner values of the Federal Republic of Germany on a visual level and are reflected in the floor plan zoning, interior design and furnishings of the rooms.
The German Consulate General in São Paulo is located in the “Pátio Victor Malzoni” high-rise building in the Itaim Bibi district and covers an area of around 1,8oo square meters. The building, designed by Botti Rubin Arquitetos, is one of the most important architectural landmarks in the city of São Paulo. With a span of more than 40 meters, 168,000 square meters of built-up area, 20 floors and an underground car park with six basement levels, the building with its modern architecture of semi-mirrored glass contrasts with the restored rammed earth walls of the adjacent “Casa Bandeirista”. The historic 18th century building in the style of São Paulo’s traditional rural colonial architecture is framed by the modern building complex and complements it in an exciting way.
Area zoning
The building, which is divided up to the eighth floor, structures the area of the consulate general into a U-shaped floor plan, connected to a central supply core for the staircase, elevators, toilet facilities and ancillary areas. As with all foreign missions, the planning follows strict security requirements. In general, there is a division into a publicly accessible area and a secure area for the office staff. The new design concept combines all ancillary rooms in the center of the building into a simple, compact building core and bundles functional areas with daylight requirements along the façade into room clusters of different sizes. The clusters create alternating closed and open, communal zones in the corridor area. This reinterpretation of the floor plan breaks up the “official corridor”. At the same time, the broken-up spatial structures convey the values of transparency and Germany’s foreign policy guideline: “community”.
Access from the elevator or staircase leads both visitors and office staff directly into the entrance area of the German diplomatic mission. The reception with archway probe and security check regulates access to the public legal, consular and visa office. The floor-to-ceiling glass façade provides plenty of daylight in the waiting and counter area as well as on the clerk side and in the back office of the visa section. In the waiting area, comfortable benches invite you to take a seat and take a look at the information wall. This provides space for integrated functions such as a writing desk, paging system, info screens, brochure holders and removable graphics.
Outdoor area
The secure office area with workstations is accessed from reception via a security gate with a doorman. From the entrance area, there is a direct line of sight to the centrally located foyer, which is the first point of contact in the office. Like the offices of the firm’s employees, it is located on the glass façade and offers natural light for a pleasant atmosphere. A flexible partition wall system allows the adjoining conference room to be combined with the foyer to form a single space for events and, if required, equipped with practical row seating.
Two spacious kitchenettes with lounge areas, which are integrated into the corridor extensions between the office clusters, serve as communication zones and invite employees to linger. The front sides of the clusters have rounded corners and incorporate high-quality built-in furniture, which functionally serve the corridor extensions in the form of checkrooms, storage space, seating niches or kitchenettes. The office management rooms form a separate security zone. The associated anteroom has internal access to the management levels. Uses and ancillary rooms without daylight requirements, such as storage and archive rooms, sanitary areas, photocopying and IT rooms, are housed in the simple building core with clear, angular edges.
Identity and atmosphere
The new corporate design of the German representations abroad encompasses a range of materials and colors that is characterized by a balanced ratio of cool and warm colors, hard and soft surfaces as well as technical and natural materials – resulting in a harmonious overall picture.
The interior is dominated by the colors white, beige and grey in various shades as well as large areas of glazing, which both reinforce the character of openness and community through transparency and visually eliminate the functional separation of public and secure areas. Walnut wood, technical-looking metal, soft textiles and warm yellow tones set contrasting accents in the cool color canon. The uniform white ceiling takes a back seat in terms of design, allowing the various materials of the furniture and wall surfaces to take center stage. In areas with increased sound insulation requirements, a high-quality acoustic ceiling ensures balanced and appropriate room acoustics with the necessary discretion and speech intelligibility. The gray-beige iridescent carpeting is designed differently in the individual clusters, open spaces and ancillary rooms, creating a varied appearance across the entire area. The public areas and corridor zones stand out from the monochrome dark grey carpet tiles in the secure office areas thanks to their light grey carpet color. Within the corridor zone and in the open spaces, abstract floor graphics in places indicate uses or serve to identify discretion zones in the counter area of the RK Visastelle. The contrast between the rounded corners of the clusters and the clear edges of the building core characterizes the design language of the German diplomatic mission, which is reflected in the loose furnishings and accent lighting.
