Category: Architecture

Tourist Guidance System for Neustadt in Saxony

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Tourist Guidance System for Neustadt in Saxony

Holistic, individual orientation system in combination with a pedestrian guidance system and a parking guidance system

Consisting of individual elements:

  • Arrow signposts
  • Orientation boards (city and district maps)
  • Announcements (showcases / display cases)
  • Pin boards
  • Hiking boards / hiking maps
  • Welcome boards / town entrances
  • Parking guidance system / parking signs and arrow signposts

Planning services:

  • Phase zero / goal identification
  • Concept development (urban orientation concept)
  • Goals and route development based on target spiders
  • Application for funding / project management funding documents
  • Architectural concept (guiding system elements, design, dimensioning, materiality)
  • Cartography: city maps + panels
  • Signalling (signs, pictograms, contrast, font sizes)
  • Graphic design (corporate design, application and adaptation)
  • Text editing / translation (Czech / English)
  • Implementation / realization (project mangaement, construction supervision)

Client:

Municipality of Neustadt in Saxony

Period of development: 2019-2022

High-rise Buildings in Pirna-Sonnentein

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High-rise Buildings in Pirna-Sonnentein

Renovation of corridor areas, concept for light and color, orientation concept for elderly people

In 15-story residential high-rise buildings in Pirna Sonnenstein, the public corridor areas were redesigned with fire protection measures taken into account. The interior of the buildings was thus made more attractive. Additional design measures also take into account the needs of older residents in particular.

The rooms were made brighter, friendlier and more individual. The individual floors stand out from one another with different color schemes and motifs, making orientation easier. To improve the quality of stay, an individual lighting concept was developed.

New, square surface-mounted luminaires illuminate the corridor area. Individually placed spotlights mark the entrance areas of the apartments. The walls were redesigned. Different individual wall motifs form eye-catching illustrations on each floor when exiting the elevator, creating a focal point at the end of the stub corridors and additionally helping with orientation within the building.

The entrance areas of the apartments were marked with color accents, and the doors and wall were kept in a uniform color, creating a sense of spaciousness in the narrow corridors. In addition to color-coordinated new flooring, the apartments received new doorbell buttons and large signs at eye level.

Handrails made of stainless steel, protective profiles for the existing wall corners and a new information board and signs for the escape routes increase the quality of stay and living for the residents.

Client: Städtische Wohnungsgesellschaft Pirna mbH, 2013-2015

AMD Dresden, office and labotarory rooms

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AMD Location Dresden

Office and laboratory rooms

Interior design, colour concept, lighting design

Completion of the new premises of the Dresden branch of AMD according to the concept for light and colour by Ruairí O’Brien.

Requirements:

Study for space-optimised use for optimal fulfilment of operational functions, individual workplace needs and efficient use of space. Planning Office spaces, laboratory spaces, representative areas / reception area / reception, conference / meeting rooms (telephone rooms, micro-meeting rooms), informal meeting space / work café, laboratory and development spaces / server rooms, social areas (break rooms, tea kitchens, communication corners), telephone booths, bathroom / toilet spaces, circulation areas / corridors.

Planning objectives:

  • optimal use of space for employees, optimisation of the workplace situation to create attractive workplaces and compliance with occupational health and safety regulations,
  • Creation of modern working environments of today, attractive for international employees, tailored to the individual requirements of each area
  • For a working environment that offers ideal working conditions and is a pleasure to be in.

Services:

Study room layout for different numbers of workstations for different sizes of utilisation unit, planning interior design / room layout, furnishing concept, lighting concept, HOAI LP 1-8.

Location: Annenhöfe Dresden, Germany (2022)
Client: TLG REAL ESTATE AG
Architect: O M Architekten GmbH BDA
Services: Interior design / colour concept / lighting design
Client: Xilinx Dresden GmbH / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)
Photos: Baldauf&Baldauf

Middle Building of Dora Concentration Camp Memorial, Nordhausen

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Middle Building of Dora Concentration Camp Memorial, Nordhausen

Redesign of the didactic development of the tunnel complex

Competition entry, 3rd place

Our concept “Points and Lines” consists of two elements: Points of information and lines of paths in between. This concept includes the didactic idea that the light line guides the visitors and the information pillars (points) mark the destinations.
The information pillars or information light sculptures, convey the story and give the guided tours gathering points where the visitors get visual information and explanations together by the guide.
The light lines are guiding elements that lead to these information points and at the same time illuminate the space.
Both the information modules and the lighting are clearly different in their design from the original environment and thus convey a contrast to the original historic gallery. Since the exhibition elements are placed away from the walls and ceiling, they can be displayed while showing the surrounding environment.

We are pleased to have won third place in this competition with numerous renowned participants.

You can find our concept in detail here.

Meetingpoint Music Messiaen Zgorzelec-en

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Meetingpoint Music Messiaen Zgorzelec

Winning design in the competition for an international meeting centre as a memorial on the site of the former prisoner-of-war camp Stalag 1a

The design of the “European Centre for Education and Culture – Meetingpoint Music Messiaen” in Zgorzelec, Poland won 1st prize in the competition for the architectural-urban planning concept in 2009.

Services: HOAI LP 1-3, basic evaluation, preliminary design, draft (2009-2012)
Client: Meetingpoint Music Messiaen e.V., Görlitz
Client: Fundacja Centrum Wspierania Przedsiębiorczości w Zgorzelec

Columbia Concentration Camp Memorial

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Columbia Concentration Camp Memorial

Artistic-architectural concept for marking and visualizing the historical site

The Columbia concentration camp was one of the first concentration camps at the time of the National Socialists and was located at the northern edge of the Berlin Tempelhof airport site, with whose construction it was demolished.

With the aim of making the building and this part of German history perceptible again in the public space, the “Topography of Terror” Foundation organized a design competition to which Ruairí O’Brien was invited to submit a proposal.

Our concept, which is in line with the preservation order and barrier-free, is purposefully kept simple. A band of Corten steel is used to mark the footprint and volume of the disappeared building in parts on the original site.

The entire area can thus be experienced in a multi-layered way. Through the prominent bridge and the large gravel surfaces, the area can be perceived on different levels. As the viewer moves, his perspective changes, creating new spaces for thought. At the same time, the footbridge is a signal with a long-distance effect that provides a distinctive reference to the memorial site and also offers the possibility of accessing the entire site.

Sponsor: Topography of Terror Foundation

Project partner: Slapa und die Raumplaner

Design Guide Muellerstraße Berlin

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Design Guide Muellerstraße Berlin

Design Guidelines for the Living Center Muellerstraße

Muellerstraße is located in the heart of the Wedding district of Berlin’s Mitte district. It is, with more than three kilometers, one of the longest shopping streets of the city.

Cultural and educational institutions are grouped in the adjacent areas. Branches of large companies, specialty stores, service companies and gastronomic offerings characterize the urban and transcultural flair of Muellerstraße. The first floors of the buildings are almost always occupied by stores or restaurants. Often, the entire first floor zone of a building consists of a single store unit.

The original window and door arrangements of the historic buildings are often no longer recognizable. Structural changes to individual areas in keeping with the trend of the times or energy-related renovations have altered the original character of the facades. Temporary additions such as advertising signs or awnings are also often part of the determinants of the facade appearance of the structures and thus the streetscape itself.

This design guide is an important building block in the future development of Muellerstrasse. It serves as a guideline for action in the redesign of facades or stores and functions as an advisory tool within the framework of the building consultation of the urban development office.

Everything from urban planning and architectural structures to details on buildings and light and lighting topics, such as advertising signs, window or color design were essential contents of our investigation and must be brought back into harmony in order to be able to develop a great design line for Muellerstraße. In this holistic approach, the micro level (details) and the macro level (the entire street) are placed in context with each other in an analytical-planning manner, and a system is developed from this, with the help of which a structured implementation of the guiding ideas can be guaranteed.

The design guide can be downloaded here.

House Bramsch

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House Bramsch

Individual single-family house / architect’s house

Haus Bramsch is a distinctive architect-designed house in the classic modern architectural tradition, whose architecture brings together the individual habits, desires, preferences and lifestyles of the owners in a harmoniously elegant design. House Bramsch is planned in advance as a flexible, open or closed living concept and is thus also compatible with future changes in the needs and living situations of its residents.

Living space: 120m²

Services: HOAI Lph 1-8

Client: private

House 62

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University Hospital Dresden, House 62

Redesign of the Corridor Areas, Lighting and Color Concept

On behalf of the University Hospital Dresden, we developed and implemented a redesign of the corridor area in accordance with current usage requirements in parallel with the planning of structural fire protection measures. The false ceiling and the floor were renewed, and interior walls were partially modified. An attractive color and lighting concept was developed in line with the corporate design. The positioning of the luminaires visually expands the corridor and also illuminates the exhibition design within the wall area.

Microlight Sculpture

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Microlight Sculpture

The Erich Kaestner House of Literature, Dresden

The octagonal prism of the micro light sculpture, a homage to the Danish poet Inger Christensen, symbolizes with its geometry the physical elements of nature: sky, earth, fire, water, wind, thunder, lake and mountain. Nuances of light and shadow, space and surface can be experienced. The multi-layered play with perspectives and the dissolution of boundaries sensitizes the viewer to an intense optical experience. The visual labyrinth of inner and outer world points to relations between micro and macro, to the polarity of unknowability and readability of art and the world. In the daylight, the object can be experienced multidimensionally in dialogue with the movement of the sun as a cast shadow, in the darkness with artificial light from the core: inside and outside, below and above are interchanged.