Pilot project with optimised room acoustics
The head office of DKV Deutsche Krankenversicherung AG, part of the insurance company ERGO, at Aachener Strasse 300 in Cologne was the largest building project in Germany and Europe at the time. It was designed by the Braunschweig architects Kraemer, Pfennig and Sieverts. In terms of volume, the building is as large as Cologne Cathedral and was occupied in 1970. It set standards for the ideal realisation of all the findings of the time on the subject of open-plan offices. It impresses not only with its exterior façade, visible from afar, and the building structure typical of the time. The reception area, which provides access to the individual parts of the building, and the spacious office areas on the office floors are also impressive.
Following intensive planning and design, a new space layout was implemented in a pilot project on one of these floors in 2024. In addition to largely open workstation zones, this also includes four cube positions that can be individually adapted to the type of use, such as individual workstations or telephone/video work.What they all have in common is a design that is open at the top towards the ceiling and a high proportion of glass in the walls.A special feature in terms of size and room geometry is the hexagonal meeting cube with side lengths of up to 6.2 metres.It offers space for meetings for up to ten people.
Another project was realised in the office space on the lower floors. The task for the group offices was to improve the room acoustics in combination with the option of customising the wall elements. With the AOS wall absorbers 55, equipped with and without digital printing, both the room acoustic and design requirements could be optimally realised. The motifs provided in a pre-selection could be chosen by the employees of the specialist departments. The result is office space with excellent room acoustics and a very appealing and individualised wall design.
