Typology Education Laboratory Location Cologne Constructed volume GFA 16,090m², GIV 72,250m³ Client BLB Bau- und Liegenschaftsbetrieb NRW Occupant German Sport University Cologne Completion 2013-2019 Competition 1st prize in 2009
#New scientific and medical laboratory building for the German Sport University Cologne at the campus Müngersdorf Sport Park
In addition to the required programme, the geometry of the building and the characteristics of the leaf canopy created by the surrounding trees have led to the development of a covered meeting place at a central location.
The new scientific and medical institute building NAWI-MEDI at the German Sport University Cologne is located on the north-eastern boundary of the campus close to the central institute building at Müngersdorf Sport Park. Whereas the lower three storeys respond to the contours of the historic ramparts and the adjoining cycle stadium, the upper levels project and cover a plaza framed by mature trees. The resulting entrance area to the new building functions as a central meeting place on the campus. Vertical aluminium louvres reflect the surrounding green and give the facade a feeling of depth.
As quoted in the competition brief for the sport university, “sport is not only considered as sport but, in a broader sense, as a science of physical activity.”
When designing a building for a sport university, planners tend to think of “higher, further, faster”, dynamic movement sequences, a certain degree of weightlessness or the work of the pioneer photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who already captured the exact motion of a galloping horse with the help of serial photography in 1870. These dynamics are to be conveyed in the appearance of the building.
Numerous institutes, including a private institute for doping analytics, are combined in the Nawi-Medi institute building.
