CHG-MERIDIAN's head office in Weingarten, Germany: an ideas factory in a modern setting
In 2003, 24 years after the company was founded, CHG-MERIDIAN moved into its new head office, which is located where the towns of Weingarten and Ravensburg meet. "An architectural triumph" was how the press described the unusual building while it was still under construction.
The new building was intended to be an 'ideas factory' as well as a head office. For this reason the company's management wanted to create a space that facilitated communication and provided employees with the perfect environment in which to work.
A total of 102 firms of architects took part in the public tender. The contract was eventually won by design number 1020, which had been submitted by the two Stuttgart-based architects Joachim Daller and Walter Huber. Their design made a great impression on the jury of experts when they inspected it for the first time: Daller and Huber not only ticked all the boxes in terms of the criteria specified in the tender - they did so in a most elegant fashion.
The building, which is located on the southern fringes of Weingarten, has been constructed in sympathy with the architecture of the existing business park. Its unusual design consists of two parts: a protruding four-storey 'wedge' and a narrow, nine-storey high-rise section. The two sections of the building are connected by a glass joint that functions as a strip of light, creating an atrium-like entrance.
The building provides a total of 10,500 square metres of office space and a two-storey underground car park with 180 parking spaces. The ground floor contains a cafeteria, an ideal place for chatting, lounging and relaxing.
The 34metre-high building, with its glass facade covering a total area of 3,811 square metres, perfectly reflects the attributes of CHG-MERIDIAN: a focus on technology, transparency both internally and externally, dynamism and openness to change.
