Administration Center Barnim
The design for the local administration-center in Eberswalde allows the creation of a public area in the town-center: a place comprising several squares, terraces and courtyards with many varying qualities. Besides local administration, shops and cafes are to be catered for. Here, people can meet in the courtyard for a glass of wine; there, they can sit on the city terraces to watch a film projected onto an outside screen. The overall construction is conceived as a flowing, open place, a public venue.
The planning concept requires that all relevant urban corners and flanks be accentuated, so that clearly defined public places are generated. The market place gains a fourth facade. The city hall and the local administration center are ranged opposite each other to form a representative building-ensemble. The slope beside the church will be transformed into green terraces, a multi-purpose recreational area with a view of the market place.
By diversifying buildings, story-levels and courtyards, a new scale will be achieved that is right for the urban context while also allowing for the functional linking of its component parts.
The local administration center can be reached through the four-story-high entrance hall from both courtyard and market place. The information counter is located next to the cafeteria on the ground floor level.
A generously wide staircase leads to the first floor and the main concourse running through the entire building. The entire visitors’ address-point system is located right along it in the form of ‘contact-kiosks’. Easily recognizable by their material and color, these stackable wooden kiosks provide clear orientation in the building and each municipal department is assigned to one of them.
Each kiosk is situated near direct or indirect access to one of the courtyards. Whether proceeding along the main concourse or up one of the staircases, you constantly catch sight of squares and courtyards.