Firmensitz der Tobias Grau KG

A PIPE AS A LANDMARK

Tobias Grau KG (lamp manufacturers) have set up a new subsidiary in Hamburg. The new building is a result of a private competition and resembles a stranded hovercraft. Its two concrete ceilings are encased with a wooden truss construction covered with ALUCOBOND^®. The perfect joints and ornamental screw recesses make the building look like a high-precision fuselage surface. Once again, this shows the easy use of ALUCOBOND^®on round and bent shapes. The glass between the sun louvres on the side walls is curved and requires no substructure despite a width of 2. 5 metres. The south side supplies photo-voltaic energy.
The building has two floors: offices and a cafeteria can be found on the first floor, while the ground floor houses the store, final assembly and despatch departments. There are 35 members of staff in total. Transparency was the architect’s motto. The large pipe glows like a lantern at night, and during the day it appears like a strange, dark grey, opaque object surrounded by green grass. An extension with a second pipe and a one-storey building is planned for the future. The construction is a prime example of innovative architecture chosen as a result of a competition which not only creates a building but a landmark . . . not least of all through the use of ALUCOBOND^®.