What Drives Us

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Set atop Telegrafenberg, southeast of Potsdam, the Albert Einstein Landscape and Science Park hosts a new chapter in geological research. Since 2021, the complex has welcomed a state-of-the-art laboratory building—complete with server infrastructure—for the GeoForschungszentrum at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, an institution dedicated to understanding Earth's deepest layers.

The new building provides 50 researchers with state-of-the-art specialized laboratories and research spaces—amenities that had become essential. Heinlewischer Architects emerged as the competition winners. Positioned to the north of six existing Helmholtz Centre buildings arranged in linear succession, the new structure presented notable spatial planning challenges. The solution: a precisely calibrated framework spanning two basement levels and three above-ground floors, totaling 2,300 m² of usable area. This new, compact structure functions as a technical center. Its five-story height echoes the existing buildings. Access to the first lab floor is via a connecting footbridge. The upper three floors house offices, laboratories, and a seminar room. A technical floor crowns the building, incorporating a rooftop terrace. Below ground, a substantial server room occupies the basement, while a second basement level accommodates the ventilation and cooling systems. The reinforced concrete structure is clad in a metal façade that reads like a filled bookshelf—with floor slabs serving as the shelves. The façade's design logic mirrors the building's function: offices feature glazing for transparency and connection, while secondary spaces are defined by soaring ceramic tiles that extend floor-to-ceiling. Laboratories occupy the western elevation, where the façade maximizes openings to flood deep interior spaces with natural light. Offices and communal areas wrap around a sealed laboratory core in a U-shaped configuration. Each floor centers on an open kitchenette as an informal gathering space—a role the rooftop terrace also plays.

The GeoBioLab achieves BNB Silver certification while deploying a technically sophisticated and remarkably efficient system. The pairing of laboratories with data server infrastructure creates advantages that extend beyond operational efficiency into the energy realm. The server room's substantial waste heat—recaptured through an intelligent feedback loop—now covers the heating and ventilation demands of the new building, while simultaneously supplying thermal energy to an adjacent building in the GeoForschungszentrum complex.

www.heinlewischer.de