The BerlinBioCube on the Berlin-Buch Campus is a state-of-the-art facility for biotech and medtech companies. This five-story laboratory building, designed to S2 safety standards, spans 8,000 m² and features modern labs, offices, and shared spaces—all conceived as a vibrant community hub. "The campus is characterized by short distances and creative exchange. In research buildings, spaces that encourage spontaneous encounters are always considered essential. As the client, we intentionally created such spaces in the BerlinBioCube to connect founders and entrepreneurs," explains Dr. Christina Quensel, Managing Director of Campus Berlin-Buch.

The design was created by doranth post architekten from Munich, who developed a cohesive, homogeneous aesthetic using a grid of facade profiles to define a clearly legible cube form and emphasize the building's presence on campus. The corner zones are further accentuated by applied, planar frames clad in textile fabric, which strengthens the spatial edges of the volume within its surrounding context. What makes the BerlinBioCube particularly distinctive goes beyond its cutting-edge technical systems and comprehensive research facilities—it lies in the innovative lighting design that engineering office FaktorLicht from Filderstadt has creatively integrated throughout. "The building's architecture is defined by clean lines and a rigorous material concept. The lighting design, comprised of various linear components, picks up and emphasizes these clean lines. At the same time, the orthogonally arranged narrow light lines introduce an almost playful, unifying element," explains Philipp Haas of FaktorLicht. A special challenge was realized through floor designation using concrete-integrated light channels. The individual light channels and light lines from manufacturer LTS met the requirements perfectly. The seemingly random arrangement of light channels in the communication areas deliberately breaks up the linear structure and enhances the quality of these spaces. The custom-designed light channels for concrete integration were manufactured in Germany and represent an outstanding example of functionality and design working in harmony. These light channels, precisely embedded in exposed concrete, form oversized floor numerals that illuminate in digital-style numbering. They provide pleasant ambient illumination while creating aesthetic focal points.

www.lts-light.com
www.faktorlicht.de
www.doranth-post-architekten.de

Photos:
Henrik Schipper
www.henrikschipper.de

(Published in CUBE Berlin 03|24)