Clara & Robert is the given name, inspired by the composer couple Clara and Robert Schumann, to a project which has been realized by sop Architects and was awarded in 2016 as the “Best German Office Project” and received the title of “Exemplary Workplaces in the City” by the Chamber of Architects NRW and the Ministry of Urban Development. This architectural ensemble is built on the site of the former barracks (built around 1890) in Duesseldorf, which connects the two new buildings with the historical building ‘Saarhaus’.

The positioning and the form of the new buildings have created two plazas, which unlike the original closed edges, open up the area to the urban environment and invite the public to the green oasis in the middle of a neighbourhood, which is influenced by the heavy traffic.

Preserving the old trees and integrating them with groups of solitaire shrubs around the buildings, underlines the history of the site and emphasises the character of the buildings. Oval-form green islands with wide concrete edges and flatten lawn with the single Amelanchier and Gleditsia trees, in the embrace of two buildings, serve as sitting place for employees and citizens for social interactions, as well as an area to lay down and to relax.

Design idea of the pavement is the result of awareness and commitment to the historical and architectural context of the site and also deriving from linear elements of the new building facades, which has created a unified space with high induction of liveliness and vibrance to the environment.

Landscape Architecture: WKM Landschaftsarchitekten

Other designers involved in the design of landscape: slapa oberholz pszczulny | architekten

Project location: Duesseldorf, Germany

Design year: 2013

Year Built: 2015

Photo credit: PREFA/Croce & Wir