Telephone exchange in Stuttgart

The local telephone exchange once run by the telecommunications branch of the post office stands between a railway line and an anonymous residential district from the 1950s. Our commission was to plan an extension which provides building services systems to support the existing facility. In this case we were dealing with a building which people only visit for inspection and maintenance purposes.

The building’s owners left it up to us to either add a storey to the existing building or extend it accordingly. As the structure can be seen very easily from the railway line and the adjoining land, we decided – whilst keeping to the prescribed budget – to solve the problem with a freestanding new building. We positioned the new structure like a railway wagon close alongside the existing standardised building. The two are only connected by the ventilation pipes running under the roof.

There are two separate facilities inside: a power generator on the ground floor and an air handling system on the upper. The latter needs no secure housing, which is why the walls are grilles made of lathing. Access to this part of the building is given by a single-run staircase located at the front along the central axis. Due to the noise level of the generator the walls on the ground floor are built of reinforced concrete. The roof construction rests on steel supports in front of and separate from the ground floor.