Max Planck Institute for Brain Research

Frankfurt, Germany

Photo © HG Esch

Picture © HENN

Research Facilities

Architects: HENN

Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Year: 2014
Client: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft - Frankfurt
Architect overall planning: Henn, München, Berlin
Specialist planners: Tragwerksplanung: ISP Scholz, München Technische Gebäudeausrüstung: H + S Ingenieure, Nürnberg
Specialist planners: Landschaftsplanung: LA.BAR, Berlin Elektrotechnik: tfi Ingenieure, Mannheim Fassadenplanung: Gerhard Weber & Partner, Argenbühl
Specialist planners: Laborplanung: IKM möller + Partner, Sinn donath post, München
Area: 19.600 qm
Start of planning: 2008
Construction time: 2009 – 2013
Competition: 2006, 1st prize
Functional areas: seminar rooms, meeting rooms, offices, laborato
Jobs: 240

The Max Planck Institute for Brain Research is located on the Riedberg Campus in Frankfurt am Main. The complex consists of two compact buildings: the institute building and the technicum. A spacious main communication and circulation foyer with open stairs and galleries links the two units and offers opportunities for exchanges and impromptu discussions among scientists and staff. Floating boxes, which appear to push themselves out of the glass façades, provide communal meeting and presentation spaces and emphasise the interplay between interior and exterior within this semi- public zone. The four-storey institute building is separated into an office area and a highly equipped laboratory zone with flexible and divisible space for research. The two upper floors accommodate four research departments. The ground floor houses the administrative offices, the central scientific facilities and the laboratories of the independent research groups.