Ulm, Germany
These laboratory/research facilities for Daimler-Benz in Ulm are the partial realization of a master plan for a larger research campus. The campus is organized as a repetitive grid of L-shaped office/laboratory units on either side of a central greensward. Within this space is a semipublic building housing a cafeteria/ restaurant on the ground floor and meeting rooms and a library on the second floor. This building serves as the sociocultural core of the complex. At present, this somewhat Jeffersonian plan is flanked by three new office laboratory units to the west and by a preexisting brick-faced research complex to the east.
The L-shaped office/lab module establishes a basic rhythm that may be varied slightly to accommodate atypical local conditions. In general, the offices occupy the external perimeter of the L-shaped module, while the laboratories line the interior and overlook the inner grass-covered court.
The two research modules built in the first phase share a large, open basement workshop for the fabrication of oversized components. This space is lit by skylights in the turf-covered roofs that span the factory/ laboratory space below. A depressed ring road serves this lower industrial level, thus preserving unobstructed views from the laboratories over the city of Ulm to the south and southeast and over the open country to the north and northwest. While security clearance is required throughout, all circulation is primarily pedestrian, with employees and visitors entering the compound via a central parking area to the north of the present phase. A single internal access road bounds the southeastern edge of the greensward.
该研究中心是一个大型的科研园区的部分实现。整个园区的设计以L形的办公/实验室单元为基础，中央为绿地，周围环绕着一些公共建筑。建筑师理查德·迈耶采用了这种Jeffersonian风格的布局，让建筑与周围自然环境融合。
该研究中心的办公/实验室单元以L形为基础，外围为办公室，内部为实验室，中央为草坪。这种设计能够满足不同场地条件的需要。两个研究单元共享一个大型的地下车库，用于制造大型组件。天窗照明使工厂/实验室空间下的草地屋顶光线充足。降低的环形道路为这个工业区提供了服务，而实验室则可以俯瞰到南面和东南面的乌尔姆城市以及北面和西北面的开阔乡村。
整个园区的循环系统以行人为主，员工和访客通过北面的中央停车区进入园区。园区的建筑采用了高度的安全保护措施。