“A clever and attractive idea” – with these words, together with 1st place in Project Management and 2nd place in Design, the jury recognised our proposal for the transformation of the German House in New York.
The project approached the building not simply as a refurbishment, but as an opportunity to reconsider how Germany might be represented in New York today: through architecture that is clear, responsible and closely connected to its urban context.
New Diplomacy
At the heart of the proposal was the idea of New Diplomacy – an architecture that brings representation, workplace, sustainability and urban engagement into a coherent whole. The building was conceived as a contemporary setting for exchange: between Germany and New York, between institutional representation and everyday working life, and between the German House and the wider international context of the United Nations.
Architecture and City
A new address on First Avenue strengthens the relationship between the German House and the city. Within the building, daylight, shared spaces and views across Manhattan and the East River shape a generous working environment and create opportunities for encounter and communication.
Façade and Environmental Performance
The new façade responds to orientation, climate and use, balancing transparency and daylight with demanding environmental targets.Architectural and environmental considerations are developed as a single system, allowing the building’s performance to become part of its expression.
Re-Use and Sustainability
The continued use and transformation of the existing structure form the basis of the sustainability strategy. Rather than relying on replacement, the proposal works with the building’s existing substance and combines careful transformation with reduced environmental impact, adaptability and long-term use.
Representation
The German House was conceived as both a workplace and a civic presence: a building able to communicate something of contemporary Germany through the way it performs, is used and engages with its surroundings. Its architectural character derives from restraint, clarity and technical intelligence – qualities that give physical form to the idea of New Diplomacy.
The proposal understands representation not as an isolated architectural gesture, but as a quality that emerges from the building as a whole – from its relationship to the city, its working environments and its environmental performance. New Diplomacy, expressed through architecture.
