Discovering beauty in what already exists and developing what is good further. With this aspiration, we are preparing our company headquarters for the third generation. Following architects Leopold Kaufmann and Hermann Kaufmann, Lara Kaufmann now takes over.
Company founder Elmar Dorner commissioned his friend Leopold Kaufmann to design the new company building in Egg in 1977. In 2000, Hermann Kaufmann designed a timber cube to extend the original building on behalf of Andreas Dorner, Managing Director of the second generation.
Now, in the third generation, Managing Director Kilian Dorner is working together with architects Lara Kaufmann and Martina Simoncini. As a first step, the façade was returned to its origins. In line with our core business as software developers for concrete producers, the concrete base was stripped of paint and the original colour concept reinstated.
“Our understanding of work has changed. We no longer think in silos of individual teams, but as one company as a whole. A symbol of this is a staircase at the heart of the building, connecting all floors.”
“We enhance the floors of the first and second generations by bringing them together – without destroying the character of the architecture of their respective eras.”
While one half of the building is planned as open office space, the other half accommodates rooms for training sessions, customer meetings and creative work. Upon entering the building, visitors look directly into the cafeteria, which functions like a lobby. This creates a coherent whole that fosters a sense of community, brings more daylight into the spaces and enables flexible ways of working.
Internal dialogue and focus rooms, the management team’s offices and another open-plan office are located on the upper floor. Wooden display cases and movable felt panels serve as room dividers. The patterns of these panels recall punch cards and solder strips from Dorner’s hardware era. Striking roof trusses from the early days are being uncovered once again.
“Without a trained eye, people only recognise the beauty of existing buildings once they are at least two generations old. What the grandparents built is considered retro. What the parents built is considered old-fashioned.”
“The first two generations built things up. The third generation tidies up and brings things together. We have an outstanding foundation, and we can build on it – with confidence.”
