A green depot for Mannheim

All good things come in threes! Following our two multi-award-winning depots in Stuttgart, the Green Depot is now taking shape in Mannheim, based on our design developed in collaboration with Koeber Landscape Architecture for GBG Sonderimmobilien GmbH. Located on the edge of the former Federal Garden Show grounds in the Feudenheim district, the project consolidates the functions of four existing municipal depots on a 30,000-square-metre site.

As with our previous projects, sustainability is the defining principle here. The name Green Depot can be taken quite literally: green describes both its architectural expression and its resource-conscious construction.

At its core lies a four-storey main building constructed in hybrid timber-concrete technique with a striking timber façade. It accommodates modern workspaces, generous recreation areas, and a canteen for approximately 215 employees. In addition, three workshops will be built on the site as detached individual buildings with a usable area of 4,000 square meters, which will house a carpentry workshop, a paint shop and a metalworking shop.

The layout of the workshops clearly zones and logically structures the open space of the depot. Canopies over the outdoor area connect the workshops and allow people to walk through them without getting their feet wet. The workshops themselves are also constructed primarily of wood: wooden beams and wooden facades have been installed on and attached to the reinforced concrete columns. A total of approximately 1,700 cubic meters of wood will be used in the construction. All load-bearing timber structural elements, such as timber-frame exterior walls and wood-concrete composite floors, are prefabricated by ZÜBLIN Timber.

Access to the courtyard area, which includes workshops, as well as the main entrance to the administrative building, is provided on the east side via an outdoor ramp. Another entrance to the main building is available on the south side via an accessible pedestrian ramp. By lowering the courtyard area by one and a half meters and incorporating a U-shaped garage that encircles the entire site and houses all technical functions, a virtually imperceptible transition is created to the adjacent “Residential Quarter at BUGA Park,” which is also currently under construction.

A distinctive feature of the design is the subtle topographical integration of the site: by lowering the courtyard area by one and a half metres and introducing a U-shaped underground car park that encircles the entire plot, a seamless transition is created to the adjacent, newly emerging Residential Park at BUGA Park. The landscape concept by Koeber Landscape Architecture envisions planted parking garage roofs forming accessible meadows that visually and spatially merge the depot with its surroundings. At the same time, this green topography promotes natural air circulation, contributing to an improved microclimate that extends beyond the quarter.

A largely CO₂-neutral energy concept underpins the project: district heating, extensive photovoltaic systems on the green roofs of the administrative and workshop buildings, and compact, energy-efficient planning ensure a sustainable operation. The consolidation of the existing facilities further enhances efficiency, communication, and collaboration across all departments.

Project information

Name: Neubau Grüner Betriebshof

Location: Am Wingertsbuckel in Mannheim

Project type: New construction

Client: GBG Sonderimmobilien GmbH

Team: Mayr-Ludescher-Partner PartGmbB, Stuttgart / EGS-Plan GmbH, Stuttgart / Corall Ingenieure GmbH, Meerbusch / RT Consult GmbH, Mannheim / Koeber Landschaftsarchitektur GmbH, Stuttgart / IB Wolfgang Bürkle, Göppingen

general contractor services: Ed. Züblin AG, Mannheim / Züblin Timber GmbH, Aichach

Visualizations: Bunni Studio