Berlin Lawmakers Get a New Green Workspace
Construction of the mostly-wooden office building for Bundestag lawmakers coincides with the rise of eco-politics in Europe.
A computer-generated image showing the multicolored panels on the Luisenblock West’s facade.
Source: Sauerbruch Hutton
On a site steeped in history a few hundred meters from the Reichstag in central Berlin, an office building is rapidly taking shape that handily symbolizes how climate protection has come to dominate the political narrative ahead of September’s election.
The modular Luisenblock West, which will provide working space for Germany’s Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, is mostly wooden beyond a reinforced concrete core. The individual units that make up the bulk of the building are assembled at a site in the east of the city and designed to reduce carbon footprint by capturing thousands of tons of carbon dioxide.