As one of Europe’s largest media corporations, Germany’s Axel Springer Group is fast-tracking its digital transformation as it journeys from classic print media into an online media powerhouse. The new Axel Springer building was opened in 2020 as a physical symbol of this renewal.

The iconic building designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) offers on 52,000m² of floor space room for up to 3,500 employees. It was erected in the immediate vicinity of the Axel Springer Tower and the Axel-Springer-Passage in Berlin.

We partnered with architects OMA to win the international design competition for this new building that celebrates the creation of a Berlin campus encompassing the existing Axel Springer headquarters. Arup took over the design (work phases 1-3) for the complex structure of the building and the atrium façade.

The architectural highlight of the 13-storey media centre is the 45 m high diagonal atrium with a series of symmetrical terraced floors run throughout the building creating a fluid, visually connected working environment with a mix of traditional and informal workspaces for journalists and media professionals. Inside, the visual connectivity is enhanced by a collaborative meeting bridge, connecting the two sides of the atrium with a viewing platform open to the public offering a glimpse into the daily functioning of the company.

A contemporary structural masterpiece

Described by the client as a “structural masterpiece”, visualisations of the building already foreshadowed the gigantic dimensions of the atrium in the planning stage. To bring to life this spectacular glass courtyard with its floating terrace landscape, the number of columns was reduced in the atrium doubling the typical structure span from 8 to 16m. 

Our structural engineers designed a 1,325-ton heavy steel transfer structure on the top floor to carry the loads of the five floors above the atrium hanging from it and transferring them to the primary column grid. The transfer structure was optimised by the introduction of diagonal struts in the transfer level to reduce the effective span of the transfer beams.

Eye-catching glazed façade

Arup also designed the supporting frame structure for the atrium’s striking glazed façade, working in close collaboration with OMA to define the geometry of the triangular glass panels of the honeycombed grid shell. For the sub-structure of the facade, we developed a space frame grid shell made of hollow steel profiles that resist wind and gravity loads.

I am sure that this futuristic, light-flooded new building will also form the ideal space to further inspire communications and creativity and continue the successful course of the digital growth of the Axel Springer corporation.

Michael Müller

Regierender Bürgermeister von Berlin

Interior of the Axel Spinger Building. Credit: Ulrich Rossmann

The architectural centerpiece of the 13-story media center is a 45-meter-high diagonal atrium, featuring a series of symmetrical terraced floors that span the entire building.

We took over the design (work phases 1-3) for the complex structure of the building and the atrium façade.