On 29 June 2023, the German Weather Service (DWD) moved into a new building in Potsdam. The new building was designed as a functionally optimized building ensemble with 6 building sections for around 200 employees.

After Offenbach and Hamburg, Potsdam will be the third largest base of the German Weather Service nationwide. Potsdam is a subsidiary whose main task is disaster preparedness and protecting the population through weather forecasts and warnings, but it will also provide technical maintenance for numerous weather stations. In addition, an IT backup center will be housed here in case the central data center in Offenbach should break down.

The new building consists of three sub-buildings as a reinforced concrete skeleton construction. Some of the buildings have basements. By staggering the building ensemble into a one-story, two-story and three-story building section, the building has a horizontal appearance that visually blends into the landscape of the Potsdam Forest. It houses offices, laboratories and storage areas, service and logistics, as well as the highly innovative data center. This "disaster backup data center" (DBRZ) forms the functional centerpiece of the ensemble with a 300 m², approx. 8 m high, column-free machine room with a floor-to-ceiling "raised floor" below.

The striking stylistic element are the exposed concrete walls, which were provided with a rough-sawn plank structure - in total 2,500 m².

Client: Brandenburgischer Landesbetrieb für Liegenschaften und Bauen

Architect: TRU Architekten und Generalplaner GmbH, Berlin

Service of LAP: Structural Design

Photos: Ulrich Schwarz