Brainergy Hub planning completed
The planning phase for the innovation and start-up center Brainergy Hub in Jülich, Germany, has been completed. With its innovative use of material, form and renewable technologies, HENN’s design was selected as the winner of an architectural competition in 2021. The building is scheduled for completion by 2026.
HENN’s design of the Brainergy Hub will be the heart of a new knowledge park dedicated to sustainable and renewable energy research. The Hub is not only highly energy-efficient, but also energy producing, and will function as the brain and battery of the Brainergy masterplan.
The distinctive, circular design acts as a lighthouse, symbolizing Germany’s shift towards renewable energy and a green future. The circular footprint is composed of geometrically arranged structural elements, overlooked by three balcony rings on the upper floors. The building contains office space for several smaller companies, with collaboration areas and communal programs located around the central atrium. The recessed ground floor of the Hub creates a strong north-south axis on the site, linking a newly created lake to the north and an existing orchard to the south.
Brainergy Hub uses a hybrid structure of timber and reinforced concrete. Photovoltaic panels are deployed on the roof and the facade, that gives excess energy back to the network. That makes the Hub an active ‘prosumer’ in the master plan's LowEx network, which connects all buildings in the knowledge park.
