Silver Fox: Munich Office by Buero Wagner.

This two-story office extension by Buero Wagner is set in the backyard of a turn-of-the-century building near the Isar River in the Au district of Munich. It’s a design born out of the continuing demand for new space—as the city exhausts roof extensions and high rise limits, architects are looking to create spaces in increasingly creative ways.

The fitout interventions were implemented from a canon of industrial materials—aluminium vapour barriers; bubble wrap; galvanized grating, steel and cable trays, and recycled composite foam. These conventional, banal materials take on a new value in the fresh context and lend the interior an abstract character.

Silver curtains made of aluminium vapour barriers conceal the kitchen and storage shelves while offering discrete access to the bathroom and storage rooms—their reflective surface bouncing light throughout the space. Behind, curtains made out of bubble wrap add an additional layer of privacy while allowing natural light to softly filter in.

The furniture pieces were realised exclusively from galvanised steel grating. The steel furniture and fixtures are welded and have no screw connections, which further enhances the abstract nature of the objects. Shelves and lights were built from galvanized cable trays.

Extending down, the basement level was opened up and connected to the first floor via an air space accessed by fixtures made of galvanised steel grating. Windows were lengthened into the basement level to add more natural light.

The building stock was preserved as far as possible and only the surfaces were refurbished. In the basement, the concrete floor slab was exposed and on the ground floor, the original oak parquet was refinished.

Clou Beijing Office by CLOU Architects.

Silver galvanised walls mark the main entrance to this office through to the open-plan studio floor and communal areas, the softly distorting reflections emphasising industrious brightness in a connective gesture...

[Images courtesy of Buero Wagner.]