take | architecture seen through glas.

autobahn aesthetic — on passing robatherm headquarters and the effect of reduced design.

more than we had initially anticipated, every text we write here relates to us personally. this one springs from one of our most travelled roads and could potentially have been written as early as 2019. that year, german mittelständler robatherm, a family-owned and -operated air handling company, finished its new headquarters in the world-famous Jettingen-Scheppach, located along autobahn A8 halfway between Munich and Stuttgart.

the building in question is a vertical, three-story, rectangular glass monolith, hovering above a concrete foundation nestled in the green hillside slopes. all the statics happen — well designed — on the inside, leaving the outside to glass panels and clean lines, at night accentuated by all-around light bands. passing by is a treat every time. it’s as if the structure is meant to be enjoyed through the window of an automobile flying along the autobahn. during our admittedly superficial research for this piece of writing, we learned (in retrospect) that the building is actually designed to do just this. we’ve done a few of these journal entries, where a reduced design philosophy makes the object stand out — from sunglasses without sidearms to a piano that does not look like one. this feels similar. it deserves to be noticed. even if it’s just from passing cars. as intended.

also: shout-out to robatherm for the matching design of the surrounding production buildings. any deeper insights are prevented by the fact that we most often pass the robatherm headquarters in traffic, dictating how much attention we want to spare (safety first).

this was fun (hopefully, for you, too). let’s call it everyday aesthetics and make it a thing?