1 rooflight with glass blades
2 entrance at ground floor level
3 sun into rooflight
4 glass screen provides vertical connection
5 coloured wall
6 semi-reflective wall doubles width of space
7 virtual volume of space in reflected image
8 wood floor with strips of light at irregular spacing
9 stone seating blocks create sitting area

Underground Passage
Thuringia office building, Munich, competition
Architect: Müller Reimann Architekten
2002

Part of a competition for a new office building complex for the Thuringia insurance company in Munich is a concept for linking three buildings by an underground passage.
The design for this passage between the office buildings unifies the different spaces and creates the illusion of shorter walkways across the connector. By introducing a continuous roof light along the way, the underground space is visually linked to the level above, and at the same time materializes as a light threshold one crosses when entering the building.

A roof light along the passage allows for natural lighting in almost the entire area of the corridor.
The sunlight is redirected by vertical glass blades under the roof light onto the walls below where it creates an alternate play of light on the brightly coloured surface. The semi-reflective panels on the opposite side reflect the yellow wall, which virtually doubles the space of the passage.
Thin light strips, embedded in the dark wooden floor at an irregular spacing, relating to the vertical glass blades, shorten the length of the passage optically and at the same time provide lighting for the corridor.
Stone seating blocks offer the opportunity to rest and to meet other people.
The passage is linked to the levels above by three staircases in which three lit glass screens create a vertical connection to the buildings.