Highlights
One Global Headquarters (OGHQ)
In 2015, after several large acquisitions transformed its businesses, Merck KGaA1 underwent a re-branding into the single brand Merck. Merck is a diversified pharmaceutical, life sciences and chemicals group founded in 1668 and ever since headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany. The company employs approximately 52,000 people around the world, with 11,000 in North America and about the same number in Germany (Merck, 2019). The company invested US$ 565m in Capex world-wide in 2015, including a large number of construction projects (Merck, 2016). The new brand was designed to position the organization as an innovative science and technology company as prior analysis suggested that its culture had to undergo a transformative change. It was also recognized that architecture, in particular at the headquarters, conveys a strong message to customers, partners, the community, and employees and that the architecture needs to represent the transformative change as well.
On this basis, the program One Global Headquarters (OGHQ) was initiated in 2014 with the aim of completion by 2018, when the company celebrated its 350-year anniversary. The program consisted of about 90 interdependent construction projects of various sizes, shapes and forms at the headquarters in Darmstadt with a total investment of more than US$ 200m. The program was led by two internal managers – Steven and Mark – who mainly focused on strategy and governance issues and were supported by a program management team of internal and external experts to oversee the high number of projects. External experts were hired in all cases, in which internal resources were considered inadequate or insufficient to stay in control of architectural quality, schedule and budget, all of which were non-negotiable. At the heart of the program was the development of the Innovation Center and the adjacent Employee Restaurant (Figure 1 and 2), which was described by its architects Henn as follows (Henn, 2019):
“The Innovation Center will be used to cooperate temporarily in interdisciplinary teams and to communicate both internally and externally. While the newly developed public square (…) orientates the company towards the city, the Innovation Center opens it to the interior. There are three levels which are set back from one another so that they are to a large extent visually linked. Levels can be changed using arched ramps. These connections, like the bridges joining the segments at individual levels, are highly frequented meeting places where the direct exchange of information among knowledge holders is encouraged. In passing, building users can be inspired by the work of their colleagues and prompted to engage in discussions. Different demands on the workplaces – concentration, communication, cooperation – find spatial expression in a flowing transition. Team communication takes place in the spacious internal area on each floor. Single-person office cells along the façade provide space for activities requiring concentration and intensive thought. The company restaurant is connected to the Innovation Center on several levels. It will assume essential functions on the currently decentralized staff canteens,
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