THE HUBB (punning for ‘junction’ and Böblingen’s license tag) is positioned as an urban high point and due to its disciplined expressive form as a recognisable sign vis-à-vis the city’s railway station. It consists of an elevated base on which the actual tower and an additional volume are located. Both together frame a vertical garden above a roof terrace in the centre of the building.

On the ground floor there is a “market hall” which, modelled on the Southeast Asian “hawker centres”, provides a platform for small culinary entrepreneurs.

On the first floor of the plinth, educational programmes offer children and young people opportunities for research-based learning.

The tower offers space-efficient flats for residential communities as well as young families – with additional facilities, such as a communal kitchen and a launderette.

A three-storey annex parallel to the tower offers co-working spaces and an urban gardening terrace.

The twisting of rooms and building components represents a kind of “typological energy optimisation”.
Thus, bedrooms are oriented towards the east; north-facing walls are largely closed. On the southwest side, the slanted walls serve as “sunblockers” to counteract the heating of the living spaces in summer. Arbours and cantilevered balconies reinforce this effect.

All buildings are constructed as timber-concrete hybrid structures, as this construction method shows a good balance between sustainable use of resources and material, as well as building law robustness. The repetitive design language allows for modular construction.