The new Rothenburg Security Center is a trapezoidal shaped block, consisting of two basement floors, two-story concrete floors and a four-story solid wooden structure. The concrete base is in direct proximity to the railway tracks and thus its interface offers an industrial image of infrastructure and protection against heavy systems of freight in close adjacency. From the third floor onwards, a delicate vernacular-like sustainable construction in solid wood begins, with warm delicate office spaces inside. The façade design takes on the investigation of creating structure as ornament.

The characteristic massive tree trunks intend to dialogue with the classical origins of the column order and with the nearby forests. The ancient stone column became in its classical inception an abstraction of a wooden tree trunk made in stone, and the building searches to rescue this expression wavering between ornament and structure. The unique identity of each of the five orders of classical Architecture permeates into the logic by which we cut each of our five orders in the building, creating for each member a distinct expression but conjoined by similar formal operation of removal. From the giant in-situ casted order at ground level to the slender wooden columns that terminate the building as almost an overscaled cornice, there is consistent one single gesture of slicing to create differentiation across. Column base and capital are indicated yet all with minimal means for a nuanced facade effect. The rustication has been another formal theme of investigation. The bark of trees is preserved to enhance an idea of firmness, and at ground the in-situ concrete is chiseled to create an image of strength and protection. Both the wooden columnar logic and the giant order are tied by an expressive agitated granular envelope, that contrasts the smooth and sharp cut for the base and capital.

Contrast has been extended to its interiors, where the robust quality of the exterior becomes a tectonic assembly with intricate wooden work. It allows for ample views to the exterior and efficient spans for programmatic flexibility. The trapezoidal courtyard scheme offers in the inner ring a place for workers to have a place to retreat, and the outdoor spaces of the building are design aiming to preserve the natural areas for flora and fauna. In all, the building ties the peripheral forces of sustainable forestry, industrial warehouses, and infrastructural arteries into seamless resolution.