The Berlin headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg) in Berlin-Tiergarten — known as the ‘Bendlerblock’ — is to be extended. The surviving section of the existing building forms part of a complex that was built in 1914 as the Imperial Naval Office and was used, amongst other things, as the Army High Command during the Nazi era. A memorial in the eastern part of the complex commemorates the resistance group led by Claus Graf von Stauffenberg; a memorial on the western boundary of the site honours Bundeswehr soldiers who fell in action. The subject of the urban planning and architectural design competition was the development of the western half of the site, which is currently largely vacant.

The design restores the spatial boundaries along the Reichpietschufer and Hildebrandtstraße, within which the Bendlerblock was originally situated. The focal point of the whole is a newly designed parade square that opens westwards to the street to the west. Two symmetrically arranged new buildings, with their concave façades, provide a formal framework for the square. A third building opens up the site to the north, forming a spatial boundary with an existing grove of black locust trees.
Within the urban landscape, the ensemble appears as a balanced composition of subtly differentiated volumes. Particularly along the Reichpietschufer, the new complex presents itself with a distinct identity whilst preserving historical continuity.

Continuous eaves link the old and new buildings to form an ensemble with a similar, mineral-based finish. The existing building presents two distinct faces: a robust, understated courtyard façade to the west and a prestigious street-facing façade overlooking the public space to the south. The new buildings take up this contrast and bring it together in a unified design — functional in character, with a subtly festive touch.