The work of the future begins in a rather unadorned room. Against the wall is a man-high locker with dozens of little doors, each with its own lock. Anyone who arrives here early in the morning takes a small basket from the compartment, puts their laptop in it and sets off to their workplace – which they should have booked online in advance if possible. Things that are not absolutely necessary at work stay in the locker.
Anyone who comes to work in the morning packs their things in the locker and looks for a job that they have previously booked online.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Desk sharing is the name of this form of work organisation, in which employees look for a new workplace in the office every day – and which is now also being practiced in the new, modern location of the Munich district office in the trade fair town of Riem. There are hardly any fixed places for the employees of the authority of District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU), who have already moved in. This has its advantages: about a new view every day. Desk sharing – or in German: the flexible workplace – also enables more home office – and of course saves space and thus money.
Meanwhile, Christoph Dauer still has his own office, even a brand new one. From here, Dauer has a direct view of the Munich Exhibition Center and the entrance area of the Riem Arcaden with its somewhat forlorn-looking roof, which he, as the district master builder for the district, of course also has an opinion on: “It wouldn’t have been necessary,” he says and laughs. In his office there are still three moving boxes packed with files, folders and office supplies against the wall; three of 33, with which Dauer just moved into the new location of the district office in an exclusive location in the trade fair city.
District master builder Christoph Dauer in his new office with a view of the Riem arcades.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
A district builder has a lot to carry, not just boxes, but also responsibility. Because it was Dauer who engineered what he himself found to be a nerve-wracking deal between the district and the previous owners of the Büroglaspalast in Riem. He had inspected more than 55 objects beforehand, says Dauer in front of the side entrance on Werner-Eckert-Strasse; the actual main entrance of the new branch of the district office in the state capital is on the north side of the square, there are currently only two small stickers with the coat of arms of the district and the words “district office Munich” to indicate that the ownership has changed and the offices to prove and to be re-upholstered.
The district office and district administrator Göbel are silent about the price that the district paid for the building with 21,000 square meters; all that is known is that the district council provided up to 100 million euros as a kind of special fund for the purchase of a property.
The move to the new location is in full swing.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
The fact that the district has risen to become the owner of large properties in the east of Munich is due to several circumstances: the authority has grown massively in terms of personnel in recent years, and more than 1,600 people now work in Göbel’s office – spread over a total of eleven locations. Renting the buildings alone costs the district about three million euros a year. For this reason alone, alternatives have been discussed in the district council for years, Riem was long considered the favourite, the municipality of Haar was also discussed for a while because of its reasonably central location in the district, and the possibility of a new building was also repeatedly debated.
In the courtyard it will be nice to bear in summer.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
“We are also very satisfied with the solution that has now been found because of the good transport connections,” says district master builder Dauer as he leads the way into the courtyard of the building – the subway is practically on the doorstep. In the summer, it’s definitely tolerable here, says Dauer. Shade-giving sails stretch a few meters high from house wall to house wall, where the employees can spend their lunch break when the weather is good. The basin in the courtyard, which has been drained, will be filled with water in the coming weeks and become a small lake in the courtyard of the new district office.
The building represents an enormous contrast to the neo-baroque headquarters on Mariahilfplatz. The former Paulaner monastery with the Paulanerkirche is a winding testimony to history within sight of the Mariahilfkirche. It was not only a monastery, but also a military hospital and prison for a time. The property that has now been acquired in Riem is just 19 years old. The house was put into operation in 2003 and it still meets the highest energy standards. The glass facades appear a bit playful with their colorful window frames, but at the same time very linear. From an architectural point of view, the district of Munich could have bought much worse.
The employee bistros impress with their quality of stay.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
And the employees can look forward to light-flooded, bright rooms. There are sofas in a few corners, and the authorities have taken over the small bistros from the previous tenants. And a look at the small staff cafés suggests that several interior designers have let off steam there. Bright colors adorn the walls, modern bistro chairs invite you to take a break, and smooth shapes dominate the kitchen units. “I could stand it here too,” says the press spokeswoman for the district office, Christine Spiegel, who will remain with her team at Mariahilfplatz.
So far, Dauer and his employees have only moved into the third floor of the new location. Because there are still other tenants in the property, some of whom have longer leases. In six to seven years, says Dauer, the last people would move out – and then only employees of the mammoth authority would work here. However, there will not be a complete relocation of all employees of the district office to Riem for the time being, because there is simply not enough space at the new location. According to the district master builder, up to 700 employees would work here at some point, the rest would then mainly remain in the Au.
As at Mariahilfplatz, the location in Riem should be open and customer-friendly, because despite the ongoing digitization, there is still a lot of public traffic in such an authority. “We want our customers to feel comfortable here,” says Dauer as he enters the glass main entrance. An open reception area is currently being built on the third floor. The glazed walls of the offices have black stripes, as do the doors – as visual aids for visually impaired people, as Dauer says, developed together with employees from the center for the visually impaired and blind in Unterschleißheim. The room planners seem to have thought of everything, including three showers on the floor for employees who cycle to work.
When looking at the Riem arcades, the district master builder thinks of something else: the culinary variety in the shopping center is not to be scoffed at either, he says. Whether he will have much time for it is questionable. He will have to keep looking for new properties, says Dauer. The property in Riem may not have been the last that the district will own.