DOM Corporate Headquarters
The DOM Dome
This Design for a corporate headquarters fused image and function into one concept. The DOM Corporation, a manufacturer of high-quality security systems, wanted a building that would project the image of its products and offer efficient and flexible office space. The design is classically organized, with a base, body, and head. The head is actually a dome that carries the company logo and has an area for product sales presentations and a small corporate museum, or the “memory” of the company’s development.
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Client: DOM Sicherheitstechnik Corporation
Location: Bruhl-Cologne, Germany
Year: 1976
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Honorable Mention | International Competition for the Administrative Headquarters of the DOM-Sicherheits-Technik Corporation | 1980
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D'Amato, Claudio. “Eupalinos #3.” Rome, pp. 28-32. 1985.
Materiality
The materials for the building are consistent with those used in the manufacture of DOM products and present a clear, hard, secure image. The base of the building is solid and continuous, constructed of finely-joined anodized aluminum panels with flush solar glazing. The body of the building has a one-meter-square modular curtain wall of semi-reflective glass. The dome is finished with highly polished stainless steel panels. In a typical tall building, the base, body, and head would be vertically stacked with elevators up the center, but in the DOM structure, these elements are pushed forward, towards the freeway.
Company Identity in Physical Form
The result is a unique and insistent image, drawn from the company’s industrial design vocabulary, and a very functional office building featuring a central atrium with stepped back terraces. The building is a strong presence on the industrial landscape—a virtual logo in and of itself.