POST Headquarters – Luxembourg

The new POST Headquarters is situated in a quite particular urban environment. It is located in the densest district of Luxembourg, opposite the city's main traffic hub, and is characterised by Haussmannian architecture with massive natural stone facades. This new building had to, therefore, be a link between the contemporary and the history. On one side the CNS new Headquarters participates in the revaluation of the district, and on the other, the historic Accinauto building ends the Haussmannian route of the Bourbon Plateau, with its listed façades to be preserved.

Post Luxembourg has an organizational structure, built on communication between its different sectors. As a result, its HQ was designed to facilitate an open horizontal hierarchy that connects each department around a vast open atrium that spans the height of its interior. This central void hosts a spiral staircase that becomes a conduit for connections between the floors while also providing a link and an anchor for all the employees. This zone is encased by a dedicated series of functions, from lounges and game rooms to wellness and fitness areas that allow users to congregate around a central hub.

It is rare to see such a large-scale project come to life with local architects and stakeholders. Our architectural practice is located less than 500m from the building. During the entire construction period, almost everyone involved in the project travelled to the site on foot, by bicycle or by train. Our aim as local architects is to demonstrate that culturalism could shine against individualism, the art of construction against building techniques, the vernacular against starchitecture and finally, the social and well-being against profit and square meters.

This new building is located next to one of the POST Data Center which generates a significant amount of heat. Our technical installation recovers the heat and stores it in an ice reservoir with a capacity of over 2000M³. The heat is then released in the winter for the operation of our building. Several water circuits are also located under the 800m² of photovoltaic panels. In summer, the heat generated by the PV panels is absorbed by the water and returned to the same reservoir. This process also extends the life of the PV panels as it avoids overheating. Thanks to these efforts, the building does not need any fossil energy for its operation. All windows are accessible and cleaned from the inside, resulting in much lower cleaning costs. Ventilation, lighting, shading and temperature of each group of 4 workplaces can be controlled individually. In addition to personal comfort, this process saves a great deal of energy and resources (teleworking, orientation of the façade, etc.).