Curve X, a six-story office building in Düsseldorf by JSWD, completes a deep urban block with an X-shaped plan. A concave street elevation forms a sheltered forecourt and unifies entry, while two rear wings extend into the block at a scale consistent with neighboring fabric. Red steel panels and slender pilaster strips articulate the upper levels above a transparent ground floor that supports café and shared uses. Former paved courtyards are replanted to improve the interior microclimate.
Curve X Technical Information
- Architects: JSWD
- Location: Helmholtzstraße 19, 40215 Düsseldorf, Germany
- Gross Area: 21,000 m2 | 226,000 sq. ft.
- Project Years: 2018 – 2024
- Photographs: © Nils Koenning, © Franco Casaccia
We shaped the street line into a gentle recess to mark a collective threshold and organized the plan as a compact X so that every workspace maintains proximity to daylight, views, and the city block’s shared green.
– JSWD
Urban Infill and Massing Strategy
The project operates as a precise urban repair. Its six-story volume, set back at the uppermost level, aligns with neighboring cornice lines to sustain the street’s continuity. The facade holds the prevailing alignment at the flanks, then withdraws at the center to form a forecourt that reads as part of the urban room rather than as residual space. This calibrated recess strengthens the address and improves microclimatic comfort at the entry.
Behind the frontage, an X-shaped plan projects two wings into the block interior, at a height matching that of the adjacent buildings. The geometry fills the formerly vacant gap without indiscriminately filling it. By distributing the volume into four shorter wings, the scheme maintains daylight corridors across the depth of the block. It preserves the potential for cross-ventilation for surrounding apartments and offices. Replacing hardstand with planting shifts the block’s center toward a more collective open space, improving runoff management and reducing reflected heat.
Ground Plane, Access, and Public Interface
The concave street gesture concentrates access at the plan’s center. The resultant forecourt acts as a spatial buffer between the sidewalk and the lobby, improving wayfinding and providing a pause point at peak arrival times. The main doors are set back from the traffic line, reducing exposure to rain and wind and allowing a clear view through the building toward the courtyard.
At street level, large display windows give the café and shared functions a direct presence along Helmholtzstraße. The transparency supports visual continuity across the ground plane, animating the sidewalk without resorting to excessive signage. Vehicular and bicycle parking are consolidated in a two-level underground garage, releasing the courtyard and interior-of-block passages for planting and pedestrian movement. This choice simplifies surface circulation and enables a continuous landscape rather than a fragmented service yard.
Plan Logic, Core, and Workplace Flexibility
A centralized core anchors vertical circulation, sanitary zones, and building services. From this point, four wings extend to create floor plates with reduced depths and multiple corner conditions. The absence of perimeter structural interruptions along the continuous window bands supports a wide range of office arrangements, from open neighborhoods to cellular suites and hybrid settings, with logical adjacencies to shared rooms and acoustic buffers near the core.
The X geometry increases perimeter length compared to a compact block, bringing daylight and views deeper into each level. Multiple orientations allow teams to choose exposure based on task and seasonal conditions, while the central core simplifies the horizontal distribution of technical systems. At the street, the combination of an upper setback and a cornice-aligned datum tempers mass at the urban edge and holds continuity with neighboring facades without imitation.
Envelope, Color, and Environmental Approach
The envelope proposes a clear base-to-body composition. A transparent ground course maximizes visual connection between inside and out, while the upper levels are clad with red steel panels and slender pilaster strips mounted in front of continuous window bands. As the facade curves inward, the spacing reads with a subtle compression that produces rhythm and depth without relying on overt modulation of the wall plane.
The red metal elements form a durable rainscreen that tolerates close urban contact and allows for straightforward maintenance. Daylight-forward floor plates reduce reliance on artificial lighting, and the roof accommodates on-site solar generation tied to base-building services. Combined with shaded glazing and cross-ventilation opportunities afforded by the plan’s multiple exposures, the environmental approach targets low operational demand alongside improved interior comfort.
About JSWD
JSWD is an internationally active architecture practice based in Cologne, Germany. Founded in 2000 by Jürgen Steffens, Olaf Drehsen, and brothers Konstantin and Frederik Jaspert, the firm has grown to employ around 240 professionals from over 30 nations. Known for its collaborative ethos and competition-driven portfolio, JSWD emphasizes contextual integration, sustainability, and contemporary expression in its architectural work. The practice continues to expand its reach through partnerships in France, Luxembourg, the USA, and China. It sustains a strong presence in healthcare architecture through its specialized division, JSWD Health Care, established in 2010.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Structural engineers: R&P Ruffert Ing.
- MEP consultants: REESE Ingenieure
- Landscape designers: studiogrüngrau
- Client: Becken Development GmbH, Hamburg, Germany
- Construction company: Dressler Bau GmbH
- Other contributors: Corall Ingenieure (Fire protection), Drees & Sommer (Facade consulting), LCEE Life Cycle Eng. (DGNB auditor)
