WACKER Opens New Headquarters in Munich’s Werksviertel District

Wacker Chemie AG opened its new corporate headquarters in Munich yesterday at a ceremony with over 100 invited guests. The new roughly 18,000 square meter building in Munich’s Werksviertel District was designed by Danish architecture firm C.F. Møller with the latest in sustainable building technology. The innovative office concept offers an ultramodern flexible working environment for around 600 employees on 5 floors. With WACKER House, the company is moving its Munich headquarters from Neuperlach to the Werksviertel District.

“WACKER belongs just as much to Munich as the mountains do to Bavaria. We’ve had our corporate headquarters here for more than 100 years. During this period, WACKER has always been able to reinvent itself,” said Christian Hartel, President & CEO of Wacker Chemie AG at the opening ceremony. “Today is one such day. After all, with our new corporate headquarters, we are not just opening an architecturally attractive, state-of-the-art building that meets the highest sustainability standards. WACKER House is more than just a new building, it also means a new working world: more modern, more flexible and more ag-ile. It is therefore a key catalyst for creative ideas, inspiration and innovation, and, ultimately, entrepreneurial success.”

In his welcome address, Bavaria’s state governor Markus Söder em-phasized, “Performance and innovation are well suited to Bavaria. The chemical industry is essential for Bavaria as an industrial location and safeguards many jobs. We stand by medium-sized companies, family-owned businesses and global players. Unfortunately, in Germany, we often tend to undermine ourselves. Instead, the right thing to do would be to strengthen our companies: This includes good framework conditions for the economy, a secure power supply with a permanently low industrial electricity price, and a new performance principle. Work and a culture of performance must be made worthwhile again. As a state of innovation, we in Bavaria promote a mindset that rewards the hard-working and committed."

Clemens Baumgärtner, in charge of Labor and Economic Affairs for the City of Munich, stated, “WACKER and Munich are a really strong team. The company has a tradition going back more than 100 years in this city. By moving to Munich’s Werksviertel District, WACKER has chosen one of the city’s most exciting quarters. At the same time, the area will be further enhanced by WACKER House. We are very pleased to see, once again, WACKER’s impressive commitment to Munich and to know that such an important innovation driver and employer is present in our city over the long term.”

WACKER House: Collaborative, Efficient and Sustainable

WACKER House extends across five floors where the individual departments will each have their own home base. Inside, everything is geared toward flexible and communicative work. Separate, individual offices are therefore a thing of the past. Depending on their daily routine and diary, employees can choose which rooms and equipment are most suited for their current tasks and activities. There are open spaces, think tanks, work lounges, conventional project areas and flexible individual offices, so that every work activity finds the perfect setting.

Technically speaking, WACKER House meets the latest sustainability standards. The building’s facade has a transparent and curved lattice structure. The glass facade lets daylight into most of the interior of the building, which is heated using locally produced district heating. Triple-glazed windows and thermally insulated walls guarantee substantial energy savings. What’s more, attention was paid to the economical use of materials, for example by using prefabricated concrete panels. Rainwater retention basins were created to irrigate green areas and plants on the landscaped terraces. With this and other measures, WACKER House is aiming for the internationally recognized LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) at the highest level – platinum.

WACKER House in Munich’s Werksviertel District, near to Munich East station, was built by real estate company Patrizia. A great many WACKER products, particularly silicones and polymers, were used in the construction project. What’s more, the lobby includes a specially designed reception desk featuring polished polysilicon in a silicon resin matrix. WACKER’s pension fund bought the new property in 2022. While using most of the building itself, WACKER will be subletting some of the office space.