The "fifth finger" is already in place
The TZA on Europaplatz in Aachen is the flagship of our sister company The Urban Village: a bustling office world with individual workspaces, a modern work space, and digitally equipped conference rooms that connect its users with each other. The possibility of expansion was already considered during the development of the building, which connects four office blocks. Now, the topping-out ceremony for the fifth block, also known as the "fifth finger," has been celebrated.
Around 5,300 m² of office and training space as well as a hall are being created in the new building, which will be a particularly creative place in the future: completely leased by the Building and Real Estate Management Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (BLB NRW), the "fifth finger" will become the new home of the Design Department at Aachen University of Applied Sciences. In addition, the BLB will take over 1,000 m² of existing hall space and will use the TZA auditorium and foyer on a fixed number of dates each year.
With the extension designed by DWS Architects, the Urban Village team is responding to high demand, as the TZA is almost fully booked at its current capacity. The popularity of the Urban Village pilot project is growing steadily. With their cheerful appearance, flexible working environments, meeting areas, and numerous services for the community's work-life balance, the office spaces and hall areas, with a total usable area of 19,000 m², quickly became too small. When the building was taken over just under five years ago, occupancy was around 61 percent, but today it is practically fully let.
The current topping-out ceremony marks another milestone. The handover of the space to the tenant is planned for the end of the year.
