Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen

The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics is situated next to the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology and constitutes the second phase of construction on the campus grounds. It is based on the modular building arrangement developed during the first phase of construction. The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics is concerned with the study and description of information processing in biological systems. The new Magnetic Resonance Centre is an extension of the existing Institute of Cybernetics.

The MR centre is made up of two parts. One of these is a five-storey institute building with tripartite organisation, containing labs and offices around a central sky-lit staircase, and the Magnetic Resonance Centre below. Structurally apart, this constitutes the core of the centre with two ultra-high field resonance tomographs. The only indication of the technical set-up above ground is an oval-shaped structure with profiled glass cladding. The multi-layered façade design – with red glass elements behind wooden slats – supports integration in the landscape, as already practised in the first phase of construction.

Another, though structurally separate, part of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (MR Centre) is the Virtual Reality Research Facility "Cyberneum" for experimentation in basic cybernetics research. This contains two motion simulators for different types of projection, as well as adjoining office and presentation areas. A profiled glass façade covers the solid insulated walls. This greenish-looking glass façade softens the contours of the cube structure significantly and supports the aim of integrating the building in the landscape.