The administrative headquarters of an employers’ federation for metalworking trades in Germany comprises three distinct volumes. With their characteristic double-pitched roofs, similar eaves heights, facade widths and depths, they are typologically well integrated into the existing small-town environment, even sharing features such as trees in the “front gardens”. The unusual design of the building skin strikes a different note, however. Drawn over the facades and roof is a homogeneous, seamless layer of bead-blasted steel sheeting. The tactile and visual qualities of the resulting surfaces seem unfamiliar: the material adopts the colours of the sky and the surroundings, reflecting them and lending the outer skin an intangible depth. Even the individual volumes are difficult to apprehend, since nowhere is there an indication of the material thickness – not at the corners, the eaves or verges, nor around the window openings. The casements, without visible frames, are set back slightly in a second plane behind the metal facade and are shaded by centrally controlled perforated elements. In a closed position, the windows seem to fit flush with the facade. They are opened by sliding the two halves upwards and downwards behind the outer metal skin to any required degree. Even the linings to the entrance doors are integrated into the facade pattern of the plinth zone so as to be scarcely noticeable outside opening hours.