This new central office for conservation in Baden-Württemberg unites the various branches that were hitherto scattered over the entire state. The headquarters have been accommodated in a former school building dating from the 19th century. This has been extended and completely refurbished to comply with the strict requirements relating to indoor climate and technical installations for the new laboratory, workshop and office spaces. The existing ensemble is complemented by a glazed tower and a single-storey workshop building that is clad on the outside with expanded metal mesh. All sections of the development are linked with each other below ground. The underground workshops receive daylight through a long roof strip, which follows the line of the former medieval town moat. Connected via “gangways” to the existing building, the office tower has a fully glazed outer face. With specially designed fixed louvres housed in the cavity between the layers of double glazing, this glass facade performs a number of functions: it acts as a thermal skin, as a protection against insolation and glare, and as a lighting-control element.