Railroad Tycoon

Multi-story interior design concept

A design concept was developed for the entire office building at the DB Netz (now DB InfraGO) site in Karlsruhe. A total of 17 walls were designed across seven floors, with each floor receiving its own color scheme and a graphically integrated number as a floor identifier.

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Circuit diagrams as a visual language

The graphic design was based on circuit diagrams and maps of railway networks. Large, colored areas brought a sense of calm to the composition. Their distribution across the wall, however, created an interaction between them that reflected the underlying technical concept of the design.

The finer lines followed their own logic. Dashed line segments represented regional rail lines, while parallel, solid lines represented high-speed lines. Numerical representations, using geometric shapes, captured the technical concept and translated it into a modern interpretation of the railway theme without becoming simplistic. The concept was visually inspired by the marshalling yard as a place where many individual elements come together to form a functioning whole.

Just like in a real rail network, some lines disappeared, overlapped, or continued beneath one another, much like tracks are routed through bridges and tunnels. This resulted in a modern, urban visual language that translated diverse elements of a rail network into its own abstracted formal language.

Büro Wandgestaltung des Künstlers Michael Weingart in Karlsruhe

Art provides orientation

At the heart of each floor's design was a large number identifying the respective level. Instead of conventional lettering, this number was composed of circular segments, semicircles, and geometric shapes, giving it the appearance of a technical graphic. Even within the same floor, the number was interpreted differently on each wall, making each graphic a distinct element within the artwork. These elements were subtly integrated, serving as a clear and intuitive wayfinding system throughout the building. At a glance, it was possible to identify the floor without the need for additional signage.

The same principle was applied to the color schemes of the individual floors. Each of the seven floors was given its own color scheme. Anyone walking past a red wall knew immediately that floor zero must be there. In this way, the color coding gave each floor its own identity and further facilitated orientation within the building.

The same visual language of lines, circular segments, and geometric elements was used across all 17 decorated walls. This gave the entire building the necessary identity.

A system with recognition value

The result was a consistent design concept for the entire office building, seamlessly blending wayfinding and brand identity. An abstract visual language of railway networks was used to create a system that was both functionally and aesthetically compelling, giving the Karlsruhe location a unified and distinctive character across all floors.