Police guarding the Turkish Consulate in Hanover have upgraded their VW bus for a tiny mobile office.

The Mobile Police Station was designed by German architects Gesamtkonzept and is parked on the roadside.

The mobile container is clad in laminated panels finished to look like wood and features floor-to-ceiling windows.

Other mobile projects featured on Dezeen recently include a caravan-cum-disco and a diamond-shaped cabin on legs.

See also a story from the archive about miniature booths for sleeping in.

Photography is by Nils Günther.

More information is provided by the architects:

Young German architects office Gesamtkonzept has recently completed a mobile police station in Hanover, Germany.

The police station is placed in Hanover, in the Nordstadt district, across from the Turkish consulate. It replaces an old aged - police Volkswagen bus, which permanently has to protect the consulate.

Because this police car is placed at an exposed location and did not look particularly attractive in the cityscape, Mr. Wilhelmsen had the idea of designing a new, modern solution for a mobile station. His claim here was both to create a high quality and mobile architecture, as well as to establish an open and transparent working place for the police officers, that also can be produced quickly and inexpensively.

The draft includes a curtained, insulated and ventilated facade, with floor to ceiling windows. The colour of the outer facade is selected to be close to the red-brown tone of the opposite Christ Church.

So we decided, to use the steel frame of a conventional container for the supporting structure, that is used on many temporary buildings, such as mobile construction site offices. Good insulation and ventilation of the facade provide a good indoor climate without any air conditioning. In addition, transparency and openness of the station ensure a modern image of police in public.

With these ideas and a first feasibility study we approached the heads of the local police commissioner's office. Other than initially expected, the officials enthusiastically accepted the design, because they too were of the opinion that there was need for action concerning the old aged police bus.

Quickly they managed to overcome the bureaucratic, which often bar the way to project realization. Because all the responsible bodies indicated their approval we soon were able to carry on with the planning in close cooperation with the police to a ready for implementation state. The production of the container was done by a company that produces mobile container solutions for different sectors and industries nationwide, in cooperation with several regional companies. So one year after the initial idea, the mobile police station in Hanover was finished.

The police station not only provides a significant improvement in the quality of working, compared to the old VW bus, but now also offers a modern appearance, which fits in well with the urban and architectural situation in the vicinity of Christ Church.

Facility: Mobile police station in Hanover, Nordstadt
Client: Nordstadt Police Department
User: Police officers
Architect: Gesamtkonzept Architekten, Hanover
Material: Steel-frame construction, insulation of walls and roof, curtained rear-ventilated facade, panels made of high pressure laminate(HPL)
Planning and construction period: 07.2010 - 07.2011
Effective area: 8 sqm