Schüco Technology Center, Bielefeld/GER
Built concept - Energy2
Dirk U. Hindrichs, President and CEO of Schüco International KG, talks about the reasons behind the Schüco Technology Center, Bielefeld, its use and its energy concept.
Mr. Hindrichs, what were your demands as a client for the building of the (STC)?
We wanted to create a multi-purpose company building for our employees, our partners and architects, for the whole Schüco Network, constructed within the spirit of our concept of Energy² – Saving energy and generating energy. And we achieved this. With a pioneering concept using all currently available technologies. We made it our task to create a symbol of environmentally aware, energy-saving building by using a combination of our own systems, with solar, aluminium and all energy-related fields of building and installation.
Which special energy features can be seen in the building?
The building offers high levels of comfort and, under current operating conditions, produces more than 50 % lower CO2 emissions than a comparable building. This has been achieved by the use of energy-saving systems such as a highly thermally insulated façade, with solar shading, with photovoltaic modules, with night-time cooling, and a very good lighting concept. Solar thermal collectors in conjunction with ground-source heat pumps support the cooling and heating of the building.
What is the STC used for? And how can the different functions be used by the Schüco Network?
The STC offers operational units, fitted to the latest specifications, such as the test centre, a lounge for our employees and a training center.
The former , with its existing rooms, was incorporated into the planning of the newbuild. The idea was that it should be a building that joins the existing building to the new extension in an ideal way. The architects were very successful in this. The training rooms of different sizes can be used for internal and external training. These are arranged on three floors. The training rooms can be joined together by opening the partition walls, making space for up to 300 people. The offices in the building are for the staff.
However, it is the lounge that is used above all by the employees, where every week some 2000 meals are served. The lounge has room for 264, with an additional 72 places in the VIP area.
The STC has a highly transparent façade. Why did you decide on this façade, and how does the building cope with the potential energy losses through a glass façade?
We wanted to create a degree of openness with the façade and to allow the surroundings to participate in the activities in the building. The energy losses through well-insulated glass façades have nothing to do with the energy losses from buildings of the past.
For the STC building envelope, the conflict between transparency and conserving resources was resolved. A prime example of this is the façade on the west side of the building on Karolinenstraße. A solar shading system consisting of vertical louvre blades has been installed in front of the façades of both upper floors, which protect the floor-toceiling, glazed west-facing training rooms and the “Schüco Lounge” restaurant area against a build-up of heat. In their texture, vertical alignment and movement which depend on the position of the sun, these louvre blades are very effective in terms of architectural appeal. They are also responsible for maintaining a certain level of comfort in a room determined by the daylight but with acceptable conditions of energy use. For even when the louvre blades are closed, the perforations in the blades provide 30 % transparency. Overall, the transparent outer shell of the STC has 20 % less heat transfer than the minimum building component value determined in the latest version of the energy saving regulations.
Worldwide energy consumption continues to rise. How does Schüco tackle this subject, or, to put it another way, is this topic reflected in your company strategy?
In the mid-1990s, we became interested in the question of energy and stumbled upon a very interesting number. Between 1850 and 2050 world energy consumption will have increased by a factor of 140.
Firstly, there’s the small matter of the world’s population. Up until 1850, it took mankind hundreds of millions of years to reach the 1.5 billion mark. And by 2050 this figure will reach 9 billion. When you think that every person leaves a carbon footprint, then this is a tremendous number.
In the light of this, we started looking at roofs and façades more closely and decided that it would make sense to utilise these unused surfaces to generate energy. And it is these areas that we have made optimum use of in the . The building reflect our model: Energy² – Saving energy and generating energy.
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