Architects in a beverage outlet
It's always going to be interesting when architects move into a (former) cash-and-carry beverage outlet: the bare, functional building forming the backdrop to the design ideas of the creative team. In Seevetal near Hamburg, Germany, the challenge of converting a simple utilitarian building into a high-end office complex with a distinctive ambience was successfully met. The demand to create a functional, aesthetically pleasing and above all energetic space was fulfilled with supreme skill – not least thanks to the application of Viega system technology.
Sustainable heating
First the future architects' office building was properly "wrapped up". The new composite thermal insulation system reduced the U-value of the exterior walls to
0.51 W/m²K. The roof structure was also provided with an approximately 30 cm thick insulating layer.
Heat is now supplied solely by a gas condensing boiler with a 60 kW peak output, heating the office with supply and return temperatures of just 35/30 °C at outside temperatures down to -14 °C. This is achieved in part also because the heat recovered from lighting and PCs is used to cover the heating load. The fully open-plan design of the building's interior posed a challenge in terms of heating (the only enclosed spaces being in a central cube for the file archive, IT system and copier).
Comfortable warmth – evenly distributed
This challenge is met by the Fonterra floor heating system installed throughout the building. The approximately 50 heating circuits (size 15 polybutene pipes on insulated tacker panels, with 20 cm insulating layer and concrete floor slab beneath) create an absolutely consistent temperature level throughout the office. The pipes are usually installed with 15 cm spacings. In this case, however the installers laid the flexible pipes even more tightly in the window areas. And in the cube rooms there are no heating circuits owing to the internal heat loads. As a result, the temperature in the office never falls by more than 5 °C, even in the iciest winter cold. And the self-regulating surface heating evens it all out before anyone notices any unpleasant effects.