The Center of Climate built at the HQ of the German company Zehnder in Lahr acts as a new communication hub for customers, visitors and employees. Following a competition to find the best architect for the job, the property developer landed on the design produced by architectural firm Partner AG. The clear urban design paired with the impressive look of the sleek structure was an instant hit. Arguably one of the most impressive aspects is the brand experience space, where the company showcases its areas of expertise in five different lifeworlds.

With the striking new building, the architects designed an inviting, modern entrance for the company HQ shaped by its historic use as industrial and factory halls. The two-storey structure rises, seemingly floating above a fully glazed ground floor plinth, and turns elegantly to face visitors arriving from Europastrasse. Over a total floorspace of 5,000 square meters, the building houses conference and meeting rooms for employees along with rooms for external and in-house training. At the heart of the building is the multifunctional brand experience space, which lends itself to the various event formats hosted by the Zehnder Academy for professional tradespeople, planners and architects thanks to its flexible exhibition architecture. The space also features a modern restaurant complete with café lounge as a stylish meeting place, helping to transform the Center of Climate into the new communication hub and meeting place for customers attending factory tours, business meetings and training events.

Zehnder is strongly committed to climate neutrality and sustainability. The company upholds these principles both when manufacturing its products and systems, and when building its real estate. The Center of Climate in Lahr was built as a low-energy building in compliance with the KfW Efficiency House 55 standard with a maximum primary energy requirement of 104 kWh/m²a. The notion of visual comfort in the workplace played a key role. Employees in the new company building should be able to enjoy a motivational and healthy work environment.

The positive major impact light has on our wellbeing and, in turn, our productivity at work has been proven time and again. In order to reap the full benefits, the interplay or natural daylight and artificial lighting needs to be utilized along with the non-visual emotional impact of various colour temperatures. Lighting scenarios based on the human centric lighting (HCL) concept always account for the dynamic change of varicoloured lighting moods to mirror the circadian rhythm of daylight. Workplaces require as much daylight as possible to keep our circadian rhythm in check. Artificial lighting that mimics daylight is only used when required. Depending on the individual requirements, lighting concepts can also support concentration, inspiration or relaxation.

One of the innovative aspects of visual comfort in the Center of Climate and its sustainable overall concept is Wellumic. The intelligent, fine-tuned light management system developed in partnership between WAREMA and Trilux coordinates both the sun shading system and lighting. The aim: to achieve optimum lighting conditions and minimum energy consumption at any time of the day. The most important technological element of Wellumic is the smart control algorithm that controls and dynamically adapts the interaction between the WAREMA external venetian blinds and the HCL-capable LED lamps from Trilux over the course of the day. Sensors also measure the lighting conditions inside and outside while adjusting the external venetian blind slats in real time to match the dynamic HCL lighting scenarios. The algorithm-based Wellumic control ensures the optimum use of daylight while preventing rooms from heating up too much due to the incidence of solar energy, which requires energy-intensive cooling. HCL-capable lighting solutions from Trilux blend perfectly into the architecture, flooding the rooms with artificial light for a natural and pleasant aesthetic.

A special feature of Wellumic is the precise control of the WAREMA external venetian blinds via SMI motors, which, along with opening and closing, also control the angular adjustment of the slats with precise positioning to guarantee correct slat tracking. The Wellumic control is equipped with a weather station that measures four outdoor light levels, the outdoor temperature as well as the wind and transmits the time stamp via a DCF77 signal. The weather station communicates with the BAline KNXMCMs via KNX, which in turn communicate with the external blinds as well as the lamps and internal sensors that detect the presence of people and room brightness via MIO DALI 2.0 and MIO SMI. Depending on the location and time stamp, the position of the sun is calculated in the KNXMCMs that contain the algorithms for the Wellumic control for slat tracking.

The Wellumic KNX Touch room control element is available for manual operation in the rooms – as a 15'' touchscreen in open spaces with a floor plan visualisation. The external venetian blinds and light are quick and easy to adjust to the individual requirements at the touch of a button thanks to the four scenarios – presentation, active, relax, focus. Individual venetian blind settings can also be used to set the illuminance level and colors.

The Wellumic control mode makes a major contribution to ensuring daylight and artificial light optimally complement each other: The optimized incidence of daylight, taking into account the incidence of solar energy, significantly improves the energy efficiency of the building. Dynamic control of the illuminance level of the artificial lighting and the HCL color temperature curve promotes employee health and wellbeing.

• Construction project: Zehnder Center of Climate, Lahr
• WAREMA sun shading solutions:
  • 309 external venetian blinds E80A6S with SMI drive and additional collapsible cranks on the emergency exits
  • Wellumic automation in KNX technology
  • BAline 31 KNXMCM, 30 MIO DALI 2.0, 23 MIO SMI 8I, 4 KNX IP router, 1 KNX SA 4M230.8 AP
  • Weather station with wind sensor (heated), photo/radio clock and outside temperature, BAline KNX weather station module
  • 6 15" touchscreen PCs, 22 WAREMA KNX Room Controllers as Wellumic operating elements
• Trilux solutions:
  
  • PARELIA ACT LED pendant light in HCL design + CULTEGA LED table lamp
  • Luceo Slim ACT floor lamp in HCL design
  • Lateralo Ring LED ceiling lights
  • Finea LED light strip
  • Sonnos LED downlights in HCL design
• Architect: Architectural firm Partner AG, Freiburg/Offenburg
• Specialist planner: TPI Trippe + Partner Ingenieure, Karlsruhe
• Contracting entity: Zehnder Group Holding GmbH, Lahr
• Completion: 2023