Build for the FutureHHS Planer + Architekten AG

Sustainability: A term so over-used, that it has become difficult to use. The same goes for “sustainable building,” a standard phrase that is everywhere but is often too nebulous and vague, like the “organic” label on our food.

That’s not the case at Hegger Hegger Schleiff, HHS Planer + Architekten in Kassel, Germany. One of the firm’s three founders and CEO, Manfred Hegger, was instrumental as President of the DGNB German Sustainable Building Council in developing a certification system to evaluate environmentally friendly, resource-saving and economically efficient buildings; he also contributed to a clear and comprehensive definition of sustainability. HHS’ projects, which are sustainable in the best sense of the word, have been honored with numerous awards. With 25 employees, the architectural firm has worked successfully with ArchiCAD since 1998, and has completed many construction projects featuring sustainable energy with flexible usage concepts, a careful use of materials and resources, high user comfort, and spectacular architecture. For example: their Solar Academy project, a modern training center on behalf of Solar Technology AG in Niesetal near Kassel.

Production Hall, Photo: © Constantin Meyer, Köln

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Training Center, Photo: © Constantin Meyer, Köln

The floating energy island

It goes without saying that SMA, a leader in climate protection as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar inverters, should construct their own buildings based on an energy strategy focused on renewability and minimizing CO2 emissions. So HHS’ task was not only to design a training center, but a ‘power plant’ of sorts, making it possible for the building to generate its own energy. Another challenge was that the site of the Solar Academy is in the Fulda River’s flood zone. Günter Schleiff, also a founding member of HHS, and his design team have found a convincing solution, intelligently linking the abovementioned prerequisites with the design and construction of the building. “The first decision was to build “above” the water and place the building on stilts,” recalls Günter Schleiff. “We wanted a building form with a certain lightness, which looks good even from underneath. Since the energy is produced by photovoltaic modules integrated into the building, we designed a sloping facade and roof surfaces to ensure full use of the sun,” said Schleiff. Large-scale, building-integrated photovoltaic elements act as a roof and a façade, thus combining the building’s technical requirements with the aesthetics of a floating lightweight building structure. The polygonal facade and roof, in turn, correspond to the basic building shape, a large foyer in the middle of the building. “It’s a shape that meets all the requirements in architectural form: a tube with an irregular cross-section, with two more facades than a normal house, because the bottom and the roof are themselves visible facades,” Schleiff explains.

The building is anchored to the ground by a concrete core, which contains the necessary utilities connections, although the self-sufficient buildings do not require connection to any power grid. The upstairs houses a foyer, classrooms and technology center, whose visibility makes the building itself a showpiece of technology.

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Climate-neutral manufacturing - high workplace quality

The Kassel firm completed two other, equally ambitious construction projects for the SMA: Solar Plant 1 and the SMA Service Center. The former remains the world’s largest solar inverter factory, with CO2-neutral production. This building too is self-sufficient in terms of energy production; with a clear height of 8.50 meter, it was designed to resemble an industrial extruder. The side facades of the production hall are slightly curved, and “perforated” by vertical window elements. In contrast, the building’s front and back facades are entirely glass, and a set-off lets the profile “float”. The sides of the production hall are composed of curtain walls of white aluminum composite panels; the window units are dark gray. Alongside the assembly and manufacturing hall, the upper floors contain offices and common areas. The entrances, used by about 450 employees, are at the two ends of the building.

The photovoltaic systems required to produce energy were installed either as rooftop systems or integrated into the building, such as into the skylights, into roofs overhanging the logistics area, and into an outdoor terrace. These systems produce 1.2 MWp in total, which fully meets the production hall’s energy needs; excess current is fed directly into the public grid. Winter heating is provided by a biogas-powered cogeneration plant.

Besides achieving energy self-sufficiency from renewable sources, the building incorporates other elements of sustainable design, such as a maximally flexible usage profile for the production hall and high workplace quality. In this respect, too, Hegger Hegger Schleiff’s achievements were impressive, and so they got the next assignment: an even bigger job, the SMA Service Center, which has since been completed.

These buildings have been extremely successful not just for their sustainability, but also in terms of how fast the Solar-Werk 1 project was conceived and carried out. It is hard to believe, but the project took a little over 12 months from start to finish.

In operation since August 2010, the building has a gross floor area of 1,600 square meters. As an independent energy “island”, almost all the energy it needs is generated independently of the public grid. Cooling derived from groundwater from deep-bore wells and heating from a biogas operation (in case of insufficient PV power in winter) complete the energy-efficient solution. In addition to its innovative and climate-neutral energy concept, this project also boasts a high level of comfort for its users and radiates a clear, bright design.

View, South

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Optimized workflow – thanks to ArchiCAD

In all this, an integrated software program, which speeds up the planning process and optimizes the workflow, is essential. HHS has been working with ArchiCAD for almost 15 years. The Kassel-based firm, which designs almost all of its projects in 3D right from the start, opted for ArchiCAD after taking into account its outstanding 3D capabilities and its workflow that uses real building elements. The architects depend on ArchiCAD’s stellar 3D qualities not “only” during the design phase, but also in the later visualizations. ArchiCAD’s 3D emphasis supports clear and unambiguous decision-making and communications with the client and other stakeholders.

Today, the office owns 21 ArchiCAD 15 licenses. As ArchiCAD customers, the HHS architects install updates regularly. “This works smoothly for the most part, from an operations point of view, so we benefit from each version’s new features very soon after the update,” confirmed Bence Zobor, an architect at HHS. HHS considers the new Teamwork function the most important and outstanding technological development in recent years. “Shortly after ArchiCAD 13 with Teamwork 2.0 came onto the market, we tested it in a group of three to four people. Both the installation and working with the BIM Server went smoothly right from the start,” recalls Zobor. When ArchiCAD 14 was released, all HHS projects on which more than one person was working were made into Teamwork projects. This process, too, was problem-free and everything was up and running smoothly within two or three days, thanks in part to Volker Ponzer, Managing Director of cad intern GmbH and a GRAPHISOFT local partner.

Currently, HHS has about 20 Teamwork projects. “Creating a Teamwork project is quick and easy,” says Bence Zobor. “Releasing elements and areas is simple. Team members can communicate without a hitch. The ability for a design team to work together on a model in real-time is a big improvement! We have gotten so used to this workflow that we cannot imagine our office without the BIM Server. Teamwork 2.0 has significantly speeded up our workflow, optimized our processes and minimized errors. And in addition, work is more fun, because we no longer have to deal with long waiting periods and complicated access rights,” says Zobor.

The BIM Server is one, but by no means the only recent ArchiCAD innovation that HHS cannot do without. “For example, we use the new Curtain Wall tool in nearly all our projects; it simplifies and accelerates the design process. Embedded library parts which remain part of the project file are also very helpful. To give two more examples: in one of our current, very unusual projects, the so-called “Energy bunker”, we’ve used the new 3D modeling tools and Solid Element Operations. Without these, creating the special geometry needed for this project would have been very difficult,” explains Bence Zobor.

Photo: © Constantin Meyer, Köln Site plan

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From a bunker to a power station with a view

The “Energy Bunker”, HHS’ latest project, is considered one of the key projects of the Hamburg International Building Exhibition. A former bunker (air raid shelter) in the city’s Wilhelmsburg district has been refitted as an energy center to provide district heating for the adjacent residential area, the Reihersteig quarter. In addition to its practical purpose, the project has a social benefit, too: the former bunker, built in 1942 to provide shelter for up to 30,000 persons, and whose four towers represented part of the German war machine, will be converted into a documentation center and visitors café.

No average design project, to be sure! The first step was to renovate the concrete and restore the support structure. After the war, planned explosions in the interior fully demolished the concrete block. Six of the eight stories collapsed; only the outer shell, with its walls up to two meters thick, and its four-meter thick floors remained largely undamaged.

The goal of the HHS project was to achieve both the technical requirements and the public use aspects of the building while interfering as little as possible with the landmark-protected building structures. Another consideration was to make the building’s civilian nature clear to passersby. Thus, the relatively restrained style of the architecture indicates the building’s new functions. For example, the museum café includes a generous window opening in a contour of the tower. A large opening on the western façade was initially used to facilitate the construction process, and later will be converted into a viewing area for the central plant.

“Energy Bunker”, rendering: © bloomimages, Hamburg

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According to the HHS design, the documentation center will be located in one of the four so-called combat structures on the roof. The museum café will be created directly underneath the exhibition space, where the existing overhang will be converted into an outer terrace along the full length of the building, offering a unique view of Hamburg and its harbor. The technical plant of the heating network will be located in the lower stories. A reservoir with a capacity to store approximately 8,000 cubic meters of water will be placed in the middle of the former bunker. A photovoltaic façade is planned for the south side.

A solar collector of approximately 2,000 square meters is connected to the roof at an angle. However, the architects are careful to ensure that distinctive contour of the bunker will not be affected. Through intelligently combining energy production from solar, biogas, wood chips and waste heat from a nearby industrial plant, the Energy bunker will, after its completion (planned for 2013), meet most of the district heating needs of the Reiherstieg neighborhood, and also feed renewable electricity into the public grid.A truly extraordinary project: the “war plant”, unused for 60 years, will now function as a highly visible “Energy bunker”, a real milestone on the road to renewable energy production for the Elbinseln region; at the same time, as a documentation center, it will serve as a reminder of the darkest chapter in German history. In this light, the expression “sustainability” gains credibility once again.

The goal of the HHS project was to achieve both the technical requirements and the public use aspects of the building while interfering as little as possible with the landmark-protected building structures. Another consideration was to make the building’s civilian nature clear to passersby. Thus, the relatively restrained style of the architecture indicates the building’s new functions. For example, the museum café includes a generous window opening in a contour of the tower. A large opening on the western façade was initially used to facilitate the construction process, and later will be converted into a viewing area for the central plant.

Schornsteine(BHKW/Gaskessel)

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PV-Elemente aufStahlunterkonstruktion

Küche WC

Technik

Café

UnterbrechungsfreieStromversorgungsanlage

Löschwassertank

Lüftungstechnik

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© HHS Planer + Architekten AG, Kassel

Museum Café, photo: © HHS Planer + Architekten AG, Kassel

Photo: © HHS Planer + Architekten AG, Kassel

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The Company - HHS Planer + Architekten AG www.hhs.ag

HHS Planer + Architekten AG was founded in Kassel in 1980 by Doris Hegger-Luhnen, Manfred Hegger, and Günter Schleiff. Since 2000, the agency has expanded its leadership to include Associates Gerhard Greiner and Andreas Wiege. The team of 30 employees focuses on innovative projects in sustainable and energy-efficient design and construction. The completed projects range from urban planning and site planning to interior design and exhibition design. The conscious use of the site, materials, and energy determines the designs. The firm’s goal is to implement the objectives of sustainable construc-tion as fully as possible in every project. To this end, the design process collaborates closely with in-house research teams and universities.