A sustainable office and administrative building
Volksbank Freiburg
Iconic shape, outstanding functionality
Over the course of three years, a new structure was developed in Freiburg with a total floor space of 43,000 square metres, creating a striking focal point in the urban landscape. It was the work of renowned architect Hadi Teherani. The building was fitted with a distinctive slat façade and striking Zumtobel ELOQUIA and AMBITUS luminaires. The pioneering new bank building stands at the intersection between nature and culture, between the Black Forest National Park region and the tradition-rich University of Freiburg (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität). It combines an iconic shape with optimum functionality and unequivocal sustainability.
Disassembled by hand and returned to the circular economy
No fewer than 37 sustainability criteria were included in DGNB’s certification process for the gold award. Factors taken into consideration included, ecology, economy, socio-cultural and functional quality, as well as technology, process quality and location. One of the most important elements was the reuse of the old bank building’s façade panels from 1974: they were disassembled by hand, and the demolition waste was painstakingly separated out. It was crushed and is now being used as a base material in road construction.
Human-centric lighting for attractive spaces
Zumtobel’s lighting, which is geared towards users’ needs, also plays a part in the sustainability standards of the modern office building: after all, lighting solutions contribute significantly to people feeling comfortable in a building and their long-term enjoyment of using the space. ‘The natural lighting effect emanating from this luminaire leads to a positive sense of spatiality,’ said the jury of the Red Dot Design Awards 2021 in its statement about Zumtobel’s award-winning pendant luminaire, AMBITUS. The narrow light ring designed by Yorgo Lykouria combines diffuse indirect light with precise, workplace-friendly direct light and variable light colours with tunableWhite. The ELOQUIA free-standing luminaire – which was developed in a three-way partnership between Zumtobel, a·g Licht and Hadi Teherani Design – also harmoniously facilitates the work of the building’s users.