A newly unveiled building in Munich, Germany, makes a significant step forward in this effort – by actually connecting these buildings together into one seamless design. The new Siemens AG global headquarters, designed by Danish architectural firm Henning Larsen Architects, unites existing urban structures and creates new pedestrian passageways through its corner of the city.
Openness and transparency, in both design concept and design process, played a significant role in this project. Once Siemens announced its decision to rebuild its headquarters in 2010, the company organized an architectural competition in collaboration with the city of Munich. Henning Larsen Architects won the competition with a design that would seamlessly renovate and integrate the historic Ludwig Ferdinand Palais and its adjacent building. In June 2016, Siemens introduced its new ultramodern office building, a true collaboration with the city of Munich and complete with top tech features and the most stringent sustainability features available.
Openness in Design and Process
Siemens and Henning Larson worked closely with city departments, Siemens employees and groups of Munich residents to develop a design concept that would connect the inner city with the adjacent arts district.
The new site-plan opens up a previously closed, monolithic block by weaving together architectural building structure with open courtyards. The building comprises one volume with four rectangular, rounded courtyards are cutout.
“From the direction of Wittelsbacherplatz – in other words, from the city center – a pathway through green courtyards leads diagonally toward the art district,” noted the Siemens project materials. “From the opposite direction, the “Wings” sculpture created by architect and artist Daniel Libeskind establishes a visible reference point and connects the museums with Siemens and the city center. After passing this sculpture, anyone can enter the new building’s publicly accessible atrium, which features the Siemens Technology Showroom; or continue walking in the direction of Wittelsbacherplatz.”
The design also called on Siemens to open itself, too.
“As a result, almost the entire ground level at the new building will be freely accessible to the public without sacrificing the high security standards that an international company must maintain.”
Sustainability: High-Tech and High Design
Inside the building, the sheer number of sustainable design elements Henning Larson and Siemens built into this design is impressive. These elements stacked up to help the building achieve the top sustainability certifications in the land – at the national level, the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)’s highest certification, platinum, and at the international level, U.S. LEED Platinum.
But the quality of these sustainable measures is also inspiring in its own right. This project suggests to designers and architects that sustainability can be more than checking boxes, sacrificing design and earning certifications; it’s an opportunity to be creative.
Some of the building’s more innovative sustainable design highlights include:
>All of the facades facing the building’s inner courtyards are slightly tilted and completely covered by insulated triple glazing. These elements increase the amount of natural light that penetrates the building’s interior and reduce the need for artificial lighting.
>The artificial lighting that is used is generated by 7,400 LED luminaires that consume only about half the electricity required by traditional lighting sources. And intelligent control technology – in the form of daylight sensors and presence detectors – reduces power consumption by about another 25%.
>A ventilation system in the meeting rooms uses CO2 sensors to measure the air breathed by meeting participants and optimizes the intake of fresh air.
>Water pipes running through the building’s thermally activated foundation plate, which covers an area larger than a football pitch (soccer field), secures the building’s climate. Up to 100,000 liters of water will be pumped through these pipes each hour via a high-efficiency ceiling heating and cooling system. During the winter, the pumps help heat the building, and during the summer, they help cool it. This bi-functional heat system collects ambient air and ground water and integrates it as regenerative energy sources.
>Only materials whose production, transport and subsequent disposal consume as little energy as possible were used – including 3,500 tons of steel, and 150 tons of aluminum, and 50 tons of glass that are 100% recycled. This is known as “embodied energy.” The materials used had a high proportion of recycled content, and more than 10,000 cubic meters of wood and wood-based materials were obtained from sustainably managed forests. And instead of conventional wood preservation agents, the products used were environmentally certified and biologically based.
>A photovoltaic system (a power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of lighted-sourced photovoltaics) supplies one-third of the overall power consumed.
>Each year, around 1,500 cubic meters of rainwater will be collected on the roof and used to, among other things, flush toilets and irrigate the building’s outdoor landscaping.
>About one-third of the construction materials are from local sources. For example, more than 23,000 natural stone tiles – used for a part of the front façade, side street facades, and the internal and external flooring on the ground floor – come from the Altmühltal nature reserve, which is known for its limestone and is just under 100 kilometers north of Munich.
>An underground garage offers about 450 parking spaces, including 21 spaces equipped with e-car charging stations. A bicycle room, with capacity for 200 bikes, has charging units for about 20 electric bicycles.
>Of the 16,000 total square meters of glass panels, about 2,500 glass slats on the west façade open and close automatically depending on the sun’s position.
And a few inspiring statistics include:
>The new headquarters will consume 90% less electricity and 75% less water than its predecessor – enough water to supply 180 four-person households each year.
>Its primary energy requirement will be 52% below the limit set by Germany’s current Energy Savings Ordinance (EnEV), reduced by 88.5%.
> Improved heating systems will cut heating-oil requirements by 550,000 liters a year – enough to heat 400 100 square meter apartments.
>The new building makes a big contribution to Siemens’ goal of cutting its CO2 emissions in half by 2020 and to achieve CO2 neutrality by 2030. The new building will emit nearly 90% less CO2 than the old one.
>Siemens has the advantage of being a powerful source of innovation in engineering and energy efficiency, and many of its own innovative solutions, Siemens Building Technologies, can be found in its new headquarters. The building uses a smart grid – an intelligent connection to the power grid – to optimize efficient power use, and top security technologies.
>The Siemens DESIGO building management platform controls the building technology around the clock by constantly evaluating 30,000 points of data collected through cables. The system controls the entire building’s HVAC technology, lighting and shading, intrusion protection, access-control, and fire protection systems.
>Siemens’ RoomOptiControl module enables people to adjust the lighting and room climate to meet their individual needs. The RoomOptiControl also has an “environmentally friendly” mode (Green Building Monitor) that employees can switch on at any time to adjust the space to use the “most sustainable” settings.
The “Siemens Office” Concept
Henning Larsen tapped into a workplace strategy that already exists at other Siemens locations, the “Siemens Office” concept for the building’s interior uses an open plan comprising individual workspaces, meeting rooms, and a multitude of additional work and lounge areas.
“With our new corporate headquarters, we want to establish a symbol that stands for working together in the spirit of global entrepreneurship, for integration into society and for taking action in accordance with the principles of sustainability,” said Joe Kaeser, president and CEO of Siemens AG, in a press release issued by Siemens.
“From here, we want to shape the future of our company. The new building is always to be a place of treating each other with mutual respect and of maintaining an open dialogue that is unrestricted by hierarchical structures – a place characterized by a high degree of self-determination and personal responsibility.”
Across a ground level public atrium, four office levels and two rooftop levels, the use of glass is a large part of how the interiors connect people.
On each floor, central gathering spaces and glass-fronted meeting rooms hug the open atrium and connect departments by providing clear views across all levels. Every employee enjoys a floor-to-ceiling view to the outside at his or her individual workspace, equipped with a height adjustable desk.
And employees get to breathe fresh air even when indoors: a central air-control system supplies all rooms with about 200,000 cubic meters of fresh air per hour.
Siemens also wanted to play a role in shaping a positive work-life balance for its employees. The new headquarters is an amenity-rich experience. Siemens employees, and in some cases other building visitors, can enjoy dining options (three restaurants, a café and a rooftop terrace bistro), an onsite fitness gym, in-house medical service, onsite dry cleaning and shoe repair service, package delivery station and a food ordering service. Plans for a kindergarten are also in the works.
This newest addition to Munich’s landscape brings many positive qualities to its city – connectivity and sense of community, cutting-edge sustainability and high-tech architecture – qualities that make a positive imprint on people.