Download Annual Report 2012 - Drees & Sommer

Renovation of heritage-protected high-rise facade
The Dreischeibenhaus impresses
with its clear lines
Dreischeibenhaus
high-rise in Düsseldorf:
Intelligent facade
optimizes indoor climate,
energy consumption
and leasable area
At just under one hundred meters in height, the architectural
icon in a prime inner city location has a problem: The barely
acceptable level of amenity. The main cause is the heritageprotected
facade of the office building. Specialists from
Drees & Sommer subsidiary DS-Plan with established facade
expertise are supporting the development of a sustainable
solution that achieves an optimum outcome for all stakeholders.
Needed: A new facade concept
The Dreischeibenhaus was built in the
late 1950s at the height of the Economic
Miracle. The visionary design by HPP
Architekten still impresses with its clarity
and rigor. The building – which first served
as corporate headquarters of the Thyssen
Group and later of ThyssenKrupp AG –
was first refurbished in the mid 1990s.
The current facade dates from this time.
A landmark of so-called postwar modernism
on the Rhine, the Dreischeibenhaus
(‘three-slice house’) in Düsseldorf has
brought its users little joy in recent years:
Loud traffic noise, virtually ineffective
solar protection and unopenable windows
proved a disastrous combination,
particularly in summer. The result: Offices
were either unpleasantly hot or overcooled
by the air conditioning.
This also led to exorbitant energy costs
for heating and cooling of the 26-story
building. So not only the previous users
but also the new owners of the building –
the MOMENI Group/Black Horse Investments
– saw the need for urgent action.
They called in established revitalization
experts, including Drees & Sommer
subsidiary DS-Plan.
A new, optimized facade has to meet
two seemingly conflicting requirements:
On the one hand, it should make a significant
contribution to ensuring modern
and comfortable office space. On the
other hand, it must comply exactly to
heritage protection requirements. And as
if that was not difficult enough, it also has
to play an important role in transforming
the Dreischeibenhaus into a Green
Building – into a building that is both
ecologically sustainable and cost-efficient.
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