Klett House Area, Stuttgart, Germany

Klett House Area

The site’s goal is to achieve exemplary energy sustainability through renovations and new constructions for the Klett publishing company. While maintaining a high standard of occupation quality, the buildings are designed to have the lowest possible consumption of energy from fossil sources, both in operation and during construction.
To reach this goal, architects, building physicists, energy and HVAC planners, and planners from other trades, work closely with the client and users in an integrated planning process. This way, energy efficiency measures do not need to be added onto a fixed building design but are integrated and become part of the architecture. This allows design ideas to grow together with interior design, achieving optimized natural ventilation and lighting. Dynamic simulation calculations accompany the iterative processes, quantifying the efficiency of various measures and thus demonstrating the respective comfort in different areas.
In the Klett-Haus, natural ventilation is provided in the main areas, and primarily passive measures ensure summer thermal protection:
Day and night ventilation is supported by a combination of both fixed and movable efficient external shading, and by utilizing the building mass- these measures achieve the desired thermal comfort. During extreme heat periods, passive ceiling fans are also used to respond individually to heat stress and optimize comfort. Together with the new outdoor space integrated into the overall concept in the courtyard, a varied working environment is provided year-round as part of the site's quality.
Highly transparent glazing and daylight-permeable shading solutions ensure the best possible supply of daylight in the building areas.
Ventilation primarily occurs through natural ventilation under manual control. For heating, surface heating systems are planned. The current connection to the Stuttgart networks will continue to supply district heating. Optional cooling is provided only for special areas, such as the conference room due to temporary high occupancy and the attic with the existing wooden roof structure, which has low thermal mass. Active cooling will only be used on certain days during peak summer periods. Due to the short usage times, a heat pump system using air as the source is employed for cooling, with a dry cooler on the roof serving as the energy source. The goal is to keep the need for active cooling as low as possible.
Photovoltaic collectors are integrated into the roofs, providing renewable energy. A large portion of the produced electricity is used locally.