Designed for GIRA Giersiepen GmbH & Co. KG, the architect team from Ingenhoven Architects uses an in-depth development study to start this project. It is a project of the Gira Production Building that started in 1999 and completed in 2003. Located in Radevormwald, Germany, the acquisition of a neighboring site allows an expansion, resulting in an elegant pair of fully-glazed structures.
Design
This building company houses the production facilities and the main administration offices for the company’s range of intelligent-building technologies. A neighboring site is acquired to present an opportunity to create new production areas by expanding the existing plant. The result of this expansion is an elegant pair of fully-glazed structures with 70 meters in length that set parallel to one another.
Spaces
The architect works with the prestigious Fraunhofer Institute, especially to create plans to determine the most advantageous use of the available area for this project. These plans also allow for future expansion and optimize production processes. Two buildings have an important character: there is no distinction is made between the administration and production areas.
All workspaces of the company share the same high-quality conditions. This way offers stunning exterior views, transparency, natural light, and optimized workflows and circulation paths. There are no columns on the floor plans, allowing a maximum of planning flexibility. Between the buildings, there is a gap that glazed over, housing the interior courtyards and connecting stairs.
Details
This project also gives special attention, especially to minimize energy consumption. The heat produced in production is incorporated into the plant’s energy system, especially the heat from plastics processing. Natural ventilation is controlled by the louvres and only the rooms in the buildings’ interior that require additional mechanical ventilation.
Gira Production Building Gallery
Photography: Ingenhoven Architects