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BÜRO UND VERWALTUNG • OFFICE BUILDINGS TECHNISCHER AUSBAU • TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS

E verything is good as long as it’s made of chocolate, British actress Dawn French
once said. Now the new administration building planned by BKS Architekten from
Lübbecke for the rich-in-tradition Ludwig Weinrich chocolate factory has been built in
the heart of Herford, however, not consisting of chocolate but in each detail referring
to the little “mood-lifters”. The connecting construction between the historic urban
villa that, so far, had been used as the only administration building and the new office
building symbolically represents an inserted block of chocolate and shows once again:
Chocolate connects! Our task was to develop an artificial-light plan for the new buil-
ding including the connecting construction. The following planning or later use areas
were part of it: the entrance foyer, the conference rooms and offices, the canteen for
the employees, management areas, toilet facilities, staircases and hallways.

Islands of light and luminous images add accent in the foyer

A characteristic element of the new building is the copper-coloured, irregularly perfo-
rated metal cladding extending, in the canopy zone of the main entrance, across the
ceiling of the, in part, two-level central foyer, all the way to the roofing of the adjacent
outside terrace. With our lighting design, we referred to the irregular appearance of this
„Lightsticks“ verleihen dem Treppenhaus Bewegung. • “Lightsticks” add movement to the staircase. metal envelope: Seemingly randomly positioned, narrowly radiating down lights with
a warm-light colour and integrated into the ceiling accent the main entrance, the out-
Anstatt der üblichen Bürokunst entstanden „Lichtbilder“.• Images of light were created instead of the office art.
side terrace as well as specific foyer areas (accesses, exits and passages as well as wai-
ting zones and a small exhibition area). Identical light scenarios and the installation of
a single type of ceiling-integrated luminaire painted like the metal cladding in the inte-
rior as well as the exterior make the border between inside and outside blur.
Furthermore, the lighting helps to get one’s bearings by marking zones of different
importance in the room. Thus islands of light were created for waiting visitors or the
presentation of products. On the upper floor of the foyer- and connecting building is
the chocolate manufacturer’s large conference room accessed via a bridge. In line with
the architects’ design, on the foyer side, it is clad with “crushed”, highly polished sheet
metal – a metaphor for the silver foil frequently used for wrapping chocolate! An LED
cove with warm-white light running parallel to this wall projects soft highlights down
the wall and produces interesting light reflexes on the metallic surface. At the same
time, the direct ceiling connection of the wall is made to look less materialistic which
strengthens the floating look of the “silver-foil wall” as the central element of the foyer
design. In the staircase of the new building, on the other hand, minimalist and diffu-
sely radiating wall-mounted luminaires provide a different kind of light rhythm across
all the levels. The so-called light-sticks ensure not only the necessary illumination of
the staircase but are also deliberately used as an element of design: Following the
flight of stairs, they were placed to be alternating with the window openings which
were likewise arranged in a staggered and asymmetrical way. As a result of the wall
design specific for each floor and particularly in the interplay of the incident daylight
and the glass reflections in the windows, using the stairs allows constantly new looks
inside, outside and through as well as attractive plays of light! Specially applied, white
dot-matrix printing on the luminaire covers reduces the luminance of the surfaces
which prevents glare effects and helps the visual performance of those present. In the
whole building, there are no conventional objects on the walls (for instance photo-
graphs, prints and paintings). Instead, following our proposal, various, individual “light
images” were created on exposed walls. In the evenly illuminated administration hall-
ways, staircases and elevator vestibules, these ensure brilliant and unusual (light)
accents which capture the attention of employees and visitors alike.

A pleasant light setting was ensured at the workstations

Grundriss Untergeschoss • Basement floor plan Grundriss 1. Obergeschoss • Floor plan Level +1 A combination of ceiling mounted down lights placed close to the walls with direct
and indirect LED pendant luminaires ensures varied light in the offices. Both types of
luminaire can be individually dimmed by the employees. A sandwich construction of
two prism panels calculated in terms of lighting and an integrated soft-focus foil
forms the lower luminaire covers of the pendant luminaires which results in very
good shielding qualities of the workstation luminaires. As a consequence, a pleasant
and soft light setting with a very high visual comfort is produced for the employees.
The illumination system was completely planned and installed with LED lighting tech-
nology. Various light scenarios required by the lighting planning are pre-programmed
via a DALI interface and, if needed, can be individually changed by the user. Presence-
detector technology and timer-programme automation in specific areas complement
Grundriss Erdgeschoss • Ground floor plan Grundriss 2. Obergeschoss • Floor plan Level +2 the lighting control.

148 • AIT 4.2016