Concrete, wood and drainage water

Heading south through the German Allgäu region and across the border into Austria, the Fernpassstraße road leads into the Reuttener Becken basin, where several municipalities form a closely knit urban network. One of these is Breitenwang, with around 1,500 inhabitants. Here, or more precisely in the eastern district of Kreckelmoos, ATP architects and engineers have constructed a sustainable production building for Ceratizit, a manufacturer of cutting tools and hard material solutions.

The 220-metre-long and 85-metre-wide building stands directly next to the Fernpassstraße, with densely wooded mountains beginning just behind it. The building responds to this architecturally, while also taking advantage of its special location for climate-friendly operation. The new production hall is only a few kilometres away from the main factory and parent company in neighbouring Reutte, so the two are directly connected by an existing freight road. The building site itself lay fallow for many years and was used as an unsightly landfill site, which has now been excavated as part of the development. The elongated shape of the building also protects the residents of the small residential area in the immediate vicinity from the noise of the busy federal highway.

Tyrolean building design

It was important to the ATP design team that the new building blend in as harmoniously as possible with its surroundings. At the same time, a high degree of flexibility was required for production. They therefore developed a mainly two-storey, partly three-storey building with a total of seven halls and a clearly defined base storey. The design team sees this design as an analogy to the rugged Tyrolean mountains. This means they let the base floor, that is made of in-situ concrete, form a solid foundation analogous to the stone of the mountains, while the wooden facade above is a tribute to the surrounding forests of Tyrol. The 11,000 m² facade is made of spruce wood and is vertically structured to correspond to the forest.

Wood-concrete structure

This predominant duality of materials continues in the interior. It is structured by a striking central zone running lengthwise, which divides the building into two halves like a kind of backbone and provides access to the entire building. Part of the supporting structure consists of prefabricated columns with prefabricated concrete beams, but more impressive are the wooden truss beams with KLH (cross-laminated timber) ceilings. The construction height of the truss beams of 4.20 m allows for an additional mezzanine floor, which provides space for the necessary technical platforms for the respective production areas, for the ventilation units and for a total of 16 offices, 4 visitor rooms and 2 break rooms. From these wooden boxes suspended above the production area, employees have an exclusive view of the halls, whose design is characterised by wood and concrete.

Roof for energy and air conditioning

With an area of around 15,000 m², the roof of the building offers plenty of space for important functions: the extensive greenery not only protects against damage from rain and hail, but also increases the service life. In addition, the microclimate is improved by preventing the formation of heat islands. This has a cooling effect on the interior, which in turn reduces the energy required to regulate the temperature of the rooms. A PV system with a total gross area of almost 1,900 m² and an output of 380 kWp, which generates 480,000 kWh per year, supplies inexpensive and environmentally friendly electricity for the company's own use.

Heating with drainage water and compressed air

The machines and compressed air compressors in the production halls alone generate a considerable amount of heat, which, however, is not cooled down and released into the atmosphere, as is all too often the case. It is actively used to heat the building, for example to keep the access ramps free of ice.

In line with the ‘ATP Green Deal’, the planners have also taken advantage of a special feature of the location. In order to prevent groundwater and slope water from backing up against the building, drainage pipes have been installed under the foundation to collect and drain away any water that accumulates. At the same time, this drainage water is used all year round to generate thermal energy: in summer for free cooling and in winter to operate heat pumps that produce heat for the interior spaces. A positive side effect of the water drainage is that by diverting the water to the grassland area north of the building site, a dried-up biotope has been revived.

Images: © ATP / Tom Bause, Innsbruck