SAP Modular Office Buildings, Walldorf, Germany

For SAP employees at the Walldorf and Rot sites new workspaces were to be realized in the shortest possible planning and construction time. Transsolar has developed a ventilation and energy concept for the client which combines an attractive and comfortable working environment with a high quality of stay in terms of air quality, daylight availability and thermal comfort. The concept meets the company's strong growth with an unconventional, flexible and high-quality solution: modules with prefabricated steel skeletons form a four-storey structure at WDF 53, the shell of which could be erected in just eight weeks. The individual modules are arranged differently on the floors. They form two glass-covered inner courtyards as common rooms. Interior offices are equipped with openable windows to the inner courtyards for transverse ventilation.
A mechanical fresh air supply in combination with the possibility of window ventilation ensures the quality of the indoor air even at high user density. Fresh air is introduced into the building via the floor by the principle of displacement air and extracted at the access areas. This type of ventilation is efficient and requires little electricity. A rotary heat exchanger works as a highly efficient heat recovery system, recovering both sensitive and latent heat, keeping energy loss low and ensuring the necessary humidity in the interior. This ventilation system is combined with a radiating heating/cooling, a solution which has acoustic and thermal advantages over a convector system.
The highly insulating façade with triple glazing allows plenty of daylight into the interior. The building is enclosed by a serially manufactured perforated sheet metal façade with horizontally movable sun protection elements. The different arrangement of the perforations is based on the requirements for thermal insulation, daylight input and transparency. Sliding facade elements thus generate an individual design and at the same time serve as shading. The perforation always allows a view to the outside. The atrium roof also has triple glazing with movable, integrated sun protection.