Civic, Community and Health Centre (BBGZ) with Sports Hall, Erlangen, Germany

At the southwestern edge of Röthelheimpark, the new municipal Civic, Community and Health Centre (BBGZ) is being developed as part of a three-part campus. In addition to the BBGZ with the integrated Gerd Lohwasser Sports Hall, the site includes a climbing centre of the German Alpine Club as well as a Family Centre - Röthelheim 11acht with kindergarten, day-care facilities, and learning and educational spaces for children, young people and families.

Transsolar’s contribution focuses on the BBGZ and, in particular, on the sports hall, whose climate concept is strongly shaped by requirements for comfort, energy efficiency and glare-free daylight use. The column-free four-court hall with spectator seating spans approximately 30‑metre-long truss girders and is designed to accommodate school and club sports as well as large public events.

A combination of active and passive measures reduces construction and operating costs while enhancing comfort. Key elements include triple glazing and roof overhangs providing effective solar protection, roof lights to optimise daylight utilisation, highly effective night ventilation combined with a reduced mechanical base ventilation, and radiant ceiling panels for heating.
The climate concept is based on mechanical base ventilation with heat recovery, supplemented by night ventilation via façade louvers. A ground-coupled system passively preconditions the outdoor air.

For daylighting in a sports hall, two requirements are essential: direct solar glare must be avoided while sufficient illuminance is ensured. To achieve uniform lighting conditions, eight roof lights per playing field were defined, along with their position and glazing performance.
The roof light design was intensively studied during the design phase and developed in an iterative process in close collaboration with Behnisch Architekten. The resulting solution prevents glare from above through fixed timber elements beneath the roof lights. Its characteristic form gave the system its name: “E‑Design”. Regardless of whether the sun is in the east, west or south, only diffuse radiation enters the hall, while direct sunlight is consistently blocked. Simulations confirmed that simpler [-design concepts are insufficient to achieve this performance.

In the northern zone of the hall, the roof lights and clerestory façade require no additional glare protection due to their optimised geometry. In the south, however, an external adjustable sun and glare protection system is necessary. An additional adjustable internal glare protection is provided along the circulation zone of the sports hall.

The BBGZ rooms are equipped with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, complemented by operable windows for natural ventilation. To ensure stable summer temperatures, ceilings are only 50% suspended, activating the building’s thermal mass. Heating is provided via underfloor heating. Northern rooms and the multipurpose room are shaded solely by roof overhangs, while the activity room is additionally protected by external solar shading.
The entire BBGZ is supplied by district heating, and no active cooling is installed. A photovoltaic system on the roof (750 m², 99 kWp) covers more than the building’s electrical base load.