nora rubber floorcoverings in the Federal Environmental Agency
Setting an example in ecology!

The ecologically exemplary office complex with cost of ownership not above those of a traditional building - this was the challenging task for the renowned architect's firm of Sauerbruch Hutton, Berlin, when planning the new building of the Federal Environmental Agency in Dessau, State of Anhalt. The Federal Environmental Agency gives impressive proof of the fact that ecologically sound construction creates liveable working space and also is an exemplary presentation of urban development full of character.

At first, it is the façade which attracts attention. The harmonious wood panel constructions made of horizontal wooden strips in the area of the balustrade and the window bands, which are divided into transparent and coloured segments, blends unobtrusively in into the environment. A particular successful feature here is the play of colours. Green shades are dominating in line with the trees, but the façade also reflects the historic brick structures and incorporates the red shades in several hues of mainly muted and matched colours. The inner façade of the building structured like a large loop reflects this play of colours in the landscape design of the atrium. The glass folding roof above the atrium and forum with its many struts also provides for intensive shadow plays and gives the façade a natural vibrancy.

Regenerative energy
But the folding roof is not just a simple roof: A photovoltaics system is installed in the area of the forum which a.o. provides for cool temperatures in the EDP rooms. The presently largest heat exchanger system in Germany supplies cool air to the office premises in summer and pre-heats the supply air in winter. The two modules decisively contribute to the fact that the heat insulation regulations are undershot by more than 50 percent and that the entire energy required is covered by regenerative energies by 20 percent.

Environmentally compatible building materials
Highest demands were also made on the materials used. The wood, for example, comes from certified sustainable forestry. Environmental compatibility was also given priority when it came to the floorcoverings. "For hygiene reasons, we opted against textile floorcoverings and then prepared a comprehensive eco summary of the qualifying floorcoverings", stated Gerd Schablitzki, director of the building department of the Federal Environmental Agency. "In doing so, we e.g. closely examined the production processes and the life cycle." After thorough examinations and with a view to the best cost/benefit ratio, the planners of the Federal Environmental Agency decided in favour of rubber floorcoverings.

The principals were in particular concerned about the emission behaviour of the floorcoverings. And not without any reason: approximately 22,000 square meters are installed in the entire building - in corridors, offices, and conference rooms.

The competent building authority and the Federal Environmental Agency decided in favour of the nora rubber floorcoverings by Freudenberg Bausysteme KG whose company philosophy has long since emphasised environmental protection - from the selection of the raw materials and the processing up to disposal. Numerous certificates of international test institutes furnish impressive proof of this.

Freudenberg had each delivery to the Federal Environmental Agency examined pursuant to the latest AgBB guidelines (Committee for health evaluation of building products). The new test and evaluation plan of the Committee for health evaluation of building products (AgBB) deals with emissions of volatile organic compounds from building products. The members of the committee from the State health authorities, the building supervision agencies, the Federal Environmental Agency, the Federal Institute for Risk Evaluation, and the Federal Institute for Material Research want to set standards and provide comparability with the new test procedures. The nora floorcoverings delivered by Freudenberg for the Federal Environmental Agency were tested by the Textile Flooring Institute in Aachen and found suitable without any restrictions. "We continue to examine our rooms regularly", emphasised Schablitzki, "and are entirely satisfied with the emission values".

Colour match
nora rubber floorcoverings are installed both in long corridors, where on the right and left offices are strung like pearls on a bead, and in conference rooms as well as the library. In a discrete bright grey they prevent that the inner corridors appear too dark and guarantee that they are harmonically matched to the wood and glass walls. The discrete play of colours of wood, glass, and mat silvery-grey shades of the connecting bridge is repeated by the floorcoverings in the atrium.

The transition to these connecting bridges is designed with coloured anterooms which integrate into the play of colours of the façade. Be it bright yellowish-green, discrete greenish-grey or warm reddish-orange - the rubber floorcoverings are an unobtrusive part of the overall design. The floorcoverings were made exactly to the colour requests of the architects. The bright grey nora floorcovering of the standard programme met the requirements for an unobtrusive floorcovering for corridors and office spaces.

"Hardly" to hear, excellent to walk on
The long corridors make highest demands on footfall sound absorption. In order to meet these demands, Freudenberg produced the selected floorcovering in a special version: the "acoustic" version of noraplan has a footfall sound absorption improvement value of 20 dB. The resilience of the floorcovering also provides an excellent walking comfort.

nora in environmental laboratories
The new building in Dessau is exclusively used for administration purposes. The laboratories of the Federal Environmental Agency are still located in the German capital. The fact that nora rubber floorcoverings also meet the high demands of such spaces in daily use is demonstrated clearly in the laboratories of the Bavarian State Institute for Environmental Protection in Augsburg with the largely oil- and grease-resistant, electrostatically dissipative norament 928 al grano floorcoverings. In areas with above-average traffic and exposure - as for example in the dioxin laboratory - the selection of the floorcovering was not only to be based on working with chemicals but also on the explosion risk existing in the laboratory. For these extraordinary high performance demands, the electrostatically conductive, largely acid- and alkali-resistant floorcovering norament 927 el grano was favoured.

As was the case with the construction of the Federal Environmental Agency, great emphasis was placed on an ecologically exemplary building when constructing the Bavarian State Office - both with regard to innovative energy concepts and the selection of the building materials.

 

JPG, 160 KB, 150 dpi

JPG, 260 KB, 150 dpi

JPG, 250 KB, 150 dpi

Further information for readers:	Further information for editorial staff:
Freudenberg Bausysteme	textivity
D-69465 Weinheim	Annette Röhrs
Tel. +49(0) 62 01 / 80-56 66	Tel. ++49 160 63 61 783
Fax: +49(0) 62 01 / 88-30 19	Fax ++49 6201 / 55 25 9
E-Mail: nora@freudenberg.de	E-Mail: textivity.roehrs@web.de