BSH headquarters Netherlands, Hoofddorp

As a company, BSH Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte has consistently implemented this concept in its new sales office building in the Netherlands – right down to the aspect of efficient and comfortable lighting using ERCO’s LED technology.

Cradle to Cradle, a concept for sustainable and ecological architecture. As a company, BSH Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte has consistently implemented this concept in its new sales office building in the Netherlands – right down to the aspect of efficient and comfortable lighting using ERCO’s LED technology.

If it can be said that every nation has certain characteristics, these are no doubt shaped by their respective environments. The Netherlands owe large parts of the Dutch territory today to its age-old wrestle with the North Sea. Many people in this small, yet densely populated and highly productive country maintain a pragmatic attitude to nature, a clear commitment to environmental and climate protection and – as many parts of the land are, after all, below sea level – an appreciation of good design as a means of popularising technical and social innovations for acceptance.

It should therefore come as no surprise that German chemist and environmental visionary Michael Baumgart successfully set up a “Cradle to Cradle” (C2C)* chair at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, where he conducts further research into this approach to ecological production, which he developed in partnership with American architect William McDonough.

McDonough has now put the C2C concept into practice at the first office park of its kind in the Netherlands – in Hoofddorp, a town founded in the 19th century in the Polderlands, south of Amsterdam. An anchor point of the site dubbed “Park 20/20” is an office building designed by McDonough, which serves as the Dutch sales office of German home appliance group Bosch Siemens (BSH), but also as a showroom and an interpretive experience of the company’s Bosch, Siemens, Neff and Gaggenau brands.

Sustainability has long since been a corporate objective of BSH, yet the new building takes it a step further still with C2C. Here, the aim is to recycle all used materials or return them to the natural environment. With features such as high efficiency, long life and easy recyclability, ERCO’s LED lighting tools qualify for illumination of this project – but equally because of their superior light quality. This, in turn, helps to drive greater acceptance of ecologically sound solutions among the building users.

The interior design was devised by D/Dock in Amsterdam. Its design concept combines the ultimate experience of the BSH brand with a unique work environment, themed around the aspects of ecology. This aesthetic union results in a welcoming place for visitors that radiates a sense of calm and openness. Optimal lighting, tactile materials, soft colours and flexible design elements throughout underline this approach – clarity on the whole, with attention to detail. The cooking school in the building shows just how flexible this concept really is. Here, the different brand appliances can be swapped with each other in next to no time, so that the facility can be shared by all brands. Flexible lighting tool, such as spotlight and track systems, are integrated effortlessly into this environment. At the centre of the office is a four-storey atrium with an indoor/outdoor Living Green Wall and a building-integrated photovoltaic glass roof which satisfies the goal of renewable energy.

In the public areas and showrooms of BSH brands Bosch, Siemens, Gaggenau and Neff, the effective lighting concept used by BSH in Hoofddorp is oriented around accent lighting. Here, the designers opted for Logotec LED spotlights for track mounting. They can be flexibly positioned and aligned, while their Spherolit lenses – which are easily replaced without tools – provide beam characteristics ranging from spot and wide flood to oval flood or wallwash.

Other efficient lighting tools, used alongside different types of LED spotlights, include LED recessed luminaires from the Quintessence range, but also luminaires from the Compact 100 range with compact fluorescent lamps. Their purpose is to provide situation and perception-oriented lighting. Efficient visual comfort as a leading principle maintained at ERCO fits ideally in this project with the cradle-to-cradle concept of the building, helping to present the BSH brands and products in an attractive and future-oriented light.

* Cradle to Cradle® and C2C® are registered trademarks of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC). Further info at: www.mbdc.com

Lichtbericht 95, December 2012