The first building project of its kind in the district of Ludwigsburg exudes Egyptian charm. With its Mediterranean style, the pyramid building is a real eye-catcher. One particular highlight of the Energy Plus home is the intelligent building technology which has been trimmed down to the smallest detail for maximum energy efficiency. The holistic Helios KWL system solutions provide a pleasant feel-good climate within the four glass walls. The residential building below a glass pyramid is the first of its kind in Germany. It took several years until entrepreneur and owner Bruno Staiger’s idea was realised. The property is characterised by numerous innovations. For example, the heating system that uses prefabricated concrete ceiling elements with integrated capillary tube mats as well as the sprinkler system which ensures clean surfaces on all sides. Heat is generated via the solar panels and pumps. The innovative Helios KWL systems provide a pleasant indoor climate.

Energy efficiency combined with Egyptian design

The residential complex sends a clear signal with regard to emissions savings and minimal energy requirement. Since the residential building is completely covered by a glass pyramid, completely new ways of planning and looking at things are required, which was a challenge for Bunse GmbH, Heilbronn as the responsible planning office. Wall thicknesses of just 15 cm are required thanks to the “house-in-house” design. This resulted in a saving of approximately 50 – 60% of material costs for the shell construction. When comparing the energy requirement with other buildings, it should be taken into account that the pyramid building requires very little heating energy due to the design, but it requires additional cooling energy in summer.

The assessment procedures in the Energy Saving Ordinance can only be applied to this property to a limited extent because such a building cannot actually be assessed with conventional calculation methods. Nevertheless, the building was assessed with the standards applicable to residential construction. The necessary cooling energy requirement could be calculated by means of complex simulations.

Living comfort despite the glass shell

Four Helios ventilation systems with heat recovery provide the separate living areas with fresh and preheated intake air, fully automatically and individually. The heat exchanger uses the heat from the extract air to naturally temperature control the intake air. This allows for comfortable and draught-free ventilation. The KWL unit simultaneously ensures that the odours cannot be transferred from one apartment to another. The windows to the atrium can thus be closed by the occupant at any time. This ensures that no disturbing noise enters the apartments either. Individually adapted to the size and floorplan, the Helios KWL air distribution systems continuously provide each individual apartment with fresh air. The ventilation units were installed in the basement to save space and they direct fresh supply air into the individual apartments from there. Since the decision to use a ventilation system was already made in the planning phase, the air distribution was realised in the ceiling in the individual apartments. The ventilation ducts are installed in a star shape, i.e. the air ducts lead directly into the rooms without branching off from the ventilation unit.

Images: Helios Ventilatoren