Hall 90 B - Wolfsburg, Germany

Development and progress are highly relevant for companies because these represent market-decisive themes. To remain at the peak of the automotive industry, Volkswagen AG decided to move the location of its electronics centre to a former open area of the company land asset. It was intended to set new standards and enable a consolidation of the electrical-electronics expertise at the Wolfsburg location - ambitious aims indeed if it is considered that development departments were distributed across 35 locations prior to the new construction.

High demands were therefore placed on the architectural offices of Rhode/Kellermann/Wawrosky (RKW). The architects however created a building in Wolfsburg that sets significant signals from afar. The narrow, linear building brings together workshops, laboratories and office spaces on a basis area of 35 x 145 metres to create short paths and open structures. The striking construction of the building is its special feature, and double-storey offsets becoming wider as they proceed upwards can be seen on the

north and west sides. The sixth and seventh storeys have a floor space of 158 x 41 metres. The fenestrated hall flooded with daylight represents the core of the building, and its length of approximately 100 metres and height of 25 metres serve to unite the rooms and simultaneously forms a central meeting place. The canteen, conference rooms and open display areas bring employees together and offer an ideal meeting location for dialogues. In addition to several elevators and the stairway, three bridge constructions serve to interconnect the single storeys. 

The building structure proved to be a highly interesting initiation point for designing the artificial lighting, as recalled by head lighting designer Ralf Schoofs (RHEIN LICHT): "The requisite efficiency of the lighting system that’s mandatory for projects of this size and usage profile and the overall clarity of design that reflected the design intentions of the architects were the fundamental requirements placed on the RHEIN LICHT lighting concept."

Consistent implementation and realisation was achieved thanks to the high level of commitment by the responsible building authority representatives and the luminaire manufacturer. Outstanding photometric tasks such as the functional illumination of the impressive atrium with a height of 24 metres using lighting systems with LED technology could be solved thanks to the technical and constructive expertise of TRILUX.

To comply with the demands of each individual room, products were specified precisely according to desired light conditions, and in accordance with the motto of Simplify Your Light. The interplay of the TRILUX Group proved what is needed to achieve good lighting. For the responsible building construction supervisor Andreas Peter, it was important to

work with reliable partners: "A success story from the start of the project until its implementation, and the specifications of the construction authorities were tackled and implemented in a professional and cooperative way. The result certainly impresses. I'd like to express my thanks for the excellent teamwork by all TRILUX GmbH employees."

Whether individually manufactured special luminaires or LED products from the current product spectrum, each luminaire blends harmoniously into the building and discreetly emits light as needed by employees. Lighting is also highly efficient and remains reliable over decades. The continued progress and development of pioneering vehicles thus looks confidently into the future.