SCHOTT solutions no. 1/2010 > Architecture

As part of the modernization of its corporate headquarters in Mainz, the SCHOTT technology group added a new structure made of glass to its 45-year-old administrative building. Many different SCHOTT glasses are being put to use here. The flat roof of the atrium, for instance, is made of semi-transparent thin-film photovoltaic modules from SCHOTT Solar. Photo: SCHOTT/A. Stephan
A New Face
The modernized SCHOTT corporate headquarters in Mainz combines aesthetics with functionality and sustainability.
Judith Schwarz
A3,500 square meter glass façade is now a real eye-catcher at the new main office of the SCHOTT technology group. The 45-year-old administrative building at the company’s main headquarters in Mainz, Germany, was renovated and expanded over a 15-month period and then officially inaugurated this past December.
”Our intention was to create a representative corporate headquarters that focuses on glass as the main building material in modern transparent architecture,” explains Frank Bollmann, head of real estate management at SCHOTT. ”With respect to the interior design as well, we placed special importance on transparency and designing open, modern offices.” Yet another objective was to bundle the key corporate functions like marketing, public relations, sales and market development, strategy, legal and controlling, that used to be based in different locations on the main plant grounds in order to reduce walking distances and improve communications.

Photo: SCHOTT/A. Stephan
The expansion of the office complex has resulted in an increase in the gross floor space of around 5,000 square meters to 12,000 square meters. SCHOTT had the new glass façade of the atrium area glazed up to a height of three meters with Amiran® a special-purpose glass with an anti-reflective coating on both sides. Thanks to its low level of reflection, this architectural glass appears to be almost invisible and brings a lot of light into the building. It also gives visitors an undisturbed view of the atrium all the way to the reception area even while standing outside. Solar protection glazing was then installed up above it.

Photo: SCHOTT/A. Stephan
In addition to the atrium, the building complex consists of a reception area, spacious team zones, individual offices and conference rooms. The blue tinted flat glass Imera® used for the foyer, the elevator area and the conference zone serves as a room partition and sets accents as a design element. In addition, ”LightPoints”, invisible light diodes that have been integrated into glass, produce fascinating effects in the glass doors.

The LEDs inside ”LightPoints” are supplied with power by an invisible electrically conductive layer. Photo: SCHOTT/A. Stephan
”This building is now the new face of the SCHOTT technology group,” explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Ungeheuer, Chairman of the Board of Management of SCHOTT AG. ”It appeals to our customers who come to visit the company, as well as the many people who pass by each day on foot, by car, by streetcar or by train,” he adds.
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Architecture
Architecture