The Snake has not yet opened and already it has proven its versatility. Originally intended as an office building for the TRIOTOP business and country park, the plans for this striking complex were altered before construction began so that it could be temporarily used by the new municipal comprehensive school on Wasseramselweg in Cologne-Vogelsang. The students moved in after only 16 months of construction, just in time for the 2019/2020 school year. Once their new school building is complete (planned for 2024/25), The Snake will revert to its original purpose – an office building for new companies moving into the business park.

Built by the Friedrich Wassermann construction company in Cologne, the three-storey building complex has a gross floor area of 10,827 m², including around 850 m² of storage space and 52 underground parking spaces. When the building reverts to its original purpose, it will be possible to split each storey into up to six rental units. To serve as a temporary school, The Snake was rearranged to provide all rooms required for years 5 to 10 at the comprehensive school, including subject-specific teaching rooms, multipurpose rooms, an all-day area, team rooms for the teachers in each year group, a cafeteria and an auditorium.

Clinker facade with scale effect
The Snake’s architecture was developed by Bernhard Trübenbach and his architectural firm in Cologne in collaboration with Claudia Kister. The construction documentation was drawn up by Concavis Architekten + Ingenieure. The urban development concept was intended to avoid massive, uniform office buildings. The architects achieved this by optically dividing the large building. Three deep recesses disrupt the vast dimensions and create courtyard-like areas at the front.

The resulting building has no beginning and no end; instead, it appears to move forwards in a constant loop like a snake. The shape of the facade with its harmoniously rounded “corners” follows the same idea. The clad facade was produced using specially formed clinker bricks in an artisanal stretcher bond to create the appearance of scaled snakeskin. Last but not least, a facade of greenery in the inner courtyard almost as tall as a house continues this imagery by creating a snake out of various plants.

State-of-the-art sun shading technology for optimal light conditions
In the rounded corners of the building, a sophisticated facade transforms the surrounding windows and balustrades into flowing curves. The rounded facade is recreated in segments and comprises many slender – and linear – elements with windows and external venetian blinds. This avoids the need for expensive curved windows or round-arch external venetian blinds, which are susceptible to damage. The concealed package arrangement for the external venetian blinds behind the faced brickwork ensure that the sun shading is barely visible when retracted.

Warema E80 A2 S external venetian blinds with beaded slats were used for the external sun shading system. The lateral cable guide was secured by an additional tension cable to withstand the strength of the wind at the location. RAL 7022 was chosen for the aluminium parts and RAL 9006 for the aluminium strips. The neutral colour scheme guarantees good photometric characteristics and makes the structure less susceptible to staining. Together with the enclosed panels on the rows of windows and the vibrant red clinker bricks, these colours create a harmonious facade.

The KNX control system precisely implements annual shading as the seasons change and the sun moves position. The Warema KNX central weather unit monitors wind speed, temperature, rainfall and light intensity and transmits the weather data to the BAline KNXMCM, which serves as a logic module for implementing the sun shading functions.

Comfortable daylight without glare
In offices and schools, visual comfort with glare-free daylight is crucial for a successful day of study or work. Daylight is invigorating and doesn’t just improve general wellbeing – it is also proven to boost performance.

Warema external venetian blinds offer ideal sun shading, glare control and visual privacy while ensuring excellent daylight usage and perfect lighting conditions in the workplace, even in direct sunlight. The external fittings are also an effective way of preventing rooms from getting too hot. By reducing energy transmittance from 58 percent to 4 percent, the sun shading system ensures that less energy is consumed. Here, savings on energy for heating and cooling can be as high as 40 percent.

Thanks to the combination of a sophisticated KNX control system and Warema external venetian blinds, the challenging shading requirements of The Snake were fulfilled successfully, optimising the visual and thermal conditions required to study and work – both for the temporary school building and its later use as an office space.

Construction details

Project: TRIOTOP Cologne/The Snake

Location: Am Wassermann, Cologne-Vogelsang

Purpose: Designed as an office building, temporary comprehensive school

Architecture: Bernhard Trübenbach Architekten, Cologne in collaboration with Claudia Kister, Cologne

Construction documentation: Concavis Architekten + Ingenieure, Bornheim

General contractor: Friedrich Wassermann, Cologne

Completed: 2019

Product: Warema E80 A2 S external venetian blinds with cable guide and KNX control system (WAREMA climatronic® central weather unit, KNX MSE 6M230 and BAline KNXMCM)

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