Built on the site of the former Metso machine plant in Düsseldorf’s Lierenfeld district, the Factory Campus is a modern office locale that particularly appeals to young, dynamic companies with its flexible rooms and premises – a modern coworking space spanning 34,000 square metres. With solar panels on the roofs, a localised power supply and a communal power station, this complex of new and renovated buildings is an ecological and energetic innovation. One key target for architect Ralf Petersmann was to use a fully automated sun shading system from Warema. Schneider Ingenieure GmbH in nearby Kamp-Lintfort (Germany) was tasked with the technical planning.

Flexibility on the agenda

Open office structures and flexible usage times mean constant change. People work at the Campus round the clock and at constantly changing times. Some work at computers, others give PowerPoint presentations or work in teams, and individual requirements don’t always correlate with the programmed automation. In addition to programming that is easy to alter, another key requirement for the sun shading was simple individual control.

It’s rare for technical developments to make plans obsolete, but that’s exactly what happened at the Factory Campus. Warema introduced Omnexo shortly before the implementation phase began for the sun shading. The redesigned, fully automated control system is predestined for medium-sized buildings such as schools, office buildings and campuses. Thomas Gladbach, technical director at ES Project GmbH, the specialist company commissioned, had had his eye on Omnexo for a while thanks to his close relationship with Warema. Together with Schneider Ingenieure, he decided to revise the plans on the spot, something that wouldn’t have been possible without the excellent and unconditional collaboration between everyone involved in the project. Omnexo is significantly easier to commission and operate and extremely flexible, so the choice was obvious.

Another crucial argument for switching to the Omnexo system was that it is completely integrated into the building network. It can be installed and commissioned, altered and updated directly using any browser-compatible device – a tablet, PC or laptop. Installation is particularly easy as the central control unit has a width of just four modules in the distribution box with all key control functions preconfigured and saved. Up to 500 sun shading components can be controlled via the central control unit – up to 3,000 products in groups. This makes it the ideal size for the Factory Campus. In combination with the Warema weather station move, an Omnexo central control unit at the Campus locally controls 16 switch actuators spread throughout the building via bus signals. 76 external venetian blinds with intelligently controlled slat tracking perfectly control daylight and optimise energy all by themselves. In addition, all sun shading products can be operated using conventional push buttons or via an app with the user management function already integrated into the central control unit.

Special applications? No problem

The project members were won over by the outstanding performance of the Omnexo central control unit and its almost limitless flexibility. For example, a wide range of scenarios and special applications can be integrated via digital universal inputs – these include a cleaning circuit, a central fire alarm or a superordinate building control system.

What about complex and tedious programming? Warema insisted on personally showing ES Project GmbH the Omnexo studio software specially developed to commission the system. Every product is already entered in the central control unit with standard values, and these values can be simply and individually parameterised using Omnexo studio. An integrated intelligent plausibility check ensures that settings are configured without errors. For Thomas Gladbach, another particular benefit was the option to configure all these settings in the office in preparation for commissioning, without the need to connect to the central unit. Omnexo studio can be used on any Windows PC or Mac.

At the touch of a button

Thomas Gladbach and Baki Akyazi, the site manager responsible at ES Project, took particular delight in commissioning the sun shading system themselves. The entire system worked perfectly right from the start. The weather station move positioned on the roof transmits all relevant weather data to the central control unit: wind force, temperature, brightness and precipitation. Continuously optimised slat angles ensure ideal light yield with glare-free working conditions and a pleasant indoor climate at all times. The system efficiently stops rooms from heating up in the summer and minimises heat loss in the winter. The system can be quickly adapted to changes in usage conditions and the technology is always up to date – any new updates are installed at the touch of a button. All project members are confident that the Campus is perfectly equipped for the sun shading of the future.

Construction details

Building: Factory Campus
Location: Düsseldorf, Germany
Owner: EK 401 Grundstücksverwertungs-GmbH & Co. KG, Düsseldorf
Purpose: 3,000 m² office building with 38 state-of-the-art offices ranging from 38 m² to 218 m² in size
Architecture: Dipl.-Ing. Ralf Petersmann, Düsseldorf, Germany, www.ralfpetersmann.de
Planning: Schneider Ingenieure GmbH, Kamp-Lintfort, Germany, www.schneider-ingenieure.de
Sun shading implementation: Wilbrand GmbH, 48465 Ohne, Germany
Control system implementation: ES Project GmbH, Essen, Germany, www.es-project.de
Completed: 2023
Sun shading: 76 systems with Warema E80A6S basic external venetian blinds
Control system: Omnexo central control unit
6 Omnexo 4M230 AP switch actuators
10 Omnexo 6M230 AP switch actuators
Warema weather station move

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