Passive house standard in the university district

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The large ensemble of three houses has been certified by the country as the first climate protection settlement in Kleve. White in colour, it is situated right next to the port campus and has a modern facade designed by the Hamburg-based nps tchoban architects. The buildings, in different lengths and heights, are experienced as a unit in a consistent architectural language. In terms of materiality and colour, the facade thus takes up the existing themes of the university campus and places itself discretely in this context. The character of the buildings is determined by calm perforated facades with the GM WINDOORAIL® floor-to-ceiling glass railings from Glas Marte. The building is also given rhythm and plasticity via the offset openings with printed glass parapets, which it give a differentiated physicality within a higher-level strict facade grammar.

The "bubbles", those white bubbles on the glass railings of the windows that also decorate the house, are more than just decoration. In addition to the fall protection function due to the suspension system*, the amount of solar energy that can pass through the windows into the highly insulated rooms without the rooms heating up is precisely calculated. Thus, the glass that stands as a railing in front of the windows was printed. And it is so close to the window that no beer bottle fits in between. According to the executive architects Hülsmann und Thieme, "You should use the fridge for cooling."

 

If forces of momentum act on the railing, they are cushioned by a simple but very effective mechanism. Thanks to this safety function (coc), the glass railing gives way in a controlled manner off in the event of an enormous load in the direction of the risk of falling (such as in the event of an accident when a person falls against the railing). The anti drop device can then be automatically returned to the basic position.