Setting a Good Example: Office building of Scheiffele-Schmiederev KG

“We wanted to send a signal to our industry by building a facility that lived up to the latest standards and more.”

Karl Schmiederer, Jr., managing partner of Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG

OFFICE BUILDING OF SCHEIFFELE-SCHMIEDERER KG IN PHILIPPSBURG DEMONSTRATES MODERN TIMBER CONSTRUCTION

When a timber merchant decides to build an office building and warehouse, it’s to be expected that they will use timber and wood-based materials from their own sales programme. Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG went a step further than that and also demonstrated the versatility and potential of modern timber construction. And the project has paid off handsomely: Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG took first place in the “commercial construction” category of the Germany-wide HolzbauPlus competition for building with renewable raw materials. The timber wholesaler also sells SWISS KRONO OSB, which was used in the office building. “We’ve been doing business with Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG for many years,” says SWISS KRONO Managing Director Uwe Jöst. “So you can imagine how pleased we are that our products helped to create this fantastic office building.”
 

The Project

Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG, one of the largest timber wholesalers serving southern Germany, decided to open a sixth outlet in Philippsburg near Karlsruhe in the Rhine Valley. Its intention was to explore the possibilities inherent in wood as a building material. “We wanted to show that timber construction is ideally suited for combining cost-effectiveness, functionality and attractive architecture,” says Karl Schmiederer, Jr., a managing partner of Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG and now in charge of the new facility in Philippsburg.

The firm erected an innovative warehouse and a large two-storey office building with a footprint measuring 34 x 13.5 metres. It includes a workshop, a storage area, and social rooms. One of the special challenges involved was creating an open-plan office with optimised acoustics and a ceiling spanning a distance of more than ten metres without any intermediate supports.
Architect Michael Gumpp of the gumpp.heigl.schmitt architectural firm in Munich designed the building. “Our client wanted an office building that would optimally serve its intended purpose while also being visually appealing and a model of energy efficiency,” says Gumpp. “The fact that it won a major award confirms that we succeeded in meeting all of the client’s expectations. The building is truly an example of state-of-the-art timber construction.”

Wood and Wood-Based Materials Used in Many Ways

Except for the reinforced-steel foundation, the office building was constructed using a range of different timber and wood-based materials. The walls were made of plywood sheets, the post-and-beam constructions out of laminated veneer timber, the outer façade of glued laminated timber panels, and the roof construction of hollow-box elements. The ceiling of the open-plan office also consists of a hollow-box construction with excellent acoustic insulation between the storeys and outstanding room acoustics, thanks to special perforations. Slats of Siberian larch were used to make the highly insulating façade, for filtering sunlight, and for the balcony railing. Visitors enter through an old oak front door and arrive at a reception desk made of stacked three-ply boards. The conference rooms are panelled in oak. Even the lift shaft is made of glued laminated timber sheets.

SWISS KRONO OSB/3 was used in the roof and to cover the floor of the upper storey. It also serves as a shell for the insulation of the pitched roof. In addition to its excellent constructive properties, SWISS KRONO OSB actively helps to protect the environment. Every cubic metre of it stores around a thousand kilos of carbon dioxide and keeps it sequestered during its entire lifecycle. This means that many thousands of kilos of CO₂ are entrapped in the office building. SWISS KRONO OSB/3 boards have been approved by the German building authorities for load-bearing and stiffening applications in walls, ceilings and roofs. To produce them, SWISS KRONO uses only thinnings from sustainably managed forests and formaldehyde-free binders. The result is an eco-friendly wood-based material that very effectively blocks heat and cold, absorbs sound and, with its extremely low emissions, helps to create a healthy indoor climate.

Energy Concept Also Relies on Renewables

The building comes very close to the passive house standard and relies completely on renewable energy. Its consumption is 40 percent below the level prescribed by the German Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV) of 2009. Most of the roof of the adjoining warehouse is covered by solar panels. Heating and cooling are performed by geothermal pumps with five downhole heat exchangers at a depth of 60 metres and a state-of-the-art ventilation system with heat recovery. The excellent insulation keeps the annual primary energy requirement at 37 kilowatt-hours and electric power consumption at just 14 kilowatt-hours per year.

Winner at the Germany-Wide HolzbauPlus Competition

The German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection held the nationwide competition, titled “HolzbauPlus – Building with Renewable Raw Materials”, for the first time in 2012. From 151 entries, a jury selected the projects whose design, concept, and technology were especially effective in demonstrating state-of-the-art construction with renewable raw materials. The new office building of Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG was the victor in the “commercial construction” category. “The prize winners very innovatively implemented their projects, either constructing a new building or renovating an existing one with wood or other renewable raw materials,” said Minister Ilse Aigner at the awards ceremony during the Berlin International Green Week in January 2013. “They demonstrated the excellent suitability of renewable building materials and energy sources. The projects are outstanding examples of highly sustainable construction that can and should inspire others.”

Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG

The figures are impressive: Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG has six facilities and 150 employees and supplies more than 9,000 customers with over 6,500 different timber and related articles. The family-run firm was established more than 170 years ago. As the main drivers of its business success, it cultivates trust-filled relationships with its clients, is able to very flexibly meet their needs thanks to its own mouldings plant, and has very efficient logistics. Its delivery times are also virtually unbeatable: its yellow trucks get products to customers anywhere in southern Germany within 48 hours. Says Uwe Jöst, “We are proud to have Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG as a strong partner. We share a passion for wood and wood-based materials, a commitment to environmentally friendly construction and the fact that we are both leaders in our respective market segments.” The timber trade journal Holzkurier rewarded the firm’s stress on innovation and growth by choosing it as the “2013 Timber Merchant of the Year”. More information on Scheiffele-Schmiederer KG is available on our website in the section Customers/Marketing Alliance.