An automated visual protection façade at Rosenheim Elementary School ensures full concentration during lessons
Monday afternoon, a music lesson in Rosenheim Elementary School. But very few of the pupils are able to concentrate on the recently learnt song: Most of them are much more interested in a car that has broken down on the busy road just outside, Prinzregentenstraße. It is easy to observe the proceedings – after all the major road passes right past the building and the music room is fully glazed. Before the class’s concentration declines further, the teacher reaches for a hand-held transmitter: And in not time at all the slats of the visual protection façade in front of the window are closed. The pupils can again devote their attention to the music lesson – with the aid of intelligent automation.
Crystal clear: Visual protection and use of natural daylight united
Reliable visual protection with optimum use of natural light was the challenge faced by the Berlin-based architects’ office Heydorn.Eaton when it was commissioned with the extension of Rosenheim Elementary School in 2005. The architects designed a three-storey, angular complex, which blends in harmoniously with the older section of the school thanks to a glazed section. Ten additional classrooms and a nursery are accommodated in the new building – yet the heart of the school ensemble is formed by the room-high glazed recreational area which links the new and old buildings with one another. Bordering this is the music and multi-purpose room: If major events are taking place this may be opened up to the recreational area. Seamless transitions and the large glazed areas lend the design lightness and transparency, and help the elementary school pupils quickly get their bearings in the new rooms. Wood-paneled walls with a colored varnish ensure that the atmosphere inside is friendly and bright.
Small dimensions, major impact
The need for visual protection and use of natural daylight, which are required above all with the rooms near the main road, were met by the architects with a movable façade of some 23 meters in width in front of the windows. This comprises 38 vertical metal slats. Given their dimensions – the slats are each 3.60 meters high – they are moved by the drive system LIMAline 300 from elero. “Our decision revolved around dimensions to a great degree,” explains architect Maud Heydorn. “LIMAline is capable of aligning the large-scale slats exactly. At the same time its own dimensions are so small that it is easy to conceal when integrated – and ensure it does not disrupt the overall appearance.” In this case the system comprises ten drive chains, whereby nine venetian blind motors each move 4 LIMAline drives and one venetian blind motor moves two drives. The slats themselves are brought into precisely the right position with a dynamic load of 25 Nm. An angle of rotation of as much as 360 degrees is possible – meaning they can always be aligned in an optimum manner to keep out prying eyes and nevertheless allow sufficient daylight into the rooms. “A further benefit of LIMAline: It requires very little force to move the slats, yet at the same time has a holding torque of 300 Nm. This means that even high wind loads have no effect on the visual protection façade,” says Herbert Stöhr, façade product manager at elero.
The slat drive system is controlled from a switching station in the janitor’s office. Generally the janitor closes the entire visual protection façade on an evening and opens it again on a morning. In addition, each member of the teaching staff can control the slats from the classroom using a hand-held transmitter and decide whether to block the view to the outside world. And as the drives are especially quiet there is nothing more that can actually distract the pupils from concentrating fully on their lessons.
The visual protection façade – here closed – shields the classrooms from the busy main road.
The 23-meter-wide movable façade – here open – is controlled from the janitor’s office. In addition, each member of the teaching staff can also move it using a hand-held transmitter.
The vertical slats may be turned by as much as 360 degrees and guarantee optimum use of natural daylight.
At Rosenheim Elementary School “LIMAline 300” is used (center). The slat drive system is also available with torques of 60 and 800 Nm.
