With an open, bright and flexible architecture, the new German Microsoft headquarters in Munich is an example of how a building needs to be designed for the future world of work and ensure an optimum climate for employees.
To this end, architectural firm GSP architekten from Munich designed a building complex extending across roughly 26,000 sqm of floor space on up to seven storeys – more than enough room to accommodate a state-of-the-art, "non-territorial open office space". The design was developed by the architects in close cooperation with Microsoft. The building also offers 67 different conference rooms for employees, an 836 sqm restaurant and a 200 sqm fitness area.
In the new building, special attention was paid to ensuring an optimum indoor air quality as well as state-of-the-art building services. Bacon Gebäudetechnik, specialists in the area of heating/air conditioning/ventilation/sanitation, were commissioned with implementing the technical building services.
High-pressure air humidification systems were directly integrated into the high-end TROX X-CUBE air handling units so that the indoor climate could be perfectly tailored to meet requirements. The nine weather-resistant X-CUBEs on the roof were, for the most part, pre-assembled by TROX Austria.
For the first time, the air handling units were delivered together including the cabling. This reduces the processing steps and coordination efforts between the trades on site, thereby saving time. In line with the architectural requirements, the six engineering rooms and outdoor air handling units on the flat roof were designed by the ventilation and air conditioning specialist TROX Austria to be particularly low, providing optimum fresh air to the premises.
Inside the building, a further six air handling units from TROX provide perfect air conditioning. TROX Austria also supplied the control units, the multileaf dampers and sound attenuators, as well as the fire and smoke protection systems.
For the architects and building services engineers, it was particularly important to install reliable technology that would be appropriate for the room and design parameters. TROX Austria offered extensive support throughout the project from the very early planning stages. A year into operations at the Microsoft headquarters and the building still meets all the extremely high expectations. Functionality on the highest technical level coupled with professional planning and processing on time and on budget is the guiding principle of the GSParchitectural office in Munich. The building services also fulfil these high demands.
