Wise Green Glass Facade For Unilever's Northern Europe Headquarters

Unilever, the world’s second largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company after Procter & Gamble recently acquired for itself, a new headquarters for its Northern Europe faction. Located at HafenCity, Hamburg, on the banks of the Elbe River in Germany, the edifice is designed by Behnisch Architects and combines modern architecture with sustainability and energy-efficiency.

Dual Exterior: Inner Glass “Skin” & Outer Plastic “Cocoon”

Inner Glass Skin

Rather wisely, the building combines climate conservation and transparency through its exterior glass facade. This façade comprises solar control glass from Interpane, which allows optimum levels of daylight transmission. On the ground floor, the generous glazing in a pillar-beam design serves the same purpose. This brings down the operating costs for indoor artificial lighting.

Moreover, the façade also prevents the interiors from heating up excessively during summer, thereby reducing the need for air conditioning. Conversely, the insulation value of 1.1 W/m2K (as per EN 673) retains requisite warmth inside the building.

In some parts of the building, a cold sound-insulation facade, using laminated sheet glass provides protection from increased noise levels.

Outer Plastic Cocoon

The glass facade is protected from the rough sea air by a single-layer, fully transparent plastic cover called a “plastic cocoon”. This outer skin helps reduce heat gain and control wind effects. The space between the facades is ventilated and is able to supply draught-free fresh air through open windows.

Interiors

The interiors of the Unilever HQ are designed like a vertical village. Multiple levels connect with each other, lacing throughout the huge daylit atrium. The spa, stores, and café on the first floor are open to the public, extending the social context of the building to the city. The upper stories link private and public workspaces with large informal seating areas around the central atrium. The open floor plan uses an atrium to anchor satellite workspaces. The building is designed to provide space for 1,200 Unilever employees. The interior uses a cooling system controlled by a chilled concrete ceiling. The thermal mass effect facilitates effective cooling with significantly reduced energy requirement. The daylighting is controlled manually and with built-in glare-control measures. Acoustic control has been tailored to keep the atrium sound levels comfortable. A special hybrid ventilation system is implemented in the buildings.

LED

A system of SMD LED or surface mount LED lights was developed and installed to save nearly 70% of the energy of halogen lighting.

Awarded for Sustainability

This building received many prestigious awards like “The Golden Environment Award of the HafenCity Hamburg GmbH”, “The WAF (World Architecture Festival Award)”, and “The International Bex Award (Building Exchange Award). All these clearly exemplify the outstanding sustainability and modern architecture efforts of this Green corporate office.