Sun Protection Plays its Part in the Art and Climate Strategy
Project Regensburg Museums and Archives Central Depot
Facts & Figures
Year of construction: 2024
Client: The City of Regensburg and the Diocese of Regensburg
Region: Regensburg (Bavaria)
The new central depot for the museums and archives of both the City and the Diocese of Regensburg brings together archives, collection storage, fine art repositories, and restoration workshops under a single roof. The striking perforated metal facade serves multiple uses: It protects the valuable collections, defines the architectural identity, and, together with the folding sliding shutters, it forms the basis for the building’s overall artistic concept. At the same time, the building was designed to ensure the most stable climatic conditions possible with minimal energy consumption.
Sun protection as an integral feature
The electrically operated folding sliding shutters serve a dual function in the central depot. They make a key contribution to the climate strategy by reducing solar heat gain and safeguarding delicate collections from direct sunlight. And they also blend in beautifully with the architectural design of the building envelope, forming an essential piece of the overall aesthetic vision. The systems are fully integrated into the building automation, providing energy-efficient and reliable indoor climate control.
Meticulously integrated into the building envelope
Integrating the folding sliding shutters into the ventilated perforated metal facade presented demanding structural challenges. To ensure the moving elements did not disrupt the flow of the building envelope when closed, all attachments and guide systems had to be custom-developed for this facade concept. Two or four-panel systems with spans of up to 4.25 × 4.50 metres were installed to suit the size of the windows.
The artwork, made with around 680,000 rivets, was fitted with precision across the folding sliding shutters. Result: the moving elements contribute to the clear monolithic appearance of the building envelope – impressively showcasing to what extent sun protection elements can be tailored to bring technology and architecture into a single cohesive design.
Technology for the most exacting requirements
Beyond contributing to the climate strategy, the system also meets the rigorous safety and operational specifications required of a public building. The controller is linked to the building automation, escape routes, and fire alarm system, ensuring a safe operation at all times.
Architecture, technology, and art working as one
The perforated metal facade does far more than provide sun and climate protection; it also serves as the canvas for a large-scale artwork spanning the entire building envelope. To ensure the graphic design continues seamlessly across the dynamic folding sliding shutters, these elements had to be integrated into the facade concept with absolute precision. The folding sliding shutters play far more than a purely technical role, they become a prominent architectural feature, helping to unite function, design, and art in a fluid building envelope.
