BMW Munich

FIZ Future is a long-term urban development program for continued development. Its first construction phase was officially opened at the end of September 2020. This includes the FIZ Project House North as the new heart of the global research and development network, but also two office complexes and a building for test benches and measuring equipment. Around 4,800 vehicle developers have space here over a floor area of around 21 soccer fields.

Bachner Elektro was able to win a comprehensive contract for this first construction phase of FIZ Future: for the areas of energy and building, IT/communication, ICE and security technology. This is divided into sub-project 1 (SP1), which consists of the workshop area, test benches and laboratories, and sub-project 2 (SP2), which mirrors the office complex. "If you include the external service providers, between 350 and 400 people have been involved in this project for Bachner from mid-2018 until today – including ten site managers," says managing director and overall project manager Günther Plank. In addition to the Munich Bachner branch, numerous employees from other sites were also involved in the project. "The project is so extensive that we can only cover excerpts of it here," those involved agree.

An increased installation density in SP 2 results from the principle of smart building technology and digital user control. Many processes and building functionalities can be digitized through this. Ultimately, this leads to a significant increase in energy efficiency.

Lighting control is a very easy way to understand the smart building principle. The open space concept over six levels is divided into more than 1,400 virtual rooms, similar to a grid. The lighting in such rooms can be controlled via a smartphone app. Using so-called beacons, any presence in an area is detected and users have the ability to adjust the lighting to their needs or to use scenario presets. This avoids lighting unnecessarily large areas. The technical implementation of this solution is a combination of DALI lighting control and WAGO controllers. The latter controls the lights in the virtual rooms. One challenge here is adapting the controller software to allow ultimate control over the smartphone app.

Special emphasis was placed on on-demand heating and cooling in more than 200 office and meeting rooms in SP2. The functionality of the high-efficiency heating and cooling ceilings are intertwined. This means that either heating or cooling can be used. Heat or coolness is provided only when requested by a zone. This chain is intelligently designed so that, for example, when "coolness" is requested in an office, the respective supply area switches on. This in turn places a requirement on the main supply. From there, there is a transfer to the chiller and from there to the cooling towers. This chain is only active if at least one participant requests the medium. In this way, no energy is spent on the provision. Another special feature is that smoke extraction in the SP1 test benches is controlled directly via the ventilation system, which significantly increases the complexity of programming and switching work.

However, the control technology for ventilation, heating, cooling and chilled water systems, as well as for individual controls, is also up to the task. OPC UA, one of the most important communication protocols for Industry 4.0, is used for this purpose. OPC stands for Open Platform Communications. This standardizes access to systems in an industrial environment and facilitates the exchange of data in a uniform and manufacturer-independent manner. The UA in OPC UA stands for Unified Architecture and refers to the current specification of the standard, which is used to encrypt data communication down to the field level.

Smart building technology is inconceivable without IT and communications technology. Over 56 distributor locations in both building complexes are connected to each other and to the network centers via redundant fiber optic connections. In addition to the area-wide WLAN coverage and the networking of all control systems, such as for ICE technology, blinds, and lighting systems, this plays a particularly important role for components of the security technology. In this way, the installation of access control, time recording or hazard detection systems goes hand in hand with their networking.

Special emphasis was placed on on-demand heating and cooling in more than 200 office and meeting rooms in SP2. The functionality of the high-efficiency heating and cooling ceilings are intertwined. This means that either heating or cooling can be used. Heat or coolness is provided only when requested by a zone. This chain is intelligently designed so that, for example, when "coolness" is requested in an office, the respective supply area switches on. This in turn places a requirement on the main supply. From there, there is a transfer to the chiller and from there to the cooling towers. This chain is only active if at least one participant requests the medium. In this way, no energy is spent on the provision. Another special feature is that smoke extraction in the SP1 test benches is controlled directly via the ventilation system, which significantly increases the complexity of programming and switching work.