ENERGY
FOR ALL
BRAINERGY HUB — Jülich (D)
The energy transition is long overdue and its necessity undisputed. The young generation in particular are vehemently insisting on their right to live on a healthy planet.
Possible approaches for change are easy to find. They range from the improvement of (micro-)biological and/or (micro-)climatic conditions such as organic agriculture and food production, reduction of soil sealing, promotion of regional economic cycles, striving for CO-neutrality, green buildings, city greening, etc., to the development of new and green technologies, such as environmentally friendly energy production, alternative drive and locomotion technologies in mobility, improvement of recycling and upcycling processes, more efficient use of (raw) materials, and so on.
The Brainergy Park Jülich (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany), in turn, brings together companies that devise intelligent solutions to these questions for the future, and the new Brainergy Hub sits at the center of this thematic area as its central switching and control point.
In the future, it will be located in the middle of a lush green “theme park of energy, ecology and technology” which fills the entire competition area and thus characterizes the technology park as a whole. The hub itself appears as a floating ring with the landscape seeming to flow below. Pathways and landscape elements intersect in the central area of the ring, making it the centerpiece of Brainergy Park Jülich. Only the public functions of the hub (entrances, lobby, catering, conference, consulting, etc.) touch the ground. Thus, the entire first floor zone becomes an open park level accessible from all sides, interspersed with numerous outdoor terraces and opportunities to linger. The second floor of the wood hybrid building houses flexible office modules.
The Brainergy Village open space is designed as a flowing landscape that unfolds beneath the Brainergy Hub building. A network of paths traverses the area and connects it with the surroundings; a clear hierarchy of paths facilitates wayfinding. Thematically, the open space is divided into three zones: the historical orchard, the Brainergy Hub courtyard, and the Brainergy Garden with lake.
Construction
On the one hand, the timber hybrid construction caters for aspects of sustainability, but also represents a very economical and fast construction method, especially with only three floors. A high degree of prefabrication of the construction, but also of the finishing elements such as facades, etc., is thus easily possible.
