Am Kaiser's Turm, Heilbronner Industrial Estate, Heilbronn, Germany

The old industrial area of Heilbronn, near the shoreline of the river Neckar, has recently been rejuvenated. After two years of construction work, the “Am Kaiser’s Turm” (AKT) building is now completely renovated. Its architecture is impressive, making it a key feature of the new Neckarpark. This industrial monument was extended with new buildings, whose service and retail companies are bringing new life to the area. An “eye catcher” is the glass cube on top of the 30 metre high silo tower. The glass used for the cube is Pilkington Activ™ self-cleaning glass, combined with solar control glazing.

The architects have used an eight metre high, two-storey glass cube for the silo tower, with a steel-glass-façade, providing for a panorama restaurant and an impressive view on Heilbronn. The cube is surrounded by a glazed construction with filigree bars. The objective was to achieve a perfectly flat glass cube with frameless transverse air conditioning. Night time illumination is provided by special RGB-controlled lighting around the inside of the façade. The system makes it possible to display a range of colour scenarios and to dim the lighting at the same time. The entire interior lighting system is based on light emitting diodes, which generate very little heat and consequently do not impose an additional load on the air conditioning system.

Pilkington Optilam™ 12.8 was used on the interior in order to meet all the  requirements for occupant safety. The required maximum 40 per cent total solar heat transmission is achieved through the use of the two solar control products, Pilkington Suncool™ HP Neutral 70/40 and Pilkington Suncool™ HP Neutral 53/40.