Canteen DER SPIEGEL

DER SPIEGEL, Germany's well-known weekly news magazine, now bundles all activities in the new headquarter, with a total surface of 30.000 sqm. After a competition for the interior design of the staff canteen, the client decided to realize the winning proposal , developed by the interior architects and the lighting designers.

The new canteen is "successor" of the legendary canteen from 1969, which was entirely designed by Verner Panton. The space is interacting with the changing daylight conditions, and with the reflections of the surrounding water. Custom-made LED luminaires, and LED spotlights have been designed especially for the project. The ceiling of the canteen is covered with approx. 4300 matt-silver, reflective discs, slanted in various angles. They serve as daylight reflectors, they are sound absorbing, and, in the evening hours, they reflect both the general lighting and the focal lighting, which is reflecting from the matt light terrazzo floor onto the ceiling. The dark ceiling background enhances this effect with a good contrast.

Thirty-eight custom-designed lighting objects support the structuring of the large space. Equipped with dimmable compact fluorescents, and with a focussed LED-spot in the center, they are truly floating, in three different diameters. Some of them are being reflected in large, yellow, reflective "dishes". Designed with a punctual "white dot pattern" the star-arrangement of the light bulbs remains visible from below as well as in the polished, reflective dish above. The designers did not want to hide the bulbs completely, also to achieve a kind of "jelly fish" appeareance (association to Hamburg, Harbor, North Sea).

Space dividers can be set-up for special occasions or meetings. This area is illuminated by 243 custom-designed, polished acrylic rods, each equipped with a hidden 1W-LED on top, and with a matt finish on the lower end. They distribute the light smoothly into the space, and create a sensation!

In the background, another seating area with a long bench; the glass wall behind is backlit with a LED-strip, and from above, flush mounted LED-downlights serve as light sources for the tables. Arranged between the reflective ceiling discs, custom made LED spots provide strong lighting accents to the light floor, and wash the corrugated, warm wooden wall panels. As a counterpiece to the general lighting, they add a dramatic focal glow.

Along the entire facade, a flush strip of fluorescents (with matt cover) underlines the architectural outline. It also serves as backlight for the curtains, and to "bridge the gap" between inside and outside, since in summer a huge terrace belongs to the canteen.

The lighting design played it's role in the LEED gold certification of the building - from the very beginning.

Executed with a DALI light management, several scenes have been pre-programmed. All fluorescent lamps are driven with a maximum of 80%, in order to extend their life span.

Client
Robert Vogel GmbH & CO., Hamburg

Location
Ericusspitze 1, 20457 Hamburg

Date of completion
September 2011

Size
510 sqm

Architects
Henning Larsen Architects, Copenhagen (Phase 1-4)
Hoehler + Partner, Hamburg (Phase 5-9)

Interior Designers
Ippolito Fleitz Group GmbH, Stuttgart
Peter Ippolito, Gunter Fleitz, Tilla Goldberg, Christian Kirschenmann, Tim Lessmann, Katja Heinemann,
Alexander Fehre, Roger Gasperlin, Christine Ackermann

Lighting Design
Pfarré Lighting Design, Muenchen
Gerd Pfarré, Dominik Buhl, Cosima Strobl, Katja Moebs, Katharina Schramm