Friedrich und Karl, Cologne

In the north of Cologne, a new city entrance is emerging with the Friedrich and Karl office district—an ambitious urban development and a flagship project in all aspects of sustainability. The approximately 20,000 m² property of the DuMont media group, located between Boltensternstrasse and Friedrich-Karl-Strasse in Cologne-Niehl, offers an interesting opportunity for densification. The new office district consists of seven offset buildings, each with six floors, connected by a pergola and a continuous base floor.

MorgenGrün got involved in the project early on and supported Bauwens' project development from the competition phase onwards. Our team has played a significant role in ensuring that Friedrich and Karl, one of the largest new construction projects in the cathedral city, can make a noticeable contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions. We were able to develop an innovative energy concept at an early stage and set the course for a climate-friendly neighborhood. The office buildings will be constructed using a timber-hybrid construction method, which will bind significant amounts of CO₂ in the building over the long term.

The backbone of the energy supply is a geothermal plant with well extraction, supplemented by a comprehensive photovoltaic system on the roofs.

Efficiency House 40 Standard

Our planning was focused on the following considerations: reducing needs, meeting needs efficiently and using renewable sources. An optimized building envelope minimizes transmission and infiltration heat losses in the rooms. It meets the requirements of the Efficiency House 40 Standard for insulation, glazing and airtightness.

Right from the start, we drew up energy requirement models to optimally dimension the usually expensive development of renewable sources. In doing so, it was important to consider the long-term temperature stability of the groundwater system and the passive cooling, without which geothermal energy cannot be used sustainably.

Surface systems with low temperature differences heat and cool the buildings. A highly efficient water-water heat pump covers the heat demand, and we also use the waste heat from the servers for heating. The base load of the cooling demand is covered by passive direct cooling using groundwater. A balanced temperature is ensured throughout the year, with highly efficient compression refrigeration machines covering the remaining loads.

We have planned photovoltaic systems for all roofs, including the connecting pergola and the mobility hub, and the electricity they generate will cover the energy needs of the buildings largely independently.
Where natural ventilation is not possible, mechanical ventilation systems are used. These guarantee highly efficient heat recovery.

Legal requirements in terms of sustainability exceeded

MorgenGrün is pursuing an ensemble certification according to DGNB for the individual construction phases. The aim is to achieve the highest level of certification, DGNB Platinum, with an overall degree of fulfillment of at least 80%, whereby the requirements of the EU taxonomy are also considered.

The office complex, which is fully let to the Federal Office of Administration on a long-term lease, significantly exceeds the federal government's requirements for primary energy consumption in its own new buildings, which are well above the legal requirements, and is also aiming for the federal government's quality seal for sustainable buildings (QNG). We are proud of the fact that the requirements of the KfN (Federal Funding for Climate-Friendly New Buildings) sustainability funding are met and that a pioneering lighthouse project for the future of office and public authority construction is being created here.