Hotel InterContinental, Berlin
INTERTEC
Owner / Developer
INTERTEC
Architect
BHPS Architekten
Building Function
Hotel
Status
Completed 09/2003
approx. 7.200 m²
Height
approx. 51 m
Technical Features
- Rain screen
- Natural stone facade
- Punch windows, parapet as cold-warm-facade
- Redevelopment and preservation of historical elements
We provided
Consultancy
Sound facade decisions start with a clear understanding of the project’s starting point.
- Priedemann organises the available project information, design intent, use, and facade-related technical and external requirements.
- Together with the project participants, objectives, priorities, constraints and unresolved questions are made visible.
- This creates a reliable basis for the next design steps and for decisions before the facade concept is developed in greater detail.
- Priedemann identifies and structures the project information, requirements, objectives and constraints relevant to facade planning.
- These may include design intent, use, technical and energy-related requirements, local conditions, and quality, cost and programme objectives.
- Unresolved questions, dependencies and competing priorities are made explicit and translated into clear decision criteria.
- This creates a reliable basis for early facade design and subsequent planning.
- The subjects reviewed and documented depend on the project stage and agreed scope.
Decision criteria and priorities
- Not every facade requirement has the same priority within a project.
- Design intent, use, technical requirements, local conditions, quality, cost and programme objectives can influence one another.
- Establishing the project basis therefore also means structuring these requirements and making potential conflicts visible.
- The resulting criteria provide a shared basis against which later options and decisions can be assessed consistently.
Priedemann offers comprehensive knowledge of materials, types of construction and construction methods for assessing the quality and value of the inventory with minimized depth of interference with the material.
Taking into account listed buildings, economic and design requirements such as preservation of individual details, renovation during ongoing operation, gutting with new extension, etc., we develop targeted renovation concepts for the facade on the basis of precise measurements as well as material, strength and load-bearing capacity analyses.
Early facade design begins once the strategic objectives and principal requirements of a project are sufficiently understood for possible directions to be developed.
- Priedemann translates this basis into options for design, materials and construction, considered alongside technical requirements and project-specific constraints.
- The comparison makes differences and trade-offs visible, and a preferred direction is developed further.
- The purpose is not to complete the technical detailing, but to establish a traceable design basis for subsequent development.
- The criteria, sketches and documentation included depend on the project and agreed appointment.
- Early facade design develops possible design, material and construction directions from the project objectives and requirements.
- Priedemann considers relevant facade types, principle details, interfaces, and technical and operational requirements.
- Options are described clearly and compared against agreed criteria.
- This allows architectural intent, technical viability and project-specific implications to be assessed together.
- The outcome is a robust design direction that provides a basis for subsequent system development and technical design.
Facade design for statutory approval develops an existing facade concept for the project’s approval and coordination context.
- Priedemann brings together available design information, technical requirements, materials, facade types and interfaces.
- Depending on the project, fire, safety, building-physics and acoustic requirements are also considered.
- The result is a clear facade basis for coordination with the relevant disciplines and for subsequent design.
- Facade design for statutory approval develops the facade information needed to demonstrate relevant approval requirements.
- Depending on the appointment, Priedemann addresses technical facade subjects, interfaces, fire and safety requirements, and the necessary design information.
- Unresolved points are coordinated with the relevant disciplines and technical contributions are documented.
- The scope, submission process and responsibility for the complete statutory application are agreed for the project.
Technical facade design develops an agreed facade solution into coordinated technical information for implementation.
- Details, components, connections and interfaces are brought together with requirements for construction, materials, building physics, acoustics, fire and safety.
- The required level of development depends on the project, procurement model and appointment.
- This creates a consistent basis for subsequent shop, production and installation planning.
- Technical facade design develops an agreed facade solution in sufficient detail for subsequent implementation.
- Depending on the appointment, Priedemann develops principle details, connections, layers, components, materials and dimensions, and coordinates interfaces with adjacent construction.
- Structural, building-physics, acoustic, fire and safety requirements are considered to the agreed design depth.
- The result is coordinated design information that can provide a basis for shop, production and installation drawings.
- The precise scope is defined for each project.
Facade specifications and tender documentation translate developed facade design into clear technical requirements for tendering and bid comparison.
- Priedemann structures information on construction, materials, details, interfaces and quality criteria and brings the relevant design documents together.
- Depending on the project, this can include technical preliminaries, specifications, quantity information or trade boundaries.
- The scope and function of the documents depend on the procurement and responsibility model.
- Priedemann translates the agreed facade design into technical specifications and tender documentation.
- Requirements, quality criteria, materials, components, interfaces and required evidence are structured and described clearly.
- Depending on the appointment, quantities, component schedules and other technical appendices may be included.
- The documents provide a consistent technical basis for bids and the subsequent award process.
- The scope and responsibility for the complete tender package are agreed with the client.
During technical tender evaluation, Priedemann compares submitted facade bids with the previously defined requirements and tender documents.
- The review can cover technical content, qualification evidence, bidder alternatives, proposed systems and identifiable deviations.
- Unresolved points are structured for tender interviews and the findings are documented clearly.
- Price-related or commercial assessment is included only where it is expressly part of the appointment.
- During technical tender evaluation, Priedemann compares facade bids with the defined requirements and tender documentation.
- The review may consider technical completeness, qualifications, proposed systems and materials, bidder alternatives, and identifiable deviations or risks.
- Findings are documented clearly and can provide technical support during tender interviews.
- Price comparison, commercial review and the final award decision form part of the service only where expressly agreed.
After a facade manufacturer is appointed, Priedemann reviews its shop drawings, system planning and technical submittals against the agreed design basis.
- This includes comparison with project changes, assessment of structural assumptions and energy/acoustic performance values, and review of technical data sheets for materials and components.
- Priedemann comments on discrepancies and coordinates change management as the facade contact point for the planning team.
- Priedemann reviews the contractor’s shop-drawing information against the agreed requirements and released design basis.
- Depending on the appointment, the review covers system components, details, interfaces, technical assumptions, materials and relevant performance data.
- Deviations and unresolved questions are documented and coordinated with the design team.
- In this way, the review supports technical quality assurance and makes required decisions visible early.
The supervision of assembly and installation is particularly important for us, to ensure the agreed quality. Our principle is that deviations from the agreed planning must be identified at an early stage, documented and the implementation corrected. This controlling refers both to production and manufacturing as well as to the assembly on the building site:
Regular inspection of production and assembly in the factory- Verification of compliance with the approved design, ensuring compliance with the agreed qualities, standards and test series
- Regular reporting on production progress; the reports contain recommendations for possible improvements as well as a list of unfulfilled services, performance arrears, defects identified
- Verification of compliance with the approved design, ensuring compliance with the agreed qualities, standards and test series
- Inspection of examples of facade sections as reference values for determining the quality of workmanship – benchmark inspections
- Involvement in performance tests on the facade on the building site (water impermeability, sound insulation, blower door test, etc.)
- Random inspection of the installation work on the building site
- Regular reporting on the installation work including the identification of discrepancies with the original planning
Specials
Thermal building physics connects the facade build-up with the building’s energy and building-physics requirements.
- Priedemann investigates thermal protection, glazing, solar control, insulation, thermal bridges and condensation risk.
- Relevant performance values and material build-ups are determined from local and project-specific requirements.
- Where commissioned, values from the facade and building services also contribute to the overall energy balance of the building.
- Priedemann assesses the thermal performance of facades and develops suitable component and layer build-ups.
- This can include calculating U-values and g-values, insulation thicknesses, isotherms, two- or three-dimensional thermal bridges, surface temperatures and condensation risk.
- Depending on the appointment, component catalogues are prepared and values from the facade and building services are combined for the building’s overall energy balance.
- The findings support decisions on thermal protection, materials, glazing, solar control and technical detailing.
Facade performance and building energy
- Thermal assessment does not always stop at an individual facade component.
- Depending on the appointment, values from the facade and building services can be combined when considering the building’s overall energy balance.
- Isotherms, thermal-bridge calculations and surface temperatures can also show where construction details become critical and where condensation risk may arise.
- Thermal building physics therefore connects individual material and detailing decisions with the wider energy performance of the building
Priedemann assesses noise levels and derives requirements for both facade components and room acoustics.
- The scope ranges from determining local noise levels and facade requirements to optimising room acoustics and speech intelligibility, evaluating building-services noise sources, and preparing noise-protection reports.
- The specific calculations, measurements and evidence required depend on the appointment.
- Priedemann investigates sound and noise-control questions relating to the facade and interior spaces.
- Local noise levels and project-specific requirements are assessed and translated into requirements for facade components, glazing, connections and flanking construction.
- Depending on the appointment, room acoustics, reverberation, sound absorption and building-services noise may be included.
- Calculations, recommendations and agreed reports support design and approval processes.
- The investigation scope is tailored to the building and the specific question.
From external noise to interior acoustics
- Acoustic design can connect several levels of a project.
- External noise levels and the intended use can first be considered to establish requirements for the facade, glazing, connections and adjacent construction.
- Inside the building, reverberation, sound absorption and speech intelligibility may also be relevant.
- Noise from building-services equipment can form another part of the assessment.
- Which of these aspects is examined depends on the building, its use and the agreed scope.
Priedemann produces energy saving certificates based on the existing building data, which represent the most important energy consumption data and characteristic values in accordance with local legal requirements. For Germany we are also authorized to assess such evidence.
For completed projects or ongoing projects – depending on local regulations and the determination of specific building data – we can issue energy efficiency certificates that illustrate the energy consumption of the building as a whole, i.e. in the interaction of building services, facade and use.
Memberships
