A new office concept featuring the INDUSAIL SONIC active acoustic sail system for an ideal working environment

Established by the Vorarlberg state parliament in Austria in 1897, Hypo Vorarlberg is a successful universal bank. The Hypo Vorarlberg IT department based in Bregenz on Lake Constance was set up in 1985. It has a wide remit. Operating across the various federal states and regions, it provides a full range of IT services from support to web development. It is also a service provider to all Hypo Vorarlberg subsidiaries. Hypo Vorarlberg Informatik started with five employees and – as is typical in the IT sector – has constantly evolved over the years. There are now more than 30 members of staff.

Office design
Centrally located on Bahnhofstraße in Bregenz, the office building was acquired from BAWAG, another bank, with Hypo Immobilien GmbH handling the renovation on behalf of Hypo Vorarlberg AG. The new concept for the space based on as-completed drawings is a combination of open space office and enclosed office units. These rooms separated by room height, frameless glass partitions are primarily used as meeting and creative zones or quiet areas. The overall aesthetic effect is built on openness. Indoor plants harmonise with wooden furniture, bringing freshness to the workplace. 

For the open-plan office, the planning office wanted a standardised cooling system throughout the space which could be used to efficiently ventilate and cool the various areas with and without suspended plasterboard ceiling while delivering maximum comfort. The cooling and ventilation elements would therefore be either freely suspended and visible or incorporated within the suspended ceiling. The INDUSAIL SONIC plus acoustic sail is perfect for this requirement specification. Due to the versatile mounting options, freely suspended or integrated into a ceiling, the sail helps to design the rooms and significantly improves the indoor air quality with the recirculating air cooling unit. The circulating air, or with optional fresh air connection the mixed air, is introduced via highly inductive linear diffusers. The sail additionally supports, without an active lighting, only due to its high light reflectance of > 90 %, all major types of lighting. Whether arranged individually or in groups, the ceiling sails can be perfectly tailored to the spatial conditions. Kiefer’s INDUSAIL SONIC proved compelling for the end clients, not only from a technical standpoint but also on visual grounds. 

Another important factor was the acoustics within the office. The acoustic sail can effectively reduce sources of irritation such as noise in the rooms. Open-pored absorber material with a glass fleece coating on the visible side of the INDUSAIL SONIC achieves optimal sound absorption levels. As a result, acoustic quality is increased along with performance through more focused working – an important criterion in the open space office. 

A functional office with wellbeing at its heart was created for the staff at Hypo Vorarlberg Informatik, offering an optimal workplace environment through the intelligent combination of lighting, air conditioning, acoustics and ventilation.