Apart from its cultural purposes, the building includes 45 luxury apartments, a five-star hotel, gastronomic venues, as well as indoor parking. Between the brick-clad base and the glass upper structure of the building, on the eighth floor, at the elevation of about 37 m, the plaza is located: it is a publically-accessible area that offers a view of downtown Hamburg, the Elbe, the HafenCity complex and the harbor.
The challenge was to integrate the lighting in the KNX systems. To accomplish this, ABB used the digital addressable lighting interface (DALI) standard, which defines the digital interface for the control of lighting control devices. Up to 64 DALI devices can be assigned to an arbitrary KNX group and controlled via KNX. Approximately 110 DALI gateways from ABB are used in the concert area of the Elbphilharmonie alone. They control, for example, the lighting in the lobby and the concert halls, as well as the offices and rehearsal rooms. The lighting can be operated directly via keys or a variety of different lighting scenarios can be selected. DALI provides feedback about the status of the light fixtures and DALI ballasts that can be analyzed and forwarded via KNX. Thus, the maintenance staff is always kept up-to-date with regard to the current status of the lighting system.
ABB offered a complete solution. Besides illumination and light, ABB technology is also used in the audio systems. The electroacoustic system in the artists’ areas, as well as the bell systems and performance signal displays that indicate the sound quality to the artists, the concert organizers and the listeners, produce their sounds using KNX products from ABB.
Safety was another decision factor: The roof ventilation flaps for smoke and heat extraction are also used for elevator shaft extraction and close automatically in the event of rain or wind. Emergency lighting signals use DALI lighting and malfunctions of the elevators and smoke protection curtains are immediately detected and recorded.