The DI building at Rådhuspladsen
At the new Industriens Hus at Rådhuspladsen, a great deal of effort has been put into bringing the interior design and architecture together, forming a unified whole. The specially designed cable routing solution from Duelco fits in perfectly with the simple, black and white appearance, while at the same time the unique energy-saving panel helps to make the building more sustainable.
The DI project at Rådhuspladsen in Copenhagen is mentioned in Byggeri og Arkitektur magazine.
Written by Mikkel Weber Sandahl.
Duelco is a distribution and engineering firm which has also worked with installation and production over the past few decades. The company has developed its own complete wiring concept for office solutions which provide many aesthetic and functional possibilities for each individual building. That said, it also offers unique, customised solutions devised in partnership with the relevant customer, and this is what has happened with Industriens Hus. Duelco project manager Lasse Nielsen had this to say.
- DI got in touch with us at that time, and we batted ideas back and forth, coming up with a number of prototypes and 3D drawings, before we were ready to submit a tender. This has been a long process, but this is nothing unusual for projects of this kind where fully customised solutions are needed. We have been creating solutions like this for a decade, so we are able to offer a valuable sounding board and development.
Duelco has installed 650 electrical panels at Industriens Hus; so the project is making a positive contribution to the tune of around 20,000 panels, which the company produces annually.
Integrated energy-saving function reduces unnecessary standby consumption
Duelco´s electrical panels at Industriens Hus are fully integrated in the tables, and a unique energy-saving function has been introduced for the project which will automatically reduce power consumption within the building.
- These panels have both computer sockets and regular sockets with a master-slave design. The unique thing about these is that both data and general power are fed via the same USB cable ñ the panels are connected to a computer which measures CPU activity. So when there is traffic, it switches on all slaves ñ and shuts down if there is no activity. This means that monitors, lights, height adjustable tables, printers, etc. will never use unnecessary power when they are not being used. Standby mode does actually use a lot of power in large workplaces, and depending on the amount of power the electronics consume you can save around DKK 250 per employee per year, explains Lasse Nielsen.
Measuring data communication to allow systems to be shut down completely rather than just allowing the electronics to switch to sleep mode is a completely new option.
Common design feature
At Industriens Hus, it has been essential for the design and fixtures to match one another so that the architectural look is continued indoors. Electrical panels and cable routing are all part of the overall design. Lasse Nielsen had this to say.
- The entire building maintains a sense of familiarity, with the design running all the way through - there is no contamination. The holistic approach at Industriens Hus has been implemented right down to the tiniest detail, where the divisions between different sockets are marked in different colours. The slave contacts which are part of the energy-saving function are neutral white, while the contacts that are constantly powered up are black so that it is possible to differentiate between them. The constant power supply can be used for charging phones and suchlike, where necessary.
As part of this project, Duelco has fostered an inherent flexibility since it works with both permanent and portable installations. Hence it is possible to remodel the interior without having to rework the technology.