Meetings in the open country – Architecture and nature form a unified whole

Sliding transitions between architecture and nature define the building concept employed at the Lufthansa Training & Conference Centre Seeheim. The glass entrance hall already gives the guests an immediate impression of the park landscape. The complex of buildings is clearly structured according to its essential functions accommodation, training and communication: two  L-shaped hotel blocks set off against each other, with their filigree façades of metal and glass stand in clear contrast to the base, clad in natural stone, and to the training and seminar area. This blends in with its green surroundings in terraced form and is located far from the hustle and bustle of the lobby and the restaurants.

A floor area of 67,000 square metres

The architect has succeeded in incorporating the building with its gross floor area of 67,000 square metres into the hillside location and staggering it harmoniously upwards.  The Lufthansa Training & Conference Centre is almost 55 metres high. It has a total of 14 staggered storeys. Glass façades, windows down to ground level and generous terraces in front of restaurants and training rooms lend the building an open character. That is also what the Training & Conference Centre sees as its purpose: to incorporate human beings into an intercultural, cos-mopolitan atmosphere.

Geothermal energy – out of love for the environment

Not only with regard to the architectural layout was respect paid to nature. The Lufthansa Training & Conference Centre is operated in a manner that spares the environment. The outdoor facilities can, for example, be irrigated using rainwater storage tanks. The ecological highlight, however, is the geothermal system: thanks to the exploitation of geothermal energy, only 25 per cent electricity is required for one hundred per cent heat. This considerably reduces CO2-emissions. But that’s not all: at summer temperatures, cold water from the geothermal reservoir sees to it that the building does not need to be fully air-conditioned.