WolfVision's new Company Building

After only 10 months of construction WolfVision´s new headquarters was completed at the end of July 2008. It took two weeks to move from the former office in the nearby town Götzis into the new building. Operations finally started on August 18, 2008.

Building with flags

Atrium from above

Videoconferencing room with ceiling Visualizer

Atrium from below

South side, viewed from main

road in Klaus

Perfect working environment for highly qualified staff:

The WolfVision group employs 75 people in Klaus and 20 further employees, working in international subsidiaries. With 3.600m² the new headquarters offers enough space for approx. 100 employees.

The WolfVision Team on August 2011

In a "high tech area" like Vorarlberg/Austria it is not so easy to find highly qualified employees, because there is a great number of high tech companies in all fields of business in this area. Thus one of the main reasons why WolfVision decided to go for a new company building was to provide a very comfortable working environment for current and potential new employees.

The headquarters' highlights

Highlights from the staff's point of view:

• the ATRIUM which helps creating a light and friendly atmosphere within the entire building
• the KULINARIUM - the staff canteen offering freshly cooked and reasonable lunch meals from a very good catering service
• the RECREATION AREA in front of the building with a garden café's atmosphere
• the RELAXATION ROOM
• the building is perfectly situated in the rather quiet industry area of Klaus (close to the highway, train station and bus stops)
• the elegant furnishing
• the modern computer equipment
• the fresh air ventilation including pollen filter (permanent comfortable indoor temperature)
• the showers for cyclists
• the underground parking
• the vending machine ... and much more...

Highlights from an economical point of view:

• the short distances between storage, production and quality control allowing efficient manufacturing processes
• the buildings expandability (in case of further expansion WolfVision also purchased the property next to the building)

Highlights from an ecological point of view:

• the heating and cooling by geothermal energy
• the intelligent shadowing with a perforated front allows a lot of daylight to come through, but still is a good sunscreen
• the efficient use of electric light (light intensity adapts automatically to ambient light)

Highlights from an architectural point of view:

• the spacious and bright atrium as the centre of the building, surrounded by the different work areas
• the building's elegant color concept (white, dark brown and glass)
• the copper front (a "living" material which will become a lot darker within the next couple of years)
• the office partitions (above a height of 133cm they are made out of glass which supports the open communication between various departments)
• the vertical, movable slats as sunscreens for the ground floor
• the fresh air ventilation is hidden in the front in order to make the roof look elegant (if viewed from the surrounding mountains or even from Google Earth)

Building History:

The actual decision to build a new building rather than renting and adapting some more rooms in the previous location was made by the family Wolf in summer of 2006. The challenge was to find an appropriate property close to the former location, in order not to lose any qualified employees due to cumbersome commuting. Georg, Martin and Josef Wolf soon found the perfect building site in the nearby town Klaus.

When looking for the perfect building concept WolfVision started an architectural competition. A great method strangely enough still not too often used in the private industry. Five well known architects participated in the 2 step competition. On March 13, 2007 architects Gerhard Hörburger and their partners ReitbruggerGAU from Bregenz won the competition with a great building concept which convinced everybody in the jury.

In order to assure that the WolfVision management can concentrate on its day to day business and for keeping the construction time as short as possible it was decided to assign a general contractor.

The tendering procedure and the construction inspection on site were handed over to another architectural office (DI Thurnher ZT-GmbH from Feldkirch).

At the end of September Schertler-Alge GbmH, Lauterach won the tender and was assigned as general contractor. Start of construction was on October 12, 2007.

After only 10 months of construction WolfVision´s new headquarters was completed in July 2008. The first two weeks of August were used for the move of the company and on August 18, 2008 operations finally started in the new headquarters.

The official opening ceremony took place on September 12, 2008:

Symbolic hand over of key from the general contractor to the owners
from the left: Gunter Schertler (Schertler-Alge), Martin Wolf, Georg Wolf und Josef Wolf

Looking at the entire project in retrospect it was definitely a good decision to find the best building concept via an architectural competition.

The construction period was also very successful. Everyone involved worked together in such a prosperous way. Only a few subcontractors delayed the completion of their work a bit too much, but starting WolfVision's business operations in the new building on August 18, 2008 was never in danger.

Usually, after such a project people tend to say: "Next time I´d do it totally different!" Fortunately WolfVision can say: "Except for some minor details, we would not change a thing next time."