Starbucks at the Altmarkt
Starbucks - the global brand for the laid-back American approach to enjoying coffee - gets serious with the subject of sustainability: LED wallwashers and LED spotlights for efficient visual comfort.
LEED is a certification system for sustainable buildings that was drawn up by the American "U.S. Green Building Council". Initially intended for individual buildings, it developed, not least at Starbucks establishments, into the so-called "LEED Volume Certification program", which enables a more simple certification of architectural concepts for retail and restaurant chains.
Starbucks gets serious with the subject of sustainability. In future, new coffee houses are to be certified according to the LEED standard. The first of these new and environmentally conscious coffee bars in Germany has been established at the Altmarkt in Dresden, on the ground floor of a new hotel building designed by the Dresden design offices Pfau Architekten for the Spanish NH group. In explaining the new design concept, which takes up the colours of the coffee world and makes liberal use of wood to create a pleasant and quiet atmosphere for enjoying coffee, Ross Shadix, Managing Director of Starbucks Coffee Deutschland states: "As of 2011, all our new coffee houses will be built according to the same environmental and design standards that we are presenting to our guests for the first time here."
Wallwashing is a crucial factor of efficient visual comfort because it is the illuminance on the vertical surfaces delineating an area that determines the subjective impression of brightness. Especially when combined with LED technology, wallwashing is a key element of sustainable lighting design.
Quintessence LED wallwashers illuminate wall surfaces and vertical product displays.
The lighting concept for the serving counter in the coffee house can be transferred to many similar situations in the catering and retail trades: narrow-beam light from spotlights accentuates the counter surface, where it creates the optimum visual conditions for guests and staff without causing glare. The rear wall behind the counter is illuminated with vertical light from wallwashers and, together with its product displays, acts as a beacon, assisting orientation in the coffee bar and intensifying the brand experience.
Starbucks Coffee House at the Altmarkt, Dresden
Address:
Altmarkt 7
01067 Dresden
Germany
Telephone: +49 351 43833967
Architecture: Starbucks Coffee International Design, Erin Meyer
Planning and implementation: Starbucks Coffee Deutschland, Construction Management, Hanko Geissler
www.starbucks.de
