Introduction

Sto SE & Co. KGaA is a major international manufacturer of products and systems for building coatings. The company's headquarters are in Weizen, near Stühlingen in Germany's Baden-Württemberg region and close to the border with Switzerland. Incorporating administrative and production buildings, the headquarters are concentrated on the company's site on Ehrenbachstraße.

With the advancing growth of Sto SE & Co. KGaA, the company is increasingly gaining in importance. Over the years, the headquarters in Stühlingen have already been extended several times. In order to ensure that the departments are organised in the best way possible in terms of customer focus and setup, further extension is once again needed. In keeping with the master plan for the site (architect M. Wilford), the block is closed off to the street Ehrenbachstraße. At the same time, the reception building forms the “keystone” that brings together the main axes at one central point.

In order to meet current requirements, the new construction (buildings 15 and 16) was planned with a direct connection to existing office building 1. Building 15 was designed as an oval – in the style of the Sto pail – and is used as an entrance and reception building with meeting rooms and communal spaces. It also acts as a link between the different heights of the existing and new buildings. Alongside, the newly constructed building 16 complements this with an open office space and an integrated data centre. The result is a cohesive whole on Sto SE & Co. KGaA's property which enhances the quality of the entire location in this area.

The new buildings are being developed via the existing access road on Ehrenbachstraße. On foot, the new buildings can be reached via the route that leads in a straight line directly from the car park to the main entrance of the reception building. All the necessary parking spaces for cars and bikes are accommodated in the outdoor area.

As the embodiment of the company, the new reception building reflects the high value that the company places on sustainability. The declared aim was to achieve a “zero-energy-standard building”, an objective that was able to be achieved thanks to the exceptional energy concept. The company has been committed to sustainability since it was established in 1955 – even though at the time this concept did not exist in the form that we know today.

Then, as now, the corporate policy of Sto SE & Co. KGaA is oriented towards long-term, positive development in fair cooperation with customers and employees. This is also expressed in the corporate mission “Building with conscience.”, which symbolically stands for the objective of maintaining the value of buildings in strict compliance with the needs of mankind and nature. In accordance with this objective, the company also defined its corporate vision “Technology leader in the sustainable design of living space tailored to human needs. Worldwide.”

“In the spirit of our objective, we stand by our values and we are guided by our vision and our mission. We recognise our success factors and are building on them in order to achieve our objective both now and in the future: to build with conscience.”

- Rainer Hüttenberger, Spokesman of the Executive Board