"Nature" Indoors Colour as a concept: in Tübingen's new Landratsamt (district government office), the Lighting Pad not only impresses with its acoustic effectiveness and brilliant lighting effect but also with its display of natural colours. When designing the new conference rooms in Tübingen's Landratsamt, Auer Weber Architekten discovered a very distinct quality of the acoustically effective Lighting Pads with their powerful lighting performance: thanks to their colour variations they enable harmonious integrations into the interior concept. The architects' intention was to reflect the colours of the idyllic Mühlaue, where the new office is situated, in the building's interior – gentle, natural colours meant to have a positive effect on the spatial atmosphere and, consequently, on the quality of dialogue. This fits in well with the sustainable constructions methods used to construct the low-energy building. A new district authority office has joined the row of administration buildings along the "Mühlbach Meadows". A further building has been added to Tübingen's Landratsamt close to the Mühlbach river. The living roof of the low-energy building – which meets KfW Standard 55 – has been equipped with a photovoltaic system. POSITIVE SPATIAL ATMOSHERE Having designed the existing buildings, Auer Weber Architekten from Stuttgart also planned the new 9.6-million-euro four-storey building. The architects carried over the horizontal divisions of the existing buildings onto the new building with its vividly rhythmic facade. Around 120 workplaces in 58 offices, a meeting chamber and three conference rooms were incorporated into the new 2,700-square-metre Landratsamt, which is now able to meet the demands of a significant increase in staff. The rooms in the administration building are characterised by their outstanding spatial quality.  STIMULATING AND GENTLE – THE COLOUR CONCEPT Nimbus Group Lighting Pads add fresh, colourful highlights to the conference rooms of Tübingen's new Landratsamt: in the stimulating yet gentle shades of Soft Moss, Vineyard and Nightfall, they seem to reflect the colours of the surrounding meadows in the building's interior. The Auer Weber firm of architects was particularly captivated by their functionality as a "combined lighting and acoustics solution". The opportunity to play with the natural shades brought even more added value in just one single product. PLEASANT ACOUSTICS Discreet colours, natural materials and windows down to the floor all contribute to the pleasant atmosphere inside the new Landratsamt. The R 900 Lighting Pads feature a haptically pleasant fleece surface that exudes a certain warmth and goes some way to explaining the appeal of a product that also enables acoustically pleasant working in conference rooms from the first to the third floor. Stuttgart, June 2020 Reprint free of charge / File copy requested 1 A further building has been added to Tübingen's Landratsamt in the idyllic surroundings close to the Mühlbach river. Photo: Roland Halbe 2 Functioning as aesthetic sound dampeners in Absorption Class A (the top category) and as a directed atmospheric light source above the conference tables, it is this dual effectiveness that makes the Lighting Pad so unique and that convinced the architects they had made the right choice. Photo: Roland Halbe 3 In terms of colour, the Pads pick up on the nuances of the surroundings, and their natural shades of Soft Moss, Vineyard and Nightfall reflect the vegetation of the surrounding meadows and living roof on top of the building. Photo: Roland Halbe 4 Functioning as aesthetic sound dampeners in Absorption Class A (the top category) and as a directed atmospheric light source above the conference tables, it is this dual effectiveness that makes the Lighting Pad so unique and that convinced the architects they had made the right choice. Photo: Roland Halbe 5 In terms of colour, the Pads pick up on the nuances of the surroundings, and their natural shades of Soft Moss, Vineyard and Nightfall reflect the vegetation of the surrounding meadows and living roof on top of the building. Photo: Roland Halbe About Nimbus Group With its Nimbus Lighting and Rossoacoustic brands, the Nimbus Group belongs to the Häfele Group under the management of Sibylle Thierer, Jörg Schmid and Dietrich F. Brennenstuhl. The Nimbus Group's focus is on design innovation, room and furniture lighting, and integrated light-acoustics solutions. The Nimbus Group is located in Stuttgart and employs a staff of 111. www.nimbus-group.com About Häfele Häfele is an internationally operating company headquartered in Nagold, Germany. The family firm was founded in 1923 and today provides furniture fittings, architectural hardware, electronic access control systems and LED light to the furniture industry, architects, planners, carpenters, cabinet makers and dealers in over 150 countries around the world. Häfele develops and manufactures in Germany and Hungary. With its 8,100 employees,38 subsidiaries and numerous dealerships, the Häfele Group achieved a turnover of 1.5 billion euros worldwide in fiscal year 2019 with exports accounting for 80% of sales. https://www.haefele.de Reprint free of charge / File copy requested June 2020