It's Bremen's highest office building and offers a gorgeous view of the old town and the historic harbor: the Weser Tower. Roughly 800 modern workstations are housed there, all equipped with communicative task luminaries from Waldmann.

Architectural Landmark
World-renowned architect Helmut Jahn from the Murphy/Jahn architectural office in Chicago designed the 269-foot glass skyscraper located on the Weser shore, which has already been labeled as the Hanseatic city's new landmark. It was completed in the spring of 2010 and is part of Bremen's "Überseestadt" district city development project which is currently flourishing on the site of the former Weser train station.
At night, the 22-story office building is impressively illuminated by the Parisian artist Yann Kersalé's artistic light installation. The 800 employees have use of a total of 193,750 square feet of space. The main tenants are technology and communications subsidiaries of the EWE AG electric utility, including BTC AG, BREKOM, EWE TEL, nordcom, and the hmmh multimediahaus AG.

Planned Sustainability
Considering that ecological optimization was a main focus for architect Helmut Jahn, the high-rise was the perfect branch location for a modern electric utility like EWE.
Despite its glass exterior, the building doesn't need an air conditioning system. Temperature and fresh air supply are regulated using a modern ventilation system. In the summer months, flexible sun filters prevent heat from penetrating the building. The natural heat of the sun is captured by the panes in the winter. Additional heat or pleasant coolness is generated using geothermal energy. In the winter, a heat exchanger in the ground extracts heat, which is then channeled into the building. Conversely, the relative coolness underground is used to cool the high-rise during the summer.

Flexible Office Worlds
The construction is characterized by its innovative and technology-oriented design. At the same time, the ceiling-height glass facades give the skyscraper a dynamic, open feel. A highly flexible layout on the individual levels supports this dynamic. The adaptable usability is demonstrated by the varied distribution of the floors: the modern workstations take shape in manifold ways, from open-plan offices, to single or group offices of various sizes.
A high degree of lighting flexibility was required for this situation. It had to be not only variable in terms of the location, but also concerning its integration options. Although the glass facades and grey exposed concrete walls and carpets lend all the office spaces a unified setting, each tenant's furnishings are individual. It therefore had to be possible to integrate the luminaires into the diverse decors: from traditional and more conservative settings to creative working environments. That's why timeless design and materials were chosen to optimally blend into the skyscraper's diverse office environments: ATARO by Waldmann.

High Energy-Saving Potential
The architecture allows for optimal utilization of daylight with its overall glass design. The high level of efficiency associated with this made the ATARO free-standing and desk-mounted luminaires even more convincing. Comparative measurements proved that considerable potential savings are possible when only areas that really need lighting are lit, and only when needed, as opposed to ceiling-integrated general lighting.
All ATARO luminaires in the Weser Tower are equipped to be connected to a KNX building management system. Accordingly, further energy-saving potential can be achieved if status information is exchanged between the separate heating, climate control, ventilation, and lighting solutions. User comfort also increases, if, for example, a presence sensor in the luminaire automatically activates the air conditioning system.
The luminaire sensor system makes sure that light is only switched on when needed. Firstly, the passive infrared sensor system (PIR) detects presence so that when a workstation is unattended, the light automatically switches off after a delay so that no unnecessary energy is used. The Waldmann PULSE PIR light management system's motion sensor takes a thermal image to this end. The coverage area can be individually adjusted thanks to the ball shank. Secondly, a light monitor regulates the luminous intensity independently of incident daylight when someone is present. If there is enough natural light, the artificial light shuts off completely. This results in enormous energy-saving potential for the light-flooded offices in the Weser Tower.

Long Life and User Comfort
The sensors reduce the operating time of the compact fluorescent lamps, increasing their lifetime accordingly and offering yet another economic advantage. The high-quality materials also contribute to the long life of the luminaires.
Aside from their energy-saving potential during use, the ATARO luminaires distinguish themselves through a high level of user comfort. With the AMBIO glare-free technology developed by Waldmann, there is no direct glare and, most importantly, no reflection on monitors. Disturbing shadows are also prevented.
The luminaires are easy to switch on or off by hand from both a sitting and a standing position. The dimmer function allows for simple illuminance adjustment for individual lighting needs. This can vary strongly, especially as people grow older. For example, a 60 year old employee can need twice as much light as his 20 year old colleague.