Atelier Martin Auer

Sustainable baking - New Martin Auer Bakery Workshop in Graz, featuring WICONA façades made from recycled aluminium

Over the past year, the new headquarters of the traditional Martin Auer Bakery have been constructed in accordance with plans drawn up by architectural firm j-c-k, which is also based locally. The innovative "workshop", showcasing spacious and transparent architecture, offers sufficient space for everything that sets this craft bakery apart. The client placed particular value on the sustainability of the new construction – in this regard, the post & beam façade from WICONA, made from recycled aluminium, was particularly impressive and made a significant contribution to reducing the environmental footprint.

A traditional company on track for further growth

This traditional bakery is managed by Martin Auer and his wife Barbara, representing the third generation to manage the family company. At present, the company employs 400 members of staff and runs 28 branches in Austria. The company's original head office was on Dietrichsteinplatz in the historic centre of Graz, and bread was baked here for more than 675 years, but when these facilities reached their limits, the Auer family decided to make the move to a new building on the outskirts of the inner city. As the new company headquarters, the "Atelier Martin Auer" houses an ultra-modern, fully visible bakery spanning an area of 6,500 m², a flagship store with a spacious café, a flour mill, a coffee roasting house, bright and welcoming office rooms, and a staff training academy. Martin Auer explains: "We decided to refer to our headquarters as a workshop because it is a workplace for creatives. And for us the term also indicates a willingness to continually reconsider how we can do things even better."

Sustainable building concept and façade solution made from recycled aluminium

The innovative building and energy concept for the new headquarters is also groundbreaking. In order to construct the building in line with climate objectives and to reduce CO₂ emissions, a photovoltaic system was planned for the roof. Waste heat from the ovens and cooling systems is used to heat the building by using a comprehensive heat recovery system – as a result, almost the entire annual heating energy requirement for the building is covered. The high climate protection standards are also evident in the façade design.

The post & beam façade selected, along with the window and door systems, were made from WICONA's sustainable Hydro CIRCAL aluminium alloy. This material consists of at least 75% end-of-life aluminium – i.e. scrap aluminium. The energy required to produce the alloy is only 5% of that required for primary aluminium – with the same high level of quality. Jörg Meiche, Sales Director for Hydro Building Systems Austria, explains: "With 2.3 kg CO₂ per kg of aluminium, Hydro CIRCAL has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world. This is 4.5 times less than the global average for primary aluminium. As such, our façade solution makes a significant contribution to optimising the environmental footprint."

Transparent and energy-efficient façade architecture

Because an open and transparent architecture was desired for the building, the tried and tested WICTEC 50 post & beam façade was identified as the ideal solution. This has a slim visible width of just 50 mm both inside and outside. For example, to temporarily open out the café area and allow daylight and fresh air into the premises, the façade elements were combined with the WICSLIDE 160 lift & slide system. This enables the creation of large, transparent surfaces, or large leaf dimensions with clear lines, and - as with the entire façade - it is characterised by excellent heat insulation with U_w of less than 1.0 W/(m²K). In terms of additional building openings, the transparent and aesthetic façade appearance is rounded off by the WICLINE 75 evo door system.