Environmentally-friendly concept
A special environmentally-friendly management system was developed for the building. This means, on the one hand, that it fulfils all the requirements for the best possible level of energy efficiency and sustainability and, on the other, that the most advanced technology has been provided in all rooms (including Wi-Fi).
Each hotel room has been named after a native species of tree or bush, some of them less well-known than the more exotic varieties. The interior decoration has been used to illustrate details of the species which the room has been named after. Through the integration of natural materials, environmentally-friendly fixtures and fittings and the most advanced technology, the rooms provide a healthy atmosphere without any reduction in comfort. Smoking is not allowed in any of the rooms.
Multifunctional mix of use
This contemporary multifunctional building on the “Elbinsel” was judged an “Excellence project” at Hamburg’s International Building Exhibition and is unique in its mixture of uses. The owner and operating company, the Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald, Landesverband Hamburg e.V. (Association for the Protection of German forests, regional association for Hamburg), has its headquarters here and runs its environmental education programme in the building through both a permanent exhibition “Science Centre Wald” and the “Forest Forum”, with four conference rooms for up to 300 persons. On the ground floor, you can find the “Wilhelms” restaurant with its selection of fresh regional dishes. The building provides a very impressive demonstration of the interrelationship of forest, environment and sustainability.
Highly unusual wooden construction
On account of the different uses of the individual floors and the consequent differences in requirements in terms of building legislation, two different methods of construction have been used. The first two floors were built using reinforced concrete, and the upper three floors in solid wood construction from certified spruce wood. 80% of this wood was sourced from Germany and Austria, and 20% from Finland.
The wooden facade of the WÄLDERHAUS has been made from the European larch (certified origin - Siegerland and Sauerland). This untreated wood cladding provides a habitat for plants, as well as resting, feeding and nesting places for numerous small creatures, and the same applies to the roof and the exterior surfaces.
Only by pre-empting the new European dimensioning rules (Eurocodes) for fire prevention was it possible to cover a five-storey building with a flammable wooden facade, and to build the upper three floors in solid wood construction – a first in the history of contemporary wooden construction.
The hotel has received awards for its exemplary fire prevention concept.
