Piston’s Centro

A sustainable working landscape with a feel-good character

With the new “Piston Centro”, the Piston Group has invested in a sustainable future in the Winterrot industrial estate in Karlsruhe’s Palmbach district. The photovoltaic system, charging stations for e-bikes and e-cars for employees, the use of process heat and state-of-the-art cooling technology in the production area all contribute to this. The building is constructed to energy efficiency level 55. On three floors, a pro-duction area for fresh produce with a showroom, an event and training area as well as a company apartment and administrative rooms have been created according to plans by Felten Talbot Architekten from Ettlingen.

Builder: Piston Holding GmbH, Palmbach
Occupant: Piston Holding GmbH, Palmbach
Planning: feco, feltentalbotarchitekten GmbH, Wenz + Adam GmbH + Co KG
Completion: 2022
City: Karlsruhe
Sector: Economy
Partition walls: fecoplan , fecodoor glass , fecophon fabric
Office furniture: Acoustic, Cafeteria, Workplaces
Photos: Nikolay Kazakov
Brands: feco , Brunner, Lapalma, Muuto, Ophelis, Vitra

feco developed an interior design concept for the administrative floor together with the Piston management, with participation also by the employees and the architect. The office landscape is ideally suited to work processes within the company, and in its spatial effect alternates between openness and withdrawal. With the feco partition wall system, a play between transparency, interruption and optimal acoustics has been created. By positioning glass sound screens in combination with sound-absorbing fecophon absorbers, doors have been deliberately dispensed with in the interest of openness and transparency. A writeable white board area supports agile working methods. Thanks to the fecoplan all-glass construction, the view of the nearby Black Forest is visible right into the access area and is reflected there in the colour concept as well as in the interior design. The interior Duo Studio, used for concentrated collaborative work, for example contains a forest impression as a large-format wall motif. All twenty-three ergonomic workstations are equipped with electromotive tables from Ophelis and functional work chairs from Vitra.

The concept paid special attention to the selection of natural colours and sustainable materials. Fabric-covered fecophon acoustic elements are designed in cheerful yel-low, and the rooms are decorated with acoustically-effective moss pictures. Em-ployees could choose the Vitra clocks in the rooms themselves. Spaces for focused work, teamwork and developing ideas together are available, as are workplaces for discussions with colleagues, customers, suppliers and service providers. A Work-Café offers space for conversations, taking a break and gathering new energy.

feco has created spaces for the continued success of the Piston Group, which in addition to the Piston’s Edeka stores also includes Göpi GmbH with two organic food stores and the Zoo & Co Baden Group with twelve pet stores and a total of over 400 employees. The result is a work environment with a feel-good character that reflects the value-oriented character of the Piston family business.