The Hanomag building in Hanover is a structure steeped in history that was extensively modernized this year. The building was constructed in the 1920s and has seen many changes since then. In recent years, it has been converted into a modern business loft complex suitable for companies in any industry. For the redesign of the Hanomag building, we developed a lighting concept that combines the historic charm of the building with modern lighting technologies. Our goal was to preserve the character of the building while creating a pleasant and productive working environment.
The lighting concept is understood as a minimally invasive intervention in the historic substance. To protect the existing building from deeper intervention, luminaires are mostly introduced into the existing building only as additive elements, and existing connections were used as much as possible. The luminaires are set off from the existing building in order to set the scene for it in turn.
The basic lighting consists of a suspended linear luminaire that follows the floor plan. The linear luminaire has a visible direct component that, on the one hand, leads through the building and, on the other, provides the necessary basic brightness. In order to focus on the vaulted corridors that create the building’s identity, the suspended linear luminaire also includes a continuous indirect component that vividly highlights the vaulted formations.
The continuous line luminaire lends a special dynamic to the building and is finished in a dark gray. The gray is echoed in all metallic objects in the building, such as the door frames, so that they form a modern unit in the historical context.
The light-flooded atriums in both wings of the building are illuminated by ring lights in the evening. They can be seen as a quotation of the light lines. Spherical luminaires are used as lighting accents. These can be found on the stairwell obelisks or in the form of light art in the airspace above the stairwell.
To round off the concept, the entrance was planned with strut-integrated luminaires. By means of invisible light sources, a light space is created that allows the concept of the interior to appear from the outside.