The Loxone Campus opens its doors

Martin Öller, co-owner and co-founder of Loxone, was pleased to welcome around 600 invited guests to the opening event of the Loxone Campus: “It has been an impressive journey from the idea to the realisation of the Loxone Campus. Our goal was to build a Campus that meets Loxone’s requirements and ambitions to become the global market leader in smart building automation. In doing so, we integrated Loxone’s diverse needs so that together they add up to more than the mere sum of their parts. More than once on this journey, we have heard that what we are trying to do is ‘impossible’. Such statements have only motivated us to intensify our efforts.” Thomas Moser, also co-owner and co-founder of Loxone, explains, “We have questioned and rethought all aspects of the Campus to find optimal solutions, far from any standard implementations. In doing so, we have also redefined the boundaries of intelligent building automation.”

The Loxone Campus grew into a building complex where all possibilities of intelligent building automation can be experienced by constructors, investors, planners, architects and anyone else who is interested. In addition to the comfort and safety elements, the Campus also demonstrates how intelligent control can save energy compared to conventional buildings. For Loxone, however, the building is more than just a structure with smart features. It’s a place of inspiration and innovation. The Loxone Campus is also available to external companies and visitors, whether for events and seminars, or simply for an overnight stay in the hotel, including the wellness area and a visit to the restaurant.

Surrounded by hills, the Campus seamlessly blends into the surrounding countryside. This remarkable design was created by Marcel Amrhein, architect of ARKFORM. “The design of the Campus focuses on the surroundings. It was important to us to create a building that grows out of and flows back into the landscape. To unite the most diverse subject areas such as seminar, hotel, hospitality, office, auditorium and experience zone under one roof and yet also to spatially separate them again was a special and unique challenge in the planning process as an architect.”

Snapshots from the Loxone Campus opening event

A beacon of light for Upper Austria

The opening of the Loxone Campus will greatly benefit other businesses in Upper Austria. “Loxone shows how innovative power and vision can lead to impressive results,” said Martin Kocher, Austria’s Minister of Labour and Economic Affairs. “This Campus is a strong signal for Austria as a business location and sets positive impulses for our economy.”

Thomas Stelzer, Governor of Upper Austria, added: “The Loxone Campus is not only a flagship for innovative technology, but also a milestone for tourism in Upper Austria. A place that inspires and will impress visitors from all over the world.”

Rüdiger Keinberger, CEO of Loxone commented: “For us, the Campus stands under the overriding theme “Enjoy Inspiration”. With this, we would like to arouse enthusiasm for the brand and for our products. But also the hospitality with the concept of Glorious Bastards, the hotel and the seminar centre serve this inspiration. And of course we are proud to offer our dedicated employees the ‘Best workplace for performers’. The Campus combines state-of-the-art building automation with the natural beauty of the Mühlviertel, creating a harmonious balance between technology, nature and inspiring atmosphere. This promotes not only productivity, but also creativity and well-being of our employees.”

The vision becomes reality

Guests arriving to the opening event were greeted in the heart of the new building: the auditorium. Inspired by the semi-circular, sophisticated shape of Italian marketplaces, it offers a breathtaking backdrop with views of the beautiful landscape in the Mühlviertel region. The remarkable architecture matches the outstanding acoustics provided by the excellent sound quality of quadral’s in-house speaker range. “From the very beginning, it was clear to me that our Campus had to have such a multifunctional space,” says Martin Öller. “Because this creates openness and liveliness – two important keys for inspiration.”

The Campus was created with Loxone’s commitment and vision in mind. The mission to become the world market leader for intelligent building automation requires strong Partners, and Loxone has always pursued a direct sales approach. As Loxone grew with its Partners, it soon became clear a larger seminar venue was needed. The idea of a combined seminar, hotel and catering complex was born – the seed of what has now grown into the Loxone Campus. The evolving needs of a prospering company developed the Campus as time went on.

Automation of the Loxone Campus Hotel

The hotel offers an extensive experience for its guests. The minimalistic architecture of concrete, metal and wood creates a peaceful ambience. The Loxone building automation system in charge of the hotel is, as always, very discreet. It autonomously operates in the background to create a welcoming atmosphere for hotel guests through the likes of mood lighting, pleasant room climate and a selection of music to choose from. The intuitive and simple operation of the Loxone system provides guests with a sense of comfort and relief due to its straightforward nature, and shows what convenient comfort can look like.
Concepts that the owners of Loxone were unable to find elsewhere became a reality in the hotel. A good example of this is the wide range of seminar rooms. These provide the ideal location for important meetings such as retreats or workshops for small groups, and include a private garden and catering.

The technology behind the Loxone Campus

Visitors can see innovation everywhere they look in the Campus. Thomas Moser says: “But as with the iceberg, most people only see – if at all – the visible 15%: the hardware. The real power of Loxone, the remaining 85%, lies in our software. Because we see ourselves first and foremost as a software company.”

For the users, this has a concrete benefit: Loxone solutions are developed based on practical experience and with the future in mind. This means Loxone can improve and support people’s lives by fulfilling their exact needs. For example, Loxone evolved their entire energy management system during the Campus’ construction period. The updated feature now optimises energy usage not only at the Campus but also in tens of thousands of other buildings where Loxone is installed. In fact, Loxone re-developed hundreds of software features during the construction of the Campus in order to map the building processes with maximum efficiency.

The overall result has impressed experts in the field. Erwin Soravia, CEO of Soravia Equity says: “The Loxone Campus impressed us very much because of its high level of innovation. In our view, Loxone has thus created a blueprint for working and living in the future.”
Here are two specific examples. When a workstation in the headquarters remains unoccupied, the lighting colour is dimmed from white to orange. This generic LED lighting feature saves 98% of the energy that would otherwise be required. Of course the ventilation, heating and other systems also adjust to the presence or absence of users automatically. Another example: In the catering area of the Campus, four different times of day have been identified when customised audio and lighting are required. This gradually transforms the atmosphere for guests from a relaxed morning mood to energetic tunes and matching light levels into the evening, keeping with the motto: work hard during the day, party hard into the night.

The Experience Zone

To refer to the iceberg as mentioned by Thomas earlier: the entire Campus is a living demonstration of what’s possible with Loxone technology. This, however, is only a small part of the story – “what’s visible above the water”. The Experience Zone allows visitors to see below the surface and discover how Loxone has evolved into what it is today. In this interactive space, the technology and the vision behind the Loxone building automation system comes together in harmony to turn endless possibilities into reality. Visitors can experience why Loxone stands as the pioneer in intelligent building automation, and learn about the people behind the scenes who make it possible. With this, the Loxone Campus offers a truly 360-degree experience and establishes itself as a central hub for discovery and innovation – the European epicentre for intelligent building automation.

Facts and figures about the Loxone Campus:

• Investment: € 70 million
• Area: 8 hectares (equivalent to approx. 11 football fields)
• Construction time: 2.5 years
• Green roof space: 78% of the total area
• Photovoltaic system: 600 kwP
• Electric vehicle chargers: 50 Loxone Wallboxes
• Energy savings: Significant difference compared to conventional buildings thanks to the Loxone intelligent building automation
• Seminar centre: More than 1,000 square metres in size including 9 well-lit, state-of-the-art seminar rooms and 2 seminar suites
• Panorama windows provide a seamless transition between the outside view and the modern interior
• Direct access to the spacious park that includes a seminar pavilion
• Auditorium: High-quality venue with 600 square metres of floor space that can hold up to 600 people – it also serves as part of the restaurant when not in use for events
• Hotel: 80 rooms, 2 suites and a 420 square metres wellness area
• Restaurant: The Glorious Bastards with 300 seats provides good food and a relaxing atmosphere
• Warehouse & logistics centre: 6,000 square metres
• Office capacity: 3,000 square metres with 300 workstations
• Greenery: More than 1,000 native woody plants and shrubs were planted, and more than 3,000 tons of boulders were salvaged and rearranged during construction