Success Story: Building Authority of St. Gallen - Project Waldau

The State Archive is the central knowledge repository of the Canton of St. Gallen. As part of a change of use and expansion of the existing facility, a sustainable, future-proof building with around 7,860 m² of total floor space is being created.

Challenges

In the preliminary project phase, an innovative design for the existing building was on the table – but central questions remained open for the building owner and the general planner:

• Will the set project goals actually be achieved? Emissions, comfort and energy efficiency had to be analyzed soundly and quickly
• Ensure requirements for SNBS building construction, Gold level: above all, greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energy must not exceed limit values
• Identify and minimize risks early – before expensive adjustments become necessary

Solution

Richter Tobler Architekt*innen, as general planner, uploaded the 3D model into the vyzn platform and added project-specific materials, components and building services directly in the software.

The vyzn software automatically delivered results in four areas:

When geometric adjustments were made to the design, Richter Tobler Architekt*innen re-imported the updated building model into vyzn via the replay function – the effects of the changes were immediately visible. After a few iterations, the specialist planners for sustainability and building physics quality-assured the results.

Results

• 6 digital building models (IFC format) evaluated with vyzn's AI
• Several variants compared holistically → targeted project adjustments made
• Deep dive into three optimized variants: (1) base variant, (2) variant with improved insulation and solar-control glazing in the roof window, and (3) variant with improved insulation
• The results of the analyses show that variant 2 performs best and also fulfills the proof of summer thermal protection
• Results are directly usable for SNBS certification
• Automatic calculation of component areas according to eBKP-H. The module for early cost estimates that builds on this is currently in development at vyzn and was not yet in use in this project.

Why it worked

The decisive technological factor: Deep Model Processing (DMP) – vyzn's core technology for the automatic interpretation of 3D building models. Because model data is thereby seamlessly processed and enriched, results are available quickly. This allows project managers to regularly analyze the project status and intervene in time – instead of at the end of the preliminary project or during the construction project, when planning changes are too expensive.