Weather-proof for the weather experts

Is the strawberry harvest at risk of frost in Italy? Do the apples in Croatia need more water? Is the coffee plantation in Brazil threatened by a fungi infestation? The answer to these questions comes from Weiz in the Austrian state of Styria! A small, almost inconspicuous company has quietly worked its way up to become a global weather and agriculture expert. Pessl Instruments  uses its Metos® products to supply landowners and research stations all over the world with important details all about the climate, precipitation, pests & co. Perhaps that is why it was so important to the high-tech company that the façade of its new office building also defies all kinds of weather: the two-storey timber construction was coated with Pullex Silverwood by ADLER. The robust larch wood thus already appears at this stage in an elegant and weathered-looking shade of grey and will be preserved for many years from the negative effects of sun, rain and snow. 

Making wood visible 
“The idea at the start was a melamine resin façade,” outlines the builder, DI Franz Hausleitner, who created the airy add-on structure with his “plan workshop”: “But then we wanted to make the timber construction much more visible.” The planner did not opt for this construction method for nothing: “The dry construction with wood is ecological, sustainable and saves on costs and time,” he says enthusiastically. Want an example? The shell construction started on a Monday, by the following Thursday it was already finished! For the extension, the company  Lieb Bau Weiz more or less put plywood boards over the existing, (too) small Pessl building. The new cube now practically envelops the old building. The protruding steel-glass stairwell with the horizontal shading slats forms an interesting contrast to the lengthways slatted larch façade. Thanks to the silver grey colour, the Pessl building always gleams at its best during the day in bright sunshine and also at night due to the energy-saving LED lighting (as is also used throughout the building, incidentally). The bright, airy timber construction provides a pleasant indoor climate. What would weather experts say to that? The ideal conditions for healthy growth!