What are your strategies and goals for the future?
The Swiss Bike Park Oberried is unique in Switzerland
for many reason. As an attractive meeting and
prevention centre for the entire population, it acts
as a beacon project as well as a tourist magnet and
combines the needs of elite, popular and disabled
sports. Innovative and digital, the Swiss Bike
Park is the perfect symbiosis of active leisure and
technology.
The idea of a bike park for cycling fans developed into
the vision of a unifying social project for the whole
of Switzerland, and the park is available to everyone
free of charge for training. Both competitive athletes
and recreational cyclists benefit from it, whereby
the focus is always on “learning and experiencing”.
As a training and experience platform, the park also
offers a wide range of courses and services.
We know that this unique project was planned,
developed and realized over 18 years. We also
know that the Clubhouse was built with the latest
Minergie-A standard. Could you describe the main
strategies that guided the design of the park in
terms of technologies and materials used?
Sustainability was and is very important to us: when
building the park, we chose regional materials, for
example wood from Switzerland, built a rainwater
retention system for washing the bikes, and installed
a 75 kWh photovoltaic system on the roof of the
clubhouse and the bike shed.
There are various places in the park that provide
a habitat for animals, like dry stone walls (for
amphibians, frogs) and woodpiles (nesting places
for birds, etc.)
The building also sets new standards in terms of
innovation and technology, with an intelligent heat
exchanger heating system and the building meeting
the latest Minergie-A standards.
Finally, the digitalisation of the park facilities
(A-Sport) in our park has also been implemented at
the highest level.
We are an outdoor lighting company and we promote
the culture of light as a tool for creating wellbeing.
We believe that even through light we can make a
place accessible, safe and comfortable and that we
can illuminate how and where needed, saving energy
and avoiding disturbing effects for the human vision
and the environment. We are very happy to have
been involved in this project because it represents a
special and innovative concept.
You have chosen to light up the space with great
care and attention. Have these choices had a
positive impact on your activities? Do you think that
the lighting project has contributed to making this
place even more attractive?
It is extremely important to us that our employees
and guests, children, young people, senior citizens,
top athletes and people with disabilities, feel at
home here. Even during the planning phase, great
importance was attached to creating a pleasant
atmosphere. In one of the most modern bicycle
workshops in Switzerland, the combination of large
windows and perfect lighting sets new standards
and the lighting in the entire catering area also
creates a sense of well-being for all our guests. We
organise almost 200 events a year, which is why
we rely on flexible lighting elements (from event
lighting and product presentations to gala dinners
under dimmed lighting), and great importance was
also given to comfort and brightness outside the
company building thanks to the uniform exterior
lighting concept. The entire area, from the car park
to the farmhouse and clubhouse, is optimally lit,
which also benefits safety and, not least, prevents
accidents.
S.H.
S.H.
S.H.
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