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

The Staatsarchiv St. Gallen is the central knowledge hub of the Canton of St. Gallen. As part of a conversion and expansion of the existing facility, a sustainable, future-proof building with approximately 7,860 m² of total floor area is being created.

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Challenges

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During the pre-design phase, an innovative concept for the existing building was on the table – but key questions remained open for the client and the general planner:

• Will the defined project goals actually be achieved? Emissions, comfort and energy efficiency needed to be analysed thoroughly and quickly.
• Ensuring compliance with SNBS Building, Gold level: greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energy must not exceed defined limits.
• Identifying and minimising risks early – before costly adjustments become necessary.

Solution

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

The vyzn software automatically delivered results across four areas:

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When geometric changes were made to the design, Richter Tobler Architekt*innen re-imported the updated building model into vyzn using the Replay function – the impact of the changes was immediately visible. After several iterations, the specialists in sustainability and building physics quality-assured the results.

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Results

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• 6 digital building models (IFC format) evaluated with vyzn's AI
• Multiple variants compared holistically → targeted project adjustments made
• Deep dive into three optimised variants: (1) base variant, (2) variant with improved insulation and solar control glazing in the skylight, and (3) variant with improved insulation
• Results show that variant 2 performs best and also meets the summer thermal comfort verification
• Results are directly usable for SNBS certification
• Automatic calculation of building component areas according to eBKP-H. The module for early cost estimation built on this is currently in development at vyzn and was not yet used in this project.

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Why it worked

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"Open collaboration between the client, general planner and vyzn was key – all parties actively embraced innovative approaches."

– Ralph Hagen, Head of Department, Building Authority St. Gallen

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The decisive technological factor: Deep Model Processing (DMP) – vyzn's core technology for the automatic interpretation of 3D building models. Because model data is seamlessly processed and enriched, results are available quickly. Project managers can regularly analyse the project status and intervene in time – rather than at the end of the pre-design phase or during the construction project, when planning changes are too costly.