La Poste du Louvre, Paris ★ FR

When the most famous post office in Paris, La Poste du Louvre, opened in the heart of the French capital in 1888, it attracted huge attention thanks to its unique architecture and state-of-the-art technical equipment. In 2012 Poste Immo decided to thoroughly modernize this giant of a building, which had become a little tired. The architectural office of Dominique Perrault won the tender for revitalizing the building, with a spectacular design including a five-star hotel with a panoramic roof bar, stores, offices, apartments, a daycare center and a post office spread over 32,000 square meters. However, the clients did not just want an architectural reinterpretation of La Poste du Louvre – they also wanted the building’s technology and services to be the most modern and forward-looking of their era, just like when the building first opened in 1888. The task of creating a masterpiece of building management technology went to the automation experts Kieback&Peter’s Paris office.

Maximum Performance for a Completely Unique Building

Integrated by Kieback&Peter, the new building automation for La Poste du Louvre controls all its building services components. — Since 2022, La Poste du Louvre is once again as forward-thinking as it was when it first opened back in 1888 – thanks to a unique architectural redesign and pioneering building automation from Kieback&Peter. ǀ © Kieback&Peter

When it was built, the new post office on Rue de Louvre was intended to be aesthetic, functional and forward-thinking. Upon its opening on Bastille Day in 1888, its spectacular architecture, which was thoroughly tailored to the functions required of the building, was enthusiastically received – even back then, “design followed function”. More than 120 years later, the plan was to fully revitalize and convert the building. Poste Immo wanted nothing less than a consistent continuation of the building’s character – in terms of both its design and its technical features. This is where Kieback&Peter’s Paris office got involved: with their reputation as specialists in complex plant engineering challenges, Lucien River and his team were given the task of planning and establishing a building automation system that would live up to the legendary reputation of its predecessors. A project that demanded maximum performance.

Automation for Heating, Ventilation, Cooling and Lighting

Plans were drawn up to equip the 32,000 square meters of floor space, spread over three upper floors and two basement levels, with premium-class building technology. Kieback&Peter had the task of establishing a centrally controlled automation solution for all the heating, ventilation, cooling and lighting systems in the building. One aim was to ensure that all the energy consumers operate in the most efficient and environmentally friendly way possible and to prevent any unnecessary consumption in the first place.

50,000 Physical Data Points – A Huge Undertaking

Kieback&Peter also digitally networked all the office spaces throughout La Poste du Louvre. — Offices covering an area of around 14,400 square meters are spread over the three floors. Presence detectors integrated by Kieback&Peter ensure that the lighting is switched off automatically when no one is occupying them. ǀ © Kieback&Peter

With passion and concentrated excellence, Kieback&Peter’s team of French experts developed an automation solution that provided absolutely everything the customer desired. That included digitally networking the local heating and cooling transfer stations and around 500 heating and cooling meters for the different areas of the building via MODBUS/BACnet using their high-performance DDC4000 controllers. The team integrated more than 50,000 physical data points in the building in total, with data points for actuators such as fans, sensors for measuring the temperature and more. The system ensures that the desired temperature and air quality in each area of the building is reliably maintained.

If No One Is in the Office, the Lights Switch off – Automatically

The lighting in the building is also integrated into the building automation. One of the technicians’ solutions to ensure no energy is unnecessarily lost was to fit presence sensors in the offices. These sensors detect when no one is in the room and automatically switch the lights off. Typically of Kieback&Peter, all the integrated systems in the large-scale project were seamlessly up and running in good time by the scheduled handover date in 2022.

The automation solution they created was everything the client had hoped for.

Prestigious Awards Were Quick to Follow

It was no surprise that the new La Poste du Louvre began to rack up prestigious awards for sustainable construction promptly after its opening, receiving the certificates NF-HQE Renovation, Excellent Level, LEED Core & Shell, Gold Level, BREEAM, Very Good Level, as well as the labels Patrimoine Habitat, Environnement pour les logements and Effinergie Rénovation, for the project as a whole.

The five-star “Madame Rêve” hotel is located on the top floor of La Poste du Louvre. — The top floor and roof of La Poste du Louvre is home to the new five-star hotel “Madame Rêve”, with a garden and terrace at the top. © Kieback&Peter

La Poste du Louvre, Paris – technology at a glance:

Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting integrated in a single system
Real-time monitoring using the Neutrino BMS building management software
Global standard BACnet used for communication at the management and automation levels
10 information centers with 29 DDC4200 automation stations
812 room controllers, 208 light controllers and 24 sunblind controllers provide integral room automation
50,000 physical data points
500 consumption meters for heating and cooling