The Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany

The Autostadt is a visitor attraction in the area around the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany that features a museum, pavilions for each manufacturer in the Volkswagen Group, a cinema, and a customer center where customers can pick up their new car. As a communication platform of the Volkswagen Corporation, the Autostadt is more of a modern adventure park.

Since opening of the Autostadt in 2000, more than one million customers have taken delivery of their brand-new Volkswagen there.

Car Distribution Center
The centerpiece is the Car Distribution Center with its two glass-encased car towers, or silos - the landmark of the Autostadt - each rising 52 meters into the sky. Used as storage for new Volkswagens, the two towers are connected to the Volkswagen factory by a 700 meter underground tunnel.

Thomas Wlocka, project manager of Technical Event Management at Autostadt, who was also responsible for the lighting design, talks about the illumination of the two towers. “In the course of the installation of the passenger elevators in the towers, a lighting design for the car tower ‘Discovery’ had to be created that would enhance the technical elegance inside the towers. At the same time, the lighting of the towers for the annual winter event had to be adapted.

“The task was to create a lighting production equally effective, both for the visitors in the elevator and those outside in the park. For the exterior impression to occur as expected, identical implementation was required in both towers.”

By interconnecting the elevator control with moving head luminaires the lighting became flexible and dynamic.

Martin MAC 2000 Wash
Sixteen Martin MAC 2000 Wash luminaires are utilized per tower, eight in the basement and another eight on the highest story. The MAC 2000 Wash is an automated 1200 W moving head wash light with full color mixing capable of long throw projection. The luminaires in the basement can be moved, in order not to obstruct possible maintenance work. The luminaires on the highest story are mounted above steel gratings and shine downward through the gratings. Thus the lighting production for the winter event could be recreated. Thanks to a flexible control system linked to the elevator control, along with the rotational characteristic of the moving head luminaires, the various phases of the ride through the inside of the tower can be accentuated with different moods.

Mood 1:
During the ground floor stationary phase of the elevator, the MAC 2000 Washes shine directly into the interior of the vehicle boxes and re-establish the lighting production of the winter event.

Mood 2:
When the elevator is requested, the luminaires shine into the lower section of the tower, emphasizing the technology of the elevator without blinding the visitors in the elevator.

Mood 3:
After locking of the elevator doors, a mood sequence is started that runs controlled by time and movement. The luminaires accompany the upward trip by means of motion and color.

Mood 4:
During the upper stay of the elevator, the luminaires again illuminate the interior of the tower. It is worth noting that in this mood nothing restricts or obstructs the visitors’ panoramic view of the entire Autostadt.

Mood 5:
When the elevator is again requested, the moving heads turn towards the upper section of the tower, illuminating the elevator technology.

Mood 6:
After locking of the elevator doors, a time-controlled mood sequence is again started, embellishing the downward trip. After the arrival of the elevator on the ground floor, mood 1 is recalled.

The control commands for the various moods are accessed at the elevator’s switchgear cabinet, which is used to start the individual lighting sequences. The lighting production has been planned as a permanent installation. It is also interesting to note that the power consumption of the entire installation has decreased by one third in comparison to the original lighting.

Technical General Management: Dr. Claus Hohmann, CTO Autostadt GmbH
Project Management Tower Trip: Dr. Michal Bruna, IS/ITK Autostadt GmbH
Project Management and Lighting Design: Thomas Wlocka, TEM Autostadt GmbH
Technical Partner: Nordsound GbR, Oebisfelde, TSA GmbH
Images: Frommann, Bremen