The RESI office building, conceived as a net-zero building, has received the Bavarian Energy Award 2026 in the “Building as an Energy System / Property Concept” category on the Lagarde campus in Bamberg. The award was presented to Alpha IC GmbH and Hölzlein Ingenieure GmbH. It recognises projects that systemically connect energy generation, storage, and consumption, thereby contributing to the energy transition.
Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs, Hubert Aiwanger, noted that the energy award stands for bold ideas, technological excellence, and practical solutions. The award comes at a time when the real estate industry is increasingly challenged to significantly reduce energy consumption, operating costs, and CO2 emissions in the building sector. RESI serves as an example of an office building that functions as an integral part of an energy system and is optimised during ongoing operation.
The three-storey new build of RESI was designed from the outset with a stringent systemic approach. Architecture, building physics, user behaviour, and energy supply were all considered holistically from the start. A key feature of the building is the absence of a static heating and cooling installation. Instead, thermal storage mass, shading devices, night ventilation, an in-roof photovoltaic system with battery storage, and data-driven operational optimisation are used as interconnected components to form a coordinated overall system.
The primary goal was to minimise energy demand through integral planning and building design, and to provide the required energy with a high degree of self-sufficiency. Sebastian Hölzlein, developer and managing partner of Alpha IC GmbH, explained that the concept of RESI aims to generate more energy over the entire year than is consumed in operation. This demonstrates the principle of a building as an active energy system, where generation, storage, and consumption are in close interaction.
Christian Hölzlein, Managing Director of Hölzlein Ingenieure GmbH, which was responsible for the technical building equipment, emphasised that the building's energy performance was ensured through comprehensive simulations during the planning phase and their continuous verification during integral planning. Currently, RESI's operation is accompanied by systematic monitoring and continuous operational optimisation. In this way, assumptions can be checked, interactions identified, and the building's actual performance transparently evaluated.
Buildings contribute significantly to energy consumption and CO2 emissions, but at the same time offer substantial potential for reducing resource consumption and emissions. The Bavarian Energy Award recognises projects that develop innovative and transferable solutions for a sustainable energy supply. RESI represents a model project that demonstrates how sustainability goals, user comfort, economic viability, and a future-proof energy concept can be successfully combined. Sebastian Hölzlein added that sustainable buildings are not finished with their planning; what is crucial is whether the concept is also stable in operation. The project serves as a learning object, whose findings are to be standardised and transferred to further projects. The award further underscores the relevance of integrated planning and operational approaches for a comprehensive transformation of the building sector.
