The Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich is one of the city's most venerable venues and is considered one of Europe's most beautiful rococo theatres. It was built as a residence theatre from 1751 to 1753 according to the plans of the Elector's court architect, François Cuvilliés. The theatre experienced ups and downs in the following centuries. In 1781, Mozart conducted the world premiere of his opera, Idomeneo. In 1818, the theatre had to close down for financial reasons, however, it re-opened in 1857. In March 1944 the theatre was destroyed during a bombing, but luckily, the precious historical interior had been removed and safely stored.
In 1958 the theatre was re-built in a war-torn wing of the adjacent residence castle, under the name of its builder Cuvilliés. Due to an extensive need for renovation and an improved energy balance, the last curtain fell again in 2004. The theatre re-opened in June 2008 after a four year renovation period which included the installation of new technology from Dortmund's pump expert Wilo SE.
An economic and energy-saving concept for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning was installed which implemented the desired energy efficiency but also increased the comfort for visitors. The building is heated and hot water is generated by means of district heating. Heat supply to the different parts of the building is mainly ensured by energy-efficient fan coils and radiant floor heating systems. In addition, the heat circuits of the floor heating for the foyers are connected with the cold circuits so that they can be used as floor cooling systems during the summer months. In the event of a colder outdoor temperature, a free cooling utilises the ambient air for cold generation. All technical equipment in the building is linked to a building automation system which also allows for a demand-oriented and economical operation due to central control and monitoring of the individual systems and system components.
The most important component in the energy-efficient operation of the theatre is the pump technology applied in building services. Almost all heat and cold circuits are operated with high-efficiency pumps from the Wilo-Stratos and Wilo-Stratos ECO series. These are electronically controlled glandless pumps with maintenance-free frequency converters and permanent magnet rotors. They are based on electronically commutated motors (ECM) and double the efficiency compared to electronically controlled pumps with conventional drives. ECM technology is the latest variant of the DC motor which is characterised by particularly high energy efficiency. Due to the automatic adjustment of the pump's output to the alternating operating states, the saving potential compared to uncontrolled standard pumps is above 80%. Thanks to the pump technology, operating costs in the Cuvilliés Theatre are considerably lower than when using uncontrolled pumps.
The pumps in the Cuvilliés Theatre are equipped with IF-Modules. These modules are adjusted to the requirements of the respective building management system and are simply plugged into the pump's interface. The remote setpoint adjustment of the pumps is realised via a 0-10 V interface. Thus the connected pumps contribute to a controlled operation of the theatre which is always adjusted to the respective requirements.
Moreover the bus technology facilitates the fault diagnosis and the co-ordination of repair orders. For example, the pumps can transfer all electrical, mechanical, thermal and hydraulic pump data like pressure, flow quantity, power consumption and the number of operating hours but also the different fault states via data protocols to the control room. In the event of a fault or a breakdown of a pump, immediate reaction is possible.
The energy-efficient building services of the Cuvilliés Theatre help to considerably reduce the operating costs. In conjunction with bus technology the energy-saving pump technology can be monitored and controlled according to the needs at any time. So a reliable and quasi energy-saving operation of the system technology is guaranteed.
