Tanglewood Conservatories Blog – Alan Stein's Writings about Custom Conservatory Design and More

Friday has arrived and we are ready for the big day. Last night we ate dinner at the Munich Hoffbrau Haus (in Hamburg), just down the street from our hotel. We thought we wouldn’t get another chance to savor the wonderful sweet sauerkraut that had become our favorite in the south, so this was an unexpected and welcome last chance.

We arrived at the convention hotel about 2 hours before I was to speak, in time to listen to a presentation by architect Michael Schroder about the development and use of new technologies in glass and façade design. His firm, Schroder Architects from Bremen, specializes in the design of buildings that are almost completely energy neutral, in other words, need almost no outside heating and cooling to maintain the interior environment.

This is a subject that is very dear to me and it was quite clear that the Germans are far ahead of us here in America. One of the technologies they are developing is heat absorbing glass panels that absorb the solar heat during the day thereby keeping the interior of the building cool, and then releasing the heat into the building or into the atmosphere at night. I was very impressed. Michael mentioned that in fact, the energy efficiency certification standards in the US are only now where they were in Germany 7 years ago.

I addressed the group of conservatory manufacturers next and spoke of our work and the importance of design in building our brand. I showed lots of pictures of Tanglewood projects being built in our shop, erected on site and then completely finished. I showed examples of the intensive design process we use and talked about how we developed our unique approach.

Here I am speaking to 40 members of the Wintergarten-Fashverband group in Hamburg.

I felt privileged to have been invited to share our work and wanted to give everyone something that was of as much value to them as what they had given Nancy and I during the preceding week. I only hope to have been successful in this.

Unexpected!!! After my talk, association director, Franz Wurm surprised Nancy and I by inducting Tanglewood Conservatories into the Wintergarten-Fashverband of Germany and Austria (www.wintergarten-fachverband.de) as an Honorary member, the first time this has been done for a company outside of Germany or Austria.

Nancy and Alan receive Certificate of Honorary Membership in the Wintergarten-Fashverband of Germany and Austria.

It was clear to us that the way the German conservatory manufacturers approach their market (and as a result, the design and production of their product) was completely different than the way Tanglewood does. There was a strong feeling among the association members that customers in Germany would not be open to building the larger, more elaborate projects that are Tanglewood’s specialty. Still, I believe that the essence of our work – that of the importance of the design process, was not lost on anyone.

There was also something else which impressed Nancy and I immensely. Here were the owners of 40 companies, all in competition with each other, sitting together, learning about their industry together and even socializing together in a spirit of mutual cooperation!

I believe this is due in large part to the skill of the association director Franz Wurm, who organizes the activities and keeps the organization moving forward but also speaks volumes about the genuine openness of the German people- something that Nancy and I have been experiencing first hand all week long.

After my presentation, we were invited to join the group for a fabulous dinner cruise and private guided tour through the Hamburg harbor via boat.

Old and new mix on Hamburg’s historic waterfront.

Beautiful glass and copper dome seen from the harbor.

I’m at ease after my talk – and a few glasses of excellent German beer.

How did this get here?

Nancy and Alan with Werner Jechnerer. Note we are holding gifts he gave us, a drinking mug and a bottle used for aging the beer he makes at his home brewery which as I mentioned before, is some of the best in Germany! Thank you friend.

Tomorrow morning we leave for home. We look forward to the task of implementing the many lessons learned on our trip and to a return visit.

Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland and all our wonderful new colleagues and dear friends! Thank you.

Alan

Today we leave for Germany – in a short few hours. After an overnight trans-Atlantic flight, we will arrive in Munich, the “capital” of Bavaria, the beautiful southern region of the country which borders the Alps.

Our plan is to spend Sunday and Monday sightseeing in the city (sampling the wonderful local beers) and exploring the surrounding areas, then leave on Tuesday morning for Hamburg in the north of the country via car. Though only about an eight hour drive, we will take two days to make the trip as we will be making stops along the way to visit several companies that produce greenhouses, wintergardens and custom conservatories.

We will be joined for the first part of the trip by Mr. Franz Wurm who is Director of the Wintergarten-Fachverband association, the group that is hosting our visit. Wintergarten-Fachverband is an association comprised of about 40 member companies that specialize in producing high quality wood, glass and aluminum wintergardens,which are what conservatories and sunrooms are called in Germany. The group’s members are located mainly throughout Germany but some are in Austria as well.

I’m especially looking forward to my visit this time as the weather promises to be spectacular. Last year, I was in Munich in March and it was quite cold and rainy so we missed sitting outside in the many gardens.

On Tuesday we will visit the firm Jechnerer, www.jechnerer.de near Nuernberg who manufactures doors, windows, wintergardens and other specialty products. I understand they have a very nice showroom. Then on Tuesday afternoon, we will spend some time in Wurzburg a lovely mid-sized river town that I fell in love with during my last visit. (See my blogs from March/April 2008).

On Wednesday and Thursday, we’ll visit two firms, Steinbach, www.steinbach-wintergarten.de, whose specialty is wintergardens and the firm Hohnholt near Bremen www.winter-green.de, one of the few companies in Germany producing very high quality “English” style conservatories, poolhouses, sunrooms and orangeries.

We’ll spend Friday night in Hamburg and attend the Wintergarten-Fachverband association meeting on Friday to speak in front of their group about Tanglewood’s work designing and building conservatories, greenhouses and pool enclosures in the United States, the highlight of our trip.

I’ll keep in touch throughout our trip as it promises to be a very interesting week. The German companies design and build a different type of product and we both have much to share with each other about our manufacturing, our design and our markets.

It is easy to see that they are as passionate about their work and their companies as Nancy and I are about Tanglewood and many of their company founders share a similar background as myself – starting out as a carpenter many years ago!

Alan