The Munich-based startup flissade has created a transformable space that's both a living room and a balcony in one. With this patented concept, the founding team, architects Lisbeth Fischbacher and Daniel Hoheneder, aims to create more flexibility, living space, and quality for sustainable cities. We visited the founders in their office in Maxvorstadt.
A welcome thought, especially in our latitudes: We want to enjoy the first rays of sunshine of the year with a coffee on the balcony. We've barely settled in when clouds roll in. It becomes uncomfortable. Putting everything back in? A chore!
flissade wants to make precisely that unnecessary. Sliding glass doors float effortlessly from inside to outside on a rail system – in a matter of seconds, a balcony becomes part of the living room. Or a restaurant terrace becomes a kind of winter garden. Or a car dealership with a chic Porsche parked outside becomes a Porsche displayed in a flissade glass case. Or a separate meeting room is created in the middle of an open-plan office. Or, or, or... During the conversation, it quickly becomes clear: For the architects, the possible applications of their product are endless.
A flexible space that can be individually adapted
Especially in times of increasing urbanization, the founding team sought an exciting market with the idea of a transformable space. The answer to the questions: How is society developing, and what are the requirements for sustainable living, life, and work? How will people live in cities tomorrow and the day after tomorrow? With their idea, the founders have found a possible answer to the constantly growing demand for living space. The concept was developed The startup has already been awarded the “Bavarian Founders’ Prize 2017”, and the company also received the Munich Founders' Prize last year.
The first steps and a patent
What sounds simple is actually the result of several years of development. The two founders had teamed up for a student project at the Technical University of Munich. Their task was to develop a solution for energy-efficient building renovations. When their architecture professor pointed out to the students that they had conceived something completely new, the idea arose: Let's actually implement this!
And then things suddenly happened very quickly. First came the patent research, and when it became clear that the concept did not yet exist, the two innovative architects filed a patent and founded flissade GmbH in 2013. The founders received the necessary tools from the UnternehmerTUMThe first steps made it easier EXIST scholarship and the subsequent Fledge-Financial support.
Startups and medium-sized businesses – a diverse range of partners
Successful founding teams are said to be interdisciplinary. That's not the case with flissade. How do the two founders assess this? In retrospect, it would certainly have been helpful to have someone with business and sales knowledge on the team, both say. But, Daniel Hoheneder:
“You can’t carve your own co-founder.”
Ultimately, says Lisbeth, they brought know-how on board in a different way: by talking openly about their idea, attending trade fairs frequently, gathering a lot of customer feedback, and involving partners in the further development of the product.
Founder Lisbeth Fischbacher explains:
“We have extended workbenches, so to speak, and everything comes together here.”
Many people are talking about it, so flissade has done it: Together with partners from medium-sized businesses, the founders have further developed their concept to the point where it is now ready for commercialization. It was important for the two architects to gain the necessary expertise from other fields.
Pilot project with the SWM
The founders have installed the first flissade at their company headquarters in Munich's Maxvorstadt district. It serves as a demonstration object, shared office, and outdoor meeting room all in one. The first full-scale pilot project is scheduled to begin in May in newly built company apartments for the Munich Public Utilities (SWM). A flissade will be installed on the top floor of the new building at Dantebad.
"The municipal utility company is an important pilot customer for us because they are a solid, large company, heavily active in the real estate sector, and with very attractive properties in the city center. We are very pleased that SWM has placed its trust in us."
says Daniel.
"Furthermore, the municipal utilities see themselves as a pilot customer. They're really excited to see how the whole process develops! This is a very good constellation for both sides."
adds Lisbeth.
Bootstrapping and cross-financing for smaller projects
For the startup, however, it was a long road to its first reference project. Especially in the real estate sector, young companies struggle with long project lead times. After all, you have to stay afloat in the meantime. The flissade founders are lucky—in addition to the important development work at the startup, they had just enough time to cross-finance their projects using their architectural expertise.
But 2018 is a year of change for flissade: they're moving out of development mode and hitting the ground running with the SWM pilot project. In addition, they plan to push ahead with other projects in the advanced acquisition phase—from single-family homes to residential towers with 400 units. To increase their effectiveness, the founders plan to hire staff in sales and marketing.
Daniel explains:
"We need to grow to make the leap into the market. In recent years, we've placed a strong focus on the process behind the product: How do we build in the future? What is Industry 4.0 in relation to construction?"
He adds:
"From this, we developed an innovative process for collaborating with others—because we are not a manufacturer ourselves. Seamlessly and via a digital chain throughout the entire implementation. And for that, we need good people in IT and mechanical engineering."
The startup can't and doesn't want to be pigeonholed as an architect. It operates simultaneously in the construction industry, Industry 4.0, and smart city sectors.
Industry 4.0 in construction for smart urban development
With the help of the smart process planning tool behind the actual product, the startup plans to scale quickly. This allows any architect to create a flissade in a wide range of dimensions in 3D directly within their own planning software.
Founder Daniel explains:
"We see this as a very important building block for future planning and modernization processes. Construction is always a good 20 years behind mechanical engineering. In construction, a digital image is increasingly being created, including all the building services, supporting structures, equipment, etc.
To enable us to be involved in such planning processes, we have developed a planning tool that can be fully configured. But we're taking this much further."
Currently, there's a significant disconnect between what happens on the planning side and what actually happens in the implementation. With the new tool, however, the architect's vision can be implemented in real time. The tool also helps the founders develop the market. How is that? In Munich, for example, private customers are particularly interested in flissade as an added value for their homes. In this case, the private customer can simply commission their own architect, who can then easily integrate flissade with the help of the planning tool.
Utopia becomes reality
In addition to Munich, European metropolitan regions are an exciting market for the founding team, especially Scandinavian cities. This is because sustainable construction is particularly prevalent in cities that are strongly driving urban development themselves. This is where new concepts and utopian living spaces are more likely to be discovered. And this is precisely where the founders see their spatial concept.
Will the founders and their flissade concept be able to prove themselves and hold their own in the future? After all, proof of market is still pending. However, with the pilot project they have been allowed to implement for SWM, a big step has been taken. And the many project inquiries the founders are currently receiving show that things can and will likely continue to be exciting in the future.
