Illuminating spaces: MHZ's legacy in light control

Light, whether in a home, office, municipal building or cultural hub, is everything. It provides warmth and ambiance, and its correct modulation can profoundly alter our perception of a space and create a salve from the clamour of the outside world. The control of light is something we take for granted. Whether via blinds, textile shading or shutters, the flooding with colour and clarity of our living spaces is something fundamentally entrenched in the routine of everyday life.

Introducing MHZ: a German manufacturer of sun and privacy protection systems, and an industry leader for nearly a century. An independent, family-run company since its inception in 1930, MHZ was founded by interior decorator Wilhelm Hachtel and carpenter Adolf Stäbler. Their first product, a mechanical curtain pull, didn’t take off – but it preordained the company’s legacy.

Now, MHZ employs around 1,600 people across numerous locations worldwide and is valued by interior designers, planners and architects alike for its visually minimalist, technologically astute product range – from awnings, sunshades and privacy screens, to practical accessories like curtain rods and rails. Its quietly groundbreaking inventory might not appear immediately bijous, but this is industrial design at its most beautifully integrated.

The approach, explains MHZ Switzerland’s sales manager, Giovanni Cascio, is straightforward: 'The market demands straight lines and the simplest possible design of the building. The sun protection should not be too noticeable and yet it must be functional.'

Such philosophy of simplicity is well typified in the company’s new Zipscreen offering, dubbed Zip 6. As an addition to MHZ’s already groundbreaking Zip_2.0 product, Zip 6 utilises a mechanism that uses a small shaft without causing any deflection, thanks to a patented balancing device. This allows the production of a system width of 6 m with an unprecedented cassette size of just 110 mm.

The narrow guide rail of just 29 mm is spring-mounted with a zipper, ensuring that even in strong winds the fabric has the necessary elasticity to prevent damage.

A key evolution with Zip 6 is its upscaled size, capable of shading windows up to a width of 6 m and a height of 3.5 m (to a total dimension of 20 sqm) – all with a 110 mm cassette that fits seamlessly into the facade. Crucially, this aesthetic minimalism means that, because the system can be used across a range of sizes, a harmonious, visual homogeneity is achievable even at scale. 'Until now, large system widths were always characterised by large shaft diameters and cassettes,' explains Giovanni Cascio. 'The consequence was having an unaesthetic product hanging there.'

Because the wind tunnel tests were very satisfactory, the system can be classified with a width of up to 400 cm in wind resistance class (WRC) 6 and up to 600 cm width in WRC 4. The drive tech, too, is both customisable and nuanced – Zip 6 is available with nine different motors, some of which feature block and obstacle detection, and radio remote controls. 

MHZ's easy-care, technical fabrics are available in a variety of colours (and the frames in standard white, silver-grey and ‘anthrazit’), and are made with excellent thermal properties – filtering more than 85% of solar rays and increasing the energy efficiency of the building onto which they’re installed.  

The keen notion of sustainability continues behind the scenes, too: efficient production means minimal material loss, while textile waste larger than 2.5 sqm is returned to the warehouse for reuse and the remaining trimmings recycled (cutting waste, for instance, is used to produce PVC/glass granules for fashioning new items).

It’s estimable stuff. From both practical and holistic standpoints, the new screen is a complete product – a summation of the kind of approach that has made MHZ a pioneer in its field for so many decades. 'With the Zip 6,' concludes Giovanni Cascio, 'we have created a product that the market has been hoping for for a long time.'

Zip 6 will be available from June 2024.

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