Why architects opt for electric floor heating when they want to have unlimited creativity and achieve maximum comfort

Just like Frank Lloyd Wright, the creator of brilliant buildings such as the Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, did, many other architects, such as Philip Johnson, John Lautner, Richard Neutra and Frank Gehry preferred floor heating for their masterpieces.

It wasn’t just about the positive effect of floor heating, but also about the enormous creative freedom enabled by eschewing radiators. It’s hard to imagine what Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House might have looked like with radiators.

There are numerous types of radiators and heaters in the market. Large, small, flat – the variety of the design is truly enormous. It’s always been about the essential love/hate relationship between architects’ visions and the need to heat rooms. No one wants to consider a radiator a “design element”, but they used to be unavoidable, because, 40 or 50 years ago, floor heating was simply not advanced enough to be competitive in the market.

Now it has all changed completely. Modern floor heating systems can be controlled with much more precision, so they are more energy efficient than traditional radiators.

From the aspect of architectural freedoms, electric floor heating has a special significance. The cables that are being installed are extremely thin and, very importantly, quite flexible. They can be easily installed under any kind of floor and thereby reach even the tiniest corner and they can even be installed if the floor is slanted. Nearly all electric heating cables and networks can be installed in walls or ceilings.

Hemstedt, whose distributor in Serbia is Sobel from Belgrade, specialized 40 years ago in the development of electrical systems of floor heating. In addition to numerous innovative solutions, it offers full concepts such as the “climate positive” virtually autonomous house.



– Furthermore, many suggestions come directly from clients and architects, which is where our strength lies, to develop solutions for individual requests as well. Sobel sees itself here not just as a supplier, but also as a partner when it comes to the new ways of implementation of electric floor heating – says Slavce Milanov, owner of Sobel.

– Electric floor heating is an advanced technology – Milanov says and adds:

– Whatever the energy transition in various countries looks like, one thing is certain: the trend is to move away from fossil fuels and focus on renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources usually produce electrical energy, which makes electric floor heating systems interesting. Floor heating systems have many advantages. The first one is quick and direct heat – because floor heating on a thin layer is located directly below the floor layer. If the floor heating is switched on, it creates a pleasant, well distributed radiation after only several minutes. This “direct response” of the floor heating with heating networks enables shorter warming up times and, accordingly, lower energy consumption.

Milanov points out that electric floor heating is suitable for every kind of flooring:

– The program of Hemstedt, which we have here at Sobel, features electric floor heating for any kind of flooring, whether a carpet, laminate, parquet floor, tiles or stone. What’s more, at Sobel, we have a unique Hemstedt HEM-SISTEM®, which facilitates the installation of floor heating and enables a minimum thickness of the installation layer, much thinner than that required for water floor heating. That makes our electric floor heating ideal for the reconstruction of old buildings.



We now know that ancient Romans and even the great Mongolian ruler Genghis Khan were familiar with the benefits of floor heating. Children can play on the floor, household members are free to walk barefoot, which has a calming effect and is healthy for the feet. Since modern systems of electric floor heating no longer heat the surface of the flooring above 26 degree Celsius, there’s less dust transferred from the ground than is the case with radiators, which develop a much stronger vertical air flow due to the higher temperature of the heating bodies. In addition to that, floor heating ensures lower humidity near the floor, preventing the spreading of mold and dust mites.

– The factor that we must never forget when it comes to the electric floor heating system is that there’s no need for radiators – Milanov points out. No matter how small, short or thin, radiators take up useable space in a room and affect interior design due to their position.

– It should be pointed out that electric floor heating is not only suitable for living rooms, but for bathrooms as well. Here, electric floor heating creates a climate that is perceived as pleasant and successfully dries out the humidity on the surface, which brings additional security – Milanov says.

With all this in mind, today’s architects should give constructive ideas and solutions, with as little compromise as possible, which Sobel electric floor heating enables them to do. Without that kind of approach, the likes of the Fallingwater Residence and the Guggenheim Museum would certainly not have been possible!

Sobel d.o.o.
125-I Ustanicka Street, Sumice
11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Phone/fax: +381 11 3087-507, 3087-064
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.sobel.rs

Sobel d.o.o. Beograd

Sobel doo Šumice

Sobel

Hemstedt

Slavče Milanov

floor heating

radiators

heaters

modern floor heating systems

electric systems of floor heating

climate positive virtually autonomous house

energy transition

renewable energy sources

carpet

laminate

parquet

tiles

stone

Hemstedt HEM SISTEM

installation of floor heating

Frank Lloyd Wright

Philip Johnson

John Lautner

Richard Neutra

Frank Gehry

Mies van der Rohe

Fallingwater

Guggenheim Museum

Farnsworth

New York

Special Edition Newsletter

interior

Interior Design Decoration and Understanding Space

design

decoration

understanding space

newsletter