Component-based concepts are being increasingly used in software design since they allow high-quality software to be generated within a short time and hence at low costs. By contrast, component technologies haven't yet provided the means of composing software from components without additional programming. The reason for this lies in the combined transfer of control and data flow and the fact that there is no standardized control flow. An architecture model is presented that separates the transfer of the two information flows. The data flow is transferred via an active real-time database (ARTDB) and the control flow reduced to a few, indispensable commands. In this way it is possible to design applications simply by combining and configuring components without any additional code development. Initial positive experience with this architecture was gained from its industrial application. It was possible to demonstrate the suitability for systems with soft deadlines.