Zollverein School of Management and Design, Essen, Germany

Object Type
Universities

Client
Entwicklungsgesellschaft Zollverein, Essen

Architects
Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA, Tokyo

Completion
2006

Expertises
Room Acoustics
Building Acoustics

After almost four years of intensive planning and construction, the Zollverein School of Management and Design building was completed in July 2006 on the site of the former Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen, a World Heritage Site.
The Japanese team of architects SANAA designed a four-storey cube made of exposed concrete with a floor area of 35 metres x 35 metres and a height of 34 metres.

Müller-BBM Building Solutions was called in by the general planning architects Heinrich Böll to solve the acoustic issues. In view of the clear and consistently pursued design concept, sound-absorbing ceiling or wall panelling was out of the question. In order to achieve room acoustic damping appropriate to the respective use, a perforated, raised floor with an acoustically suitable, swellable velour carpet was laid in the auditorium, the design studio and the seminar rooms and open work areas. In this way, a balanced broadband sound absorption of the floor construction was achieved. To improve the room acoustics in the auditorium, the surrounding glass walls were also inclined slightly inwards.

Image Copyright
1 STEP-Design
2 STEP-Design
3 STEP-Design
4 MBBM-BSO
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