Current affairs
FOCUS
On arriving at the plaza, the size of the
concert hall becomes apparent for the first time. Constructed atop the former Kaispeicher A building, built between 1963 and 1966 and used as a warehouse for tea, tobacco and cocoa until the 1990s, the glass, steel and wooden complex towers 110m into the air. The view from the outdoor terrace is spectacular; sitting on the banks of the Elbe River, the hall is surrounded by water on three sides, and the Elbe bridges are close by. After reaching the outside plaza, this is where
the experience ends for normal plaza visitors, however – a concert ticket is the only way to access the concert halls and areas above.
Huge demands
A highly extensive fire protection concept is used in the hall, comprising a wide range of systems from various companies. Technical manager Dennis Just describes the building as having an ‘extremely complicated and nested design’. Mr Just and a team of 22 staff have been
responsible for technology in the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and the Laeiszhalle concert hall since 2013. With its 26 floors, the building resembles a high rise apartment block – and the routes through it are correspondingly long.
As a result, the fire protection requirements were enormous. For instance, there are structural fire protection measures such as fire doors that prevent the entire hall from having to be evacuated if a fire is detected, and in the case of a full house, the building would contain 4,500 visitors – not to mention several hundred employees and musicians. In addition, the overall concept includes system based fire protection solutions, which is where Wagner came in.
Protecting assets
Its chosen air sampling smoke detectors in the silent version use active fire detection to protect around 40 rooms in the hall, including its showpiece, the Great Hall. With its acoustically sophisticated inner shell made of gypsum fibreboards (‘white skin’) and its freely suspended structure within the building, the concert hall is unique. Units were also installed in the Little Hall,
foyer areas and technological areas. Mr Just emphasised that ‘smoke detection is an extremely important matter for us’, and he was heavily involved in the selection of the fire protection systems during the long project and construction phase.
www.frmjournal.com APRIL 2018 49
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