Quiet oasis for noisy scrapyard

The result is striking architecture that presents a distinctive structure on the exterior and provides space on the inside for a pleasant, quiet work environment.



Acoustic shielding from the loud background noise on the site was crucial for the protected internal life of the building. Special insulating glass was manufactured to meet the unusually high noise protection requirements.



Use of EUROLAMEX® S Phon laminated safety glass from Euroglas achieves a significant improvement in the average sound insulation value.

The interior courtyard offers well-earned calm during the lunch break and other times.

 

The floor-to-ceiling glazing on the inside enables a visual connection with the exterior.

The rust coloured material not only makes reference to the work environment, but also lends the architecture a particularly raw and striking character.

The facade of the new office and operations building for the Schweinfurt family business of Georg Lesch e.K. is wrapped in 3 mm thick Corten steel and is composed of large-format, solid areas and panels with circular punch outs.



The architects turned to common rust coloured scrap metal for the character of the perforated facade elements, creating a design reference to the immediate work environment.



Outwardly, the building appears uncommunicative and reveals little about the interior. Only a few areas of window and the circular punch-outs permit isolated glimpses into the interior. However robust and defensive the angular building may seem from the outside, the interior of the building impresses, thanks to its bright and friendly spaces.





Due to the full height glazing behind the perforated facade, they always have a visual connection to the exterior and, in contrast to the rough exterior, reveal a friendly atmosphere.



The calm in the small, narrow interior courtyard that forms the centre of the building is equally astonishing. The offices and operations spaces are grouped around this landscaped retreat, which is characterized by warm materials such as wood.



While the scrap metal crashes as it is stacked, transported and further processed outside, a calm, almost deliberate atmosphere prevails here. The glass walls around the interior courtyard create sight lines that contribute to better internal communications.



Reference to the outside is constantly created inside the building. The cast shadows produced by the punched holes carry the external design into the interiors rooms, creating a connection between inside and outside.



The full glazing in the conference room enables a view of the entire operations yard. Implementing this view necessitated selection of a glass that met the highest noise abatement requirements.



Due to its special sound insulating PVB film, EUROLAMEX® S Phon offers optimal glazing for high noise protection demands. The glass was coated with SILVERSTAR® ZERO and then made into a double insulating glass by Hoffmannglas, the insulating glass processor.



The multi-layered structure, noise insulating film and coating with SILVERSTAR® ZERO, which has a particularly low thermal transmission coefficient, resulted in a highly efficient insulation glass that guarantees maximum noise protection combined with good thermal insulation.



Laminated safety glass with normal PVB film achieves an improvement of up to 2 decibels compared to float glass of the same thickness and as much as 5 decibels with the sound insulation film.



To meet the various site-specific conditions and different noise levels, the thickness of the basic glass is also varied in accordance with the particular requirements for noise protection.