As part of the “Bavarian Broadcasting to the Power of Three” change process, the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation decided to team its forces at the Munich-Freimann location and gradually bring together editorial departments from radio, television and the online sector.
Fritsch+Tschaidse Architects from Munich designed a transparent, multifunctional office building that creates optimal lighting conditions and allows employees generous views of nature.
Pilkington Suncool™ high-performance solar control glass, specified for the building façades, reduces summer heat in the office interiors. Transparent fire protection systems with high-performance fire protection glass of fire resistance class EI 30 form fire and smoke compartments in the entrance hall and atrium and offer protection against fire spread.
The new building ensures the best possible networking of all employees across media boundaries.
The defining element of the internal concept is the multi-storey highway, the so-called “media street”. It is the core idea of the design, the backbone of the building structure on all three levels, to which the individual usage clusters are connected in a U-shape. In the middle of the 190 m long building complex, “media street” flows into the multi-story entrance hall, which divides the building into its two structural areas, the current affairs house in the north and the wave house in the south. An oval skylight and a sculptural spiral staircase determine the spatial atmosphere of the daylight-bright entrance hall.
In the centre of the news store, one of the courtyards is covered with glass to form a multi-story, atrium-like interior, the so-called “newsroom”. Current news topics are collected here, and edited and placed by all editorial teams. Insights from the editorial offices into this glass-roofed room underline its importance in the overall structure. Common areas along the highways, inner courtyards and a spacious terrace are places for relaxation and communication. The flexible office floor plans allow different room types and sizes, from individual, group and team offices to open space areas.
Structural external façade
The three-story building block with its “courtyard houses” attached to the central “media street” characterizes the media campus on the east side. Courtyards and recesses along the outer façade divide the entire complex into scaled proportions with reference to the landscape.
The horizontal and vertical structure of the façade through the railing-like balconies makes the building appear light. The floor-to-ceiling façade with extensive glazing ensures plenty of daylight in the offices and a feel-good atmosphere.
Façade and glazing
The standard façade built by Dodel Metallbau is a post-transom façade running around all floors using the Schüco FWS 50 system with AWS 75SI insert elements. Horizontally surrounding escape balconies made of steel with aluminium sheet metal cladding characterize the 1st and 2nd floors. The surrounding canopy construction is also made of steel with aluminium sheet metal cladding.
The architects chose the triple solar control insulating glass units made of Pilkington Suncool™ 66/33. FLACHGLAS Wernberg, member of Flachglas MarkenKreis, processed the glass into insulating glass units.
The selected solar control glass type is neutral in appearance and has a medium reflection of 18%. It was installed in various safety glass combinations and has a light transmittance of 61%, a total energy transmittance of 32% and a good Ug value of 0.6 (W/m²K).
The units also meet the required sound insulation values of 39 dB.
The spandrel areas were deliberately equipped with the DELOGCOLOR® spandrel panels in grey anthracite (ESG-H in RAL 7016) as a contrasting element.
A total of 5,000 m² of solar control glass and 4,000 m² of spandrel panels were manufactured for the new building.
Façade structure and glazing for the entrance hall and newsroom
The internal façades of the entrance hall and the newsroom are also post-and-beam façades made of aluminium. The façades in the entrance hall are horizontally structured by surrounding metal cassette strips. On the other hand, in the newsroom, horizontal structure is achieved by on-site textile wall coverings.
Glass atriums pose the risk of fire spreading from façade opening to façade opening or from component to component. The aim of preventative fire protection is therefore to effectively prevent the spread of a possible fire. In the entrance hall and the newsroom, the partial façades to adjacent meeting and office rooms were built using Schüco FW50BS fire protection systems. Following the requirements of structural fire protection, fire protection glass products of fire resistance class EI(F) 30 were required, which, in addition to protecting against fire and smoke, also provide thermal insulation for 30 minutes, i.e. in the event of a fire, they also provide a protective shield against the transfer of heat radiation to the side of the glazing facing away from the fire side.
Pilkington Pyrostop® 30-20 fire protection glass was installed in the entrance hall. With Pilkington Pyrostop®, several float glass panes are built together using special fire protection layers to form laminated safety glass. When exposed to fire, the glass pane facing the fire breaks first, after which the adjacent fire protection layer foams and absorbs the energy of the fire. This process continues layer by layer. In this way, the protective shield effect is maintained throughout the entire classification period of 30 minutes.
In the newsroom, where all the news comes together and it can get louder, this Pilkington Pyrostop® type has been supplemented with increased sound insulation. Thanks to its construction with a special soundproofing film, Pilkington Pyrostop® 30-20 SC Plus offers a sound insulation value of 51 dB.
Sustainability
The new Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation building combines economy, functionality, well-being and comfort. The architecture of the facility ensures high ecological quality, efficient use of energy and is aimed at sustainable preservation of its values.
Photography: Stefan Müller-Neumann, Munich