Promega Corporation Walldorf
Complex interior fit-out
Interior fit-out in all its breadth: from staircases, glass constructions and acoustically effective wall and ceiling claddings through to storage furniture and reception counters – on the new Walldorf building for the subsidiaries of the US biotechnology company Promega Corporation, Westermann demonstrated the full range of its capabilities.
The heart of the three-storey administration building is the atrium, which welcomes employees and guests with a generously sized reception counter – lacquered and built up on a solid plywood substructure. Round benches pick up the circular form and flank the planting islands of native vegetation. The wide main staircase, a reinforced-concrete construction clad in solid oak that turns the atrium into an auditorium with its tiered seating steps, leads up to the first level.
At the latest here, the eye is drawn to the meandering ribbon designed by Westermann from dark- and light-grey wood-wool acoustic panels. The material is flame-retardant, acoustically effective and is suspended in the wall substructure.
An additional acoustic measure is provided by the ceiling baffles suspended in many corridors, offices, meeting rooms and above open seating landscapes. They owe their effectiveness to their material properties: the pressed mineral wool with a special coating is light, non-combustible and highly effective for sound insulation.
The visually restrained dark wall claddings – grey through-coloured MDF panels – give the otherwise strongly coloured palette of the lead architects haas cook zemmrich STUDIO2050 room to unfold, while the cabinet runs, storage areas, lockers and cloakrooms in HPL-coated panels – all delivered by Westermann – pick the strong main colours back up. The same applies in the canteen, where the kitchen is integrated into the wall cladding and the solid-oak wooden lamella ceiling additionally provides acoustic effectiveness.
An exceptional construction is the glass cube that juts into the atrium like a bird’s nest. Here Westermann was responsible for the fall-arrest glazing, and the glass walls with integrated portal doors were also realised by Westermann.