Campus extension in timber construction at the private Witten/Herdecke University

Private Universität Witten/Herdecke GmbH

Kaden + Lager GmbH

• Project development: rheform GmbH
  Architects: Kaden + Lager
  General contractor: execution timber construction: Ed. Züblin AG, Ulm Directorate, ZÜBLIN Timber Division
  Structural design: Ifb Frohloff Staffa Kühl Ecker
  TGA/building physics: Transsolar Energietechnik GmbH
  Fire protection: Dehne, Kruse Brandschutzingenieure GmbH & Co. KG
  Landscape architecture: capatti staubach - Urbane Landschaften
  Visualization: atelier noise

Weiterführender Link https://www.uni-wh.de/zukunftsraum/gebaeude/

The campus extension in timber construction is located on the grounds of Witten/Herdecke University in the Ruhr metropolis. An identity-forming learning, working and event location has been created on a former parking space. Using wood as a sustainable building material, the building makes a strong statement in a region long dominated by steel and coal.

• Amount of wood used: 1,200 m³
• Four storeys on a slope
• East-west orientation
• North side: open campus square with direct access to public transport and numerous bicycle parking spaces
• South side: viewinto parkland (Pferdebachtal)

• Rooms:
  • 24 group study rooms for students
  • 400 workstations for students:
  • 9 seminar rooms (7 of which can be flexibly connected, for 25 - 200 people)
  • Multi-storey library
  • Café with lounge area
  • Room of the place
  • Parent-child room
  • winter garden
  • 3 roof terraces
  • Large, flexible event room for up to 350 people
  • approx. 100 office workstations for different uses
  • 26 student group study rooms
  • approx. 100 open learning spaces in communication zones

The technical building equipment was installed according to the low-tech concept: use of high-quality technology, but only where it is really needed:

• No air conditioning, but a ventilation system in the library and seminar rooms, fans in the offices
• Little artificial light, but lots of natural light
• Combined heat and power for heat and electricity
• Green roofs
• Photovoltaic system on the roofs

Wood as a building material with a very good carbon footprint:

• Only certified wood (CoC certificate according to PEFC certification) used
• Long-term storage of 1,200 tons of CO₂
• Savings of 840 tons of CO₂ compared to a conventional building
• Photovoltaic system on the roofs produces around 65 000 kW/h of electricity per year.

Frame construction:

• Pine wood from the region Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• 2500 components with prefabrication: Walls, columns, beams

Facade:

• Natural larch, particularly strong and durable
• approx. 7500 slats
• Vividly structured facade, visually made of boards of different widths, mounted alternately
• Few projections or recesses so that the graying process can proceed as homogeneously as possible

Modular construction:

• Floor plan on a square grid (4.65m x 4.65m) enables future conversion/conversion of parts of the building
• Around 80% of the walls are non-load-bearing

Life cycle costs:

• Costs for planning, construction, maintenance and operating costs, value retention as well as demolition and disposal were one of the most important evaluation criteria when awarding the contract
• with a service life of 50 years: € 420 000 per year.

Other details:

• Water taps throughout the building leave space for a one-liter bottle
• All-gender toilets on every floor

Ventilation systems and fans

• Instead of steel girders, timber trusses on the second floor support the ceiling of a flexibly expandable event room on the first floor.
• Timber construction in case of fire - advantages compared to reinforced concrete construction
• The size of the timber beams allows for an evacuation time of 90 minutes
• Firefighters can easily see whether a column is in danger of collapsing

• Contract handed over as a " ready-to-use project" to contractor who was awarded the contract together with the architects (consortium).
• Agreed fixed price: € 22 million
• Project volume of € 28 million remained below plan at € 27 million in the end.
• Participation: employees and students as well as representatives of the city were involved in the planning process
• Construction time structure: only 7 weeks

• Office space: consists of modern, open-plan open-space areas with small-scale facilities for communication and concentration, e.g. focus and meeting rooms and lounge corners.
• Basement: bicycle garage with 200 bicycle parking spaces, showers, changing rooms and lockers
• A further 200 covered bicycle parking spaces on the campus square
• Accessibility: tactile guidance system in the building for people with visual disabilities, elevators, ramps