NS Documentation Center, Munich | Germany

Customer: Landeshauptstadt München Kulturreferat, Munich

Architect: Georg Scheel Wetzel architects, Berlin

Net costs, building services €: 2,000,000.00

Project period: 2009 until 2014

Services: Planning and site supervision, sanitary engineering, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, cooling, sprinkler, concrete core activation, measurement and control technology, building control, ground pipes, flow and building simulation

A documentation center for exhibits and educational programs about the National Socialist period in Germany is being built in the direct vicinity of Munich‘s Königsplatz square. Thematically, the new facility and its resources will focus especially on Munich‘s Nazi history and on the impacts and aftermath of the Nazi period. The location chosen for the new structure is the site of the former „Palais Barlow“, the „brown house“ that served as Nazi party headquarters from 1930 to 1945 and was destroyed in WWII. The center‘s location has explicitly been chosen so as to be near city sites of historic importance with regard to the Nazi era.
A large open space links the ground-floor entry area with all exhibition areas, including those on the 5th floor. This spatial linkage made it necessary to include an automatic fire-extinguishing system. The 6th floor provides space for offices and for administrative and conference rooms, while two basement levels house a presentation room, a study room and a library. A small cafe for visitors has also been included.
The structure is heated and cooled via ceiling-integrated thermally activated building systems (TABS). All exhibition areas are automatically ventilated. Floor ducts, with air outlets and additional heating surfaces, will be installed along the exterior walls. In exhibition areas, which are finished in white exposed concrete, all technical systems are largely concealed and are hardly noticeable.
ZWP Ingenieur-AG carried out a room-air-flow simulation to determine what systems would be necessary to achieve the desired room-climate conditions. The simulation revealed that the structure‘s two-story window areas would produce significant cold-air downdrafts in the winter. In planning, this potential problem was then addressed by modifying the heating surfaces so as to ensure an even temperature distribution in all rooms.

© 3D: Georg Scheel Wetzel Architekten | aerial view+location: Landeshauptstadt München

Weitere Daten / Wissenswertes

Auszeichnung:
Bayerischer Architekturpreis 2015

Technische Daten:

  • Kühlleistung 125 kW
  • Heizleistung 171 kW
  • Betonkernaktivierung