Administrative building yard, Germany

The building yard of the Waterways and Shipping administration Minden is an ensemble of buildings, consisting of several objects and structures – among them 3 workshops, buildings for administrative, social and technical purposes and one building for reconstruction. The height of the buildings varies depending on their purpose. The new buildings are generally constructed according to a basic grid of 6.25 m. All outer walls are constructed in the same manner, i.e. from the inside to the outside: Lime sand brick walls, insulation and frostproof engineering brick.

In the mentioned basic grid reinforced concrete supports are placed in front of the façade. These so called lesenes serve to divide the long construction visually and offer varying optical impressions. Furthermore, they are connected to the chosen roof construction which is carried out as a half barrel roof with an aluminium seam. The roof is based on a construction of glued truss, laminated sheets and purlins. In this construction the trusses span across the entire depth of the building. Thus the floor plan can be designed freely.

The rooms required in the planning can be equipped with different ceilings in different heights depending on the special requirements to each room. As a consequence the roof construction with glued trusses and laminated sheets is visible in all planned workshops without any impact on fire protection standards. This concept offers decisive advantages for future planning and development of the building yard: Since the static system of the building doesn’t have to be changed, new design and alignment according to changing requirements in the inside can be done easily . The overall concept aimed at a sustainable and economic solution.