Town Hall in Bernau

 

Architect/Design
Studioinges, Berlin

Location
Bernau Germany

Opening
2020

Interior
Soft Cells panels with Casa specified on walls and ceilings

 

Talk of the town

The new Town Hall in Bernau - Neues Rathaus Bernau- is acoustically optimised with a Kvadrat Acoustic solution to facilitate conversations and enhance quality of space. It is located close to Berlin in Germany.

Soft Cells acoustic panels, covered in the textile Casa, are specified to offer different degrees of sound absorption throughout the building. They are form part of the offices, the ground floor foyer, the open atrium and the expansive citizens' hall known as the 'Bürgersaal'.

Reflecting this, floor-to-ceiling Soft Cells panels are installed on many of the walls at the town hall. They are also integrated into a folding and sliding wall in 'Bürgersaal'. Elsewhere, large-format Soft Cells are fitted in the centre of the foyer ceiling, where they conceal the sprinkler systems.

Specialist planners M-BBM and the Kvadrat Acoustic team collaborated on the acoustic design for the new Town Hall. As part of this process, different types of Soft Cells panel were developed and subsequently installed at varying distances to the walls.

The Soft Cells panels are upholstered in a balanced grey tone to ensure a seamless match with the furniture. This approach creates an aesthetic contrast with the wooden elements in the building, such as the doors and windows.

Francesca Saetti, Architect and Partner, Studioinges: "Together with the expert planners of building and acoustics from the M-BBM office, and with support from the Kvadrat Acoustics team, different variants of wall coverings with the different panel types were developed to achieve the optimal solution for the town hall."

Imagery by Maximilian Meisse