ARCHELLO YOUR CONNECTION WITH ARCHITECTURE

On 27 November last year, the official opening of the parking garage in the Museumpark in Rotterdam took place. An exceptional project, with as a result a building that blends perfectly into the Museumpark setting. The glazing solutions supplied by Vetrotech Saint-Gobain contribute markedly here, allowing plenty of incidental light and a safe escape route and at the same time complying with class EW60 and EI15.

The municipality of Rotterdam made high demands of the design of the new parking garage. After all, the project was constructed in the Museumpark, a design by the leading firm OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) by architect Rem Koolhaas. The park forms the cultural heart of Rotterdam and the garage ought to therefore serve this need as well as possible. The job went to the Amsterdam architects firm Paul de Ruiter, which designed a building in which users feel safe and at ease. Light and space ensure an overall feeling of transparency. As a visitor, you do not immediately experience the space as underground, but instead as a pleasant and socially safe environment. To leave the Museumpark as intact as possible, the parking garage got a spectacular entrance. At the head of the water, between the hospital and the park, cars drive under the water and into the parking garage. Another remarkable fact: under the entrance is the largest underground water storage unit in the Netherlands. With a capacity of 10 million litres of water, the content of four Olympic swimming pools, this storage ensures that -in the case of heavy rainfall- flooding is kept to a minimum in the city centre.

Legislation

Parking garage Museumpark has three levels and can accommodate 1150 cars. About 780 of the parking spaces are intended for visitors and employees of the adjacent Erasmus Medical Centre. The remaining 370 parking spaces are intended for people living in the neighbourhood and people visiting museums, institutions and events in the vicinity of the Museumpark. During hospital visiting times, the number of cultural institution visitors is low and vice versa. This ensures a high degree of occupancy.

Discussion

A number of recent fires in parking garages raised the discussion of fire safety in busy public buildings. But even before this, critical noises could be heard when safety requirements were brought up. Ruud Hendriks, senior project manager with Strukton, recalls that the EI-value of the glass in particular was a hot topic. “We received a surprise inspection from the Rotterdam Fire Prevention Committee just before the handover. They drew our attention to the EI-value and the ability to demonstrate that this had been employed. This had everything to do with the additional requirements made by the Fire Services in Rotterdam. This is not yet law in the Netherlands, but under the European flag escape routes in many countries already have to comply with the EI- classification.”

Expertise

With EI, the safety glass complies with the highest class of fire resistance. The glass offers protection from the spread of fire, radiant heat and temperature insulation. According to this classification, the average temperature on the glass may be no higher than 140°C degrees on average, with a maximum peak value of 180°C at a certain point. Van Dool Geveltechniek, as sub-contractor responsible for the glazing, set to work with these requirements. Account Manager Joram Kuijvenhoven counted his blessings with the cooperation between Van Dool and Vetrotech Saint-Gobain. “As a partner in this project, Vetrotech played a pro-active role. We were able to count on their expertise and this helped us in the whole discussion surrounding the fire resistance classes. In addition, the dimensions of the glazing played a role, whereby Saint-Gobain almost automatically became our supplier. In addition to Contraflam Lite, there were also curved panes with silk screen printing. This Contraflam Lite Contour safety glazing is something really special and a typical Saint-Gobain product as it is one of only a few companies that can manufacture it. This glazing was employed to avoid corners in the toilet building and the porters lodge. This is a great benefit for the social safety.”

Unique combination

In the Museumpark parking garage, there is a three-floor void on two sides with a glazed ceiling and a glass void cap. This does not just allow a large amount of daylight in, but it also makes the entrances/exits easy for the pedestrians to recognise. The glazing is visually striking, much in the same way as it is from a safety aspect. The Contraflam Lite glazing used in the voids complies with the EW30 classification (stability and radiation reduction). The EW60 variant has been used along the escape routes and it too complies with EI15 class and, in doing so, meets the requirement of 15 minutes of temperature insulation. These are high scores in fire resistance, combined with transmission and escape route qualities. Rene Goossen, Account Manager Saint-Gobain Glassolutions Gevelbouw, believes first and foremost that it is the dimensions that make this project so exceptional. “These are really large panes. The Contraflam Lite has been tested for dimensions of 2300 by 3800 mm, the largest tested product that we carry in the Netherlands. In addition, there is a unique combination of qualities such as fire resistance, transmission and escape route qualities, curved forms and opaque silkscreened surface in RAL-colour 9003. All in all, a really terrific project. The installation of the curved panes cannot be done employing usual methods, because the suckers with which the pane is lifted cannot create a vacuum on a curved surface. Instead of this, a special hook system was employed that hoists the panes. A job requiring tremendous concentration, because after all it is very expensive fire resistant glass. From a technical point of view, it was a complicated project, but that is also what made it such a rewarding challenge.”

Parties involved:
Customer: Development Company Municipality of Rotterdam
Consulting engineers: Consulting engineers Public works department Rotterdam
Architects: Firm of architects Paul de Ruiter - Amsterdam
Facade constructor: Van Dool Geveltechniek
Main contractor: Strukton Civiel Projecten
Glass supplier: Saint-Gobain Glassolutions Gevelbouw
Fire-resistant glazing: Vetrotech Saint-Gobain Benelux

Fire resistant glazing employed:
•approx. 900m² Contraflam Lite 30 (class EW30)
•approx. 750m² Contraflam Lite 60 (class EW60/EI15)
•approx. 10m² Contraflam Contour 30 (class EI30/EW60) (curved)
•approx. 30m² Contraflam Lite Skylite 60 (roof glazing) (EW60)
•approx. 750m² Contraflam Lite Seralit 60 (class EW60/EI15)