Thyssen Raum der Stille

Free floating
The new ThyssenKrupp headquarter is the workplace for more than 2,000 employees and the new heart of the company. The modern, transparent architecture stands for dialogue and knowledge exchange. With the interdenominational "Room of Silence", the Group offers its employees and visitors a place of inner contemplation rare in today's office environments.

The architects from JSWD, Cologne, and Chaix & Morel, Paris, deliberately dispensed with a prominent geometry in their planning. The outwardly inconspicuous room is thus discreetly integrated into the adjacent sequence of conference rooms in the Q2 Forum. It is the view inside that makes this "room of silence" so absolutely spectacular. Here, in the 135 m² and 7 m high main room, a large cube open at the bottom seems to float freely in the room. Completely without ground contact and in the ceiling area exempted by a circulating skylight. This floating cube centers the entire room unit. Inside, an animated light ceiling effectively immerses the wall cladding of hundreds of finger-shaped titanium shingles in blue light, further enhancing the floating character of the cube.

Skill on a large surface
In addition to the pure language of form, the architects were particularly interested in an appropriate choice of materials when designing the "Room of Silence". All walls, the ceiling, the outer cube and the floor are covered with just one material. ARDEX PANDOMO was used, a monolithic system for seamless, individual surface design. The result was a room that seemed to be cast from a single mould in a clear, minimalist design. Its jointless surface appears generous and intensifies the formative spatial experience.

The implementation on walls and ceilings required a lot of experience and some manual skills from the stucco plasterers of the company Heinz Vorwerk from Warendorf. The special challenge: Despite the not quite simple working conditions, the Warendorf professionals had to guarantee an absolutely consistent appearance with uniform colour heel on all surfaces.

In the first step, these surfaces were first plastered, filled twice and then sanded. Based on this, dimensionally stable Rapidfleece was laid to create smooth, even and hard-wearing surfaces. On the carefully prepared surface, the final coat was applied with ARDEX PANDOMO W1, a versatile cement-based decorative spatula, which impresses with its elegant, silky surface gloss as well as its high strength.

First, the original white putty was precisely mixed in the light cream shade specified by the planners and then applied surface by surface. Always fresh in fresh, so that there are no visible beginnings. In practice, this decorative putty proved to be easy and quick to apply. After curing, the surfaces were ground in two passes, polished and finally sealed with PANDOMO stone oil. The surfaces are also impregnated to repel dirt and liquids. The polish produced the desired matt, shiny, homogeneous surfaces with a stone look. Even the formation of shadow joints was possible without any problems. The specialists from Otto Aman, the company that laid the screed, used ARDEX PANDOMO Floor and PANDOMO Loft to ensure a continuous connection in the system to the floor. Layed seamlessly on 135 m², the floor gives the impression of a grown stone slab. The equal treatment of all surfaces resulted in a floor, wall and ceiling with the same look. A space continuum as a unique design concept.

JSWD Architekten, Köln, mit Chaix & Morel et associès, Paris

Heinz Vorwerk GmbH
Warendorf
www.vorwerk-putz.de

Otto Aman GmbH & Co.KG
www.estrich-aman.de

ThyssenKrupp AG, Essen
vertreten durch ThyssenKrupp Real Estate