Ecology center “Haff Remich”

A project for a special location. Once there were fields here, later towards the end of the 1950s, the industrialization of the site started and sand was excavated here. As a consequence - in the 1970s – large areas of water developed that were gradually surrounded vegetation. Today this is a nature conservation area. In terms of content the project is addressed to young people, school classes, to all who are interested in ecological questions. It is a mix of museum and education facility that deals with questions of ecology and nature conservation using the concrete example of the region. The new information center „Biodiversum“, is an elaborate timber structure made of douglas fir. It connects by a frame structure with a grid of wooden lamellas. When two half-shells are leant against each other, this makes the building look like an upside down boat.

The building contains exhibition areas on three floors: basement, ground and first floor. The visitor enters the „longhouse“ on the ground floor where he is welcomed at the reception desk. From here, the tour starts with the five big topics of the exhibition: Ecology, ancient history, winegrowing, touring exhibitions and the nature reserve in the tripoint of LuxembourgGermanyFrance, on the Moselle. Two straight staircases lead down or upstairs, accompanied by a disability friendly elevator. The basement is also accessible from the outside via the landing stage, which is also an escape route. The floor plan of the reception center widens itself conical over a length of about 60m. The landfacing, smaller front forms the entrance and measures about 13,50m width. The water facing front measures 17m. The ridge also runs at an angle and falls down from seaside‘s 15m to the entrance‘s 8m. The beveled gables of the structure are completely glazed with vertical windows. Along with the 15 averted triangle dormers in the bent building shell they provide daylight inside. The office building, with an isolated flat roof, is a timber structure.

The Longhouse, including the office, is designed to be a wooden structure built on a ferroconcrete sub construction consisting of a base plate and a partial „basement“. In the first section of the building the main frame is made of laminated wood frames (Douglas fir), set in a raster of 7,20m and stands on the ferroconcrete ceiling. In the other half, galleries with generous airspace is created by two per-floor resting, laminated wood frames. They connect to the half frames, supports, beams, crossbeams and also to the upper transom of the portal frame. Together, these components form a spatial frame. Thereupon, sit board stacks, which are stretched from frame to frame, half frame to half frame and are connected to the ceilings. The form of the Longhouse is created by two bent, wooden shells leaning against each other. Its planked grid works as a plane, load-bearing structure. The heating is a prototype specially developed for this building. Water heat pump extracts energy from the lake.