New research building ZELUBA
The “Centre for Lightweight and Environmentally Friendly Buildings ZELUBA” was built on the TU Braunschweig campus – in the immediate vicinity of the university’s institutes for building sciences. In June 2021, researchers from the Fraunhofer WKI are moving into the new building, where they will work on developing sustainable lightweight buildings for the construction industry – in a future-oriented building. Timber in particular will be employed as a structural, sustainable building material. The building too reflects the principles of lightweight and environmentally friendly construction methods. Here renewable raw materials have been used, offering the advantages of lower carbon dioxide emissions, reduced weight, and energy for transport.
In a joint venture, DGI Bauwerk and schneider+schumacher have planned and implemented a new building consisting of three elements. Slightly offset from each other, together they create a generous forecourt. With a floor area of 1,700m2, ZELUBA comprises 39 workspaces, laboratories that are highly sensitive to vibrations, a seminar room and a testing hall with an earthquake test stand – unique in Europe. The hall and the office-laboratory block are accessed via a single-story structure. As a reinforced concrete structure, this linking structure acts simultaneously as an accessible firewall, an entrance foyer and a seminar room. It separates, distributes and connects – and functions too as a place for communication. On the street frontage the largely open hall offers people glimpses of the research work within.