1,306 square metres for building products

More room for innovative development and training at SCHOMBURG’s new “Campus” in Detmold.
“The moment the air conditioning unit started up was a particularly happy one for me” said Karsten Löck, with mixed feelings as he recalls his baptism of fire with the new multi-function “Campus” building for the Detmold manufacturer of system based construction products, SCHOMBURG at the in-house Christmas party at the beginning of January 2020. As an experienced in-house Architect and planner, he has overseen the construction activities of his employer for 20 years. However despite all this, a new build of such dimensions was not a routine project that one could take casually. Especially when the Detmold based construction products manufacturer, as a professional in this field, naturally kept a close eye on its own construction activities.
According to Architect Löck, the most noteworthy was not the sheer numbers of the building but the construction sequence itself. Three storeys, 1,306 square metres in total area, 2,808 cubic meters in volume, jam-packed with the most modern of presentation and development technology – there are considerably larger construction projects, which have been processed in Germany. But the construction in Detmold alone was something quite special due to problem solving as Löck the planner remembers: “on the day of handover the tradesmen said to me that for a long time they hadn’t seen such a calm and ordered building site”. A huge compliment for K. Löck, who from building permit in April 2018 up to completion at the end of 2019 did everything as a mediator between craftsmen and client to ensure there were no problems.
The building requirements were determined from the start. A second storey was to be built on to an existing laboratory building and a modern training centre was built with it. Rooms for the marketing department were considered early on. Speaking of thoughts: Albert Schomburg had already made the Detmold based building products specialist known worldwide and now, through the board of advisors, he was adding to the company skills. Decades earlier he had laid such large foundations for the laboratory buildings that further expansion would not be a structural problem. A new-build in another location was therefore really not an alternative.
The implementation Architect was the Detmold based Büro Merwitz with site based Andre Rohde taking over the project management. SCHOMBURG didn’t only rely on regional competency from Architects and planners. Löck: “Nearly all the tradespeople and suppliers came from the broader region – even the laboratory fit out company didn’t have to travel far”. The fact that the Detmold based company accepted no compromises on building materials, was a point of honour for all parties – the highest quality building materials from their own stock were used in each and every corner.
With such a modern building, the internal value also counts, which is shown in the sobering numbers. Heating and ventilation including control room and server took the space of a generous single apartment, special technologies were added to the laboratory for ideal testing conditions. Here it is possible to produce a climatic environment of a continuous 22 degrees Celsius in temperature and 50 percent humidity – perfect for the development of specialist adhesives for tiles and other applications.
In the modern training centre, the SCHOMBURG specialists convey practical skills and theoretical background information in association with modern product solutions for the professional user. Under one roof with breathtaking views of the Teutoburg forest, the modern seminar rooms “Skyloft” are located in which the SCHOMBURG training concept is imparted. One large seminar room can be sub-divided into many rooms, which support the most modern of interactive presentation techniques. According to Managing Director Ralph Schomburg, the new functional building is an “important basis for modern working practices and their associated growth goals.”
Not only is the new building used for training but also for company celebrations. With a compact kitchen, approximately 200 people can be well catered for, as in January 2020 at the official opening. Karsten Löck remembers this animatedly. The planner had only one ear available for Managing Director Ralph Schomburg’s opening speech. With the other ear he listened in anticipation as to whether the heating and ventilation system was fulfilling its role. It did indeed as Löck recalls. “Even as a colleague advised me that with almost 200 people on this level it was becoming a little warm, the quiet whoosh of the air conditioning kicked in”. For Löck, the man in the background, the sign that all calculations and plans had knitted together like the cogs in a clock.
Even when training was paused due to Corona, the Marketing department was able to occupy the new rooms in the new build so the building was filled with life. To the closing question, how he would describe the build in words, in-house Architect Löck found an answer without any hesitation “Rock solid, modern and rooted in the region – just like our company, SCHOMBURG“.