SPIE Belgium has been entrusted with the HVAC installations in the new Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp.
Thanks to an ingenious and innovative ventilation system, this new hall will be among the most sophisticated in the world in terms of acoustics. The new ‘Elisabeth Center Antwerp’ is to open its doors in November 2016. Equipped with the most sophisticated equipment, this concert and convention hall, with 25,000 m² floor space and a capacity of 2,500 people, was designed to attract international artists and conventions. SPIE Belgium is taking part in this assignment on behalf of the Willemen/Heymans consortium. Particularly seasoned in this type of worksites, it boasts in particular the Utrecht concert hall by way of reference. The air conditioning expertise of SPIE Belgium was appreciated from the outset of the operation: SPIE in fact reworked the basic characteristics defined by the engineering firm by placing strong emphasis on energy conservation. The acoustics must be perfect in this new temple of music. A worksite “placed under silence,” since the ventilation must not generate any noise. Three specialists in this field combined forces to guarantee a flawless result: the first, assigned by the architectural firm IAN Simpson (Manchester) and by Kirkegaard Associates (Chicago), the second by the acoustics firm TVH Royalhaskoningdvh and the third by SPIE. “We were able to make the difference, particularly in terms of ventilation and soundproofing,” explains the Senior Project Managers Jo Maes and Guy Vanuytven.
“For the new Elisabeth hall to be free of all sound nuisance, we installed a separate venting grid under each of the 2,500 seats. The air will be injected and distributed uniformly among the seats at a very reduced speed to avoid draughts, through eight ventilation units situated in a plenum under the floor of the hall. The walls are also provided by an optimal buffering device.”
The HVAC part must be finished by the end of the summer and the new complex is to be inaugurated in November.
Jo Maes is particularly delighted with the contribution of SPIE Belgium to the new “Elisabeth Center Antwerp” complex: “Cooperation with the project owner and the final client is unfolding under optimal conditions. Our innovative approach to air conditioning and energy conservation is particularly appreciated by our partners. This project constitutes an enormous challenge for SPIE Belgium, but also a fine reference: a concert hall recognized at world level,” Jo Maes concludes.
