MONTBLANC HAUS: Architectural Art for the Art of Writing
13th Rigips Trophy 2021 I 2023: Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co KG Dortmund awarded the golden trophy for outstanding interior construction
At the MONTBLANC HAUS in Hamburg, visitors can explore an extraordinary exhibition dedicated to writing, handwriting and fountain pens. The building itself is a sight to behold: measuring around 100 metres in length, the structure's black façade features a relief-like silhouette of the Mont Blanc massif, evoking the historical shape of the casing of legendary Montblanc writing instruments. This stands in direct contrast to the radiant white of the 3,600-square-metre interior. The interior design focuses on the meticulous craftsmanship required to meet the building's high architectural standards, incorporating complex spatial intersections, "floating" staircases, a vaulted acoustic ceiling and exceptional surface finishes. The challenging interior construction was completed by Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co. KG, Dortmund, which was awarded first place in the Rigips Trophy 2021 | 2023 for its performance.
Measuring approximately 100 metres in length and just 15 metres in depth, the building reflects the historical shape of a Montblanc writing instrument casing. Its black, exposed concrete façade impressively showcases the relief-like silhouette of the Mont Blanc massif. A cantilever spanning up to five metres extends across the entire front of the building. Photos: Roland Halbe Photography
Since May last year, the doors of the Montblanc Haus have been open to visitors from all over the world. Spanning 3,600 square metres, the manufacturer of handcrafted, high-quality writing instruments offers an extraordinary brand experience, providing deep insights into the company’s history and traditional craftsmanship, as well as countless inspiring and informative details from the world of writing.
Sealing the rear walls of the archive room presented a particular challenge due to the proximity of the parallel plastered raw wall, which was only 67 cm away at all points up to the height of the skylight bands. Special scaffolding was required to install the heavy Rigips Habito drywall boards. Due to daylight entering through the skylight bands and the open space extending to the ground floor, there was a high risk of streaking. The surface filling required to achieve Q4 quality had to be carried out with the utmost care. Photo: Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co KG Dortmund Photo: Roland Halbe Photography
The archive room "floats" 15 metres above the ground, suspended over the foyer like a cube. It contains historical treasures, including more than 4,000 historical writing instruments, handwritten notes from notable figures, patents and design sketches. The underside of the archive room has been designed as a vaulted acoustic ceiling with a circular cut-out. Its substructure comprises almost 100 square metres of prefabricated Rigips ceiling profiles and is designed to support the weight of horizontal light channels, as well as the final acoustic coating. Photos: Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co KG Dortmund
Mountain relief made of black exposed concrete elements
Designed by the internationally renowned Spanish-German architectural firm Nieto Sobejano, the new building is located on the company’s premises in the western part of Hamburg, directly adjacent to the headquarters and manufacturing facility of Montblanc. The design is inspired by the company’s history, which began in Germany in 1906. The building, which is approximately 100 metres long and only about 15 metres deep, reflects the historical shape of the casing of a Montblanc writing instrument. Its façade, clad in black exposed concrete elements, impressively showcases the relief-like silhouette of the Mont Blanc massif. A cantilever with spans of up to five metres extends across the entire front of the building.
The interior specialists constructed the dome, which is mounted below the freely hanging archive, as a skirt structure with horizontal light channels made of 2 x 12.5 mm thick prefabricated Rigips construction boards. Additionally, a circular cut-out with a diameter of 2.2 metres and upstands, also made of pre-cut Rigips construction boards, was integrated into the vaulted acoustic ceiling. This cut-out is used for installing indirect lighting and mounting an additional design object. Photo: Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co KG Dortmund
The highest demands on the entire interior construction
"Montblanc is a globally renowned brand with the highest quality standards. These standards also applied to this construction project", explains Steven Stenzel, Managing Director of Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co. KG in Dortmund, who was responsible for the drywall and complete interior construction of the unique building. "When manufacturing a Montblanc nib, tolerances are measured in hundredths of a millimetre, and the demands for precision and quality in our work were similarly high. One key requirement, for example, was to ensure that the interior was completely white in contrast to the façade. To achieve this, the surface finish had to be of a quality level practically higher than Q4." The interior construction team was significantly aided in the surface treatment process by Rigips Die Weiße, a special gypsum board with an exceptionally white surface. It was used as the second layer of cladding on all ceilings and walls.
In addition to the expected surface quality, all drywall constructions had to comply fully with the planning specifications. This was the only way to achieve the highly complex spatial intersections and the desired linear aesthetics. Accordingly, the detailed discussions with the architects at PLAN FORWARD GmbH, who were responsible for the execution planning under the supervision of Nieto Sobejano, were very thorough. PLAN FORWARD GmbH is a subsidiary of Wolf Gruppe Holding GmbH, with whom Jaeger Ausbau has successfully completed several renowned museum projects.
The massive concrete staircase, which is made up of preformed prefabricated parts, leads from the ground floor to the first floor. It is unique primarily due to its freeform design and the high-quality balustrade cladding made of metal profiles and gypsum boards. The undersides have also been elaborately clad and finished to the highest Q4 surface quality. Photos: Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co KG Dortmund
Freely suspended cube at a height of 15 meters
The entrance to the building, which contains a permanent exhibition, a café, a boutique, an archive and a writing studio, as well as modern training and meeting facilities, is via an elongated glass front on the ground floor. This leads directly into a centrally located, eight-metre-high foyer extending from the ground to the second floor. Highlights include an elegantly understated staircase leading to the first floor and a cube suspended 15 metres above the foyer, which appears to "float" with a vaulted underside designed as an acoustic ceiling with a circular cut-out. The cube's substructure consists of almost 100 square metres of Rigips ceiling profiles and is designed to support the weight of horizontal light channels, as well as the final acoustic coating. The cube serves as the archive room, the 'heart' of the building. The collection includes more than 4,000 historical writing instruments, handwritten notes from notable figures, patents and design sketches. To protect these valuable documents, the archive has been designed to be highly secure against break-ins.
The black colour scheme of the exterior contrasts directly with the radiant white of the 3,600-square-metre interior. The interior construction focused on the meticulous craftsmanship required to meet high architectural standards, including complex spatial intersections and achieving the highest surface quality. Photo: Roland Halbe Photography
Surface treatment in tight spaces
The archive room was constructed with single stud walls according to DIN 4103, based on the Rigips System EW12HA, with a thickness of 150 mm and four layers of cladding (two 12.5 mm layers on each side) using the Rigips Habito drywall board, characterised by its high surface hardness, strong resistance to mechanical stress and excellent sound and fire protection properties. The robust board provides highly effective break-in protection in resistance class RC3.
Sealing the rear sides of the archive room presented a particular challenge for the construction team. "The distance to the parallel plastered raw wall was only 67 cm at every point up to the height of the skylight bands. This lack of space made installing Rigips Habito extremely difficult and required special scaffolding. Additionally, the daylight entering through the skylight bands and the open space extending to the ground floor posed a high risk of streaking”, says project manager Bernd Dörre. "The surface filling to the required Q4 standard had to be carried out with the utmost care." The construction professionals achieved perfect results using the easy-to-process Rigips VARIO joint filler and the ready-to-use, highly refined Rigips ProMix Plus fine filler.
Photos: Roland Halbe Photography
Freely "floating" staircase and vaulted acoustic ceiling
The vaulted ceiling, located at first-floor level below the freely hanging archive, was constructed by Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co. KG, Dortmund, as a skirt structure incorporating horizontal light channels made from 2 x 12.5 mm thick Rigips RB construction boards. Additionally, they integrated a circular cutout with a diameter of 2.2 metres and upstands, also made of pre-cut Rigips construction boards, into the vaulted acoustic ceiling. This cut-out is intended for the installation of indirect lighting and the mounting of an additional design feature. The ceiling surface was covered with 70 mm-thick acoustic boards and subsequently coated with 3–3.5 mm-thick acoustic plaster.
A paper-folded letter mobile by French artist Marianne Guély was hung at the centre of the vaulted ceiling. This delicate artwork complements the extraordinary overall impression created by the imposing vaulted ceiling and the massive, sculptural concrete staircase. The uniqueness of the staircase, which was constructed from prefabricated parts, lies primarily in its free form and the high-quality balustrade cladding made of metal profiles and gypsum boards. The undersides were also elaborately clad and finished to the highest Q4 surface quality.
Photos: Roland Halbe Photography
Partition walls and facing shells
The partition walls within the building were predominantly constructed as 125 mm-thick single-stud walls (F30) or 155 mm-thick double-stud walls (F30), clad with two layers of 12.5 mm-thick Rigips RB/RBi construction boards. Where higher fire protection requirements existed, the construction was carried out to F90 standards, with a two-layer cladding of 12.5 mm-thick Rigips fire protection boards (RF/RFi). These boards are particularly suitable for fire protection constructions due to their fibre-reinforced gypsum core and closed surface.
The ceilings' substructure consists predominantly of CD ceiling profiles, double-clad with 12.5 mm Rigips construction boards. The construction team installed several 400 x 400 mm inspection hatches with a double layer of 12.5 mm impregnated gypsum boards in the walls and ceilings. The interior insulation of the exterior walls was achieved using freestanding facing shells with a 120 mm wall thickness, double-clad with 12.5 mm Rigips construction boards RB, and containing a 40 mm thick mineral wool insert made of ISOVER ULTIMATE TP 1.
The jury’s verdict
The drywall and architectural experts of the jury awarded Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co KG Dortmund first place in the Rigips Trophy 2021 | 2023 for this technically demanding interior construction, which fully served the architectural vision. The visually striking design and elegant wall and ceiling surfaces create exciting spatial experiences. According to the jury, the MONTBLANC HAUS exemplifies the advantages that modern drywall construction offers, particularly for cultural buildings.
Construction details:
Client: Montblanc-Simplo GmbH, Hamburg
Architect: Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, Berlin / Madrid
Executing architects: Plan Forward GmbH, Stuttgart
Drywall construction: Jaeger Ausbau GmbH + Co KG Dortmund
Rigips Regional Manager: Udo Struensee, SAINT-GOBAIN RIGIPS GmbH
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