Timber construction meets drywall construction
St. Hippolytus daycare centre relies on healthy building materials and needs‑based architecture
The St. Hippolytus daycare centre in Troisdorf is a great example of healthy and needs-oriented construction with timber and plaster. The building was completed in a few months because most of it was already assembled in advance. It is one storey high and made of timber. It offers 870 square metres of space. The construction company J. Brinkmann GmbH played a significant role in the success of the project. The project was designed by the Stuttgart architectural office ATELIER BRÜCKNER. J. Brinkmann GmbH was responsible for the high-quality interior work in the daycare facility, which has lots of natural light and very few right angles. The 12th Rigips Trophy 2019|2020 jury honoured the company's outstanding achievement by awarding it the Special Prize for Timber Construction. This was the first time this had happened in the competition's history.
The elongated, bluntly angled St. Hippolytus daycare centre (left) is part of a newly built ensemble that also includes the adjacent church and a new parish centre. To visually and acoustically separate the daycare centre, its southern exterior wall, which sits directly on the development boundary, was fitted with a larch wood slat façade and designed as a noise barrier.
Photos: Daniel Stauch
If you place particular emphasis on sustainability and a pleasant room atmosphere when planning and building, you have all the advantages on your side with the combination of wood and plaster. These natural building materials meet the highest standards of comfort, safety, and creative freedom. The St. Hippolytus daycare center thus became a visually and acoustically perfectly designed building, fully meeting both the educational concept of the facility and the needs and requirements of its young visitors.
Wood and light define architecture and atmosphere
One of the key challenges in designing the single-storey, elongated daycare centre, which forms part of a complex including an adjacent church and a new parish centre, was its proximity to a busy federal road and railway track. To create visual and acoustic separation, the southern exterior wall of the daycare centre, which is located directly on the development boundary, was fitted with a larch wood slat façade designed to act as a noise barrier. Inside, this design language is continued with slat-like wooden wall coverings in many places. The warm beech wood plays a key role in creating a welcoming atmosphere, as does the plentiful daylight that streams in through the generous glass doors, windows and skylight strips. The corridor design is particularly striking, acting as an elongated axis of movement through the entire building. The auxiliary rooms situated along the protective exterior wall and the three group rooms to the north can be accessed from here. These rooms face a 6,500-square-metre outdoor area with a park and play spaces.
The curved wall in the bluntly angled area of the daycare centre has an internal radius of about 950 to 1,000 mm. It was clad with the flexible specialized plasterboard Rigips GK-Form 6 on a substructure made of RigiProfil MultiTec UW 50/75/100.
Photo: Bauunternehmung J. Brinkmann GmbH / Behrendt & Rausch
Perfect interior finishing in the shortest time
With over 50 years of experience as a specialist in drywall and acoustics, focusing on function, design and professional execution, Bauunternehmung J. Brinkmann GmbH was the ideal partner for the interior finishing. The company, based in the western Ruhr area, impressed with its rapid completion, targeted special constructions and extensive expertise in sound insulation. "We worked with a building that, apart from all its other location- or architecture-related special features, had hardly any right-angled rooms", explains Peter Brinkmann, J. Brinkmann GmbH's Managing Director. "Including filling all ceilings and walls to Q3 quality, we still only needed just under four months for the interior work."
A special construction was needed for separating the three group rooms from the corridor. The drywall team created a freestanding, half-height wall with a span of seven meters and a glass skylight above each.
Photo: Bauunternehmung J. Brinkmann GmbH / Behrendt & Rausch
Perforated plasterboards for the best acoustics and air quality
The entrance area and the elongated corridor that followed it presented the specialists with their first unique feature. This section of the trapezoid-shaped corridor is 1.80 metres wide and was to be fitted with an acoustic ceiling. As it continued, its width increased to 2.50 metres. "Additionally, the ceiling construction involved a five per cent incline and several cut-outs for built-in lights. To suspend the ceiling, Nonius suspension hangers were first attached directly to the timber beam structure. The CW and UW profiles were then clad with the acoustically effective perforated Rigitone Activ'Air 8/18Q plasterboard, which has a laminated acoustic fleece fitted to the reverse and contributes to healthier indoor air", says Peter Brinkmann. Thanks to its unique air purification technology, the RIGIPS acoustic board reduces the concentration of indoor air pollutants such as formaldehyde by up to 60 per cent — an outstanding feature, especially in rooms where children play.
The construction of the partition walls consists of four steel columns and a continuous steel beam, which was attached to the wall with telescopic connectors. CW and UW profiles could then be directly attached to the steel beam and columns. This enabled a total load-bearing capacity of 50 kg. Finally, the walls throughout the building were filled to Q3 quality.
Photos: Bauunternehmung J. Brinkmann GmbH / Behrendt & Rausch
Internal radius of about 950 to 1000 mm
To clad the curved wall in the bluntly angled area of the daycare centre, the finishing professionals used the specialised plasterboard Rigips GK-Form 6 on a substructure of RigiProfil MultiTec UW 50/75/100. “The wall has an internal radius of about 950 to 1000 mm. What would have required enormous effort with conventional methods, we were able to complete optimally and quickly with the flexible Rigips GK-Form,” says Peter Brinkmann. With a thickness of only 6 mm, the pre-moistened board allows bending radii of ≥ 300 mm, with dry boards ≥ 600 mm. Its tapered edges also make processing especially easy. For the connections, the professionals used the secure, one-sided self-adhesive Rigips sealing felt.
Like an elongated axis of movement, the corridor runs through the entire building. From here, both the auxiliary rooms along the sound-insulating exterior wall and the three group rooms to the north, oriented toward a 6,500 square meter outdoor area with park and playing spaces, can be accessed.
Photos: Daniel Stauch
Special construction for freestanding walls with skylight
A special construction was required for separating the three group rooms from the corridor. Here, each should have a freestanding, half-height wall with a glass skylight above. Planning and structural calculation were undertaken directly by the Bauunternehmung J. Brinkmann GmbH. “We chose a structure with four steel columns and a continuous steel beam, attached to the wall with telescopic connectors. CW and UW profiles were then attached directly to the steel beam and columns, achieving a total load-bearing capacity of 50 kg,” explains Peter Brinkmann. Finally, here too the walls were filled to Q3 quality.
To ensure optimal sound insulation in the group rooms—where the children also use them as quiet areas—the timber stud walls were clad on Rigips hat-channel rails (27 mm) with a double layer of Rigips RB construction boards (2 x 12.5 mm).
The interplay of wood, plaster, and light creates a pleasant atmosphere in all rooms of the St. Hippolytus daycare centre.
Photos: Daniel Stauch
Multiple award-winning performance
The total cost for building the new daycare centre was 2.5 million euros, with 170,000 euros allocated to drywall. That this investment was more than worthwhile is demonstrated by two prestigious awards: The state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Chamber of Architects NRW honored the new building and ATELIER BRÜCKNER with the “Daycare Architecture Award NRW 2020” and praised the “consistently high urban and design quality of the building, manifesting itself in exciting spatial sequences, a high degree of detail with deliberately used materials, and the alignment with the educational concept.”
The importance of the dry interior finishing for this success was highlighted by the 12th Rigips Trophy 2019|2020: The jury rewarded Bauunternehmung J. Brinkmann GmbH for its outstanding achievement with the Special Prize for Timber Construction, awarded for the first time.
In many places inside the daycare centre, the external slat façade of beech wood is thematically continued by slat-like wood cladding on the walls.
Photos: Daniel Stauch
Project board
Client: Catholic Parish Association Troisdorf
Planning: ATELIER BRÜCKNER, Stuttgart
Finishing Contractor: Bauunternehmung J. Brinkmann GmbH, Oberhausen
Drywall Systems Consultant: Martin Heinz, Saint-Gobain Rigips GmbH
This is an excellent example of healthy, needs-oriented construction using wood and plaster. Thanks to a high degree of prefabrication, the single-storey daycare centre, which was built using a timber frame and offers 870 square metres of usable space, was completely finished in just four months.
Photos: Daniel Stauch
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