Intelligent escape-door control system assures undisturbed musical pleasure at the Elbphilharmonie

• Object: Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg
• Branch: Recreation and culture
• effeff components: Escape door control unit
• Purchaser: HOCHTIEF
• ASSA ABLOY partner: AZS System AG

Challenge:

The building of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg is located on a historically important site in Sandtorhafen. The largest warehouse of its day in the Hamburg Harbour was built here in 1875, the Kaiserspeicher. With the rise in container transport, Quayside Warehouse A lost its importance in the 1990s and ultimately stood empty. In 2003 the initial sketch was drawn for a new concert hall on the roof of the old quayside warehouse. In April 2007 the foundation was laid and the building finally opened in January 2017. The Elbphilharmonie houses three concert halls, a music education centre, restaurant, hotel and the public plaza that offers visitors a unique panoramic view of the entire city.

Spectacular architecture, musical diversity, openness and accessibility for all - this requires a high level of security and reliable security systems. Among other things, a solution was needed for the escape routes that could be integrated without further complication into the already planned electronic access control system of the company AZY.

Solution:

As the best solution, the effeff escape-door control system model 1385 of the ASSA ABLOY Group was used. The life-saving escape doors can be monitored at all times by the Elbphilharmonie security personnel with the implemented Access 3010 electronic access control system. The many hundreds of escape door systems are each activated by an illuminated emergency button, the door is opened immediately and an alarm is triggered, alerting the entire building to the threat. At the same time, notification that an escape door has been opened is sent to the electronic access control system. The security personnel know exactly which door was opened and can locate the danger point or suppress false alarms, if necessary.

A threat could be a fire inside the building. It is often not the fire itself that ends up claiming human lives, but the smoke and panic which the fire causes. In these situations it is necessary to ensure that there is an adequate number of available escape doors that open outwards and can be opened easily without any prior knowledge of their method of operation.