WDL airship hangar: ‘This building is unique’  

It can. If it uses the right materials. And it can even look really good.

Although this formulation does not do justice to the simple aesthetics of the 92 metre long, silver oval on the green expanse of the airport site: Like the vaulted ribs of a whale, the 15 articulated arches of the supporting structure span a whopping 42 metres above the heads of the guests. The highest point of the new hangar measures a proud 26 metres. Just below it, the airship Theo appears to be ‘stuck’ directly under the structure.

To the west, a four-metre-high glass gap provides a view of the tarmac. It smells of forest. Apart from a few steel bearing points, this hall structure is made entirely of wood. More precisely: 557 tonnes of spruce wood. Renewable and recyclable. A wooden cathedral with an area of 3,500 square metres. The shell was built in just eleven weeks starting in summer 2022. Normal construction projects work differently. 

The demands placed on the new airship hall on Lilienthalstraße in Mülheim, which also functions as an event hall for up to 1,500 people, were indeed high from the outset. From the dimensions, the tight construction schedule and the striking design to the fundamental requirement to adhere to the principles of the circular economy.

As project manager Dipl.-Ing. Lars Römling for the client, Westdeutsche Luftwerbung Theodor Wüllenkemper GmbH & Co. KG - the WDL Group for short, explains: ‘Circular construction was an important part of the brief.’

Not an easy target. The planners, however, have gone all out and set themselves the target of achieving gold standard certification from the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). A claim that is linked to a thick catalogue of measures.

Structural engineer Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Wiesenkämper explains, ‘the gold standard includes criteria such as outstanding architecture, efficient use of drinking water, accessibility and sustainability, or, in other words, the question: How long can I use this building? It's not about buildings that nobody will want in 20 years' time.’ If you follow the logic of the circular economy, the premise ‘built to last’ applies. 

This claim was taken up in several ways: through the use, or ‘re-use’, of existing materials and through the possibility of being able to utilise individual components in the future.

This forward-looking approach also required a return to old craftsmanship techniques, as the timber framework is actually mortised with wood across 592 joints.

The usual approach - working with steel plates and steel pins - would have had a significant impact on the new building's carbon footprint and would have made it more difficult to separate the timber by type at a later date. ‘We therefore orientated ourselves on the construction method of old half-timbered houses. The supporting structure can therefore be completely dismantled which is something that hasn't been done on this scale anywhere else. This structure is unique,’ says Römling. 
 

Numerous other measures also contribute to the underlying circular concept: the former foundations, three in total, were broken up on site and used as a substructure for the new floor. This eliminated the need for transportation of waste for disposal and the delivery of new materials

Furthermore, no additional areas were paved over, the new hangar was built on the exact footprint of its predecessor. A sustainable solution was found for the hangar floor itself as well - instead of pouring concrete over an area the size of a football pitch, the planners used existing concrete slabs from the closure of a logistics centre in Mülheim. Römling: ‘They were not sandblasted, but installed as they came, meaning they didn't always match up perfectly and still had the old road markings.

With the ‘silverback’, a worthy successor seems to have been found for the ‘green caterpillar’, which was a landmark that characterised the image of the Ruhr metropolis for many years.

And airship travel will also remain alive at Essen/Mülheim Airport in the future, even if ‘Theo’ is already retired: the German Zeppelin shipping company has already rented the hangar space next to the old blimp - as a parking space for the Zeppelin NT.

Because this is also clear: ‘The hangar is first and foremost an airship hangar and only secondarily an event hall,’ assures Römling. The building succeeds in this balancing act just as well as it does in its role as a wooden cathedral and modern shipyard.

Text: Redaktionsbüro Schacht11  
Pictures: WDL, Stefan Lamberty