Project Description

Overview

Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) is an international airport located in Schönefeld, Germany. It is the third busiest airport in Germany serving an area of over 6 million inhabitants. The airport currently consists of the passenger terminal at the center of two runway systems. It includes maintenance areas to the west and service and cargo areas to the east. All buildings take up the linearity and orientation of the overall system and form an architectural-functional unit. Future expansion is facilitated and already planned for 2035. Construction on the airport initially began in 2006, with design by gmp Architects. 

Program

WSDG’s services were retained for the electroacoustic engineering of the principal terminal buildings.

Design

Electroacoustic computer simulation was employed to conceptualize the electroacoustic paging and emergency warning systems for the individual areas of the airport. One principal challenge was the sheer dimensions of some areas (e.g., the departure hall, with an average RT60 of 4.5 s) and other areas  connected to the hall which causes a risk of echoing interference from the open adjacent areas. In addition to the type, location and orientation of the loudspeakers, the system parameters (delay, level, alignment) were carefully studied and optimized. During the realization phase, the installation firm was supported with additional simulations to achieve the required audio quality.