Intelligent Quarters

High protection for high-rises

Innovative vertical and horizonal fire protection for three high-rise buildings

Intelligent Quarters is in the middle of Hamburg’s HafenCity on the banks of the river Elbe. It is comprised of a 70-metre office tower and two adjoining buildings of 46 apartments, all with restaurants, cafes and shops on ground floors.

Architects Störmer Murphy and Partners decided that the connecting element for the three structures should be an identical contemporary façade using non-combustible stone wool, as fire safety was the key requirement for a busy, mixed-use high-rise building.

Due to the height of the buildings, approximately 1,000 metres of fire barriers had to be installed horizontally on the façade and vertically around the staircase cores to meet fire regulations. Since the façade was ventilated, the architect chose Fixrock: the innovative ROCKWOOL stone wool fire barrier system which retains air flow while giving maximum fire protection as it withstands temperatures above 1000oC.

Compared to traditional steel sheets, this solution was much easier and faster to fix: the insulation was lightweight, simple to cut and could be used to meet different fire wall thickness requirements.

Thanks to the use of A1 fire rated stone wool, the construction of the office and residential buildings of Intelligent Quarters now provides maximum safety and fire protection for workers and residents, for the lifetime of the building. Intelligent Quarters now also meets the requirements for a German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) certificate.

Project Data