Germany (Dusseldorf) | Public Buildings | noraplan^® lona

Duesseldorf Central Library: On the right track

Inlays made of nora^® rubber floors show visitors the way

Düsseldorf has a new cultural highlight: The former post office building on Konrad-Adenauer-Platz (KAP 1) has been renovated over four years to create a modern cultural and educational centre. The centrepiece is the considerably enlarged central library, which has been a visitor magnet as a place for reading, learning and communication since it opened in November 2021. It spans the second and third storeys of the building and is around 7750 square metres in size, equal to two football pitches stacked one on top of the other. The new central library invites you to relax and linger with more than 300,000 pieces of media, many comfortable seating areas, a café and a rooftop garden. The inlaid floor on the second storey is a spectacular masterpiece of almost 5000 square metres. Dark grey “rails” integrated into the light grey noraplan^® lona rubber flooring not only guide visitors to where they want to go but also reference the location of the building right by the central train station. The extraordinary floor design continues into the children’s library where a curved blue inlay in the green rubber surface symbolises the course of the river Rhine. The interior design of this area also features a reading garden and stylised climbing tree and is closely linked to the region and nature. A total of approx. 5800 square metres of the German-made, healthy and environmentally friendly rubber floors were installed in the central library.

Inlays are a central component of the design concept

“The rubber floor coverings are an important part of the interior design in the central library”, explains project manager Gabriele Ackermann from Schrammel Architekten. “Thanks to the idea of designing the inlays in the foyer as rails, the floor design not only serves as a navigation aid, but also references the wider world. The network of rails also acts as a unifying element.”

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Every department has its individual colour scheme: noraplan^® lona in a friendly green and earthy shades was installed in the adult reading areas, the youth library was fitted with brown flooring, the LibraryLab floor is red and the children’s library was given green floor coverings. The grand staircase is an absolute show-stopper. At almost five metres wide, it leads from the spacious foyer to the third floor and is fitted with rubber floor coverings in a bright and sunny yellow. The area around the atrium and the Real Labor on the third floor were also fitted with yellow flooring. In the children’s library a blue inlaid river snakes through a green meadow. This was achieved using innovative technology at the inlay centre of the Weinheim rubber specialists, where they use ultrasonic cutting systems to produce motifs, logos and lettering of all kinds with the highest precision. The endless inlay design options and dimensional stability of the rubber material mean the coverings can be installed without joints and give you almost limitless freedom of design – and not just for floors. For example, the rubber floor coverings have been used as colourful stylistic elements on the tiered seating and stage located on the third floor and in the LibraryLab.

On the right track for environmental compatibility

When renovating the central library, using environmentally friendly and healthymaterials was of vital importance for the planners, builders and users. noraplan^® rubber floor coverings, winners of the Blue Angel awards, contain no phthalate plasticisers and are extremely low in emissions, ideal conditions for excellent indoor air quality. Furthermore, all nora^® floor coverings, in line with the Carbon Neutral Floors™ programme, are CO2 -neutral over their entire lifecycle. “The environmental aspect is required and taken into account by more and more municipal procurement projects”, says Martina Hoock, nora market segment specialist for education. “We calculate our products’ carbon footprints over their entire life cycle from procurement of raw materials to production, service life and disposal. In this regard, we far surpass the conventions of other manufacturers who may advertise CO2neutrality but often limit their information on CO2 emissions to individual phases.” nora has a threefold approach to reducing the products’ CO2footprint, exactly as stipulated by the Federal Environment Agency: Our first priority is to prevent emissions in the first place. If this is not possible, we reduce the emissions produced. Lastly we offset any remaining emissions by means of emission reduction certificates

Rubber floors conserve resources and save money

The special feature of rubber is its inherent elasticity and durability. This makes it the perfect choice for educational facilities and public buildings because nora^® floor coverings are near-indestructible and retain their attractive appearance over many decades. Thanks to the density of their surface, they do not need to be coated at any time during their life cycle. “Their durability and low cost of upkeep lowers the overall lifecycle costs”, stresses Hoock. This makes rubber floors the perfect choice for municipalities that are interested in both ecology and economy

Data and facts

Owner	State Capital Düsseldorf
Contruction management	KAEFER Construction GmbH, Monheim am Rhein
Architect	Schrammel Architekten, Augsburg
Installation Year	2021
Photographer	Elmar Witt

Products

noraplan^® lona

Rubber flooring in a filigree design with contrasting colours and accents. Silk-matte surface with subtle texture and visual depth.

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