Shopping and surfing

The water challenge

The ingenuity of the planners was put to the test at the start of the construction works at the beginning of 2016. The high water table of the old Hase River's course led to major problems in the excavation pit. The excavation works were always full of ground water – their deepest point extending to nine meters below sea level. In the end, the solution required sheet pile walls for sealing, the concreting of which even had to be undertaken by specially trained professional divers.

Creativity was also needed to get the six pumps (that make the wave form in the pool water) down to the second basement level. A crane lowered them through the wide light shaft from the ground floor down to the basement. Finally, the “finished” wave brought some unusual challenges. “We had to find the right water temperature so that as little moisture as possible was created in the shop over the long term – and we had to consider the noise levels of the turbines,” recalls Lutz Brinkmann.

Early discussions 

When it came to the list of services, civil engineer Timo Heeger from engineering firm Kornhage+Schubert in Wallenhorst, Germany met with Technical Advisor Joachim Klimke from Brillux at an early stage. Together, they sought out color shades and materials for the walls, floors, and ceilings. The huge contiguous surfaces, particularly in the ceiling areas, are exposed to a variety of lighting situations during the course of a normal shopping day, as well as being viewed from different angles. “Here we had to find a wall and ceiling coating that we could apply without creating any streaks and that would create an untextured surface,” remembers Joachim Klimke. As the wall surfaces are largely covered by shelves and stands of products, the choice of color ended up being a light gray that created an unobtrusive backdrop to show off the range. Highlights are set by fine, diagonally positioned golden stripes in the sneakers area, which subtly resemble shoelaces. These strips are a deliberate design feature in the elevator area.

A cold, wet November

Typical November weather made Foreman Ansgar Melcher and his team at Gering Painting Contractors tackle the interior work: It was simply too cold. “The facade was still open, the windows were missing. The rubber flooring, which we were supposed to lay in the sales area, meant we had to have temperatures of at least 15 degrees Celsius,” recalls Melcher. But thanks to the use of electric ovens and covers over the openings in the walls, this minimum temperature was finally achieved. Up to 23 employees a day performed all the ceiling and wall work, in addition to the flooring. “In order to comply with the four-month deadline, we even worked through the Christmas vacation,” says Angsar Melcher. “This project is absolutely unique for our company. For me personally it has been very special to be the foreman here.”