Form follows beam: FAIR Accelerator Facility

On June 2 and June 3 at the 18th Laborrunde Symposium in Berlin, once again everything will revolve around laboratory buildings. On the first day of the conference at 12:55, Kai Otto, partner at schneider+schumacher, and Andreas Schneider, authorized signatory at DGI Bauwerk, will report on the planning and construction of the FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) particle accelerator. In addition to what lies at the heart of the facility – namely an underground ring accelerator with a circumference of almost 1100 metres – a further 20 buildings for accelerators and experimental work, plus laboratories, are under construction on the mega construction site in Darmstadt. The ion42 consortium – consisting of the architectural offices at both DGI Bauwerk and schneider+schumacher – are responsible for the planning and realisation of this project.

Most of the facility lies underground and later only about 30 per cent of the accelerator centre will be visible. The slogan “Form follows beam” was the guiding design principle at the planning stage, whereby the buildings above ground trace the beam path below, and are designed as part of a flowing movement. A further design element is the surface of the facade, which symbolises the intensity of the beam underground.

For the complete conference programme and registration details, please visit www.laborrunde.de.