{"id":14116,"date":"2020-03-12T12:30:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T11:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=14116"},"modified":"2025-12-01T14:33:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T13:33:39","slug":"concert-hall-music-school-latvija-ventspils-with-ebm-papst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/concert-hall-music-school-latvija-ventspils-with-ebm-papst_14116\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen to the music"},"content":{"rendered":"

With its geometric shapes, the concert hall resem\u00adbles a space ship. (Photo: Adam M\u00f8rk)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

The building looks like a space\u00adship that has just landed, in a green oasis near the Baltic Sea shore. An imposing plaza extends in front of the nearly 7000-square-meter struc\u00adture composed of oblique angles and expanses of glass. The \u201cLatvia\u201d concert hall, which opened in July 2019 along with a music school and music library in Ventspils, Latvia, is a visual treat \u2013 and not just from the outside.<\/p>\n

Anyone who crosses the threshold of this concert hall, which cost approx\u00adi\u00admately EUR 31 million, and makes their way into the larger of the two halls \u2013 the larger one holds about 600, the smaller about 150 people \u2013 will be amazed. Lamps remi\u00adnis\u00adcent of manta rays float high above people\u2019s heads, elegant wooden ribs surround the view of the stage. The concert hall houses Latvia\u2019s only public music library, a unique acoustic organ built by the German Johannes Klais, and what is prob\u00adably the world\u2019s largest piano. The piano, which weighs 800 kg and is four and a half meters tall, is suspended on the wall three meters above the ground and is only acces\u00adsible via a wooden stairway.<\/p>\n

Library, school, and music studio<\/h2>\n

If after an event in the concert hall you have become curious about new music, you should take a look at the music library next door. With an area of more than 150 square meters, it offers edifi\u00adca\u00adtion to students of the music school and it is also open to the public. Among other things, it houses an acousti\u00adcally dense room including screen for very special music expe\u00adri\u00adences, as well as a sound studio for recording.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLatvija\u2019s\u201d large audi\u00adto\u00adrium seats 600 people. (Photo: Lauris Aizupi\u00adetis)<\/p><\/div>\n

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The building cost 31 million euros and is sure to impress. (Photo: Adam M\u00f8rk)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Its look was created by Stuttgart-based archi\u00adtects haas\u00adcook-zemm\u00adrich. (Photo: Lauris Aizupi\u00adetis)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cNo day is like another\u201d<\/h2>\n

This musical wonder\u00adland is the work\u00adplace of Edgars \u0160ifers. He started his job as tech\u00adnical director there in August, after the concert hall was completed. Previ\u00adously, he worked as an IT system admin\u00adis\u00adtrator for twelve years. He likes his new job and goes on to explain \u201cNo day is like another. Because the building is new, we are still learning to under\u00adstand it.\u201d As an IT specialist, he works with the building manage\u00adment system and he is respon\u00adsible for elec\u00adtricity, moni\u00adtoring tech\u00adnology, fire protec\u00adtion, and venti\u00adlation. It\u2019s the latter that occu\u00adpies the bulk of his atten\u00adtion in this start-up phase. \u201cI learn some\u00adthing new about the config\u00adu\u00adra\u00adtion of the venti\u00adlation nearly every day,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Facility manager \u0160ifers config\u00adures the air condi\u00adtioning. (Photo: Lauris Aizupi\u00adetis)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Several systems provide venti\u00adlation and air condi\u00adtioning for the concert hall. In total, there are nine central venti\u00adlation systems and a decen\u00adtral\u00adized system that works with indi\u00advidual units. While both concert halls are supplied centrally, decen\u00adtral\u00adized facade venti\u00adlation puts fresh air into play in the smaller rehearsal rooms and the music library, and this in an inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive manner.<\/p>\n

Decen\u00adtral\u00adized venti\u00adlation \u201cbreathes\u201d<\/h2>\n

A total of 74 FVPpulse units made by LTG AG of Stuttgart are installed in the rooms on the ground along the facade and these \u201cbreathe.\u201d One fan apiece is installed in these units and a motor controls a flap which changes posi\u00adtion every 20 seconds and thus regu\u00adlates inflow and outflow\u200a\u2014\u200athe breathing in and out, so to speak. Fresh air and exhaust air are taken in and blown out through the same opening in the wall. No venti\u00adlation ducts are required, which makes instal\u00adla\u00adtion much simpler. The units work auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally and also regu\u00adlate the CO2 level of the air in the rehearsal rooms.<\/p>\n

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When the \u201cInhala\u00adtion\u201d cycle starts, the outside air is drawn in through the facade opening and supply air filter.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a>

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The air flows through the heat recovery unit still warm from \u201cExha\u00adla\u00adtion\u201d and is heated.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a>

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After\u00adwards, the air passes through the fan\u2019s inlet chamber (lower level).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a>

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The EC centrifugal fan trans\u00adports the air from the inlet chamber (lower level) into the pres\u00adsure chamber (upper level).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a>

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In the upper level, the supplied air passes the silencer\u2009and the damper and flows into the supply air duct.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a>

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After leaving the supply air duct, the air is cooled or heated by the heat exchanger and is discharged through a supply air grille.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

The indi\u00advidual steps of how LTG\u2019s FVPpulse units work. (Anima\u00adtion: Christoph Kalscheuer)<\/div>\n

Further\u00admore, they also contribute to the building\u2019s basic concept to be energy-effi\u00adcient. \u201cIn a room with three people, power consump\u00adtion is less than 10 watts. That\u2019s a great success,\u201d says LTG exec\u00adu\u00adtive Ralf Wagner. The LTG engi\u00adneers have also done great work with the heat recovery; a heat accu\u00admu\u00adlator warms the air in the unit that is drawn in from the outside. \u201cThis way, we can achieve effi\u00adciency levels of up to 90 percent.\u201d Addi\u00adtional energy effi\u00adciency measures are a heat pump with approx\u00adi\u00admately 400 geot\u00adhermal probes and five venti\u00adlation ducts under the concert hall that are each approx\u00adi\u00admately 100 meters long.<\/p>\n

For visi\u00adtors to the music library and students of the music school, an optimal indoor climate and quiet venti\u00adlation are essen\u00adtial. This is ensured by decen\u00adtral\u00adized venti\u00adlation devices installed in the floor. (Photo: Lauris Aizupi\u00adetis)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Venti\u00adlation has to be quiet<\/h2>\n

With regard to venti\u00adlation, in addi\u00adtion to ques\u00adtions of effi\u00adciency, acoustic values are espe\u00adcially impor\u00adtant. In the rooms of the music school where private lessons are given, a loud venti\u00adlation unit would be extremely disrup\u00adtive. \u201cWith the FVP pulse, there were strict noise spec\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtions. We had to think about that together,\u201d says Rudi Wein\u00admann, a regional sales director at ebm-papst, who has assisted LTG as a customer for more than 20 years. In each FVPpulse unit, there is an ebm-papst RadiCal, which is very quiet. However, the asym\u00admet\u00adrical intake situ\u00ada\u00adtion and the flap design of the units caused turbu\u00adlence in the inflow to the fan, which gener\u00adated noise emis\u00adsions that were too high. \u201cVortex plaits were created which directly hit the rotating impeller blades and thus produced a disturbing rotary sound,\u201d explains Wein\u00admann. Together, the engi\u00adneers at LTG and ebm-papst came up with the solu\u00adtion to the problem: ebm-papst\u2019s Flow\u00adGrid. Mounted on the intake side, it splits up the vortex plaits and signif\u00adi\u00adcantly weakens them as they flow through. This reduced the sound pres\u00adsure level and, finally, the noise emis\u00adsion by 6 dB(A).<\/p>\n

Edgars \u0160ifers likes his job: \u201cNo day is like the other,\u201d he says. (Photo: Lauris Aizupi\u00adetis)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

There is still poten\u00adtial for improve\u00adment<\/h2>\n

The venti\u00adlation works quietly and effi\u00adciently, but it can still be improved. At least this is what Edgars \u0160ifers thinks. He is currently exper\u00adi\u00admenting with the control of the FVPpulse units based on the music school\u2019s working hours. It is open from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM. To save energy, the venti\u00adlation units are switched off outside of these times. \u201cHowever, when the units are only switched on at 8:00 AM, that\u2019s not optimal for the indoor climate,\u201d he says. \u201cFor now, we will switch them on at 6:00 AM and see how that goes. Perhaps in the future, it will be suffi\u00adcient if we switch them on at 7:00 AM.\u201d Just as in the small class\u00adrooms where people prac\u00adtice scales and rhythms, the adjust\u00adment of the venti\u00adlation also requires some patience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The building looks like a space\u00adship that has just landed, in a green oasis near the Baltic Sea shore. An imposing plaza extends in front of the nearly 7000-square-meter struc\u00adture composed of oblique angles and expanses of glass. The \u201cLatvia\u201d concert hall, which opened in July 2019 along with a music school and music library [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,8,3,9],"tags":[167,180],"class_list":["post-14116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-heating","category-industries","category-refrigeration-ventilation","tag-sustainability","tag-ventilation-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22327,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14116\/revisions\/22327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}