Acoustic company WSDG worked alongside charitable foundation Wibrandis Stiftung and a team of architects at Vécsey*Schmidt Architekt*innen to implement acoustic treatments throughout the Oekolampad Gemeindehaus, a repurposed 1930s religious centre in Basel, Switzerland.
The fifty rooms in the building have been fitted with acoustic treatments ranging from electro-acoustic solutions in the new Theatre Box and acoustic curtains in the children’s play area.
Wibrandis Foundation, founded in June 2020 by Sabine Duschmalé and named after sixteenth century theologian Wibrandis Rosenblatt, has restored the Gemeindehaus Oekolampad as the first of its community initiatives.
Vécsey*Schmidt Architects contacted WSDG in 2020 to see if the collaborative project was possible within the boundaries of planning and protection guidance.
Work then began in 2022 under the guidance of construction management company Anderegg Partner AG before the building officially opened in May 2024. The Gemeindehaus Oekolampad was originally a Protestant Church and rectory, but since 2011 there have been no services and has the building was used instead for meetings.
Preservation vs usability
Community groups from every part of Basel needed access to this repurposed space, from children in the Quartier-treffpunkt Basel play area to people living with dementia and supported by the Basler Wirrgarten Foundation.
Gabriel Hauser, partner and director of acousticsfor WSDG, said: “We worked closely with the theatre planners at THAT Hamburg to create the Theatre Box, now home to the Vorstadttheater company.
“The restrictions of the cantonal monument preservation order meant that the theatre space was designed to sit entirely independently within the main building and is acoustically de-coupled.
“This ensures that the whole building can be enjoyed by completely different groups at the same time, without noise disturbance.”
The Theatre Box
The Theatre Box was constructed from wood and measures 180 sq m, with a room height of eight metres and flexible seating for over 120 people. Specialist wooden studs were made with an internal rubber body to reduce sound transfer and provide isolation.
The wooden structure removed the need for steel-based structural integrity, improving the building’s sustainability credentials. The original organ remained in place and the external windows restored using traditional methods to preserve the original glass.
AV partners Auviso integrated the L-Acoustics X12 LCR sound system, simulated and modelled by the WSDG team. The components were hung from bespoke, decoupled brackets to prevent the return of acoustic energy to the structure from vibrations. The theatre also incorporated a hidden induction loop in the floor for maximum flexibility for hearing aid users, comprising a system fully independent of the main house PA.
Acoustic treatments were applied to the repurposed church balcony, now a rehearsal space for the theatre with perforated wooden panels disappearing into the décor alongside fabric panels in the roof and acoustical curtains at the walls.
Tranquillity was also a priority The Bistro Rosa, complete with further WSDG acoustic treatments and a kitchen governed by strict noise regulations.
A comfortable ambient noise level in busy spaces
WSDG insisted on the highest possible build techniques in the offices of the Basler Wirrgarten Foundation, a charity that provides care for people with dementia and their families. WSDG applied stringent intelligibility modelling to the foundation’s offices, sharing the findings with Basel officials to make rooms suitable for dementia patients.
An asset to the community for generations to come
Hauser noted: “Working closely with the architects and integrators ensured that each detail has been carefully processed to be the best iteration possible. It is a very satisfying outcome and one we are very proud to be a part of.”
Juri Schönenberger, MSc Arch. USI AAM and Associate at Vecsey*Schmidt Architekt*innen, said: “Working closely with WSDG, we successfully met the specific user requirements for building and room acoustics, while maintaining the highest quality standards and respecting the listed building status throughout the facility.”
