The four depot and storage rooms in the basement, with a volume of around 500 cubic meters, are protected by a fire protection solution consisting of active fire prevention, early fire detection and an organization and hazard management system.
Large areas of Lenbachhaus in Munich, which had acted as an art museum since 1929, were destroyed in the Second World War. From 2009 to 2013, the building was extensively renovated and the destroyed areas were restored. It cost € 59.4 million to renovate the old villa from the ground up and construct a modern new building. However, there are also many structural modifications which are concealed from visitors’ eyes. The basement of the gallery acts as a warehouse for precious collections and works of art. To protect them from the effects of a potential fire, a comprehensive fire prevention solution was installed in the archives.
Fire Prevention Solution Protects Valuable Works of Art
The OxyReduct® fire prevention system reduces the oxygen content in the protected area in the Lenbachhaus archive to a constant level below the ignition limit of the critical materials by pumping in nitrogen. This creates a protective atmosphere which drastically reduces a fire’s ability to sustain itself. The rooms remain accessible to personnel in the process.
TITANUS PRO·SENS® aspirating smoke detectors for earliest possible smoke detection reliably monitor the protected areas, secured against false alarms, to detect a fire in its earliest stages of forming.
If the system detects a fire, the smoke alarm system’s control panel immediately initiates quick-action reduction. This reduces the oxygen content to a maximum protection level within a few minutes. The nitrogen comes from the stocked extinguishing agent containers. By initiating firefighting at this early stage FirExting® keeps the fire from spreading and minimises the damage it is able to cause. OxyReduct® is also able to maintain the reduced oxygen concentration for as long as needed after quick-action reduction has already been carried out.
The individual safety systems in the Lenbachhaus are all linked together by the VisuLAN® organisation and risk management system. Fire alarm and intrusion detection control panel, escape route control, building management system and video surveillance are sensibly combined in one system.
