Amare, The Hague | "A unique building with exceptional features."

Knauf supplied these boards for Amare, the new cultural focal point in The Hague for which sky-high sound insulation requirements apply. Amare will open its doors in 2021. Knauf looks back on this exceptional project. 

Amare is being realized on the Spui, on the site of the former Dr. Anton Philipszaal and the Lucent Danstheater. The building will be the new home of the Zuiderstrandtheater, the Nederlands Dans Theater, the Residentieorkest and the Royal Conservatory. The building will house a concert hall, a theater hall, an ensemble hall and a rehearsal hall. There will also be ballet studios, classrooms and studios. 

Nine layers of Diamond Board

The combination of users and activities created a huge challenge in terms of sound insulation at the design stage. At the same time, the building had to be flexible with thin partition walls. Cees Verbeek, technical specialist at Knauf, was involved in the project at an early stage to contribute his product knowledge to the design. "To meet the high sound insulation requirements, we had to go beyond standard walls," he says. "In doing so, we had to stay within the specified net dimensions of the rooms and, what was certainly an issue with the six-meter-high walls, ensure stability. Our Diamond Board boards lent themselves ideally to this. On some walls there were as many as nine layers of 15 millimeters, on both sides of the wall!" Knauf supplied all the Diamond Board sheets for the walls, as well as the Diamond Board sheets and A-boards for some 20,000 square meters of ceiling. 

Durable and fire-resistant

The level of detailing of the walls and ceilings is very high. Thus they are all acoustically decoupled, without causing sound leaks. Due to the high acoustic insulation, the walls are also thermally well insulated and therefore durable. Moreover, the boards are recyclable and kit-free applied, making them waste-free to disassemble. Because of the soundproofing solutions, the walls and ceilings also meet fire resistance requirements quite easily. "Amare is a unique building with exceptional properties that require exceptional solutions," says Verbeek. "Everything you never thought of before is in there. Without the expert input of our partners and the good mutual cooperation between all parties involved, it could not have been realized."