Geberit's Building Technology and Acoustics Laboratory the Cave Art
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Know- how Customer Magazine December 2017 20 years Geberit’s Building Technology and Acoustics Laboratory 15,000 years The cave art of Lascaux document553997946950109986.indd 1 13.12.2017 09:09:53 Know-how runs through everything we do. Publisher Geberit Southern Africa (Pty.) Ltd. 6 Meadowview Lane Meadowview Business Estate Longmeadow, Linbro Park ZA-Johannesburg Phone +27 11 444 50 70 Fax +27 11 656 34 55 [email protected] → www.geberit.co.za Number of copies Issued: quarterly. The reproduction of individual articles, in part or in full, is subject to approval from the editorial staff. Photos Ben Huggler (cover picture, page 16, back page) Sergio Grazia (pages 22–23) Michael Suter (pages 10–13) Tribecraft (pages 14–15, 17) On the cover Vibrometric sensors are positioned in order to analyse sound transmissions. 2 document8739697254805857473.indd 2 13.12.2017 09:09:46 Contents A company on the move Ten years Geberit Southern Africa 18 Long-lasting pleasure Products & solutions 14 News/Agenda 5 Building Technology and Acoustics Laboratory 6 Mapress Carbon Steel 10 Online bathroom planner 13 Reference object 22 Diese Schwitzwasser-Isolation wirkt sich überall vor- 26-28 dB (A) leise, nach DIN 52218. teilhaft aus, jedoch besonders in Gegenden mit kaltem GEBERIT* Wasser oder mit hoher Luftfeuchtigkeit, bei stark gebert + cie frequentierten Klosettanlagen sowie in innenliegenden Armaturen-und Apparatefabrik WC-Räumen. Zudem trägt sie dazu bei, daß der bekannt JJJj^j§^omT" am Zürichsee leise GEBERIT-Spülkasten noch leiser wurde, genau: Telex75625 Once upon a time <-:.: Diese Schwitzwasser-Isolation wirkt sich überall vor- 26-28 dB (A) leise, nach DIN 52218. teilhaft aus, jedoch besonders in Gegenden mit kaltem GEBERIT* Wasser oder mit hoher Luftfeuchtigkeit, bei stark gebert + cie frequentierten Klosettanlagen sowie in innenliegendenDas Armaturen-und Apparatefabrik WC-Räumen. Zudem trägt sie dazu bei, daß der bekanntwarJJJj^j§^omT"unseram Zürichsee leise GEBERIT-Spülkasten noch leiserletzteswurde, genau:Schwitzjahr.Telex75625 (Jetzt hat jeder GEBERIT-Spülkasten serienmäßig Schwitzwasser-lsolation-ohne Mehrpreis.) With the slogan “that was our last year sweating bullets”, 293Geberit announced in this U69 advertisement that from now on, all Geberit cisterns will feature anticondensation insulation as standard – and at no extra charge to the customer. 3 document8739697254805857473.indd 3 13.12.2017 09:09:48 Editorial Dear customers, No two buildings are the same. This statement is particularly true when it comes to their acoustic properties. After all, even small details sometimes make a big difference here. Not long after the Building Technology and Acoustics Laboratory in Rappers wil- Jona was opened, a big wish came true for our customer advisers: they were able to offer the architects and sanitary engineers involved in major residential and hotel projects professional acoustic analyses of the planned sanitary installations. To give you an example, this is done as follows. In one of the test rooms at the laboratory, a customised bathroom is constructed according to the practices in a certain market. The building materials used are imported from the respective market. The results and findings from the sound measurements then provide the basis for possible sound-related optimisations. Our acousticians have since carried out sound analyses on hundreds of individual bathroom structures in this way. They therefore have a broad and sound pool of data at their disposal and can estimate the acoustic properties of construction projects with a high degree of reliability. This knowledge and experience is something that our customers all over the world benefit from. I wish you an enjoyable read. Mark Schurr, Managing Director 4 Customer Magazine December 2017 document915511041679724590.indd 4 13.12.2017 09:09:48 News Geberit, proud sponsors of the 2017 Win contestant Design Duos – in the incredible Geberit’s technical team were on hand to a Home Competition at Eye of Africa estate valued at R3 million! The competition assist with last-minute installations and Geberit is one of the proud sponsors of the was divided up into room challenges where adjustments and when the deadline was 4th season of Win a Home, South Africa’s fa- the duo’s were given a brief and time frame called, the bathrooms were done and ready vourite interior design reality TV competi- in which to complete the makeover of a giv- to be judged. All the bathrooms were clev- tion, hosted by SABC3 TV talk show After- en space. Episode 6 & 7 was focussed on erly put together, stylishly functional, max- noon Express. The reality show was flighted the Bathroom challenge with the duos hav- imising the space and were rich with the every Friday from mid-July through to ing to design not just one, but both bath- duos’ individual creative expression. Team mid-November between 4–5 pm. This rooms which was double their usual amount Habitat, with the flamboyant and creative year’s Win a Home Competition was double of work. To better inform their choices for duo of Abiah Mahlase and Brad Muttitt, won the fun and double the drama with the intro- the bathrooms, the design duos visited the the bathroom challenge. Who will be the duction of Design Duos! Contestants who new Geberit showroom and experience ultimate winners … team Visi, team House & were to compete in pairs for the title of the centre where they spent the day to see and Leisure or team Habitat. country’s best emerging interior designers. experience the technology behind the wall Congratulations to the creative and out- Three perfect pairings were chosen from in concealed plumbing first-hand as well as landish Duo of Abiah “Superstar” Mahlase dozens of entries and they were partnered be inspired and excited by design in front of and Brad Muttitt from Team Habitat. They with mentors from three well-known design the wall with the new Geberit Bathroom Col- were judged the overall winners of Win a publications to form team House & Leisure, lection. A place where design meets func- Home 2017. They certainly delivered on team Visi and team Habitat. Their task was tion. Having seen some great designs and their promise of bringing razzle-dazzle to to decorate three newly built homes locat- been inspired by the Geberit showroom, all this year’s reality competition and stayed ed at the Eye of Africa luxury golf and resi- the teams made their selections for their true to their vision and created a home that dential estate, in Johannesburg. Viewers bathrooms. Back on site, the teams were in defies convention. got to vote for their favourite design team a flurry to create their perfect bathroom and stood a chance to win one of the beau- that would impress the judges so that they tiful cluster homes, decorated by one of the would win the challenge. On the final day, 5 document915511041679724590.indd 5 13.12.2017 09:10:03 Technology & innovation A unique competence centre 20th anniversary of the Building Technology and Acoustics Laboratory 6 Customer Magazine December 2017 document1425196666400913390.indd 6 13.12.2017 09:10:00 ← Acoustics specialist Samuel Pasteur prepares the Geberit Setaplano shower surface for a sound measurement procedure at the BTA-Lab. During this procedure, a water jet with a pressure of 3 bar is directed onto the shower surface from a height of one metre. ↑ Oliver Wolff, Head of Building Physics at Geberit, measures the vibrations of a discharge stack with the laser scanner. ↑ Hidden sound sources – for example, in a discharge pipe – can be located precisely with this state-of-the-art acoustic camera. The BTA-Lab today – acoustics The BTA-Lab has a total of 19 rooms on four floors for acoustic measurements. This allows realistic tests to be carried out that consider the whole of A laboratory for realistic tests and meas- a building and cover vertical, horizontal and urements in the area of statics and acous- diagonal sound propagation. These 19 rooms tics – this is how Geberit described the boast an infrastructure that includes: new Building Technology and Acoustics → A valve test facility with a measuring room Laboratory (BTA-Lab) in Rapperswil-Jona in which there is almost complete silence. at its inauguration in October 1997. A prolonged stay is difficult for people to tolerate – and fortunately not necessary. The ultrasensitive microphones discreetly Thanks to its technical equipment and many measuring transmit their signals out of the room. rooms, the BTA-Lab at the Rapperswil-Jona site was in → A test facility for the standard EN 14366. a class of its own in the sanitary industry when it was Today, discharge stacks have to meet this opened 20 years ago – and is still very much unparal- standard in more and more countries. leled today. “Building this laboratory was a very far- sighted investment and played a major role in ensuring → A Pluvia roof drainage system for measure- that Geberit is today seen as an innovation leader in the ment purposes that is operated via a closed field of sanitary technology,” explains Oliver Wolff, water circuit. Head of Building Physics. → The possibility of simulating market-specific construction situations. In 2010, ten bathroom Only during the night or at weekends situations were constructed in the BTA-Lab Back when the BTA-Lab was opened in 1997, Geberit according to country-specific criteria. In 2016, already possessed considerable know-how in the 90 bathroom situations were constructed building acoustics and statics fields. The fact that the there. When constructing these situations, highly sound-insulating drainage system Silent-db20 the building materials are often imported was launched on the market that very same year proves from the respective countries. this. The many sound measurements required to devel- → Sound test facilities for shower trays op this system were taken in measuring stations locat- ed in small, narrow side rooms in the main building in → State-of-the-art measuring instruments: Rapperswil-Jona.