Concert Hall De Doelen
How many people will have enjoyed a fantastic evening in Concert Hall De Doelen in Rotterdam? Scores of people, we expect, because Concert Hall De Doelen opened its doors as long ago as 1966.
So as to entertain generations well into the future the concert hall - and in this case the large hall - needed an overhaul. This hall will boast new features, including:
- a “mechanical ceiling”
- climate control
- a flexible stage with moving parts
- furniture
- lighting, etc.
A major project like this calls for accurate measurements.
The start of the project
Passe-Partout first worked on this project marking off lines on the attic walls (on the oval walls) to determine the positioning of the drill holes. In first instance, that was the extent of the assignment. But then the foreman of Dura Vermeer Bouw Heyma BV called to ask that we mark off ventilation outlets in the inner circle (1st session, 582 outlets). We marked them off by hand. During the renovation, it became clear that the positioning was very critical in connection with the placement of the brackets of the chairs. So we measured all the outlets again, this time digitally.
Creative surveying
Surveyor Wim: “Because I was born and brought up in Rotterdam, this was a unique project for me. The oval walls and narrow spaces require creative thinking in order to achieve proper measurement solutions.”
As an example, we marked off the lines for the lighting on the rafters of the ceiling with the one-man station that we placed on a suspension construction as you can see in the picture.
We also marked off the ventilation outlets at right angles to the outlets we had already marked off before. We needed to do this underneath the gallery at an angle of 45 degrees. We were unable to stand upright. We also measured out points between two floors in a space of only 52 cms. Fortunately we did not suffer from claustrophobia.
Lying on our backs we marked off some 270 points with the one-man station.
Large Hall
On the main platform and the platform we marked off 862 holes in the vicinity of the organ. By using a template we could mark off three at the same time.
Above the ceiling there is a steel span stretching 30 metres with steel beams 2 metres high. We marked off the lines on the span to show the companies working there where the measurements were.
Hoisting points on mechanical ceiling
We also did the measurements for the mechanical ceiling. We measured off eight hoisting points whose accuracy was no more than 1 mm off. An extremely precise piece of work!
Measurements: invisible yet important
De Doelen will open the Large Hall again in mid September. Our measurements will no longer be visible. What you will see is a beautiful new hall. The result is splendid.
