New building for the LENA Research Center is being constructed in Braunschweig

Image rights: The creator of the visualization is the ArGe RKW / Meyer GbR - RKW Architecture + Urban Planning / Meyer Architects

The LENA Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology at the Technical University of Braunschweig is receiving a new building for the research of nanotechnology techniques. In August 2016, the topping-out ceremony for the construction project was celebrated. The state of Lower Saxony and the federal government are funding the research center with laboratories for over 100 people at a cost of approximately 22 million euros on the campus of the Technical University of Braunschweig. An additional 11 million euros are being invested in research equipment. The planning of the technical building services is being carried out by pbr Planning Office Rohling AG from Osnabrück. Starting in 2017, a team of interdisciplinary scientists will focus on researching the measurement of three-dimensional objects in the nanoworld, which is essential for the further development of high-performance batteries for electric vehicles.

An old two-story workshop hall will be converted to accommodate highly equipped physical laboratory and measurement rooms, and a new three-story building with offices and seminar rooms will be constructed. The new building and existing structure are connected on the first floor via a single-story corridor. In the existing building, an area of over 1,400 m² will be created for laboratories and large equipment. Laboratories with particularly high requirements, such as those for vibration-sensitive applications like high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and cleanrooms, will be housed in two two-story cubes within the hall building. This functional grouping of specialized rooms consolidates and optimizes the technical installations in this area. Users will access these specialized rooms through a shared airlock area on the ground floor, equipped with a temperature-controlled airlock and an integrated air shower.

The laboratories will be supplied centrally and decentrally with the necessary media, such as gases like helium, xenon, and neon. Laboratory and measurement rooms will be partially climate-controlled. Some rooms will have full climate control with precision climate systems, due to high demands on temperature stability and room humidity. Exhaust air contaminated with pollutants will be extracted separately. Additionally, a crane system will be installed to facilitate experiments. Technical systems that could cause disturbances in the research operations due to vibrations will be housed in the new office building. This includes, among other things, systems for helium recovery as well as cooling and compressed air generation.