A wide ranging academy

In the 1990s, perforated sheeting was a comparably new material in German architecture, whose application options still had to be discovered and sounded out. This explains the delight and variety with which perforated sheeting was used when building the Export Academy in Reutlingen, Southern Germany. 

In 1984, the Baden-Württemberg federal state government initiated the construction of an export academy. The reasons for this were the newly developed markets in Europe, the Asian-Pacific region and America as well as the already increasing globalisation of markets. Here the Export Academy was to focus on the training and further education requirement of the economy for opening up new international markets. The Export Academy soon established itself so well that the necessity arose to combine all the functions of the institute under the one roof. A modern building was needed, whose ambience was to provide the international guests with an inspiring and pleasant learning atmosphere.

The new building was designed by the Stuttgart Klein Breucha Planungsgesellschaft mbH with the collaboration of Volker Swiatkowski. Hanspeter Klein, the lead architect of the project, remembers: “In the Export Academy, we primarily used perforated sheeting, because this, at that time, new and modern material seemed practical and suitable for many purposes. mThe advantages for us were, in particular, the following characteristics: perforated sheeting is, depending on the perforation, transparent, it can be easily shaped, but is nevertheless dimensionally stable even at low material thicknesses. It is also extremely corrosion resistant where stainless steel is used.” The wide application range of perforated sheeting was impressively demonstrated by the architects, for example as the sound insulation fleece covering on the walls and ceilings in the seminar rooms and as non-bearing exterior and interior façades. Or where the focus was on aesthetics, it was used as the wall light covering. Even cable shafts were covered with perforated sheeting for ventilation reasons. 

The airiness and transparency of the building, which is flooded with light, was consciously oriented by the planners to the special features of this institution. The cosmopolitanism, creativity and innovativeness symbolised in this way constitute, amongst other things, the charm of this worldwide unique academy. The building was inaugurated in 1994 just in time for its tenth anniversary. 15 years later, the Export Academy still appears just as modern, inspiring and cosmopolitan. Not least also thanks to perforated sheeting.

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