BAM GROEP KON : BAM Deutschland in European Southern Observatory office expansion project

Bunnik, the Netherlands, 24 January 2012 - BAM Deutschland AG, the German non-residential building company of Royal BAM Group, has been awarded the contract for the design and construction of the expansion of the offices of the European Southern Observatory (ESO - the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere) in Garching, thirteen kilometres north-east of Munich. The project value is approximately €24 million. The project will be completed by BAM Deutschland in August 2013.

The project involves a new office and conference building and a technical building with a total floor surface area of about 17,000 m². The three-storey office and conference building will consist of three circular sections (A, B and C) which will be designed to look as if they float. The building will feature a unique 'zigzag' glass façade system, reflecting the existing headquarters and the landscape as a fractured image. The project has been designed by the Auer + Weber + Assoziierte firm of architects in Munich.

ESO is a leading international astronomical organisation in Europe and the most productive observatory in the world. On behalf of its fifteen member states, it operates three locations in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. In order to make space for the massive telescope equipment on Cerro Paranal, BAM International removed approximately 25 metres from the top of the mountain in 1992.