The transformation of the new entrance building and visitor centre of Museum Island Berlin took some time but now it is finished. In the future, visitors to the museum complex will be welcomed there and equipped with admission tickets to access to the Pergamon- and the New Museum. In addition to a restaurant/ café, the James Simon Gallery has a 650-square-meter space for special exhibitions and an invitingly designed auditorium.

From a room acoustic perspective, the architecture of the new entrance hall brings some challenges. To assure announcements, especially in case of emergency, can be easily understood everywhere in the large building, David Chipperfield Architects, in cooperation with the company Bosch Security Systems Berlin, decided for active, digitally controllable column loudspeakers of Pan Acoustics.

In addition to the good sound, which is not only suitable for voice announcements but also for music reproduction, the architects were very pleased, especially by the slim and unobtrusive design of the loudspeakers. The geometric shape, the filigree production and the colour of the loudspeakers were adapted and harmonised perfectly to the furnishings at the James Simon Gallery.

In the project, the loudspeaker models PB 08, PB 16 and PB 24 of the Pan Beam series were installed. Equipped with two 100 V inputs, including redundancy, the integration into the voice alarm system, was easily possible and valid to the technically specifications.