The ground-breaking ceremony for the Sennheiser Innovation Campus in Wedemark took place in July 2013. The building was completed in January 2015. This investment in the future underlines the company’s role as one of the most important employers in the Hanover region – and one of the leading audio brands worldwide.
The infrastructure of the Innovation Campus has a flexible design and takes different working methods into account. Project areas distributed over three floors provide space for around 300 employees for collaborative forms of working. The creative project areas have a positive influence on the working atmosphere and promote individual creativity with a high level of decision-making freedom.
“With our new Innovation Campus, Sennheiser now has the biggest and most modern centre for innovation in the entire audio industry,” explained CEO Dr. Andreas Sennheiser. “We have created the space to develop innovations that are targeted even more directly at the customer. This is apparent not only in the building’s architecture but also in a new way of working.
Groundbreaking ideas are created in cross-functional, international project teams that take pioneering audio solutions all the way to the customer. And our passion for audio technology can be experienced by everyone who visits our Flagship Store.”
At the Sennheiser Flagship Store, the guests attending the ceremony had the opportunity not only to see highlights from Sennheiser’s product range but also to witness two exceptional performances: the artist Nik Nowak presented his work at the interface between sculpture and sound, while tonmeister Gregor Zielinsky gave an insight into the revolutionary 3D Audio technology (“Immersive Audio”), which is well known for such exciting applications as the sound installations for the exhibition “David Bowie Is”.
Guided tours through the building gave a good impression of the many project areas aimed at promoting creative teamwork while at the same time illustrating the architectural design principle of propagating sound waves, which extends from the roof design and the green spaces right through to the generously sized forecourt.
In addition to the reception area and the Flagship Store, the public section of the building also has a small cafe and a 200-seat theatre, which boasts an exterior design inspired by Sennheiser’s iconic MD 421 microphone. “This theatre is primarily used to test and complete our stage products and to provide space for events in our large international Sennheiser network,” explained Andreas Sennheiser. “We are also in discussion with the University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover (HMTMH) concerning further opportunities for usage. We have maintained an excellent partnership with the HMTMH for ten years now. One idea is to use this auditorium to provide a forum for young people who are just starting out on their artistic career – for example by offering regular concerts in which we can introduce these artists to the public.”