Organ Basilika

The Basilica of Constantine the Saviour in Trier is a Protestant church and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The largest surviving enclosed space without pillars from antiquity houses the world’s only Protestant church in a building dating back to Roman times.
The structural concept developed by Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering together with Carlo Weber – as part of an invitation-only architecture competition with well-known participants– blends almost seamlessly and gently into the overall design and reduces the interference with the original structure to an absolute minimum.
The particular challenge was to design a structure which is virtually invisible, does not require supporting beams and yet transfers the additional load of the new organ (approx. 320 kN) securely, gradually and cost-effectively to the historic building.
The organ consists of three parts each suspended from the existing building structure by a rigid steel frame.