New Art Museum Tübingen Protected with FIRETEX® 6002

Header image © Eisele Architects & Engineers

A new building for contemporary art and culture opened its doors in Tübingen, Germany in March 2025. The steel structure of the New Art Museum Tübingen is equipped with the innovative passive fire protection coating FIRETEX FX6002 from Sherwin-Williams, which extends the load-bearing capacity of the building by one hour in the event of fire. 

Bernhard Feil and Stephen Hamann, the two initiators of the New Art Museum Tübingen (NKT) project and managing directors of Art 28 GmbH & Co. KG, are breaking new ground. The new building is intended to create a popular exhibition venue for the works of world-renowned artists whilst providing a platform for the stars of tomorrow. The new hotspot for contemporary art focuses not only on museums but also on multimedia culture, with additional rooms for film screenings, talks and music. 

FIRETEX FX6002 is the most economical passive fire protection system for the NKT

The two building owners commissioned Eisele Architekten & Ingenieure in Villingen-Schwenningen to plan and deliver the project. The fire resistance classification of the steel girders in the new building was set at R60 in accordance with the specifications of the state building regulations. This ensures that the steel structure of the building can withstand fire exposure for at least 60 minutes. The planners awarded the contract for the manufacture of the steel girders for the NKT and the application of the fire protection coating to Stahlbau Münch GmbH in Brigachtal.

The steel construction company Münch has been using fire protection coatings from Sherwin-Williams for many years. For the NKT, experts from Sherwin-Williams also determined the most economical passive fire protection for the steel girders of the building from the available product range. The result was FIRETEX FX6002 due to its comparatively low material consumption for R30 to R120 requirements and its extremely fast drying properties.

Certification for the application of FIRETEX FX6002

In accordance with the General Building Approval Z-19.11-2095 of the German Institute for Building Technology, fire protection coatings may only be applied by specialists who have undergone intensive training by the manufacturer of the intumescent coating to familiarise themselves with the mode of action and processing of the respective reactive fire protection system. As FIRETEX FX6002 is a new product on the German market and was used here for the first time at NKT, applicators from Münch received comprehensive training from the Sherwin-Williams Technical Services Department and were able to practice applying the coating in shop.   

2-component airless spraying system – a future-proof investment

The steel girders underwent surface preparation in the steel construction company's continuous blasting plant to a cleanliness level of Sa 2½. Girders intended for use on the exterior of the NKT’s structure were then primed with FIRETEX C69. For steel construction entrepreneur Stefan Münch, there was no question about the capabilities of the innovative FIRETEX FX6002 fire protection coating. That is why he invested without hesitation in the 2-component airless spray system required for the application. 

FIRETEX FX6002 consists of a base component and an additive component, to which a catalyst is added. These components are supplied in separate containers and must be mixed according to the manufacturer's instructions before application. The quick-drying 2K epoxy base coat for FIRETEX fire protection coating systems can be recoated after just 30 minutes. The subsequent fire protection coating of the steel girders with FIRETEX FX6002 was carried out by specialists from the steel construction company Münch in accordance with the required layer thicknesses calculated by Sherwin-Williams experts, which vary depending on the profile type of the individual steel girders. Finally, dry film thicknesses of 500 µm to 2500 µm were achieved. The exterior components of the building were coated twice with the fast-drying Acrolon 7300 topcoat at the factory to protect them from the elements.

Stefan Münch has found that a high throughput is required for the professional operation of the 2-component airless spraying system. This was the case in the NKT construction project, as 687 steel girder main profiles with an area of 4,000 m² were coated with fire protection in the factory. "FIRETEX FX6002 has a very fast drying time of one hour. That's why we used two employees to coat the steel girders – one to mix the components and one to operate the spraying system to ensure an uninterrupted, continuous processing process," says Managing Director Stefan Münch.

Completion of the coating on the construction site

After the steel beams were installed on the construction site, Sherwin-Williams also supervised the coating of the bolts and nuts on site. Stahlbau Münch is now certified for the future processing of FIRETEX FX6002.

The builders of the NKT placed the highest demands on the visually perfect surface of the steel girders, which are visible inside the building. For this reason, these areas were finished with Acrolon 7300 topcoat by a painting contractor.