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| Complex exhibition building in Weil am Rhein  The impressive building ensemble which forms the Vitra Campus in the town of Weil am Rhine near Basel, clearly shows the interest of the chair and furniture manufacturer in design and architecture. Some of the most important representatives of contemporary architecture such as Frank O. Gehry, Tadao Ando and Zaha Hadid have been responsible for a range of remarkable buildings on the factory premises resulting in a worldwide unique collection. The architecture park has around 100,000 visitors annually – with numbers rising all the time.Now the Vitra Design museum has been enhanced by a further highlight, an exhibition building complete with cafe as well as presentation and meeting facilities: with the so-called VitraHaus, Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, who were responsible for the well-known "Bird´s Nest" Olympic Stadium in Bejing, have stacked a number of gable-roof structures in an irregular pile to create a self-contained complex of buildings. Altogether twelve reinforced concrete structures, each one measuring up to 50 m long, merge here into a 20 m high, extraordinary structure with complex fragmentation and over 15 m long cantilevered structural elements. In addition, the range of different cross-sections are in part compressed resulting in a curved design. The very committed construction site team from the Rümmingen-based contractor, Implenia, succeeded in finishing the building shell in only 10 months. A significant contribution was made by the PERI formwork and scaffolding solution with which PERI engineers could easily take into consideration all geometrical and static requirements. Furthermore, the complex structural data was logically prepared by means of suitable ground plan and sectional cuts and converted into project-specific formwork plans. This allowed a simpler realization on the construction site to be achieved. Moreover, all safety aspects could also be integrated during the planning phase. The individual concrete structures were built using the separate casting method – first the floor, then the walls and finally the gabled roof. Due to its supporting function, it was also completed as a massive reinforced concrete structure. For forming the roof areas with inclinations ranging between 6 and 42 degrees, PERI raised formwork units were created. For this, standardised, rentable system components from the PERI VARIO GT 24 wall formwork system and VARIOKIT engineering construction kit were used: SRU steel walers and SLS heavy-duty spindles as well as corresponding connecting parts. Load transfer into the bottom plate was reliably carried out by means of a variable PERI UP shoring construction which could be optimally adapted to suit the geometry of the building – in the shortest possible assembly time. As the twelve structures are arranged in five levels – following the construction of the five basis buildings – a total of four supporting and working levels were to be erected at heights of between 3.50 m and 14.80 m for the other bottom slabs. Concreting and live loads could be safely transferred via the MULTIPROP system and – in particular from large heights – the PERI UP modular scaffold into the ground as well as the inclined roof surfaces situated directly below. Here, too, PERI raised formwork constructions consisting of SRU and SLS system components were utilised. Due to the oblique-angled arrangement of the building elements featured in the ground plan, the constantly changing contact area for each working level required continuous adjustment of the modular shoring systems. In the area of the wall support, linear loads of up to 70 kN per metre had to be taken into consideration. The modular structure and the metric grid design of the PERI UP modular scaffold system made it possible here to optimally adapt the supporting construction to the forces and the geometrical situation. For the VitraHaus project, the selected grading of the PERI UP standards, with lengths of 25, 50, 75 and 150 cm, proved to be the best and most adaptable solution. The use of standardised system components from the broad range of PERI equipment and extensive system programme, brought three decisive advantages for the contractor. Advantage 1 – cost-effectiveness: using mostly rentable components reduced the total costs compared to that of special solutions. Advantage 2 – planning certainty: typified components and connections simplified the verifiable, static proof on the basis of available approvals and type tests. Advantage 3 – efficiency: modular systems with lightweight individual components and standardised connections by means of pins and cotter pins guarantee easy and time-saving assembly on the construction site. write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |