A number of famous architects have left their mark for posterity on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. However, Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron have enhanced the company premises of the chair and furniture manufacturer with yet another design and architectural highlight.
With new exhibition building, twelve reinforced concrete bodies with massive gable roofs were stacked up to form a 20 m high building complex. This extraordinary structure features complex fragmentation and over 15 m long cantilevered structural elements. A further challenge was the range of different cross-sections which are in part compressed resulting in a curved design. A significant contribution was made by the PERI formwork and scaffolding solution in ensuring that construction work was completed on schedule.
Furthermore, the complex structural data was logically prepared by means of suitable ground plan and sectional cuts and converted into project-specific formwork plans. Already in the planning phase, all safety aspects were also taken into consideration - due to the different heights and open building edges, an extremely important factor for the construction work involved.
At first, the five basis buildings were constructed using the separate casting method. The roofs were also built with reinforced concrete and these partly served for transferring loads from the structural elements above. Four supporting and working levels at heights of between 3.50 m and 14.80 m formed the basis for additional structures.
Raised formwork constructions comprised of standardised, rentable system components of the VARIO GT 24 wall formwork system as well as the VARIOKIT modular construction kit supported the inclined formwork. Concreting and live loads were safely transferred via the MULTIPROP system and – in particular from large heights – the PERI UP modular scaffold into the ground or the inclined roof surfaces of the basis buildings below.
“I am extremely satisfi ed with the systems and the technical support. We can complete the construction project in the best way possible thanks to the technical possibilities of the formwork and scaffolding systems as well as the good cooperation with PERI. The high requirements of the inspecting structural engineer were always fulfi lled. Inaddition, we are very much on schedule in spite of the very unusual architecture.”
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