MyZeil – Frankfurt

• City/Country: Frankfurt, Germany
• Year of completion: 2009
• Industry: Steel and glass engineering
• Client: MAB
  Architects: Massimiliano Fuksas
• Engineer: Knippers Helbig
  Fassadenfläche: 8.500 m²
  Dachfläche: 13.000 m²

The ensemble of buildings in a central downtown location of Frankfurt am Main on the former post office area consists of several individual construction projects with gross floor space of around 226,000 m². The “My Zeil” shopping centre designed by Massimiliano Fuksas is the gateway to the neighbourhood. It is spread over six floors and has about 100 stores and shops with 47,000 m² of retail space.

The performance share of Waagner-Biro Stahlbau concerns the entire building envelope of component D including the 10,000 m², free-form steel-glass roofing of the “Zeilforum”. Due to the widely varying curvatures and the two trumpet-shaped tubes, this construction represents one of the most complex projects carried out by Waagner-Biro.

The steel grid shell of welded box profiles was covered in large areas with triangular insulating glass panes and aluminium panels using industrial climbers.

The freeform surface above the Zeilforum is formed from 8,130 individual bars that meet at 2,830 nodes. The entire structure, including the roofs above the three technical service floors, has a steel weight of approx. 650 t. The roof cladding consists of 3,250 glass sections (5,200 m²) and 2,350 panels (4,420 m²). The building envelope is completed by 5,700 m² of vertical facades (800 in glass) and 2,100 m² of composite thermal insulation system. Ventilation and accessibility were ensured by 40 doors, 92 triangular parallel windows with side lengths of 2.7 m x 2.7 m x 2.1 m and approximately 20 roof exit doors and other windows.

City/Country: Dublin, Ireland
Year of completion: 2008
Kategorie: Fassaden
Architects: Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo & Ass. LLC
Client: Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin Ltd.
Engineer: O’Connor Sutton Cronin & Associates

Stahl: 110 t
Glas: 2.600 m² (2.300 m² gebogen, 300 m² gerade)

Located on the banks of the River Liffey in the heart of Dublin’s docklands, the new convention centre is part of a major renovation and refurbishment project.

The task of Waagner-Biro was to implement the cylindrical steel-glass structure and the cap of the main entrance area.

• • City/Country: Paris, France
  • Year of completion: 2011
  • Industry: Steel and glass engineering
  • Architects: Mario Bellini, Rudy Ricciotti
    Client: Musée du Louvre
    Engineer: Hugh Dutton Ass.
    Projektcontrolling: SocotecStahl: 90 t
    Dach: 1.700 m²
    Fassade: 460 m²

To meet the current and future needs of the grand “Louvre 2020” project, a variety of phases and locations are planned, including the creation of a spectacular Islamic section in the Cour Visconti.

“The Cour Visconti will not be fully covered, but indeed remain visible,” says the architectural specifications, which are to be implemented by the architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti. A “gentle and non-violent integration” of resolute contemporary architecture in a historic location.

• City/Country: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Year of completion: 2008
• Industry: Steel and glass engineering
• Architects: Foster + Partners
  Engineer: Rambøll with Buro Happold
  Client: Foundation Realdania for Copenhagen ZooHerdenkuppel: 900 m²
  Bullenkuppel: 400 m²

Located in a historic royal park, adjacent to Fredriksborg Castle, the Copenhagen Zoo is the largest cultural institution in Denmark, attracting more than 1.2 million visitors a year.

The new elephant house offers the Indian elephant group a stimulating environment. The goal was to bring a sense of light and openness to the project.

In the design by Foster + Partners, the two oval light openings were covered with a filigree 3-dimensional bar grate, which carries the insulating glass elements designed with different screen patterns. For ventilation purposes, special surface-flush lifting panels had to be developed. Waagner-Biro was commissioned with the implementation of the transparent glass roof construction of the two buildings.

• City/Country: London, UK
• Year of completion: 2008
• Industry: Steel and glass engineering
• Kategorie: Überdachungen
• Architects: Fitzroy Robinson Ltd.
  Engineer: CN&M
  General contractor: SKANSKA
  Client: LS Lionheart Ltd.
• Stahlkonstruktion: 100 t
  Fassadenelemente: 360 m²
  Verglasung: 820 m²
  Haupteingang: 120 m²

The extensive expertise of Waagner-Biro in refurbishment/modernisation is reflected in the eye-catching design of the entrance area in front of the building and the glazed courtyard, which forms a middle ground between a roof and a zigzag-shaped facade.

The challenge of this project was to combine a visually pleasing and transparent glass structure with the requirements for a bomb-proof design. In order to cope with all technical requirements as well as the aesthetic challenges, innovative processes, such as laser welding, were used to manufacture customised steel components. The roof rests on eight tree-like pillars. High strength steel was used for the exceptionally stressed compounds.

• City/Country: Berlin, Germany
• Year of completion: 2000
• Industry: Steel and glass engineering
• Architects: Murphy Jahn
  Engineer: Arup
  Client: Sony/TishmanSpeyer/Kajima
  General contractor: Hochtief AG
• Stahlkonstruktion inkl. Kabel: 910 t
  Einfach verglastes Dach: 3.400 m²
  Gewebe: 5.800 m²

The central element of the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin is the large forum roof with an elliptical floor plan, which covers the space below.

The structure was developed from the geometrically clearly defined form of a hyperbolic cone. In the axis of rotation of the cone inclined by 8°, a 42.50 m high “air support” between two radial cable layers, connect the head and base of the air support with the circumferential ring beam, clamped.

The entire roof structure is thus stretched freely over 102 m in the main axis and 77 m in the minor axes.

Upper cable layers form the folded roof surface in which glass panes and textile membrane segments are alternately arranged on horizontal bars fixed between the cables. The membrane segments are made of self-cleaning, Teflon-coated fabric.

Overall, an area of more than 5,250 m² is spanned

• City/Country: Warsaw, Poland
• Year of completion: 2007
• Industry: Steel and glass engineering
• Architects: The Jerde Partnership International
  General contractor: Skanska
  Client: ING Real Estate
  Ingenieur: Arup
  Construction Manager: Mace
• The building is one of the most important in Warsaw. It is located right next to the main railway station and the Palace of Culture in the centre of the city. The project includes office space, an entertainment centre, a shopping centre and public spaces, which give it an important role thanks to various urban activities.The task of Waagner-Biro was to construct a roof for the central shopping area made of steel and glass. Building on the steel node technology already developed for the Great Court of the British Museum, the roof consists of a hilly, geometrically complex network of welded steel components supporting the triangular insulating glass panes. At the front, the roof extends to the floor, forming the frame of the main entrance.