The total façade area spans more than
160,000 square feet, with more than 86,000
square feet of flat insulating glass and another
2
3,000-plus square feet of curved and bent
glass produced by Saint-Gobain Glassolutions
Objektcenter Döring Berlin. These elements
measured up to 8.6 feet by 18.4 feet in different
radii, some bent more sharply than others. The
project also includes 24 different geometric
“
buckled” shapes.
Challenges posed by the complicated design
carried over from the pre-construction phase to
the installation. Proper scheduling was critical.
Because the project featured so many unique
façade elements, logistics were very important
during the installation, and Lindner had to
make sure that the correct element was onsite at
the right time.
Lindner designed the façade system
and compiled technical drawings for
the project, as well as both static and
building physics testing. According to
the company, the method of fixation for
the lites wasn’t regulated in Germany,
so the firm “performed countless calcu-
lations and thorough testing to get the
approval of the building authorities.”
According to Christoph Rubel,
European technical manager of
Edgetech Europe, the softly curved
shape of the building contains a variety
of angles in the post-and-beam con-
struction. “The challenge is to receive
the widths both the same on the inside
and the outside. [To do so] a special
fulcrum had to be used, and the outer
glass bar had to be made in different
widths,” he says. “The glass façade is
designed with a load-bearing bonding
from both sides, so that the outer
bonding was used as mechanical safety
and thus could have been approved by
the building authorities.”
continued on page 30
Fall 2016
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