The following data refer to the facade construction.
Length: ~ 25 m (82 ft) | Width: ~ 25 m (82 ft) | Height: ~ 25 m (82 ft) | Weight: ~ 55 t (60 US t)
Number of Nodes: 811 | Members: 1,276 | Materials: 2 | Cross-Sections: 7
The building is intended to be used as a presentation area and for events related to the subjects of gold, silver, and design.
The planning office isin Architekten was commissioned with the design of the building after winning a competition. The Klöckner engineering office carried out the structural analysis of the facade support structure using RSTAB, and that of the facade cassettes with RFEM. In connection with a wind report created by the German I.F.I. Institute for Industrial Aerodynamics, the wind loads to be applied were determined with a model placed in a wind tunnel.
Facade Structure
The facade envelops the building like a coat made of gold leaf. In reality, however, it is not gold foil that makes up the approximately 800 facade panels sized 1.5 m x 1.5 m (4.9 ft x 4.9 ft), but an aluminum alloy coated on both sides with DURAFLON®, a fluoropolymer stove enamel surface finish.
The steel supporting structure of the facade consists of 1,276 members altogether, with steel grades of S 235 and S 355. It is fixed to the building at 80 points. Ten round pipe columns with a diameter of 159 mm (6.2 in) absorb the majority of the vertical loads.
The RSTAB add-on module STEEL EC3 was used for the calculation. The 3 mm (0.11 in) thick facade cassettes were calculated using the RFEM add-on modules RF‑IMP, RF‑STABILITY, and RF‑STEEL Surfaces.
The cassettes are reinforced in the bay with aluminum edge profiles. These were designed in RF‑ALUMINUM.
Structural Engineering | Structural Analysis for Facade Structure Ingenieurbüro Klöckner GmbH, Nistertal, Germany |
Construction | Facade EBENER GmbH Fassaden-Profiltechnik, Bad Marienberg, Germany www.ebener.de Steel Structure SWW Stahlbau Westerwald, Heiligenrot, Germany www.stahlbauwesterwald.de |
Architect | isin architekten, Aalen, Germany www.isin.de |
Investor | Edelmetallverband Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany www.edelmetallverband.de |