New Construction for Bus Station in Aarau, Switzerland

Structures Analysed with Dlubal Software

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3D model of bus station structure in RSTAB (© formTL)

Top view of bus station in Aarau (© Niklaus Spoerri)

Bottom view of air-cushioned membrane roof (© Niklaus Spoerri)

Panorama of the bus station in Aarau (© Niklaus Spoerri)

Customer Project

17 September 2014

Switzerland RSTAB Steel Structures Tensile Membrane Structures

Structural Engineering	Structural Analysis, Workshop Planning for Steel, Membrane, Cables, Specialist Department + Quality Control formTL Ingenieure für Tragwerk und Leichtbau GmbH Radolfzell, Germany www.form-tl.de
Construction	Project Planning and Solid Construction suisseplan Ingenieure AG Aarau, Switzerland www.suisseplan.ch Construction Work Arge Foliendach with Ruch AG Altdorf, Switzerland www.ruch-ag.ch Vector Foiltec GmbH Bremen, Germany www.vector-foiltec.com
Architect	Vehovar & Jauslin AG Zürich, Switzerland www.vja.ch
Investor	City of Aarau, Switzerland www.aarau.ch

A unique structure which roofs the main bus station in the Swiss town of Aarau was built at the end of 2013. The canopy has a cloud-like shape and contains the largest single-chamber cushion in the world. The ETFE cushion has a volume of 1810 m³ and covers an area of 1070 m².

Structure

The external dimensions of the roof are l x w = ~ 42 m x ~ 39 m. The eave height is 7 m. In the center of the canopy there is an organically shaped opening. The air cushion is inflated and reaches a height between 1.3 m and 3.2 m. Furthermore, a clear and blue‑dyed foil with a finely balanced print was used.

The cushion is enveloped and spanned by an irregular mesh of stainless steel cables that are fixed to the curved pipes on the edge. The edge beams are supported by a load bearing system consisting of steel girders lying within the cushion.

The entire technical infrastructure for water, air, electronics and sensor technology has been integrated into the inner steel structure.

The roof is supported by a total of 11 filigree columns made of round pipes with a diameter of d = 298.5 mm that are slightly inclined in an axis. The "cloud" seems to float. The ETFE cushion has such an airtight and energy‑saving design that merely 15 % of the forecast air power needed to sustain the structure is required.

Immediately after the bus station was put into service, it became an exhibit in the Swiss architectural trade show "architektur 0.13" in Zürich.