immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Leichtbau

  • The symbiosis of steel and drywall

    The symbiosis of steel and drywall

    Walk-in room-in-room solution
    Coop had been thinking about building a comfortable lounge for its employees for a long time. A 5-meter-high room, a kind of gallery, which is also adjacent to other rooms, was ideal for this purpose. But it would have been much too big, with its sand-lime brick walls, not comfortable and not heated. A room-in-room solution therefore offered itself, which could be implemented quickly, without a lot of dirt, but in compliance with all statics and fire protection requirements. Because the assembly took place while the high-bay warehouse was in operation, everything had to be well prepared and done quickly.

    Only half a day for the substructure
    As with all construction systems with a high degree of prefabrication, precise planning data and error-free transmission to the manufacturer were decisive. All steel profiles were cut to size and provided with the screw and punch holes to facilitate on-site assembly. The individual profiles could be efficiently screwed together using numbers and an assembly plan. Thanks to the corresponding planking, the entire construction has a fire protection rating of REI60. Plasterer entrepreneur Hansjörg Alder: “The steel structure was in the distribution center in just half a day, and within three days it was planked and ready for expansion.” You don’t notice the stylish room and its quality of stay that it was delivered as a kit and set up within a very short time.

    Like lightweight construction, simply much more stable
     RiModul® is actually nothing more than lightweight construction with stronger profiles. They achieve the best possible ratio of strength to weight, which among other things leads to dimensionally stable constructions – that is, walkable and resilient ceilings with additional usable area – and increased seismic resistance (earthquake security). And the system is based on the principle of prefabrication, which can reduce the overall construction time by up to 60%. RiModul® lightweight steel construction systems also result in significantly lower loads on the foundations than conventional construction methods. Complex objects in new construction and renovation can thus be realized safely, economically and with almost unlimited design flexibility. The RiModul® lightweight steel construction systems are particularly suitable for additions, extensions and, as in the case of Coop, room-in-room constructions. It also makes sense to use it as an external wall system for infilling in hybrid buildings.

  • Innovation in concrete can make buildings leaner

    Innovation in concrete can make buildings leaner

    A team of researchers from the Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt ( Empa ) has developed a new technology. This enables concrete to be produced and used more sustainably. For this purpose, the materials used in the manufacture of self-prestressed concrete elements are reduced.

    With conventional prestressing, steel tendons are usually anchored on both sides of the concrete element, put under tension and then removed again. Because the steel is susceptible to rust, “the concrete layer around the prestressing steel must have a certain minimum thickness”, according to Empa in a press release . Researchers have therefore been working on replacing steel with carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) since the 1990s. However, this process is very expensive and also significantly more complicated than the prestressing process with steel.

    Empa has now completely solved these problems. Thanks to her method, she can dispense with anchoring on the sides of the element. Instead, its recipe enables the concrete to expand as it cures. "As a result of this expansion, the concrete puts the CFRP rods inside under tension and thereby automatically pretensions them."

    "Our technology opens up completely new possibilities in lightweight construction," said Mateusz Wyrzykowski, who heads the Empa team together with Giovanni Terrasi and Pietro Lura. "Not only can we build more stable, but we also need considerably less material."

    The team recently received patents in Europe and the United States for its technology. It is now developing new applications together with industrial partner BASF.