At this newly built transfusion centre of the Mainz University Medical Centre, it is already apparent from the outside what the inside of the building is all about. Symbolically depicted giant blood corpuscles decorate the side view of the modern building. The design for this impressive façade design was created by the Marcel Balsen & Marcel Friedrich Weber consortium and won first place in the “Kunst am Bau” competition.
ACCENTFORM was commissioned by Balsen & Weber Gbr to mill the relief-like blood cell structure. The overall image was divided into more than 40 segments according to a specific grid. We milled the individual segments from special facade styrofoam and delivered them to the customer. The individual parts were then assembled on site, directly on the building, and covered with plaster in the same way as the rest of the façade. The large-format blood cell relief thus literally merges with the building.
When the Outside Appearance Matters As Much As What’s On the Inside
Facade Design Made of Fibreglass
For the impressive exterior architectural design of a business center in London, ACCENTform made 11 visually striking fibreglass facade elements. The 3D sandwich panels are not just spectacular outdoor elements of the building, but also provide eye-catching interior facade details as well.
Beforehand, a 3D shaped “mini” model was demonstrated to the customer. Then we started with the elaborate production process. True to the motto “Each segment is unique”, the technical dimensions of the various panels move between approximately 8 m² / ~ 300 kg (10 yds²/~ 661 lb) and 40 m² / ~ 2000 kg (48 yds²/ ~ 4409 lb). We created this ingenious idea, to form 11 different sized sandwich panels, utilizing production technology of the “trough design”. The respective “troughs”, which had a maximum surface of 45 m² (54 yds²) per panel, were destined to form outer contour of the various construction segments.
Holzkonstruktion für Laminieren
First, a pressure-fit, adapted to each size, cardboard was made; its edges were milled according to the predetermined design. A special film was drawn into the open-topped cardboard to form a recess. Then, the air in the interior of the cardboard construction was evacuated by means of a vacuum pump, so that the drawn film was shaped to the predefined measurements. Now, the gel coat was applied, as well as subsequent coating with fibreglass and with the sandwich elements. The result was a three-dimensional 200 mm (8 in) thick part with all wire channels and fastening points, already integrated into its inner structure.
From concept development to manufacturing and delivery, ACCENTform carried out all necessary work processes in this project. A main challenge in the whole production was to integrate the piercing air ducts into the panels and to provide design overlaps and glazing between the individual segments. It was important to install all ports and fixed framings at exactly predefined points in the three-dimensionally curved segments. The result is visible – from the inside out!
A signature architectural marvel of the spectacular new building at the Museum Städel in Frankfurt am Main is a large underground exhibition hall with a remarkably shaped ceiling. The visitors have a view over a magnificent meadow with 195 round skylights, which let the daylight into the underground hall. By night, the lighting of the exhibition hall shines outward through the skylights. For this impressive engineering fete in ceiling design, ACCENTform made the concrete formwork girders.
To concrete the ceiling of approximately 3,000m² (3,688 yds²) large exhibition hall in a three-dimensional geometric shape, the concrete formwork girders were required. To accomplish this, negative molds reproduced the free-form surface. ACCENTform manufactured 195 shuttering boards. The huge ceiling area with the immense differences in height was a tremendous challenge for all persons involved. Therefore, the lead construction company (Ed. Züblin AG) decided to concrete the ceiling in five sections: four rectangular sections (each of them covered a corner of the exhibition hall), and a fifth section, which due to its special hill design took the central area. Efficient and professional: The division into these five concrete sections ensured the reusing of the formwork beams up to four times. Another important criteria in the production of concrete formwork beams, consisting of a shaped upper construction and a standard subconstruction, were budget-friendly square metre prices along with a high level of shape precision and smooth and pressure-resistant surfaces.
To the Production of Formwork Beams
The substructure consisted of a 2 cm (0.8 in) thick three-ply shuttering panel that was reinforced with 10 formwork girders (type VT20). Then, the CNC-machined PS rigid foam blocks (Styrofoam) were glued onto these reinforced panels. The use of PS hardened foam ensures not only price advantages over other materials, but, due to its high compressive strength (200 kPa); it also guarantees a visible success in the ceiling design. Moreover, the employment of a robot (KUKA KR 150) by the CNC milling of the three-dimensional surface proved to yield highly economical results.
In order to ensure a good quality of strong concrete and at the same time to guarantee a high compressive strength of the surface, the PS rigid foam had to be sealed professionally. For this purpose, an approximately 5 mm (0.2 in) thick fibreglass laminate was applied. Subsequently it was smoothed and sealed with a topcoat. This method ensures a reproducible smooth surface for all further shuttering oil treatments.
Concrete in shape – with formwork boards created by ACCENTform
Already under construction of the underground part of the Museum Städel in Frankfurt, in 2010, ACCENTform was commissioned by the Bilfinger Construction Company GmbH. ACCENTform built special forms for the ceiling boarding. The new building of the Museum Städel is characterized by a distinctively-shaped ceiling, with a surface of over 2,000 m² (2,392 yds²).
Near the shuttering works of the large staircase, the central entry to the newly created underground exhibit spaces, Bilfinger Construction GmbH continued a close collaboration with ACCENTform.
The unique curves in the ceiling are reminiscent of the harmonic alignments of modern yachts. The staircase bottom is characterized by a smooth transition from a hollow to spherical shape. All elements have been milled in rigid Polystyrene foam and covered with fibreglass.
The Miramar in Weinheim is a constant among connoisseurs of exciting water slides. Numerous videos, test reports and reports of experiences can be found online, which enthusiastically document the Weinheim slide series. The ball tower
made by ACCENTFORM towers above all the slides and therefore not only had to meet the high demands of small and large slide enthusiasts, but also set visual impulses to the outside and meet the highest requirements of safety and stability.
The FRP dome was made of 16 segments and thus has a total diameter of seven meters. The assembly was carried out on site by ACCENTFORM employees.
For the EMSCHERKUNST.2013, the Berlin artist, Reiner Maria Matysik created at the mouth of the Emscher and the Rhine river the artwork, named “Fluss wird Wolke” (“River becomes a cloud”). This artwork consisted of a cloud machine and a building constructed in sphere shapes. The artwork’s highlight is that the soap bubble -like building is designed as an accessible art installation.
Here, where the Emscher falls several meters into the Rhine, the artist, using a cloud machine, “lifts” the Emscher into the air. In the residential architecture, because of its spheres, looks like a cloud, the visitors cannot only learn all about this airy building, but also stay here overnight. The artist has created in its architecture, clouds and overnight accommodations including an airy two-person bed.
The following requirements were demanded by the artwork’s design and were complied to by ACCENTform.
The spherical enclosures were designed 4 m (13 feet) and 2.50 m (8 feet) in diameter. The spheres´ production in this size was particularly economical, because ACCENTform already had the production molds for these dimensions. Each orb was made as a one-piece object; dividing lines are only at the interfaces between the spheres. Three large orbs were manufactured of 4m (13 feet) in diameter.
The seamless creation of the individual spheres was very advantageous, because no signs of the segment divisions are visible on the surface.
One challenging element was due to its large dimensions of up to 4 meters (13 feet). Thus, the pre-assembled spherical house had to be transported to the mouth of the Emscher and the Rhine rivers by special transport. Both the construction, supervision, and the static of the construction required that the spheres must withstand a certain load. The load is understood to be rain, snow, wind and/or people. That’s why ACCENTform used its own self-test: several staff members stood on the structure, whereby the load of 800kg was ascertained.
The performance of the GRP material is particularly apparent in the proportion of sphere sizes up to 4 meters (13 feet) and including wall thicknesses of only 5 mm (1/5 inch).
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Outside, the spheres have been coated with water-based façade colours; inside, the spherical house was sealed with a topcoat. This method ensures a reproducible smooth surface for all further shuttering oil treatments.
A bus stop canopy made of ultra-high-strength concrete.
The Parapluie is an architecturally sophisticated, highly innovative concrete shell structure designed for the series production of bus stop roofs. The realisation of this filigree, only 25mm-thick structure made of ultra-high-strength concrete by DUCON with multi-layer micromat reinforcement was achieved by means of a high-precision mould construction by ACCENTFORM.
For the engineering achievement, the authors involved received the Tsuboi Award 2013 for their outstanding script at the 2013 IASS Symposium: Philipp Eisenbach (Bollinger + Grohmann), Ragunath Vasudevan (schneider+schumacher), Manfred Grohmann, Klaus Bollinger and Stephan Hauser (DUCON).
A parametric form-finding process was used to develop a system that transfers the loads of the shell via membrane effects. The result of intensive research, development and testing is a concrete shell that, with an edge thickness of less than 25 mm, is as light as it is resilient.
Only the outstanding engineering performance of the participating offices in combination with the implementation by experts like ACCENTFORM could make such a project possible.
ACCENTFORM’s way to the perfect mould – in four steps
1. since extremely stable and cost-effective moulds are required for the production of economical concrete formwork beams, a stable wooden substructure (made of glue beams) with a cover plate is first manufactured. This substructure enables a reproducible chip support during the subsequent milling and leads to an even and safe load transfer during the actual concreting.
2. large-volume STYROPOR blocks are then glued onto the timber substructure. The cost-effective STYROPOR blocks fill the space in between up to the actual functional surface.
3. the STYROPOR structure is pre-milled with undersize and then coated with a Bepastung or PU hard coating. This creates a hard surface that ensures high compressive strength.
4. to maintain the exact surface geometry, the coating must be milled a second time. The resulting surface is finely sanded manually and finally lacquered. An additional polish can also be used to achieve high-gloss surfaces.
New dimensions
The combination of ACCENTFORM’s precision in mould construction with the design and engineering services of the participating offices, as well as DUCON’s special material, opens up countless other possibilities for producing ultra-thin concrete shells through parametric shape optimisation. With the help of the high-performance and micro-reinforced concrete, extremely thin and equally load-bearing structures can be realised, be it for furniture, ceilings or façades. Engineers and architects alike can benefit from this when they are looking for technically feasible innovative forms.
Information pavilion in the shape of a soccer ball!
Our firm’s creativity knows no bounds…
We can fulfil all of your fantastic ideas with ease!!!
Technical characteristics:
The football pavilion is composed of 28 pieces: 10 are pentagonal and 18 are hexagonal.
Thanks to the special design and our manufacturing process, this pavilion is weather resistant, stable, and due to the modular design, it is easy to assembly /disassembly. Inside, the pavilion is equipped with an anti-vibration insulation.
The first impression counts!
