All good things come in threes
With the completion of the 130 m long pergola, we set the final stone of our three-part work at the Hilti Campus in Schaan. This was preceded by our structural design services for the new ‘Office Mitte’ and ‘Office Nord’ buildings, which we had the privilege of realizing for the Hilti Group together with Giuliani Hönger Architekten. The modern working environments of the office buildings are now complemented by the generous open space element. It not only serves as a protected passage between the parking garage and the ‘Office Nord’, but also offers outdoor working opportunities for informal exchanges, meetings and team events.
The design by Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten includes 315 circular skylights – in various sizes and with differently colored glass frames – that break up the bottom view of the concrete roof and generate original light and reflection effects. The insert geometry was parameterized using a numerical optimization algorithm in such a way that, despite the variable roof pitch and the conical insert geometry, only 4 different insert types had to be created per opening diameter.
The vertical loads of the perforated slab are transferred via hidden beams – so-called strong-bands – to the columns positioned in the edge area. Due to the complicated reinforcement layout between the roof openings, fiber-reinforced concrete was used to achieve greater robustness of the slab. All columns are of cast-in-place concrete construction with a teardrop-shaped cross-section, which is specifically oriented to emphasize certain visual references. Due to the jointless design and the large extension of the roof, the columns in the two outer areas were designed as pendulum columns. This allows largely restraint-free expansion at roof level due to temperature changes. Cracking of the concrete roof structure, which was designed without waterproofing, is thus largely prevented.
Photos: Lüchinger+Meyer, Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten (roof supervision)
