fischer undercut anchors secure building facade in Europaallee

Secure hold for new Zurich center of life

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fischer undercut anchors secure building facade in Europaallee
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  • fischer undercut anchors secure building facade in Europaallee
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The Europaallee area measures approximately 78,000 m² in total. The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), as owner and developer, are constructing around 400 new apartments on the site. With Zurich’s main train station within walking distance and opportunities for working, shopping, and dining nearby, the district represents the new focal point of life for many people.

The so-called “Construction Field F” covers approximately 39,000 m². Of this, 28,000 m² is planned by the Zurich office Boltshauser Architekten to accommodate a building with 168 rental apartments (16,300 m² of living space). Additionally, it will house offices (7,500 m²), shops and services (800 m²), gastronomy (500 m²), and much more. Construction work began in 2016 and is scheduled to be completed in 2019. Great importance is attached to the new facade made of glass and natural stone. The combination of modern transparency with high-quality Sellenberger Muschelkalk and red Main sandstone gives the building – and thus the entire residential quarter – a friendly appearance and a representative look. Beyond aesthetics, the reliability of the building envelope plays the most important role. Because when facades fail, they endanger public safety as well as life and limb. Therefore, the correct choice and application of the anchors is very significant.

For the anchoring of the natural stone elements, the company Zeidler & Wimmel from Kirchheim/Unterfranken, commissioned for this task, worked closely with the ACT facade specialists of the fischer group. The result is that around 55,000 pieces of the fischer FZP undercut anchors are used. This facade fastening offers higher holding forces and is suitable for lower panel bending moments than conventional systems. It is installed invisibly from the outside, form-fitting, and completely free of expansion pressure in the undercut drilled hole of the natural stone.
However, before the ideal solution was found, some preliminary work and tests with the Sellenberg shell limestone and the red Main sandstone were necessary. The FZP undercut anchors were tested with both materials. For this purpose, the fischer experts, in collaboration with the engineering office IBT, defined a special testing program to represent the installation situation on site as realistically as possible.

Due to the porous stone material, a second series of tests with a greater embedment depth was required to meet the demands of wind and dead loads. For this, the fischer project engineers and the engineering office IBT pooled their expertise. Since two stones with different properties were used, they were considered separately and the fastenings were independently optimized according to their respective technical characteristics.
 
The plates used are 40 mm thick with a size of 1,400 by 900 mm. The fischer FZP undercut anchors were the ideal solution for attaching these formats. A comparative consideration of the otherwise commonly used dowel fastening in facade construction (a dowel with a mortar anchor) showed that the minimum plate thickness of 40 mm could not have been maintained in many areas with this method. This would have made the already planned substructure impossible to realize. The Sellenberg shell limestone and the red Main sandstone are assembled into facade elements with the fischer anchors and then mounted on the buildings.

The result is a facade that combines functionality and safety with an attractive look and can thus shape the new Europaallee district for years to come.

Project Profile

Number of products used:
55,000 pieces
Executing company:
Zeidler & Wimmel from Kirchheim/Lower Franconia
Planning office:
Boltshauser Architects, Zurich
Client:
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
Total project scope:
The area of Europaallee measures approximately 78,000 m² in total. The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), as owner and developer, are constructing around 400 new apartments on the site.

Our used products:

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