A spectacular new building is currently under construction in central Berlin, less than a mile away from the Brandenburg Gate and right on top of the former border between eastern and western Germany. It’s going to be the new headquarters for Axel Springer SE, the publishing house responsible for the German tabloid BILD, among other publications. Designed by famous Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, the building is located on a 10,000 m2 plot of land between Schuetzenstrasse, Zimmerstrasse und Jerusalemer Strasse. Tracing the course of the Wall diagonally through the building as a void to creating an expansive interior atrium, it will fascinate architecture and history fans alike.
Supporting elements and hanging floors
When you accompany Dieter Gescher, statics expert at Teupe & Söhne Gerüstbau GmbH, CTO of Teupe GmbH Stahl- und Maschinenbau and head of the technical office with 14 staff, through the breath-taking new Axel Springer building his enthusiasm for all the technical details of this construction project is infectious. It is designed so that the first four floors up to the atrium create the impression of a stairway, followed by a straight diagonal line back to the roof from the fifth floor upwards. In order to be able to dispense with as many supporting elements as possible, the top five floors will be hung in suspension with the help of a steel heavy-load structure, the so-called ‘transfer support structure’. During the construction phase individual loads of up to 5,200 kN are being supported by a combination of standard Allround Scaffolding components and Teupe heavy-duty towers. “Here in the atrium we’ve got a birdcage structure composed of 125,000 m3 of Layher Allround Scaffolding and 1,200 t Teupe heavy-duty towers to cope with these enormous loads,” said Ludger Schroer, Teupe’s Senior Site Supervisor. “Layher’s material and ‘more possibilities’ concept ideally equips us for our projects,” explained Dieter Gescher.
A mammoth project – also for the scaffolders
Since November 2016, when Züblin was engaged as general contractor, numerous Teupe Group statics experts and engineers have been working on this complex, large-scale project. The company did the statics for the scaffolding, all technical processing and all work scheduling itself. The modular Layher Allround System considerably simplified the scaffolding planning process. From March 2017 onwards the scaffolding specialist had up to 20 personnel permanently on site to erect the birdcage and support scaffolding, facade and safety scaffolding, stairtowers and various special-purpose structures. The high birdcage scaffolding, which is up to 40 m high in places, incorporates the Teupe heavy-duty towers and Layher Allround Scaffolding to provide a shoring structure capable of bearing loads of between 12 kN/m2 and 40 kN/m2. “The load transfer to the floor structure and the step-by-step dismantling of the birdcage scaffolding is scheduled to take place between October 2018 and April 2019. It’s going to be one of the highlights in this construction project,” said Dieter Gescher. “The statics and the logistics in this project were both major challenges, and because it wasn’t possible to store the scaffolding materials on the building site we had to get it delivered on a just-in-time basis in over 100 articulated lorries,” added Ludger Schroer.
Over 60 years of top quality solutions
The owner-managed, medium-sized Teupe Group has Europe-wide operations. With more than 400 employees it is a market leader in Germany for scaffolding construction and lifting equipment. It is also a successful market player in the mechanical engineering and steel construction sectors. Founded in 1951 in Stadtlohn by Heinrich Teupe as a wooden and ladder scaffolding trading company, it now has sites in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and has been a Layer customer right from day one. “Teupe delivers innovative and high quality solutions, and it is committed to the continuous optimisation of its portfolio. We always take advantage of the training and other services offered by Layher to keep our employees up to date, and we appreciate the good working relationship with our partners at Layher, not to mention their technical expertise,” concluded Ludger Schroer.
