New splendour on the Ku’damm

The Goal

Construction of the new commercial and office building “Gloria Berlin”, right next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, on the famous Kurfürstendamm promenade.
The name “Gloria-Palast” once referred to the most important movie theatres in the capital and lured cineastes and celebrities to the film festivals on the “Ku’damm”. In the new “Gloria Berlin”, attractive retail businesses and offices will attract its clientele.

The Project

Summary:
Within one year the building shell was erected for two new combined commercial and office buildings with a total gross floor area of almost 25,000 m², large slab support spacing and large storey heights. The front of the building embraces architectural elements that reflect the Ku’damm history, and through the use of glass and natural stone, blends in harmoniously with the existing façades.

Challenges:
The exposed location in the bustling city centre, difficult transport accessibility, hotels in the immediate vicinity and complicated site preparation: Flexibility and precise coordination were required on the part of the project team at Mark-A. Krüger Bauunternehmung led by the construction manager Mathias Lippski and foreman Enrico Seeger. Also the current renovation of the historical building on the adjacent plot Ku’damm 15 – which also belongs to the “Gloria Berlin” ensemble of buildings – required close cooperation and coordination with the neighbouring construction site. Pressing groundwater required complex solutions for the work in the basements.

The Solution

1. Demanding requirements

   To a large extent, the second basement level had to be built underneath technically indispensable construction pit bracing made up of steel pipes with a diameter of 60 cm. It was necessary to relocate district heating transmission lines and put them back into operation while the work was in progress. Last but not least, due to prevailing groundwater conditions, complex water drainage had to be practised up to the completion of the second floor in order to reliably build the basement levels up to a depth of approx. 8 metres in the pressurized groundwater.

   Because the groundwater conditions made it necessary to use a construction method with all-round “trough walls”, the formwork for the outer walls with a depth of only 2.45 metres, the robust STB 450 support frames simplified transport, space-saving storage and use. They transferred the high loads from the formwork into the foundations without any problem. With regards to the high individual loads transferred by the support frames into the voided biaxial slab, there was a particular need for coordination with MEVA’s technical department. Additional measures were planned by MEVA and successfully implemented by the construction company. The economic Mammut 350 wall formwork system with a fresh-concrete pressure capacity up to 100 kN/m² had no problems with the large wall heights up to 5.20 m. Up to the second floor clearance heights of approx. 4.50 metres were required.

2. Maximum slab support spacing

   3.185 m² of MevaDec panels were employed to pour the slabs. To achieve an airy, open atmosphere, Cobiax voided slabs were combined with steel-concrete composite columns up to the first floor. Due to the interplay between the weight-reduced slabs and the high-strength steel-concrete composite columns – and although the columns were slender throughout – it was possible to achieve a slab support spacing of approx. 9 metres. High-strength steel-concrete composite columns and beams were integrated. The slabs of floor 3 to 5 were formed with integrated concrete core activation in order to be able to use the solid structural elements to control the temperature of the building. The construction company benefited from the use of MevaDec. The slab formwork made it easy to find flexible solutions in areas where pipes had to be routed through to the underside of the slab. In the areas in question it was possible to replace slab panels with fillers in order to realise the pipe penetrations.

   The Mark-A. Krüger Bauunternehmung also used the MEVA MTT stair tower with non-slip floors for safe ascent. In addition, more than 3,200 EuMax props for slab formwork up to a height of 5.50 m and BKB folding access platforms to allow work to be performed comfortably while standing on a 1.25-m-wide walking surface.

The Outcome

Site manager Mathias Lippski looked back with satisfaction after the successful completion of the building shell: “With MevaDec in particular, we had a system at our disposal that could be used throughout for different slab heights and requirements and which was nevertheless light and easy to handle. MevaDec made a significant contribution to reducing the workload on the three rotating tower cranes and thus to the timely completion of the building shell.“

Featured Products:

• Brace Brackets & Support STB 450
• Wall Formwork Mammut 350
• Slab Formwork MevaDec
• Brace Brackets & Support MTT
• Props EuMax
• Access & Safety Platforms BKB

Client:
Mark-A. Krüger Bauunternehmung GmbH

Principal:
CENTRUM Projektabwicklung GmbH, Düsseldorf, Germany

Project:
Commercial and office building „Gloria“

Location:
Berlin, Germany

Formwork Engineering:
MEVA Schalungs-Systeme GmbH, Berlin Office