The adidas ARENA in Herzogenaurach is a striking administrative building with a sculptural character. As a “built landscape”, the entrance level offers space for a variety of uses. Above this entrance area, which looks like a green hill, the rest of the building is elevated 12.5 m above the ground – but only since the completion of the assembly work; A significant part of this assembly work was carried out almost at ground level. 76 hydraulic presses then lifted the 12,500 ton steel structure including the two lowest ceilings. Then 67 V-shaped composite columns were installed under the construction, on which the three-story building has rests ever since. Werner Sobek was responsible for the structural planning of the building, which was designed by the Stuttgart architects Behnisch. At the beginning of 2014, the adidas Group announced an architecture competition for the expansion of its company headquarters – the new ARENA office building was to be the main entrance to the “World of Sports” in the future. The design developed for this by Behnisch Architekten emerged as the winner of the competition. The floor plan of the new building is approximately 143 mx 118 m, and the ground floor will be established directly. The upper floors 1 to 3 are raised about 12.5 m above the ground using V-shaped supports. In order to ensure the most flexible use possible, a Vierendeel construction was chosen for the upper floors, which provides for columns in a grid of 8.10 m and which completely dispenses with diagonals or stiffening walls. The ground floor is an independent reinforced concrete structure composed of columns, walls and ceiling. This construction is decoupled from the upper floors by a green and accessible cover. The V-pillars of the upper floors penetrate the ceiling of the first floor, but without entering into a static connection with it.
Awards:
Engineering award of the German steel construction
European Steel Design Award
DAM Prize nomination
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