Mercedes-Benz Center in Milan, Italy

Rentable standard elements as special formwork for high quality and safety in the realisation

Construction of the largest southern European Mercedes Benz sales centre in Milan will be completed after only a 21-month building period. For the concrete frame work, only twelve months have been allotted to the experienced Züblin construction team. In autumn 2007, the building complex will be officially handed over to the car manufacturer ready for occupancy.

The ground plan dimensions of the Italian Mercedes Benz centre measure a massive 183 by 126 metres. Spread across three upper floors, it features generously-sized showrooms which are arranged around the central brand gallery – a conically-shaped tower. A multi-functional event area offers sufficient space for up to 2,000 people. Customer service, a workshop and spare parts storage can be found on the west side. The basement has been designed for use as underground parking, a technical facility and car preparation.

With its broad range of equipment and system programmes, formwork and scaffolding manufacturer, PERI, was in a position to provide the contractors with the optimal solution for each of the various tasks. Thus, in spite of the extremely short construction schedule, high quality of workmanship as well as all safety requirements can be achieved efficiently and cost-effectively.

The so-called brand gallery is the heart and distinctive symbol of Mercedes Benz architecture. Over the overall height of 19 metres, the diameter of the inclined truncated cone changes continuously from 35 to 17 metres. The vertical axis is inclined at an angle of about 13 degrees which results in a maximum 4.35 metre offset of the circle´s centre. For cost-effective construction progress, PERI engineers decided in favour of the continuously adjustable PERI RUNDFLEX circular formwork, ensuring the use of rentable system formwork as far as possible throughout the project. Each one of the predominantly 3.60 m high RUNDFLEX elements can be installed on site easily and accurately into the individually curved form. The required radii templates were produced accordingly by PERI using special CNC wood processing equipment. Filler elements along with the starting formwork were also tailor-made and have been delivered to the construction site ready for use. Due to the high dimensional accuracy of the special elements and the detailed PERI general arrangement drawings, radii adjustments and element connections can be carried out in a time and cost-saving manner.

The efficient construction of the altogether 16,000 m² in situ concrete walls is realised with optimized PERI TRIO panel formwork materials which ensure fast shuttering. In so doing, large-area transportable units can be installed and moved saving both time and costs. In combination with a pre-determined concreting cycle schedule, construction progress can be accelerated to maximum levels.

PERI also supplied ideally suited system solutions for constructing the reinforced concrete columns with different cross-sectional shapes and sizes. The PERI QUATTRO, for example, will ensure enormous time-savings when forming the square and rectangular columns as the elements can be opened and closed without the need of any loose components. For the circular cross-sections, the likewise quickly assembled PERI SRS circular column formwork is a guarantee for a perfect concrete surface finish. The high permissible fresh concrete pressure of 150 kN/m² thus allows fast and economical concreting. PERI concreting platforms and integrated access ladders increase safety levels and raise productivity.

Slabs and beams have been formed with the flexible and adaptable PERI MULTIFLEX girder slab formwork. PEP props and MULTIPROP post shores have provided here a high load-bearing capacity with low weight. The PERI ST 100 stacking tower was used as shoring for the cantilevered slab areas.

Currently, new Mercedes-Benz Centers are being developed in the most important cities in Europe and Asia. These brand environments represent the company´s products and philosophy but also strengthens the dialogue with customers and potential buyers. Built according to a uniform architectural concept and specially developed by DaimlerChrysler, this concept is designed to convey the values of the Mercedes-Benz brand – quality, innovation and fascination – and generate a high recognition value around the world.

Project details
Client: Ed. Züblin AG, Stuttgart
Field Service: PERI Stuttgart

PERI GmbH
Formwork and Shoring
P.O. Box 1264
89259 Weissenhorn
Tel.: +49/ 73 09/ 9 50-0
Fax: +49/ 73 09/ 9 51-0
info@peri.de
www.peri.de

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PERI Editorial Team
Tel.: +49/ 73 09/ 9 50-1 18
Fax: +49/ 73 09/ 9 51-1 18
redaktion@peri.de
http://www.peri.de/ww/en/pub/presse/dec_01_06.cfm

PERI was founded in 1969 and is today one of the leading providers of formwork and scaffolding systems. Along with the headquarters in Weißenhorn, Germany, the company has 45 international subsidiaries and 70 stock yards around the world. The company has over 4.000 employees of which 700 are engineers (as of 2005). 2006 revenues will be around 900 million Euros.

This release was published on openPR.