Spectacular spherically curved façade installed at the MOL Campus in Budapest using Heavydrive equipment
Highly flexible glass assembly systems ensure installation of the differently curved panes
The MOL Campus, the new company premises of oil and gas company MOL Group, towers over the banks of the Danube in Budapest. The design was created in the London office of Foster and Partners in cooperation with Finta Studio. The modern design meets the demands of a 21st century work environment.
The floors in the podium and the tower have different areas. The transition extends over two floors. Instead of faceting the glass elements, double-curved glass was used to ensure a smooth transition. The bending radii and the arrangement of the modules were optimised to simplify the construction process. And the double-curved insulating glass panes were used only sparingly.
The aluminium and glass façade consists of 24800 square metres (266945 square feet) of element façade and 1700 square metres (18300 square feet) of post-and-rail façade. The façade was prefabricated and installed by the general contractor Scheldebouw, a subsidiary of the Permasteelisa Group, which also includes Gundelfingen-based Josef Gartner GmbH. The flat insulating glazing comes from AGC Interpane Plattling. Finiglas in Dülmen produced the 500 multi-convex and concave curved glass panes.
Two façade construction companies were involved in the complex construction project. Both companies used special Heavydrive equipment to accomplish the difficult installation of the façade elements. The general contractor Scheldebouw set the upper glass panes, also the elements around the balcony of the roof terrace. The Heavydrive GMG 600 glass installation system was used to glaze the roof terrace. All the straight glass elements were set in place by the VSG 750 K MH vacuum suction system. To install the spherically curved glass on the building as a whole, the team used two VSG 500 KR SP vacuum suction systems developed specifically for differently curved glass panes. The lower façade elements were set by Alukol. Here, the Heavydrive systems were used to install the spherically curved panes with overhang.
"The glass installation was extremely complex, slow and expensive to implement. We are thrilled that our equipment was able to overcome the challenges and that we were on board this prestigious European project," explains Günter Übelacker, Managing Director of Heavydrive. The Heavydrive systems were in operation at the MOL Campus in Budapest from November 2021 until summer 2022.
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