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New Porsche museum takes to the air
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Some 450 days after the ground-breaking ceremony, the shell of
Porsche’s new museum in Stuttgart Zuffenhausen is largely completed
as 2006 draws to a close. An important construction phase is thus
concluded: the underground car park, ground floor, first floor and
central girders, the “cores”, made from reinforced concrete have been
constructed. At total of 21,000 cubic metres of concrete have been
used. The 100 (approximately) employees – partly thanks to the mild
weather of recent weeks – have made rapid progress, even during the
winter. Many night shifts were arranged to lift major parts of the
construction into place by crane and on several occasions Schwieberdinger
Strasse (B 27) was closed on one side during at night. Lift shafts, stairwells and service channels are now in place in the
three building cores. These also serve as heavy load-bearing supports for
the exhibition area, which will cover 5,600 square metres and hover over
the first floor as a building in its own right. Employees are currently
pulling eight inch-thick steel wires through one of the Y-shaped supports.
Each of the 22 metre-long wires is secured as an abutment and must be
pre-stressed with a tensile force of 300 tonnes using a special apparatus.
The technology being used is derived from bridge construction and is
required on static grounds – to provide sufficient support for the
audacious architecture of the new Porsche museum. Once completed, the
exhibition area will weigh 35,000 tonnes and will house 80 valuable museum
vehicles and 200 further exhibits from the history of the Zuffenhausen-based
car manufacturer. In the meantime, the futuristic museum with its striking contours is now
beginning to take shape. The actual exhibition area is being constructed as
a steel shell. Some 500 of a total of 6,000 tonnes of steel are already in
place. The imposing frame construction – similar to those used in ship and
aircraft construction – sketches the future silhouette of the museum, which
is located directly adjacent to the parent factory and is expected to be
completed in the second half of 2008. “The steel girders have a span of up to 60 metres and are bridged between
the supports. This design produces the impression that the exhibition hall
is hovering above the rest of the building,” remarks Christina Becker, project
manager for the new museum construction. The steel construction work is being
continued section by section from east to west (from the S-Bahn overpass in
the direction of Porscheplatz/Porsche showroom) and is expected to be
completed in 2007, when the facade will be complete and the interior
construction can begin. “We would like to take this opportunity to thank sincerely the many car
drivers on Schwieberdinger Strasse for the patience they have had to display
at times in the area of the construction site: However, their future reward
will be an architectural masterpiece that will form a gateway to the city of
Stuttgart and significantly enrich Zuffenhausen,” remarked Anton Hunger, Head
of Public Relations at Porsche AG, who is also responsible for the new museum.
Stuttgart will gain even further appeal thanks to the construction of the
Porsche and Mercedes-Benz museums. Car enthusiasts from all over the world
will travel to the Swabian city to gain a fascinating insight into the history
of car construction. The new museum building covering 24,000 square metres, which was designed
by the Viennese architects Delugan Meissl, also houses the Porsche archives
and a special workshop for historic vehicles. The workshop, which is home to
the 300 cars from the Porsche depot, can also be used by private customers who
want to restore or service their valuable vehicles. On completion, the museum
will also boast a coffee shop, a museum restaurant and a conference area. An
exclusive restaurant operated independently of the museum will, also, be
on-site. | |||||
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