PORR hands over the Gleisarena with its innovative glass brick facade at Zurich central station

After approximately two and a half years of construction, total service and general contractor PORR handed over the Gleisarena to the client SBB Immobilien. PORR was commissioned by SBB Immobilien to construct a multi-purpose building alongside the train tracks at Zurich central station.

The most striking element of this project is the innovative glass brick facade facing the tracks. In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the facade’s complex geometry and highly exacting requirements in terms of building physics made the project a technically challenging one. As total service contractor, PORR SUISSE realised this building with the aid of the technical expertise of PORR subsidiary Alu Sommer. The contract volume is approximately 40 million Swiss francs (35.9 million euros).

Unique glass brick facade – high geometric complexity.

“We worked with an innovative architectural office in Switzerland to produce a facade that is the only one of its kind in the world”, said Hubert Seifert, Managing Director of PORR SUISSE. “With this top-quality result, we – as a total service contractor – have demonstrated our comprehensive expertise in turning innovative, and technically and aesthetically demanding architectural ideas into reality. We are very proud of this achievement.”

Building physics and geometric requirements

Given today’s highly exacting requirements for heat transfer, sound insulation and dimensional tolerances, a glass brick facade poses enormous challenges in planning and execution. Glass bricks have an exceptionally high aesthetic value. In the past, however, this always had to be weighed up against massive disadvantages in terms of building physics.

The architectural office Made in Sàrl incorporated a large glass brick facade into their design for the Gleisarena. The geometry is multiple curved, making it difficult to realise in square glass bricks. At first glance, the facade looks like a continuous curve, but due to the geometry of the glass bricks it is actually a polygon.

Light and lighting effects of the glass brick facade.

This large-scale application is ideally suited to showcasing the high aesthetic appeal of a glass brick facade. With this solution, PORR is establishing a real milestone in the use of glass bricks in facade construction.

All the facts and figures at a glance

News courtesy of PORR