High design quality, quick installation Hamburger Hochbahn AG transports approx. 1 million passengers every day on three underground lines and more than 120 bus routes and is therefore Germany's second largest local transport company. The constant expansion of the underground network that was started more than 100 years ago is reflected among other things in the architecture of its stations: each era created its own building style; classified by the respective technical standard and materials usual of that time. The current renovation of the Wartenau underground station is defined by progressive design, the latest material developments and state of the art technology. Curtain-wall façade system won the day Wartenau station was built in 1961 as part of the extension to the U1 underground line in the east of Hamburg city. As with many building projects of that time, the tunnel walls behind the platforms were also clad with smallformat, glazed tiles, which were not up to the constant vibrations resulting in unavoidable cracks; the consequence was detaching and chipping on a large scale. Besides the design ideas, which were formulated by Hamburger Hochbahn AG's architecture and engineering division, the new façade cladding had to meet the following requirements: - The material cannot be flammable. - The surface should be easy to clean and graffiti should be able to be removed completely.
- 2 - The cladding should allow for high design quality through a large variety of shapes and colour. The system chosen by the planners of a curtain-wall, back-ventilated LONGOTON tile façade from MOEDING Keramikfassaden GmbH meets these material requirements. The short installation times for specific systems was another prerequisite, as the work on the platforms had to be completed during the roughly 4 hour period when the underground does not run at night. There was one other thing that made the Moeding product stand out: the lettering "Wartenau" and also the non-smoking pictogram were glazed into the tile surface using a special process by the manufacturer, maintaining the same resistance as with other glazes. The 1925 mm long and 200 mm high LONGOTON tiles are mounted on vertical support profiles lying across the full height of the wall. Structural joints can be built over elegantly in this way, the existing, likewise partly damaged tiled surfaces can be covered without the hassle of having to tear them all down beforehand. And thanks to the flexible fastening of the tiles on support profiles, constraining forces can finally be ruled out meaning that cracks caused by vibrations and structures settling can definitely be prevented. The tiles can be dismantled non-destructively at any time for any reworking of the actual tunnel walls. Strict joint grid contrasts with the vibrant play on colours The planners wanted a distinctive look for the redesign of the Wartenau station, modern products and modern technology as an expression of a progressive corporate culture. The LONGOTON system's elongated large formats were perfect and the fact that the tile colours could be customised to the planner's requirements made it even more attractive. The result: horizontally mounted tiles just under 2 m long in five different glazed shades of red. The continuous joint grid combined with the uniform tile dimension forces the new tunnel wall cladding into a strict order and direction, clearly contrasted by the apparently random arrangement of the different shades of
- 3 red. This wild dynamic is tamed time and time again by advertising and information surfaces integrated flush into the curtain-wall façade, whose distance to each other at the same time determines the tile pattern. Several rows of uniform grey glazed tiles level out the height of these surfaces on the bottom and top edge. In this way the advertising medium is integrated harmoniously as part of the tile façade, but still decidedly distances itself from the colourful mixed red wall surfaces. It is clearly visible that the new LONGOTON tile façade is a curtain-wall system. To emphasise this impression, the new cladding was also not designed flush to the floor and ceiling. The visible old wall surfaces in the crossover sections were blackened so that the new cladding appears to "float" like an independent element in front of the tunnel wall. Perfect system technology, a state of the art combustion process, which allows tiles that are over 3 m long to be produced, and colour customised to the project are combined in the redesign of the Wartenau underground station into a look that signals constant progress. 3,870 characters
- 4 Project data Project name: Building company: Architects: and building management Hamburger Hochbahn AG Hamburger Hochbahn AG's architecture and engineering division Project management: Hamburger Hochbahn AG's architecture and engineering division Specialist engineers: - Structural engineering Zacher Leichtbau, 21683 Stade Engineering company Dettmann / Töpper (static tests) - Electrical engineering Hamburger Hochbahn AG, Energy systems department - Façade planning Hamburger Hochbahn AG's architecture and engineering division Design: - Tile façade Processor: S+T Fassaden GmbH, 18195 Tessin Manufacturer: MOEDING Keramikfassaden GmbH, 84163 Marklkofen Façade area: 1,200 sqm incl. advertising space Completion: 03/2008
- 5 The approx. 2 m long LONGOTON tiles for the new tunnel wall cladding are fastened on vertical support profiles. The tiles can be dismantled non-destructively at any time for any rework. Architects: Hamburger Hochbahn AG Photo: MOEDING Keramikfassaden (Nils Kistner, Hamburg)
- 6 The high volume of traffic does not allow for any compromises. The new cladding's system must therefore be resistant to vibrations, the material cannot be flammable and finally the surface must be easy to clean and graffiti must also be able to be removed completely. Architects: Hamburger Hochbahn AG Photo: MOEDING Keramikfassaden (Nils Kistner, Hamburg)
- 7 The continuous joint grid, combined with the long lengths of the wildly mixed tiles made up of four different glazed shades of red force the new tunnel wall cladding into a strict order and direction, which then merges somewhere in the darkness of the tunnels. Architects: Hamburger Hochbahn AG Photo: MOEDING Keramikfassaden (Nils Kistner, Hamburg)
- 8 The new tile cladding was deliberately not designed flush to the floor and ceiling so that it is clearly recognisable as a curtain-wall façade system. Architects: Hamburger Hochbahn AG Photo: MOEDING Keramikfassaden (Nils Kistner, Hamburg)
- 9 A technological innovation of the tile façade: large lettering and signs glazed on surfaces, which can also be made in different versions. Architects: Hamburger Hochbahn AG Photo: MOEDING Keramikfassaden (Nils Kistner, Hamburg)
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