Forum "Gold und Silber"

Forum "Gold und Silber" with its impressively unusual facade incorporating a thermally separated steel structure. The unusual facade with its warm golden colouring and square cut-outs is fastened to a steel substructure that, in turn, is anchored to the reinforced concrete building with Isokorb® T types SK and K. The design of the magnificent envelope made from aluminium slabs with gold-coloured coating is testament to the goldsmithing that has been a traditional craft in Schwäbisch Gmünd for more than six hundred years. The concept envisaged strict separation of the core from the envelope: A multi-angled lightweight structure made of square façade panels coated with a substance that is reminiscent of gold leaf encases the five-floor reinforced concrete skeleton structure measuring 19 x 19 metres. The aluminium skin is set at a distance and features more than 1000 cut-outs of various sizes at interestingly different intervals.

Getting a grip on thermal bridges

The aluminium panels are fastened to a steel frame anchored with Schöck Isokorb® T type SK elements to the load-bearing reinforced concrete skeleton structure. In addition, Isokorb® T type K elements transfer the loads from cantilevered concrete slabs into the concrete structure. Without these load bearing thermal insulation elements, it would not be possible to implement such a facade design nowadays, given the thermal bridges at the joints. Schöck Isokorb® T type SK transfers negative moments and positive shear forces from steel components, such as cantilevered facade substructures, balconies and canopies, to concrete components. Whereas Schöck Isokorb® T type K is designed for cantilever reinforced concrete balconies and concrete slabs. This Schöck Isokorb® T variant also transfers negative moments and positive shear forces.

Modern precious metal design

Accordingly the Schöck Isokorb® T plays a key role in enabling implementation of the unusual facade design, which turns the building into a striking statement of modern architecture. A total of 767 aluminium panels were used. Their unmistakable, warm golden colouring comes from Duraflon coating, which is enormously resistant to bleaching and colour changes. Depending on the angle of the sun and the position of the observer, the Swabian nugget on the banks of the River Rems shimmers in different shades of metallic gold, while at the same time proving "all that glitters is not gold". Nevertheless, the Forum Gold und Silber still knows how to impress, long after the State Garden Show has finished.