Façades.
Whoever has the courage to leave conventional limitations behind and to question traditional assumptions will find the best possible solutions. This notion represents our approach to construction projects.
One example is Kunstmuseum Basel: this art museum’s novel seamless masonry facade and its technical solution only came about because we took the existing standardised rules of facade construction and developed them further.
Our holistic view of construction projects makes it possible to prevent interfaces between the disciplines of shell construction and facade from appearing as such in the first place. Conceived and planned as a single unit in terms of structural physics from the very start by interconnected teams, a harmonious building is produced.
Kunstmuseum Basel
The extension of this art museum, with its archaic-looking grey brick façade, appears to be classically structured, due to the stones’ different light hues and the relief, so the new building and the main building speak the same language.
Movable ties and ductile façade corners allowed the front exposed-brick facade to be formed without dilatation joints, ensuring visual homogeneity. We did not invent this construction method, but we rediscovered it, developed it further and implemented it here in a large-scale project for the first time.
This know-how can be traced back to our company founders’ wealth of experience. For many years, we have been planning exposed-brick façades, along with, but also without, the building shell. The seamless exposed-brick façade has become a calling card – for Kunstmuseum Basel and for ZPF Ingenieure.