SITUATION:

Düsseldorf has a new landmark. The skyline is now even better thanks to the award-winning Sky Office building at Kennedydamm. Christoph Ingenhoven designed the 89 m tower in a transparent casing with 23 floors and an office area of more than 30,000 m2.

The interior is clear and light. The ceiling-high glass creates a working atmosphere that is engulfed in light. On the ground floor, the signature of the building with its impressive entrance and inviting cafeteria is further supported by an unusual choice of material and colour for the flooring. The designers purposefully chose an exclusive pure white floor with a traditional terrazzo look – over 1,300 m2. This gives the room its own character: the simple white of the floor defines the atmosphere.

CHALLENGES:

  • 89m tower in a transparent casing with 23 floors and an office area of more than 30,000 m2.
  • Pure floors for a one-off design.
  • An unusual choice of material and colour for the flooring over 1,300m2

SOLUTION:

The result is a pure and modern look, which succeeds in not being too cold. Seamless over a large surface – a continuous and calming look. A personalised shade of special white with fine additives makes the floor unique. A new, high-quality concept was chosen to achieve this effect in the floor design.

Design quality and fast and economic application were decisive during planning. Just as important was the high durability of the material and the implementation possibilities even on raised flooring.

PANDOMO® TerrazzoMicro allows smooth and finely-sanded high-quality floors to be created with a typical terrazzo look. It consists of a shrinkage compensated binding agent and a fine decorative aggregate created from various mineral additives. The design and colour can be individually chosen. The incorporated natural stone aggregate makes the floor appear more natural and organic. In the Sky Office, a white binding agent was mixed with a light aggregate to create the standard decorative aggregate.

This monochrome colour scheme required a lot of precision when being laid to rule out any discrepancies in the colour of the surface. But the material still allowed for high quality over a large surface area. Raised flooring was used as a base on which PANDOMO® ATS floor filler followed by PANDOMO® TerrazzoMicro with a layer thickness of 14 mm was laid. The entire surface was then sanded numerous times. The result is high-quality, homogenous surfaces laid in an incredibly short.

SITUATION:

The new ThyssenKrupp headquarters is the workplace for more than 2,000 employees in Essen and represents the new centerpiece of the company. In this building the client wanted an unusual place for employees and visitors to reflex and find their inner balance.

The architect designed an ambitious room with a seven meter tall foyer and an adjacent main room with a free floating cube in the center. The architect wanted a homogeneous design for all the surfaces in the room.

CHALLENGES:

  • Seven meter tall walls
  • Cube focal point that is suspended from the ceiling
  • Seamless floor
  • Homogeneous floor, walls and ceiling

SOLUTION:

ARDEX Germany offered PANDOMO® by ARDEX as a solution. The PANDOMO® System is a solution where one style of material can be applied on all surfaces. On the walls and ceiling they used PANDOMO® Wall in a light crème color. On the floor PANDOMO® Floor and PANDOMO® Loft was utilized. These products give the impression of a room cut from stone without any joints. All surfaces have a silky noble gloss which gives the room a simple, high quality elegance.

PARTICIPANTS:

Installers:

  • Heinz Vorwerk GmbH – Warendorf, Germany
  • Otto – Aman GmbH – Beelen, Germany

Architects:

  • JSWD Architects – Köln, Germany
  • Chaix & Morel and Associates – Paris, France

SITUATION:

When Widex began building their new headquarters, they desired an environmental flooring solution that aligned with their corporate business model. Widex also needed a system that would resist crack telegraphing and could be installed at a thickness of 2mm. With these challenges in mind, the contractor was worried they would not be able to meet their fast-approaching deadline.

CHALLENGES:

  • Environmental considerations during the construction process
  • Cover existing cracking on a molded deck
  • 2 mm (.0787 inch) thick
  • Fast-track installation

SOLUTION:

ARDEX Technical Service Representatives recommended the Asnaes Carpet Center contractors use ARDEX K 14 System Leveling Compound. ARDEX K 14 was the natural choice, because it has a GEV-EMICODE rating of EC 1. GEV-EMICODE is a green quality control rating that ensures a product has very low or no solvent content that contributes to indoor air pollution caused by volatile organic compounds (VOCs). ARDEX K 14 can also be poured to a depth as low as 1.5 mm when needed over dense or primed areas.

To start the process, ARDEX Technical Service Representatives completed a demonstration on site. This product demonstration proved the recommended system would meet Asnaes Carpet Center’s time constraints and prevent a third party from having to assist in the installation.

With confidence Asnaes Carpet Center started the installation. In the areas where the concrete slab had cracked, ARDEX K 22 F Fiber Reinforced, Calcium Sulfate Leveling Compound filled the larger cracks. ARDEX EP 2000™ Substrate Preparation Epoxy Primer was then used to fill the smaller cracks and prepare the cement for the ARDEX K 14 topping over areas of substrate cracking. ARDEX EP 2000 can be used as crack filler and helps prevent cracks from telegraphing.

In areas where the concrete had not cracked, Asnaes Carpet Center used ARDEX A 31 Primerless Fine Filler to fill defects in the concrete substrate and then coated the slab with ARDEX P 51™ Primer. ARDEX P 51 is solvent free and has no VOCs. ARDEX P 51 also greatly improves the bond of ARDEX toppings and greatly increases the strength of the bond between the ARDEX K 14 and the substrate.

With the help of ARDEX Technical Service, Widex Headquarters was completed on time. The new Widex Headquarters hosts 800 employees and is a prime example of an environmental building. With green construction products, an onsite windmill and solar paneling, the Widex building is CO2 neutral and delivers excess power to the local grids.

PARTICIPANTS:

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Asnaes Carpet Center – Asnaes, Denmark
ARCHITECT: White Architects – Copenhagen, Denmark

SITUATION:

Congratulations to Andrew Doré and the team at Surface Archetypes who won 1st Place in their category, ‘Overlays less than ¼” over 5000 square foot’ for their workmanship at 480 Queen Street, Brisbane. This prestigious award was presented by the U.S. Decorative Concrete on the 17th January at the ‘World of Concrete’ that was held in Las Vegas. 480 Queen Street is a 32 storey office tower in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia where 3500 sqm (32670 sq ft) of ARDEX PANDOMO W1 decorative plaster was installed to walls and ceilings. The tower had a 6-star Green Star rating target, which was achieved in the design and a 5 star NABERS Energy target.

CHALLENGES:

Surface Archetypes supplied and installed PANDOMO W1 to high level ceilings, to stair walls, to light voids. At the time of the contract being signed by Surface Archetypes never before had this quantity of ARDEX PANDOMO W1 been installed in a single project and for Surface Archetypes, it was a chance to showcase their expertise in the eyes of the design world.

SOLUTION:

Surface Archetypes went through rigorous sampling showing colours and styles and countless hours were spent creating colour samples to achieve a finish that met the client’s requirements.

Once on site, the logistics of maintaining colour and effect across the 3500 sqm was a huge task. In the beginning, there were only 2 trowel hands applying the ARDEX PANDOMO W1, however at the height of the installation, Surface Archetypes had 9 trowel hands applying the decorative finish in adjacent areas. According to Andrew Doré, this was by far the most difficult aspect of the installation, ensuring that the pattern effect did not differ from one area to the next.

Andrew Doré from Surface Archetypes said, ‘I developed many grey hairs and tested the patience of myself and the trowel hands because this project was going to be viewed by many across the design industry, and it had to be faultless. The trowel hands had to accept that I was going to be relentless in my quality control mode’. Fabian Morgan, Managing Director of ARDEX Australia said ‘this is another great innovative use of ARDEX PANDOMO W1.’

PARTICIPANTS:

Architect: BVN Donovan Hill
Builder: Grocon Pty Ltd
Applicator: Surface Archetypes

SITUATION:

Radio Television Hong Kong is the public broadcasting service of Hong Kong. It currently operates seven radio channels and three television channels, and produces educational, entertainment, and public affairs programmes that are also broadcast on commercial television channels. These radio channels are being on-air nonstop everyday, all round 24 hours.

SOLUTION:

Existing waterproofing system was found aged and a number of waterproofing seepage have been noted. It was challenging to have a complete re-roofing of a 24-hour operation building without noise nuisance.

Sheltercoat 157 PU spray applied membrane system is capable to be applied directly on the existing roof concrete tile, concrete surface or metal surface without removal.

Due to this application method, there will be no noise disturbance and waste material from the site, which is also an environmental friendly re-roofing solution.

PARTICIPANTS:

Installer Hancrete Engineering Co. Ltd.
Owner Hong Kong Government (ASD)

SITUATION:

Teva Pharmaceuticals Ireland specialises in the development, production and marketing of generic and proprietary branded pharmaceuticals. It also specialises in active pharmaceutical ingredients and is a part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the world’s leading generic pharmaceutical company. ARDEX Ireland were delighted to work alongside Teva Pharmaceuticals Ireland in the refurbishment of their HQ in Waterford. The finished floor coverings that were used were Polyflor omega EC and Gerflor Mipolam 500.

CHALLENGES:

Fast Track Project that had variable conditions on site from warm to cold. Looking for a cost effective system to ensure the finished floor would perform to its optimum.

SOLUTION:

A specification was done with a full ARDEX system put forward which included waterproofing, priming and Smoothing and Leveling. The 4000m2 project was waterproofed using ARDEX WPM300 which is a water based epoxy polyamide membrane this acts as an effective moisture vapour suppressant, we then used ARDEX P82 as our primer and ARDEX K39 as the smoothing and leveling compound which was selected due to the extra open time and workability.

ARDEX PRODUCTS FEATURED

ARDEX K 39: This high flow, levelling and smoothing compound provides extended workability. This market leading product has a workable wet edge of up to 40 minutes. With its extended wet edge, fresh applications of ARDEX K 39 can be easily smoothed into existing pre-applied material for up to 40 minutes after application, making it ideal for complicated areas, adjoining rooms and large areas where pumping is required. Furthermore, the use of ARDEX K 39 eliminates the need to ‘rub down’ any surfaces.

ARDEX P 82: This is a solvent-free, non-flammable two part primer for use on all dense impervious surfaces, including hard asphalt and rigid metal sub-floors. It has been designed for priming smooth and impervious surface such as concrete, terrazzo, glazed ceramics, quarry tiles, metal and sound paint coatings
ARDEX WPM 300: is a two component water based epoxy polyamide membrane/barrier coating. It can be applied to damp surfaces; will prevent rising damp and formation of efflorescence. It is also water based so is safe to use in sensitive locations and meets the benchmark for VOC.

PARTICIPANTS:

Installer/Applicator:
Sean Hoban Ltd. Dublin Ireland

General Contractor
Adston Construction Ireland

Architect(s)
Mc Elroy Associates Architects Dublin Ireland