1st quarter of 2013
Dear colleagues,
Much has happened since the foundation ceremony last June, when it was possible for everyone present to imagine the buildings geometry based on the outline of the construction pit.
During the summer a subbase has been applied on top of the sandy soil and the foundation has been formed. At the same time a circular earth electrode necessary for the lightning protection has been placed in the ground surrounding the foundation. One after the other the exterior and partition walls of the basement floor have been casted or else have been constructed using pre-cast segments. The steel mesh, embedded in the concrete, has been fused in places to surround the data center and other critical areas such as the power transformer with a Faraday cage.
Later in autumn two steel girders with a length of 12 meters and a weight of 10 tons have been delivered. These will support the ceiling of the conference room and the floors above.
With the finish of the basement floor in early winter the trench around the building could be partly filled again. Thus, the first trench supporting girders could be removed. Unfortunately for the colleagues in A51, this could not be done without noise and vibrations. Now the first cores and exterior walls of the ground floor have been erected – three more floors to come.
Parallel to this work in October the development of the supporting infrastructure has started, since December every now and then interrupted by freezing periods. The works, which also have caused noise and vibrations now and again, included the fresh and waste water pipeline, the telecommunication and data connection, the medium-high voltage cable and the connection of A26 with the new building for the temporary heating necessary until the data center is up and running and during times of outage due to maintenance or disruptions.
The construction of the building shell has been delayed due to the low temperatures during the past three month. The construction of the fair-faced concrete of the staircases can only be done when temperatures are above 5 degrees. If temperatures drop well below zero it is not possible at all to work with concrete. The completion of the building shell is now scheduled for the end of June. This has no impact on the final move-in planned for late summer 2014 according to the current information.
Since the beginning of the new year our project partner TU Dresden is starting on the next research topic related to our building. Scientist from the Institute of Building Climatology and the Chair of Environmental Management and Accounting of Prof. Günther will develop a holistic energetic evaluation of the new building. Applying methods of life cycle assessment the whole building will be evaluated. Furthermore, measures taken to enhance the energy efficiency of the building will be compared with standard techniques otherwise employed. Thus, it is planned to analyze the panel heating in comparison with standard radiator systems over their life time focusing on build-in energy and energy consumption.
More information on the building and the research project can be found on http://www.pik-potsdam.de/forschungsneubau/ (German only, I am afraid). If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Lothar Lindenhan or Christine Kühnel.
New pictures, some taken from the top of the tower crane, are displayed on http://www.pik-potsdam.de/forschungsneubau/bilder.
