Concrete façade for KTM logistics center textured with formliners

KTM, one of the leading manufacturers of motorcycles, is erecting a new logistics center with a surface area of 30,000 m² in Munderfing, Austria. The center comprises a storage hall with several truck loading ramps, an administrative tract, an employee parking lot and roofed bicycle racks. The project was designed by Hofbauer-Liebmann Architects from Wels that had already planned and implemented several buildings for KTM. Of these, many feature a special construction material – concrete.

In 2020, for example, the architects were awarded the GVTB Concrete Prize in the Building Construction category by the Austrian Ready-Mixed Concrete Association. The award was for another KTM building: the House of Brands. This shows that the planners are absolutely aware of the advantages of the construction material and know how to use it to best advantage. This material provides them, for example, with the option to comprehensively influence the appearance of the finished concrete component through the choice of formwork material alone. And they precisely make skillful use of this option for implementing the façade of the KTM Logistics Center II. The architects designed the precast façade with formliners from NOE-Schaltechnik. They are called NOEplast and are made of polyurethane. For manufacture of the concrete components, they are affixed to the actual formwork and are cast there with concrete. NOEplast formliners can be designed three-dimensionally in various ways, similar to a silicon cake form, and in this way determine the surface texture of the finished element. For the KTM project, the planners decided on a textured motif with the name Granit IV. This gives the concrete the feel of genuine natural stone.

240 m² formliners for 7,200 m² façade

The façade panels were manufactured by the company Franz Oberndorfer in Gunskirchen. The company looks back on 100 years of experience, employs a workforce of around 950 and operates eight plants. It delivers its products to Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and many additional countries. Thanks to this professionalism, the precast plant team succeeded in processing, in only 28 weeks, a total of 5,830 m³ of concrete and 830 tons of structural steel – also including mitered and U- and L-shaped elements in addition to standard rectangular elements.

Although the façade has a size of 7,200 m², the team at the precast plant needed only 23 formliners with a total area of 240 m². This was possible only because NOEplast can be re-used up to one hundred times. The special services provided by the manufacturer of formliners also include the possibility that the formliners, on request, can be already glued to the formwork elements or the respective carrier panels in the plant. This additional service enormously facilitates application by processors and had been requested by the company Franz Oberndorfer.

Satisfied concrete professionals

One special advantage of the project was that all participants – i.e., clients, architects, manufacturers and processors had already brought with them a great deal of experience with concrete – in particular, concrete design. They therefore knew what can be expected of this construction material and which aspects require special attention. An excellent prerequisite for completing the project to everyone’s satisfaction.