Precast retrospective

The Empire State Building in New York, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Sydney Opera House, the 30 St Mary Axe in London most recently, and Burj Khalifa in Dubai – all of these buildings are true landmarks of their cities. They stand for power, size and progress, or at least make a claim to them. However, the famous architecture icons have yet another significance – i.e., quite a concrete one, for the respective regional economy: they attract millions of travelers every year, who then spend their vacation money right there.

Since this fall, Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city, has a new landmark as well with the potential to gain architectural fame worldwide and to become an attraction for travelers from all over the world – the Elbphilharmonie in the harbor of the metropolis. That the characteristic roof construction of the building, reminiscent of cresting waves, consists in part of precast elements, is something probably not generally known. Our fresh-off-the-press yearbook “Jahrbuch Beton Bauteile 2017” reports on how the medium-sized German concrete plant Betonwerk Stanecker manufactured and subsequently assembled these precast elements. This report – in addition to articles on Liberty Park and Ground Zero in New York, the Arnhem main railroad station, and the large-scale Stuttgart 21 infrastructure project, among others – give a comprehensive retrospective, now as the “Precast Year” is coming to an end. And our yearbook makes a nice Christmas gift for your customers, for example.

Dear reader, with this literary tip on our own behalf, the team of your technical magazine BFT International says goodbye for the winter break. We wish you and your families happy, relaxing holidays and a good start into a successful 2017!