Safe stop for the city’s new business card

fischer system solution strengthens facade of service centre in Minneapolis

Safe stop for the city’s new business card
References

Two offset cubes rest on a double-storey, fully glazed base in a rung-look and almost appear to float. The glass-aluminium facade rises above the foyer, the stringent grid of which is broken by cut-outs extending two floors high. These also serve as outdoor terraces on every floor. This is what the new service centre in the city of Minneapolis, located in the middle west of the USA on the Mississippi, with approximately 420,000 inhabitants, built from 2018 to 2020, looks like. 

In conjunction with the directly adjacent town hall, which has been in operation for some time, the impressive new building represents a central campus with office and administration rooms covering an area of more than 35,000 m² (380,000 feet²). The new building will bring together around 1,500 employees from the city of Minneapolis, who were previously spread across several locations in the city centre. Above the transparent, two-storey foyer, floors 1 and 2 house the contact points for citizens’ interests. The offices of the municipal staff are located on floors 3 to 9. The top floor serves as a communal area for the employees and includes terraces and green roof areas. 

 

Property description

Type of object
Management Centre
Architect
MSR Design and Copenhagen office Henning Larsen
Construction time
2018-2020
Total area (with town hall)
35,000 m²
Geographical region
Minneapolis, USA

For the local architects from MSR Design (Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle) who won the competition, as well as the architects from the Copenhagen office Henning Larsen, the new service building should represent a departure from the classic administrative design with long dark corridors and closed doors. Accessibility and openness are inviting when combined with various seating options. In addition, the municipality has invited 16 local and regional artists to design the open and public space with various works of art. These include a hanging lobby sculpture and five wall paintings on glass.

In addition to anodised aluminium and a high proportion of glazing, light-coloured jura limestone panels are used as facade cladding. The natural stone panels in many different dimensions were supplied by the company VeroStone, based in Eichstätt, Bavaria. Their attachment to the facade and as interior wall cladding on an area of around 1,600 m² (18,000 foot²) was a major challenge due to the weight of the elements. In addition to the construction company responsible for the project, M. A. Mortenson, headquartered in Minnepolis, also the engineering firm Larsen Engineering (Wisconsin), which was commissioned for technical planning, and the executing craftsmen of Grazzini Brothers (Eagan). Fischer undercut anchors in the FZP II 13 x 26 M8/VS/4 AL version were chosen. The anchors and the aluminium support system were purchased from PROBE Rainscreen Facade Systems, the supplier of fisher’s facade systems in the USA. 

 

The FZP II undercut anchors enable spaced installation for all natural stones, such as granite, marble, sandstone or limestone in this case. The constant residual wall thickness as a reference dimension for the drill hole position makes it possible to compensate for the plate thickness tolerances. The sleeve is made of stainless steel. “The positive-locking and therefore expansion-pressure-free anchoring in the tapered undercut borehole enables higher loads and larger panel formats,” says Steven-Henrik Maier, Head of Market Management Facade Systems at the fischer Group, of which is a key advantage. The anchor allows higher breaking loads compared to conventional systems. The undercut technique also offers visual advantages: "The attachment point is not visible to the outside. This creates a visually appealing and harmonious facade surface," says Steven-Henrik Maier. 
As can be seen from the example of the Service Centre in Minneapolis, Fischer is a full-service provider for the curtained, back-ventilated facade (VHF) on the market. The SystemOne Vertical Solution substructure was also used. The innovative facade system was able to meet the project’s requirements and reduce costs. All system components were supplied by PROBE Rainscreen Facade Systems and technical support was also provided. “An advantage here is that no horizontal rails are required for facade fastening, which can save a lot of material and costs,” says Steven-Henrik Maier. "In this substructure solution, the panels are installed using the integrated suspension nut of the FZP II VS undercut anchors in combination with the suspension brackets of the SystemOne Vertical Solution attached directly to the vertical profiles according to the keyhole principle. The inherent loads and wind loads occurring are directly dissipated via the suspension system." Louisa Tett, owner of PROBE Rainscreen facade systems, says: "PROBE worked with architect Bjoungin Lee from MSR Design to develop a suitable system for indoor and outdoor applications using Jura limestone. We were able to work with Grazzini Brothers, who were awarded the project, and Larson Engineering, who provided workshop drawings, stone maps and calculations, to make a beautiful project." 
The positive-locking and therefore pressure-free anchoring in the tapered undercut drill hole enables higher loads and larger plate formats. The attachment point is not visible to the outside. This creates a visually appealing and harmonious facade surface.
Steven-Henrik Maier (Head of Market Management Facade Systems at the fischer Group)
With the new building, the city of Minneapolis has created a citizen-friendly administrative centre. In addition, the administration can now work more efficiently, as employees are no longer distributed over several locations as before. Operating costs are also saved to a great extent. Sustainability was a guiding principle in the construction of the new administrative building. The city is currently working to obtain the LEED Gold certificate from the US Green Building Council.

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