Discover Germany | Special Theme | BAU 2017
Left: 2.5-inch-slim elements shape the planters. Top right: The view from Liberty Park to the 1 WTC. Right: The location of Liberty Park within the World Trade Center complex. Bottom: Top view of Liberty Park with four largescale planters.
Flexible stability The creation of safe and flexible surfaces is of the highest order for the team at DUCON. TEXT: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI I PHOTOS: ROBERT MEHL/DUCON
Their thin, durable concrete solutions are a winning factor when it comes to security measures for highly stressed building parts – famously so in the case of One World Trade Center (1 WTC), the impressive new building ‘sculpture’ erected between 2006 and 2014 on the site of the former World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City. The explosion and bullet-resistant qualities that this innovative material provides are needed for construction projects with high-security measures, for example at the German embassy in Kabul where DUCON was used to build a blast wall.
weather forces or indeed any form of stress coming from the outside. The material is composed by a three-dimensional micro-reinforcement and an ultra-high performance concrete. Besides high protective measures, an energy-efficient façade as well as the thinnest concrete stairs and roof shell could be realised by DUCON. Dr.-Ing. Stephan Hauser, who invented the technology, also founded the internationally active firm in 2004. The strong but lightweight ductile material was awarded ‘best product innovation’ by the Architects’ Darling jury in 2015.
But DUCON also allows the shaping of beautiful yet endurable elements for landscape architecture as used for the new Liberty Park, recently opened to the public on the former Ground Zero right by the 1 WTC building.
Based on the high protection performance at reduced thickness, DUCON has been deployed in several critical zones of the new World Trade Center project in NYC. The measures included blast walls, fragmentation shielding as well as wall hardening and duct shield protection.
DUCON is slightly bending under pressure and therefore has a high breakage resistance, it can endure vast weight, strong
In addition, thin architectural elements in DUCON White have been executed in the new Liberty Park. Set right by the new
108 | Issue 45 | December 2016
World Trade Center in New York City, the park was designed by the Landscape and Urban Design Studio of AECOM. A major part of the park is the white architectural DUCON-based concrete used for wall panels, copings, planters and benches. The 120 differently shaped benches are 2.5 inches slim and executed as cantilever elements, only anchored at the footing. Despite their slender and elegant look, these benches can resist earthquakes and impacts. They are aligned to form largescale planters. “It’s a gift back to the community, it’s a gift back to New York City,” said Port Authority capital planning director Steven Plate at the Liberty Park opening in June. DUCON Europe GmbH & Co. KG www.ducon.eu