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Shopping centres

Simmel Center at Albertplatz, Dresden

Dresden, Germany / 06.2014 - 06.2015

In just 13 months, PORR’s Schmölln branch erected the extended carcass for a shopping centre north of Dresden’s Albertplatz in the Inner Neustadt district. The building frame is a skeleton construction. Prefabricated reinforced concrete parts and semi-prefabricated parts allowed construction to progress swiftly. The building complex consists of several structures and has a gross floor area of 20,000m2. A total of 123,900m3 was enclosed for two underground parking levels, the ground floor and the first upper floor. In addition to the investor’s Edeka supermarket, a drugstore, a discount supermarket, and a consumer electronics store have rented space on a total floor area of 7,875m2.

Monument and shopping paradise in perfect harmony

Located in the Neustadt district of Dresden, Albertplatz is one of the city’s most important transport hubs. The prominent building, initially home to the Sächsische Staatsbank (Saxon State Bank) since 1929 and then to the Dresden public transport company until 1997, had since 1997 been increasingly in danger of falling into disrepair. In 2012, investor Simmel won over the city with their use concept proposal. The 37m high, listed Paulick high-rise was refurbished and expanded to include a newly built shopping centre.

The picture shows the 37 m high, listed Paulick high-rise building; the shopping centre can be seen adjacent to it; a busy road runs in front of the building; view through the tram lines.

Facts & Figures

Company

PORR GmbH & Co. KGaA

Type

Shopping centres

Runtime

06.2014 - 06.2015

Principal
Simmel Dresden GmbH

Quality and punctuality in a challenging city centre location

Its cubic structures, interconnected by intermediate glass buildings, harmonise just as perfectly with the simple pre-war modernism of the existing building as they do with the historic villas and cubic buildings in the surrounding area.

Accuracy is the measure of all things

The colours of the cubes were chosen to match the warm white plaster of the high-rise building. A narrow grid of vertical bars and iridescent ceramic surfaces in warm, light shades breathes life into the façades. The ceramic elements were specially developed and manufactured for the construction scheme. The vast windows of the intermediate buildings provide transparency and bring plenty of daylight into the shopping centre.

Dimensional constraints imposed particularly high demands on the planning, fabrication and installation of the façades. From the numerous constraint points of the ceramic elements to the windows and steel and glass façades to the existing openings in the carcass, only minimal tolerances were permissible, far below the tolerances allowed in accordance with DIN 18 202. The busy city centre location and the tram line running directly in front of the construction site posed additional challenges for the PORR team.

What ultimately counts in the construction business is successfully completed projects. PORR has many of these.

The picture shows the 37 m high, listed Paulick high-rise building; the shopping centre can be seen adjacent to it; a busy road runs in front of the building; view through the tram lines. The picture shows the shopping centre; the cubes are colour-coordinated with the warm white plastered high-rise building. A narrow grid of vertical rods and iridescent ceramic surfaces in warm and light colours give the façades a lively appearance. The picture shows the shopping centre; to the left is the 37 m high, listed Paulick tower block; the cubes are colour-coordinated with the warm white plastered tower block. A narrow grid of vertical rods and iridescent ceramic surfaces in warm and light colours give the façades a lively appearance; the buildings are connected by a glass intermediate structure.