An oversize coffee bean Baumetall May '05

A new attraction at Neusiedl am See

Dierk Mairose and Manfred Janisch

The building stands at the side of the building of Schärf World Coffee Concepts at Neusiedl am See leaving the onlookers astonished: it has the shape of a giant coffee bean supported by stilts. This ellipsoid is used by Alexander Schärf & Söhne GmbH, a firm known for coffee and gastronomy machines, as a multimedia and exhibition space. The idea is of the well-known architects Christoph Huber and Thomas Musial of Vienna. They imagined a coffee bean with a pleasant exterior surface and they used Tecu-Oxid copper, pre oxidized at their plant, which fitted properly into the global artwork.

The interventions of roofing and covering necessary for this work were a challenge for the Janisch firm, known all over the federal territory of Austria. This specialised firm, created in 1922 at Stegersbach, today reached its fourth generation and imposed itself thanks to restoration interventions on bell towers and sacred buildings without the use of scaffolding or crane, thus very cost-effective. The Janisch firm, in addition, is specialised in roofing and covering and gilding works with any degree of difficulty.

Under-structure and roofing works

The wooden structure used to make the coffee bean is supported by a reinforced concrete slab supported by three pillars, them too in reinforced concrete, inclined. On the wooden truss a full panelling was installed. Manfred Janisch jun. started its work after examining all the specific problems with the master roofing worker. At first they established the size of copper panels for the panelling 0,7 x 670 x 300 mm. Taking into account the strong wind blowing at Neusiedl am See and the strengths that derive from it the quantity of fastening devices was increased by around 20 pieces/m². The architects wanted a symmetric covering. The first central panel of copper, on the lower side of the coffee bean, features four folds with seams, each 25 mm large, with a total final width of covering shingles equal to 250 mm. The other copper panels, to be rounded off as required by the project, had to be folded keeping an adequate conicity, obtained thanks to a UK 125/S Schechtl sector folding machine installed on the construction site.

The rounded surface of the ellipse on the upper side of the coffee bean was covered by the roofing workers applying the technique of double vertical seaming. To do so no panels were used but strips with a development width of 333 mm and with a finished width of around 230 mm. Each tile had to be cut according to a curved line. Folding and cutting concerned around 40% in the case of panelling and 25% in the case of covering with double vertical seaming technique

The entrance inside the coffee bean is composed of an opening in the body of the ellipse. In this point the binding necessary between the copper panels and the windows of the runway was made properly with great care for each detail and full satisfaction of the client from the viewpoint of the aesthetic aspect. At the end of the guttering and roofing works, the Janisch firm specialised in guttering and roofing, made the tightness test of all the surface of the coffee bean on the 280 m² of its extension, sparkling water jets on the entire coffee bean. The copper covering of the coffee bean resulted being tight. For Manfred Janisch master roofing worker and his associates the unusual configuration of the building was a great challenge, won thanks to the high professional level and the great passion for one’s job. An unusual roofing work that represents an excellent reference for the firm.

Works table

Works table

Project and design:

Architects-AW, architects Christoph Huber and Thomas Musial, A-1200 Vienna

Execution:

Firm specialised in roofing works Janisch GmbH, A-7551 Stegersbach (Burgenland)

Advice:

Dierk Mairose, technical adviser for products-Tecu at KME-Austria, A-1232 Vienna