Exhibition Centre Basel 2012

The new exhibition centre is a four-storey building, which replaces the front building of Halls 1 and 3. According to the design by the architects, Herzog & De Meuron, both building sections will merge with the two upper floors over the Exhibition Square to form one structure. A large atrium brings daylight to the part of Exhibition Square covered by the building, allowing the creation of a “City Lounge”.

Despite the high superimposed loads caused by three-storey stand fittings and the two upper storeys, there are just four supports in the 100 m x 65 m City Lounge. This is made possible by the large supporting framework of high-strength steel in the 2nd floor and on the roof.

The floors consist of a composite reinforced concrete and steel structure with 15 m long, prefabricated concrete ribbed plates as the secondary structure.

EBP handled this ambitious steel structure as structural engineers from the pre-project stage through to contractor submission.