Winter circus, Ghent, Belgium
PROJECT TYPE
Multifunctional center
APPLICATION
Concrete foundation slab and trenches
PARTNERS
Achitects: Baro and SumProject
Engineering firm: VK Engineering
Contractor: Furnibo
Owner: Sogent
Concrete plant: Multi-Mix
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Winter circus

Located in the center of Ghent, Belgium, the Winter Circus dates back to 1885. Recently, the city decided to renovate the dilapidated building and repurpose it as a multifunctional complex. The surface area of the Circus includes a 1.200 m² patio with an underground concert hall.

The challenge

 

Underpinning the existing foundation around the concert hall was particularly challenging. The trenches run about 150 m long and are cast in sections of 1.2 m. At 50 to 70 cm wide and 8 m deep, the trenches have limited space to work. Using traditional concrete reinforcement would have required a lot of customization. To avoid this time-consuming and thus costly affair, we replaced over 80% of mesh with steel fiber. We were also able to achieve optimal slab thickness for the foundation using steel fiber combined with traditional reinforcement in areas of high peak moments.

The solution

 

Contractor Furnibo recommended Dramix® steel fiber concrete reinforcement based on previous experience. With Bekaert’s experience and support, we gained a lot of time at making our calculations. Because we were able to skip a part of the customization and installation of rebar, we were able to finish the job much quicker and at a better price. Bekaert’s support to the calculations included various proposals with different ratios of mesh and Dramix®. Furnibo also used the steel fibers in curved concrete walls. The complex shape of walls made traditional brickwork difficult. Therefore, the contractor decided to cast the walls completely in concrete, using steel fiber instead of traditional rebar.

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