THE STRENGTH OF WAAGNER-BIRO'S STEEL AND GLASS DIVISION IS IN AREAS WHICH ARE BEYOND THE LIMITS OF OTHERS.
The company specializes in complex constructions made from steel and glass and is well known for its ability to solve the problems that arise from geometrically demanding architecture. In addition to planning, manufacture and installation, the company's product range includes service and maintenance contracts.
Its expertise in steel and glass technology goes far beyond the basic implementation of specifications. An integral part of every Waagner-Biro project team's work is its continual search for individual solutions and its willingness to look beyond the horizons of its own performance. This form of network thinking leads to the early recognition of the possible risks of a project, and eliminates these risks before they arise.
Constructing buildings' envelopes – characterized by the impossibility of keeping a precise boundary between walls and roofs – is, along with constructing simple façades, one of Waagner-Biro's main activities. In this field, the company's high level of competence in meeting difficult and complicated demands is highly regarded.
It is in the construction of free-form surfaces and domes that the company's expertise in handling extraordinary architectural projects is perhaps most obvious. The most complicated of geometries are planned with the help of 3D-software. Everything is calculated, elaborated on and then implemented to the finest detail. The results are evident in some of the world's most impressive examples of the art of modern engineering.
The introduction of cable supported structures opens the way to exciting architectural possibilities. Waagner-Biro is able to draw on its many years of experience in constructing cable-stayed bridges and uses this knowledge in planning and producing cable supported, pre-stressed glass walls.
If a façade is particularly geometrically demanding, Waagner-Biro might choose to use, in place of steel, a different profile material, like aluminium. Using materials with different characteristics also offers new architectural, technical and functional possibilities.
To meet the wishes and visions of architects and clients, Waagner-Biro often integrates additional materials, like textile envelopes. New materials not only increase the functionality of a building because of their special properties, but also add an interesting visual facet.
The quest for transparency and lightness within a structure has advanced with the progress made in glass research. Waagner-Biro makes use of this new-found knowledge to solve specific challenges. The Tower Place project in London, for example, for which glass needles are used as static elements in conjunction with a suspended cable façade.
Finding solutions for constructing ramps, stairs, or various types of towers can be a great challenge; just the sort of challenge Waagner-Biro likes to take on. Especially if it requires resolving complicated calculations that go far beyond normal levels of difficulty.
In the field of service and maintenance, the company offers:
• Façade maintenance
• Renovations
• Modification
thus forming a long-term partnership with its customers.
Waagner-Biro employs proven experts from a variety of disciplines. These experts regularly further their education and are constantly increasing their competence. The transfer of knowledge also functions in the opposite direction and our employees often make presentation at various events to share their knowledge with others. This discourse is not only exciting, but also enriches the company and the industry.
—2011
SOLID BAUTECH-AWARD
(RECOGNITION AWARD),
EUROPEAN STEEL DESIGN AWARD
—Project
Baku Tollgate, Baku
—Category
International
—Description
The Toll Gate, Baku was Waagner-Biro's first project in Azerbaijan. It boasts a massive elliptical arch, nearly 70m long, that spans a toll gate on the access road to the airport.
—2010
SOLID BAUTECH-AWARD, RECOGNITION AWARD
—Project
The Blob, Eindhoven
—Category
International
—Description
The "blob" in Eindhoven is an impressive example of a geometric design that defies any attempt at categorization.
No one can say where the walls end and the roof begins.
—2009
EUROPEAN STEEL DESIGN AWARD
—Project
DR Byen, Kopenhagen
—Description
Waagner-Biro wrapped the façade of the DR Byen building in Copenhagen in a particularly interesting design. The headquarters of the national Danish Broadcasting Corporation is blanketed in a steel wire-grid system, which carries the panel-like glass elements of the façade.
—2009
SOLID BAUTECH-AWARD
—Project
Marina Hotel, Abu Dhabi
—Category
International
—Description
To a formula-1 fan, all roads lead to the Yas Marina Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Standing at the heart of the action, a spectacular free form structure blankets the hotel and part of the race track.
—2008
GULF STATE BUILDING AWARDS
SPECIALIST CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR
—Description
The Gulf State Building Award is awarded for the highest
standards in the region's construction industry. In 2008,
the award went to Waagner-Biro's steel and glass technology.
—2008
SOLID BAUTECH-AWARD
—Project
White City, London
—Description
The roof on the central mall of the White City in London, shows how to make a shopping experience even more exciting. Waagner-Biro has covered the heart of the shopping centre with a free form surface of steel and glass using over 5,000 rods, 1,600 nodes, 1,700 triangular discs and 1,600 panels.
—2007
EUROPEAN STEEL DESIGN AWARD
—Project
Zlote Tarasy, Warsaw
—Description
A cloth draped over spheres. This was the vision behind one of the most impressive building projects ever completed in Warsaw. The vision was also the catalyst for Waagner-Biro's steel and glass construction for which they were honoured in 2007 with the European Steel Design Award.
—2007
THE CHICAGO ATHENAEUM
INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE AWARD
—Project
Lugner-Steg, Vienna
—Description
The Lugner-Steg in Vienna is a glazed suspension bridge. Despite its span of 30m parallel to the road and being 19m above the carriageway, it is freely suspended without pillars: a project that the internationally recognized architectural museum, "Chicago Athenaeum", considered worthy of an award.
—2003
EUROPEAN STEEL DESIGN AWARD
—Project
Great Court in the British Museum, London
—Description
On its construction, the roof of the Great Court at the British Museum set new standards in the field of free form structures. It is still one of Waagner-Biro's top reference projects and was awarded the 2003 European Steel Design Award.
—1999
EUROPEAN STEED DESIGN AWARD
—Project
Dome of the Reichstag, Berlin
—Description
The dome of the Reichstag in Berlin is one of Waagner-Biro's most famous steel and glass projects. The jury of the 1999 European Steel Design Awards, thought its fame was well deserved and honoured the Lord Norman Foster designed, architectural highlight with its prize.
—1997
EUROPEAN STEED DESIGN AWARD
—Project
South Vienna Heating Plant, Vienna
—Description
Austria's largest fossil fuel-fired heating plant was designed by the Austrian architect Martin Kohlbauer and given a distinctive façade constructed by Waagner-Biro.
—1991
EUROPEAN STEED DESIGN AWARD
—Project
Palmenhaus Schönbrunn, Vienna
—Description
Waagner-Biro had already built the Palm House that was opened in 1882 in Schönbrunn in Vienna. After several years of technical and political debate about the best way to rehabilitate the listed building, in 1986 Waagner-Biro was finally commissioned to comprehensively renovate the steel construction and the glazing. In 1991, the company was awarded the European Steel Design Award for its work on the project.
Working with the foremost architects and engineers to make their visions become reality, Waagner-Biro engages on a daily basis with high level designs. But doing so we leave the stage to others and remain in the background, enabling top performances internationally.
LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
Waagner-Biro takes great pride in being partner of the Austrian pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia 2012 and having contributed to its realisation. Repeating the success of 2011, when our efforts were honoured with the Maecenas award for art sponsoring.
—2012
AUSTRIAN PAVILION
—Project
hands have no tears to flow …
—Description
[…] The installation shifts the perception of buildings and concentrates on those who live in them. No buildings are to be seen, but rather figures, digital figures or digitally animated body surfaces. Taken as the starting point of the project was the accelerated technological development in the past decades and the associated scientific insights, especially in the “processing” and “forming” of the human body by medicine and in the natural sciences. […]
—2011
AUSTRIAN PAVILION
—Project
Approaching Venice
—Description
[…] The installation within the pavilion consists of a variety of small corridors that are laid like a labyrinth throughout the space. The visitor is, in a manner of speaking, choreographed through the pavilion. The space is not only divided into vertical axes, rather it more markedly receives a distinct horizontal division. […]
