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Commercial Building with High Design Ambitions

Project: Merkle Metallbau in Trimmis

Facts & Figures

Year of construction 2023/2024

Building owner: Private

Region: Chur

Merkle Metallbau, a company with a 150-year history of delivering innovative and bespoke metal construction solutions, wanted its new headquarters in Trimmis to reflect this legacy. The resulting building is exceptionally striking, mainly thanks to its unique facade, which features a modern, polygonal design.

 

The combination of angled, specially coated aluminium panels creates an impressive play of light, allowing the dynamic and vibrant facade to blend in harmoniously with the surrounding mountainous landscape. A frameless Skyframe solution was chosen for the large, expansive window surfaces, a choice that required careful consideration of wind stability for the blinds.

A Significant Challenge

The high aesthetic demands of the project were evident in the specification of the frameless Skyframe windows with their large, wide glass surfaces. This presented the specialists at Schenker Storen with a unique challenge. The post-and-beam construction ruled out the more wind-stable guide rail solution. However, using a cord guide system would typically require additional cables to stabilise the large louvre panels in strong winds.

 

A Clean Cord Guide Solution

For design reasons, a minimalist solution was preferred. Working closely with the client, a special approach was developed: the substructure of the window parapets was significantly reinforced to allow the cords to be tensioned to their maximum. This ultimately enabled the creation of a solution that requires minimal guiding elements while still ensuring the necessary stability, even in strong winds.

Millimetre-Precise Substructure

To comply with the tight schedule, the blinds were ordered first, and the substructure was then built to match the exact dimensions of the blinds, rather than the other way around. The precision required in the construction of the substructure was ensured through careful coordination between Schenker Storen and the construction management. The result is a building with a shading solution that integrates as seamlessly as possible into the overall design while still providing maximum stability. The chosen colour is an extended standard colour that matches the facade design.