The project „Student Activities and Athletic Facilities (SAAF)“ comprises ten buildings on a built-up area of more than 200,000 square meters. They contain sports and recreational facilities for students of all disciplines with a capacity for around 40,000 people. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) from the USA were the design architects. They collaborated with Gulf Consult (GC) from Kuwait, the engineering office for the project.
The center of the area is formed by two six-story main buildings, each an „Athletic, Recreation and Aquatic Centre (ARAQ)“ for men and women. They house centers for competitive, recreational, and aquatic sports as well as parts of the student services. A courtyard physically divides the women’s and men’s sides, each offering the same services and scope. The project also includes two smaller sports facilities, two information points, the main office of the student services, a bus stop for campus transportation, a tennis hall with 2,000 seats, and an outdoor football and athletics stadium with a capacity for 15,000 spectators.
A sand-lime brick facade gives the main buildings (ARAQ) a noble and natural effect. Characteristic are the triangular windows, which are arranged modularly and suited to the sun orientation. Part of the approximately 75,000 square meter facade was fastened with 15,000 FZP II M8i internal thread anchors. The execution of the facade started in 2019 and was successfully completed by early 2020.
„We convinced the facade builders with our comprehensive technical support from planning and calculation to assistance during on-site execution,“ emphasizes Jan Zimmermann, market manager facade systems. „In addition, the advantages of our Zykon plate anchors speak for themselves.“ The FZP II anchors are form-fitting and completely free of expansion pressure, fixed in the conically undercut drilled hole in the natural stone. This technique ensures lower panel bending moments than with edge fastenings. Compared to alternative solutions, higher load capacities are additionally achieved.
Our undercut anchors are executed in such a way that they are not visible even in the joint pattern, thus contributing to a high-quality and harmonious facade appearance. This way, they combine secure hold with the high aesthetic demands of the facades of the ARAQ centers.
