Headquarters:
mageba sa
Trafostrasse 1
8180 Bulach
Switzerland
Tel: +41-44-872 40 50
Fax:
Switzerland
Central fire station Basel
Project description
Basel city’s main fire station was built in 1943 to the design standards of the day, but was more recently determined to be susceptible to damage by earthquake. To ensure that fire and rescue services remain fully operational at all times, including in the immediate aftermath of a large earthquake, the structure had to be modified. It was decided to isolate the structure from the ground using bearings and expansion joints. All of the building’s walls and columns were cut horizontally at basement level, and elastomeric bearings and isolators were placed within this cut.
mageba scope
mageba supplied 50 LASTO-BLOCK elastomeric sliding bearings (Type KGa, with Vmax = 300 kN) to support the structure, inserted in the cut basement walls. These allow the ground and the structure beneath the horizontal cut to move during an earthquake without destroying the building. To isolate the building above the cut from the ground beside the building also, an isolation corridor was constructed between cut level and ground level. To avoid a hazard and to enable fire trucks to drive in and out, mageba also supplied TENSA-SLIDE expansion joints to bridge this gap at ground level.
LASTO-BLOCK sliding bearings isolate the building from seismic ground movements
A TENSA-SLIDE sliding plate expansion joint bridges the gap along the building’s foundations
Key Data
Products: | LASTO-BLOCK sliding bearings Type KGa, TENSA-SLIDE sliding plate expansion joints |
Installation: | 2010 |
City: | Basel |
Country: | Switzerland |
Structure: | Fire station building |
Completed: | 1942 |
Area: | 44 m x 15 m |
