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Quadrum Business Centre
When completed, in the next few years, Norwegian property development company Schage Real Estate’s innovative Quadrum Business City will provide more 40,000 square metre of office and retail space in the rapidly growing Snipiskes business district of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. It will also include a 30,000 square-metre three-story underground parking garage, and the input of more than 50 different contractors, subcontractors and suppliers.
Architect Lund and Slaatto Arkitekter (Donal Cassidy) Location Vilnius - Lithuania Company involved Apliband (Grupo Andalucia) Website www.apliband.com
The construction of an office development of such size and complexity has not been seen before in Lithuania. Its form and layout are the result of an architectural competition, explains architect Donal Cassidy, from Oslo-based Lund and Slaatto Arkitekter. “The composition of the volumes rises in a rotational movement from the lowest element in the south east towards the tallest element in the northeast, forming an architectural peak.”
The structure of the buildings is concrete, featuring both post-tensioned and “bubble” slabs. Each tower cantilevers outwards, the longest by over 10 metres. The main materials of the façades are silk-printed glass and anodised aluminium fins, which provide solar shading.
The composition of forms, which twist out from one another, allow for terraces on several levels. These will be covered with treated wood and prairie grass, while the inner plaza, between the buildings, features granite paving and 10-15m high pine trees. The diagonal opening of the inner Quadrum plaza is designed to establish an historic connection to the city’s Old Town.
The north and east building are scheduled for completion in October of this year (2016), and plans for the south building, facing the avenue, are pending.
The design team were faced with considerable challenges in the construction of the huge cantilevers and in the design of the interiors, which are mostly free of ceilings, Cassidy explains. “Special solutions for climate control, air supply, lighting and acoustics were developed within a material palate restricted to oak, aluminium and exposed concrete,” he explains, while the steel cantilever trusses required some of the largest mobile cranes in Europe.
Yet this is a project distinguished not only by its size, says Tomas Vaišvila, chief marketing officer of Vilnius-based Staticus UAB, as it is also the first business centre in the Baltic countries to be awarded a prestigious international BREEAM certificate.
Staticus, a specialist in the design, manufacture and installation of aluminium-glass, frameless glass and ventilated façades, provided a range of services on this project, from consultation and design, to manufacture of the façade structures, and installation of the façade and "façade-related engineering solutions".
Its main task though was to install more than 26,000 square metres of aluminium profiles and a high-efficiency glass façade. The design and installation of lamella projecting from the façades was an additional significant engineering challenge, says Vaišvila, as was a façade control and management system, concealed in the roof.
Staticus installed façade elements using Wicona aluminium profiles and specialised glass insulating units, which together enable the scheme to meet rigorous Class A requirements for offices. It also mounted indoor and outdoor blinds to further increase the energy efficiency.
The project is also notable for the speed of the construction and installation by Staticus of more than 24,000 square metres of aluminium façade elements (produce from pre-painted material supplied by Grupo Andalucia) in just eight months.
