B. Braun Headquarters

A representative, helicoidal steel staircase situated in the open atrium space provides access to the upper three levels of the company headquarters. The staircase and the adjacent floor levels are separated by full height, fall-protective glazing, being linearly supported along its top and bottom edge, partially. A double curved, hyperbolic paraboloid glass shape results from the mutual twist of the successive floor edges. Thus, thermally bent annealed glass (2 x 12mm) laminated with 1,52mm SentryGlas® interlayer had to be used. As the glazing inclination varies from 0° to 22°, part of the curved glass elements is classified as horizontal. The governing load case combination for glass design is a concentrated maintenance load plus self-weight. Both the classification as horizontal glazing with a span exceeding 1,20m and the double curvature lead to the necessity to obtain an approval in the individual case (ZiE) by the supreme building authority of the federal state.