February 2007 1 Northlander - North Country Region

ing cores. These also serve as heavyload-bearing supports for the exhibitionarea, which will cover 5,600 squaremeters and hover over the first floor as abuilding in its own right. Employees arecurrently pulling eight inch-thick steelwires through one of the Y-shaped supports.Each of the 22 meter-long wires issecured as an abutment and must beprestressed with a tensile force of 300tons using a special apparatus. The technologybeing used is derived from bridgeconstruction and is required on staticgrounds – to provide sufficient supportfor the audacious architecture of the newPorsche museum. Once completed, theexhibition area will weigh 35,000 tonsand will house 80 valuable museum vehiclesand 200 further exhibits from thehistory of the Zuffenhausen-based carmanufacture.In the meantime, the futuristic museumwith its striking contours is now beginningto take shape. The actual exhibition tience they have had to display at times inarea is being constructed Tech Tactics as a steel 26 offered shell. such area of the construction site: However,500 of a total of 6,000 goodies tons as of this steel cut are awaytheir future reward will be an architecalreadyin place. The engine imposing display frameCONTINUED ON PAGE 33construction – similar to those used inFebruary 2007ship and aircraft construction – sketchesthe future silhouette of the museum, whichis located directly adjacent to the parentfactory and is expected to be completedin the second half of 2008.“The steel girders have a span of up to 60meters and are bridged between the supports.This design creates the impressionthat the exhibition hall is hovering abovethe rest of the building," remarks ChristinaBecker, project manager for the newmuseum construction. The steel constructionwork is being continued section bysection from east to west (from the S-Bahn overpass in the direction ofPorscheplatz/Porsche showroom) and isexpected to be completed in 2007, whenthe facade will be complete and the interiorconstruction can begin.“We would like to take this opportunityto thank sincerely the many car driverson Schwieberdinger Strasse for the pa-31 Northlander