Now that the groundworks of the Markhal in Rotterdam are nearing completion, it is time to look ahead towards the superstructure. The spectacular design of MVRDV has cablenet facades of 34 meters by 42 meters on both sides.
The glass facade is divided in 26 vertical and 22 horizontal cables. Together they form a suspended net, similar to a tennis racket. Double glass units, of which most have a square dimension of 1485 by 1485 milimeters, are fixed to the cables.
In the middle, the facade can be exposed to deflections up to 70 centimeters during extreme wind loads. A horizontal deflection of a facade with such tolerances is one of the characteristics of cablenet facades. The last couple of years suspended glass cable facades are an emerging trend in architecture, but never was it applied on such a large scale in Europe. Octatube has built a cable facade before, for the INHolland University in Delft.
One of the technical challenges for the structural facades of the Markthal, is to deal with the high pre-stress forces. These have to be transferred to the 'swampy Dutch grounds'.
With the suspended facades, the design of MVRDV is crowned with a spectacular and innovative facade, through which thousands of people will enter the building every day.
