Precaster

The TGV train station on the plateau d’Arbois near Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), built by architect Jean-Marie Duthilleul, has 120 sunshade slats made from Ductal®-FO.

The large elements are 2.09 m long by 25 cm deep and reconcile strength, lightweight appearance and aesthetics.
They are installed on technical premises and must be able to bear a man’s weight.

The pedestrian/bicycle bridge in Sherbrooke, Quebec (Canada), which crosses the Magog River, provided opportunity for early experimental use of Ductal® in 1997; and showcased the material’s true technical prowess.
The use of Ductal® enabled construction of a single 60-meter long span only 3 cm thick, paving the way for the later use of Ductal® in long-span roofing.
Three major technological innovations were realized with this project – the total absence of steel bar reinforcement, enabling the creation of thin, elegant structures (and enhancing urban landscape), use of small prestressed elements, and confinement of web member diagonals in stainless steel tubes.

The façades at the headquarters building for the Havas group in Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine) are faced with concrete gridwork now 30 years old and with some parts that have greatly deteriorated.
By choosing Ductal®-FO, to produce the new gridwork panels the demanding feasibility, ease of use and aesthetic constraints were all met.
The Ductal®-FO panels blended perfectly with the older structures and kept worksite operations to a minimum while providing high strength for the railing structures.

Three new clinker silos were built to upgrade the Joppa cement manufacturing facility in Illinois, USA.
Two of the silos had conventional steel roofing, whereas the third was completed with Ductal®. For this innovative roof, 24 precast panels, measuring 7.2 m long, 2.4 m wide and only 1.5 cm thick were assembled.
Highly innovative design was applied in the silo roof, and the erection of the Ductal® roof took (11 days) compared to the steel roof of 35 days+.
In addition, Ductal® provided excellent durability and impermeability, resistance to corrosion, abrasion and impact, reduced maintenance and longer life.

The pedestrian/bicycle bridge in Sherbrooke, Quebec (Canada), which crosses the Magog River, provided opportunity for early experimental use of Ductal® in 1997; and showcased the material’s true technical prowess.
The use of Ductal® enabled construction of a single 60-meter long span only 3 cm thick, paving the way for the later use of Ductal® in long-span roofing.
Three major technological innovations were realized with this project – the total absence of steel bar reinforcement, enabling the creation of thin, elegant structures (and enhancing urban landscape), use of small prestressed elements, and confinement of web member diagonals in stainless steel tubes.

Chryso, producer of admixtures and additives for the construction industry, in Sermaises (Loiret), built a 19-meter long, 1.6-meter wide walkway, entirely in Ductal®, for one of its warehouses.
The footbridge, built of three precast elements with no reinforcement, sits on steel pillars, 3-meter high, which are independent of the surrounding structure.
Ductal® replaced the original design which called for steel and wood, offering six times greater load resistance than required standards, with a deck that is only 8 cm thick.
The Ductal® solution also provided outstanding fire resistance required for a storage warehouse that contains large quantities of chemical products.

Inspired by a steel sculpture designed in the 1930’s by brothers Jean and Noël Martel, the Martel Tree was commissioned by the city of Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine) and made by architect Marc Mimram.
This 8.50-meter high sculpture was entirely made from Ductal® and represents a true artistic and technical feat.
Ductal®‘s intrinsic qualities were exploited to provide for the complex process of attaching the leaves - some of which were only 6 cm thick – to the tree trunk.
Ductal®’s outstanding stain resistance was combined with a specific treatment to ensure great durability and exceptional whiteness for this magnificent sculpture installed out of doors.

The Shawnessy LRT Station in, Calgary (Canada) provides an excellent demonstration of Ductal®’s ability to facilitate unique, innovative creations.
Twenty-four white, ultra-thin curved shell-shaped canopies (just 20 mm thick) protect passengers from the elements, and enhanced lighting to the platforms below. The station, was designed by architect Enzo Vicenzino (CPV Group Architects & Engineers Ltd.).
Ductal® was used to build the canopies, struts, columns, beams and rain gutters.The result – amazing artistic creativity and significantly stronger structural strength, validated by the Center for Innovative Technology at the University of Calgary.
The extremely durable canopies are also easy to clean and require very little maintenance.

Combining aesthetics and performance was the ambitious objective for the acoustic panels on the underground rail station in the Principality of Monaco.
The station walls had to be faced with lightweight, thin acoustic panels with perforations to trap the noise reverberation.
In addition to the demanding aesthetics and acoustic performances, the panels also had to stand up to outside elements, in particular, graffiti.
Ductal® met all of the constraints. Due to the material’s extremely fine components, holes measuring only 1.5 cm² were created when the material was cast, facilitating the absorption of the noise and diffusing it toward the underlying rockwool.
In addition, the Ductal® panels, which measured an average of 2.30 m by 1.80 m, with 20-mm thickness in the solid areas and 15-mm thickness in the perforated areas.
The panels are nonflammable, were easy to install and provide highly aesthetic surroundings for the station and its users.

Architect Michel Ferranet created a uniform mineral universe, consistently gray throughout, in contrast with the wood furnishings, which enhances the clothing and accessories displayed in the Thierry Mugler boutiques in Paris and Frankfort.
To achieve his design, Ferranet chose to work with Ductal® for the floor slabs, stairs and walls.
Ductal®’s inherent strength was used to make large but lightweight slabs (1.20 m / 20 mm thick for the floors, and 1.80 m / 15 mm thick for the walls), which were easy to handle and hang.
The self-leveling capacity of Ductal®, its rapid setting and ease of use met the very tight (3-month) deadlines.

The center for architecture and urban planning information, documentation and exhibition center for the City of Paris, housed in a 19th century building called the Arsenal Pavilion, is home to a permanent exhibition on the history of Paris covering 1000 m² of display area.
The architect-scenographers designed a thin, self-supporting mineral shell which covers the floor, the walls and the ceiling like a second skin, on which the exhibit is projected.
The shell was made with 18-mm thick Ductal® panels, which were covered with an electro-luminescent film and kept cutting and joints to the minimum; thereby guaranteeing excellent resistance to high-volume passage and to fire.

Architect Edouard François has designed a vegetation-surrounded building in the ZAC in Asnières (Hauts-de-Seine), where the balconies are adorned with 4-foot high concrete flowerpots which serve as railings.
The pots contain bamboo, giving the residents the impression of having their own private garden as they look out from their windows.
The architect specified Ductal® for the flower pots because of its ductility, mechanical strength and impermeability (providing durability in the moist atmosphere required by the plants).
The smooth, thin pots (only 2.1 cm thick compared to at least 7 cm for conventional concrete) only weigh 120 kilos empty, which lightens the live load on the balcony slabs.

To create the sunshades on the façade of the Doua university building at the Claude Bernard University in Lyon, architect Enri Chabal sought mineral material resembling the original concrete which date from the 1960’s.
Chabal had to solve the constraints of inserting the new material in the existing concrete and the weight, strength and durability for the sunshades had to be just 3 to 4 cm thick over spans of 1.70 m, offering high resistance and outstanding durability.
Such demanding characteristics pointed to the choice of Ductal®-FO.
In all, one thousand precast sunshades were installed on the façade, deflecting and diffusing the outdoor light inside the building.

Ductal® was used to built the vast yet extremely thin panels spanning several square meters which were designed to face the outside walls at the Rhodia research center in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis).
The ductility and high flexural strength inherent in Ductal® were exploited to create panels covering up to 4.40 m² surface area for just 20 mm thick.
These panels were cast flat, in coated formwork which provided a wide range of textures (smooth, grainy, ribbed); aesthetically interesting with the use of rough concrete.
Once stripped, the panels were stored in crates then transported to the project and attached to the load-bearing walls.

Many of the thirty-year old precast concrete elements on the façade on the National Dance Conservatory building in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) deteriorated with time and had to be replaced.In all, eight large-scale (4.50 m by 1.80 m) elements were made with Ductal®.
The advantages provided by Ductal® met the need for building structures which corresponded to the initial aesthetic choices which met current standards for strength.
Size constraints (7 to 8 cm) also limited the reinforcement possibilities.

The Felix Landreau middle school in Angers (Maine-et-Loire), built in the 1970’s, had just undergone a complete overhaul when corrosion was discovered in the concrete floor.
The main girders were able to remain in place, but the cross-beams had to be replaced without touching the superstructure.
One thousand cross-beams, each weighing approximately 30 kg with the ability to be manually placed were useful to reinforce the flooring and avoid any future risk of corrosion.
Ductal®, which is classified ‘MO’ – not combustible - was selected to meet the highly demanding requirements for fire protection.

The project at Reunion Island involved stabilizing a retaining wall on the water’s edge, the entire length of the coastal road.
The original support structure which reinforced the roadway, was built of precast building slabs and badly damaged.
To strengthen the wall, underground anchoring systems were connected to distribution plates made of Ductal®, fastened on the embankment facing the ocean.
In all, 6300 Ductal® with organic fiber plates and 200 Ductal® with steel fiber plates were installed. The Ductal® solution met all cost and maintenance requirements and other project demands such as production under three months, lightness and ease of installation.).
Today, the Ductal® anchor plates secure a strong, durable sea wall that is resistant to marine corrosion and requires very little or no upkeep.

Some fifty acoustic panels have been installed along the roadway at the toll plaza exit in Châtellerault (Vienne) on the A10 motorway.
This particular job site was an ideal showcase for the qualities of new materials such as Ductal®-FO.
There were two types of the relatively thin (only 20 mm thick) panels: single face or double face combined with a glass-cement composite.
Ductal® was selected for its high resistance to outside aggressions (car pollution automobile, road de-icing salts and other…) and for its environmental aesthetics, for the panels were colored green to blend in with the surrounding landscape.