SHOPPING CENTRE, REDI

THE PROJECT AND ITS REQUIREMENTS

With a gross rental area of 64,000 m², the REDI shopping centre in Helsinki is one of the largest construction projects in Finland. It houses both global and local retail brands, restaurants and health services, as well as leisure and entertainment facilities. The shopping centre reflects Helsinki‘s desire for a central business and service area with an integrated underground railway connection at the old port in the east of the city. Under the first basement level of the four-storey building there is a two-storey underground car park with 2000 parking spots. The façades of the REDI shopping centre consist of over 3,000 m² of natural stone, which were fastened to prefabricated aluminium rails.
The construction of the REDI shopping centre combines different and sophisticated architectural details. The solid support structures project as far as 13 m under sea level. In addition, an underground railway tunnel and the Itäväylä Street run horizontally through the shopping centre. The special shapes and locations of the buildings placed high demands on the support structures, which nevertheless had to be designed to be as delicate as possible.

THE SOLUTION

Thanks to the use of Calenberg Civalit and Ciparall sliding bearings, it was possible to absorb the expected large deformations with low coefficients of friction, which in turn relieved the column construction horizontally and thus made narrow, aesthetically sophisticated and economical designs possible. At the same time, unevenness and tolerances of the supports were compensated and the high vertical loads induced centrally into the columns. The detailed dimensioning and execution of the bearings took place in cooperation with the Finnish Sweco architectural office.