Zylinderhaus: Step back in time - Cofraplus® 220 bridges large spans supporting vintage cars

Detailed information

A passion for classic cars

Museum founder, Bernd Benninghoven, an automotive entrepreneur, has translated his passion for classic cars into the museum. Initially, the plan was just to house the vintage car collection, but then the Zylinderhaus project was born. The museum, which opened in 2017, not only displays antique cars. A sense of the past is conjured with a depiction of everyday life of the 1950s in the form of a replicated shopping street complete with petrol station, pharmacy, café, and an electrical goods shop.

Throughout the 5000 square metres of exhibition space spread over two levels, one can dive into this past era. The approximately 100 lovingly restored vehicles from more than eight decades, for example, are exhibited in front of a replica mom-and-pop shop. In the pharmacy, the medicine is still in vials on the counter. The building was stylistically adapted to the exhibits with its historic brick facade resembling an old granary or an old industrial building.

The flooring challenge

A particular challenge in the construction of the building was the flooring construction. At a height of five metres, a floor had to be installed when the building envelope was already in existence - difficult to implement in conventional construction.

Cofraplus® 220 – A new and versatile flooring system

One of the company’s suppliers recalled that a similar project challenge had be solved with ArcelorMittal using a solution consisting of structural steel sections and ArcelorMittal's composite flooring sheets, Cofraplus® 220. This solution allowed for the required spans of five metres to be bridged and concreted between the steel framework without any additional supports. This innovative product for composite flooring slabs enables an additive load bearing effect by combining the resistance of a steel profile with the strength of a reinforced concrete slab. With this solution, it is possible to add an additional floor to existing or already completed buildings as no complex crane use is usually necessary.

Christoph Radermacher, ArcelorMittal Construction, explains: "The cylinder house is one of the first commercial projects to use this new and versatile flooring system, building-approved by the DIBt (Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik) in Berlin." A total of around 2600 m² of the flooring sheets produced from organically coated flat steel with a thickness of 1.25 mm were installed.

Concrete fabrication with steel fibres

ArcelorMittal was also involved in the fabrication of the concrete. The addition of steel fibres, a product line from Wire Solutions in Bissen, Luxembourg, to concrete results in increased strength of the industrial floor. This is necessary if you want to keep the 100 cars safe.