Multi-story parking lot in Cuneo

GUADAGNINO CATTANEO Architetti Associati – Italy

Multi-story parking lot in Cuneo

Building use

Other

Country/Region

Italy

Overview

The building serves as a parking lot for the nearby hospital and train station, offering 555 parking spaces. The goal was to create a structure as slim as possible, minimizing its impact on the surroundings. The adopted solution is provided by the company German Goldbeck gmbH, specialize in prefabricated and efficient building solutions

Basic information (construction date, number of stories, gross floor area, adopted design code, engineer(s), Contractor(s), etc.)

Construction date: 2011
Number of stories: 3
Gross floor area: 555 parking lots + circulation
Adopted design code: Eurocode; for Fire Safety Engineering (performance based design DM 09/05/2007)
Engineer(s): G. Rocca e P. Cattaneo
Contractor(s): Franco Barberis SpA + Goldbeck gmbH

Issue and/or innovation

The goal was to develop a lightweight structure, both physically and metaphorically. Also in plan, the goal was to minimize the extent of the vertical supporting elements, so as to provide as much circulation space as possible. A steel frame was therefore chosen and the design allowed to pass the fire safety requirements even with an unprotected steel frame.

Reason for composite solution

To emphasize the slim design of the frame, composite action was sought for the floor slabs, thanks to the use of pre-fabricated concrete elements acting compositely with the supporting steel beams. Also, the use of a composite floor allowed for the creation of long spans up to 16m with a slim floor of about 50cm of thickness

Specific solution/technical details

The frame is provided by HEA240 profiles zinc-protected against corrosion, that have the same 2.5m span of the parking lots. In the long direction, IPE400 profiles, again zinc-protected, provide the support for the concrete slabs that reach composite action thanks to the concrete layer added as a finish and the shear studs connected to the Ipe profiles.

Impact or effectiveness

The use of a steel frame allowed the quick construction of the parking lot, completed in 3 phases, each of 3 weeks of duration. 16m of spans are achieved with a relatively slim beam thanks to the composite action that it creates with the concrete slab, limiting the deflection of the floors. Thanks to the composite action created, the thickness of the entire floor is only 50-57cm, despite a span of 16m.