Comed Health Centre in St. Wendel

In St. Wendel, Saarland, a new three-part building complex is expanding the Comed medical health centre. At its heart is an elliptical central building that appears to float almost freely above an open ground floor – supported by eight vaulted beams which are anchored on the inside, extend freely outwards and terminate at a height of approximately five metres at the leading edge of the concrete slab.

The vault beams, which are fully exposed to the elements, interrupted the thermal insulation layer of the concrete slab. The usual side insulation was ruled out: it would have disrupted the deliberately minimalist aesthetic of the design. At the same time, high horizontal overturning forces had to be safely transferred – a combination for which there was only one solution on the market: Schöck Sconnex® W.

This load-bearing thermal insulation element integrates the thermal break directly into the structural component – without flank insulation, visually unobtrusive and Passive House-certified. “Sconnex W was the only intermediate component on the market that met both the structural and thermal performance requirements of this project,” confirms structural engineer Jürgen Haßdenteufel of Statikbüro Gleichgewicht in St. Wendel.