Business Promotion Centre in Duisburg
The striking lens-shaped glass turret which is Duisburg's Business Promotion Centre is both urban landmark and symbol of business innovation. The smooth curve of the façade is maintained by adopting a 'chain mail' type of construction: a comparatively narrow (1.5 m wide) grid of glass units is fixed in a specially designed subframe suspended from a perimeter tie beam at roof level. Complicated, clumsy expansion joints back to the steel building frame are thus avoided. Vertically the aluminium sections span between 16 and 27 m.
