Development core
A development core ( also building core ) is a usually vertical element of a building that serves its traffic and technical development. This can include stairs , elevator shafts , risers for the supply of drinking and extinguishing water , gas and electricity , sewage and heating pipes , components of air conditioning systems and much more.
Static meaning
Access cores often form the "backbone" of buildings, especially high-rise buildings . In addition to their development function, they are also of static importance, since for fire protection reasons - if they contain the necessary stairs and thus escape routes - they are usually made of concrete or masonry and can therefore be used in skeleton structures to stiffen the overall structure and as supports for storey ceilings. This means they are built first and are often clearly visible on large construction sites. Climbing formwork is often used during construction to increase efficiency .
Architectural importance
Many architectural styles (e.g. structuralism , metabolism ) have particularly emphasized building cores. In some cases this happened unintentionally due to problems in the construction process, for example at the Aachen University Hospital . From a design point of view, the design of building cores, even in low-height buildings and even in bungalows, often plays a major role, as it is an essential principle of organization for floor plans. Many floor plan types are based on spatial hierarchies, so architects like Louis Kahn shaped the categories of "served" and "serving" rooms. The latter are strongly functionally oriented, such as B. stairwells, bathrooms, storage rooms, kitchens etc. and are often grouped into cores in a creative sense. This design principle of Kahn can be z. B. at his Richards Medical Research Laboratories clearly read on the facade.