Linzer Auge (steel construction)
A steel construction in Linz that was initiated by the Chamber of Architects and Engineering Consultants for Upper Austria and Salzburg for Linz's 2009 Capital of Culture year was called the Linz Eye . It was a pontoon that was planned as a revolving platform and attached to the Danube near the Ars Electronica Center . The platform had a diameter of 16.52 meters, a load capacity of 15 tons and offered space for 200 people. The water opening in the middle of the Linz eye was about 40 cm deep and provided with a safety sheet. Because of its location in the Danube and the rotation, the platform should give visitors an unusual perspective of Linz. The planned rotary movement of approx. 0.5 m / s by the water power of the Danube could not be realized due to planning and manufacturing deficiencies. A continuous movement of one turn in three minutes was only achieved with the subsequent installation of an electric motor. The platform was torn from its anchorage during a flood in June 2010, badly damaged and sank. After the salvage, the platform was dismantled at the beginning of July and transported to the heavy haulage port in Linz, where it was stored until the expert reports were completed. Three years after the platform went down, the Linz Eye was melted down.
construction
On November 25, 2008 the Chamber of Architects and Engineering Consultants for Upper Austria and Salzburg announced the construction of the Linz Eye. The project concept for the Linz Eye was carried out by the Viennese group of architects feld72. The planning period was given as about two years.
The construction work in Linz, including the creation of the foundation, was carried out by ALPINE Bau GmbH . The contract for the construction of the pontoon was awarded to a foreign company for cost reasons, as the production at the Austrian company MCE AG would have been around € 50,000 more expensive.
The platform was built in Bratislava by the HAWK vos shipyard in four months of construction and towed over the Danube to Linz. Originally, the Linz Eye should have been accessible to visitors in May 2009, but the platform arrived in Linz with a delay in August 2009, for which the flooding of the Danube was blamed.
After the foundation had to be changed first, the opening ceremony took place on August 21, 2009, three days later than planned. The planned release for the public on August 24th had to be canceled at short notice, as the use permit was only granted after a non-slip floor covering was applied. On September 11th, the platform was made accessible to the population for the first time without rotating. Initially, the reason for the missing rotation function was the inaccurately manufactured and installed bearings.
The platform was dismantled on October 23, 2009 for an initial repair by the MCE in the port of Linz. The planned date for the reconstruction at the end of October had to be postponed to the end of November after the manufacturing defects had been assessed. For the rework, the platform was dismantled into three parts in order to replace the inaccurately manufactured 122 guide and support rollers. The renovation was carried out six days a week (06:00 to 22:00) in two shifts with four men each. The platform was anchored back in its intended position on November 29, one day later than planned. For a test of the rotary movement, the platform was additionally "pushed" by nine people with muscle power. However, it was not possible to maintain the rotational movement through the water power of the Danube. The reason for the continued lack of rotation was now the platform's blades, which were too small for the flow speed of the Danube.
The second rework involved balancing the platform and enlarging the blade surfaces if necessary. The attempt on December 2, 2009 to level out the individual elements of the platform with 600 sandbags so that the friction is small enough for independent rotation failed. In the expert opinion of the Shipbuilding Research Institute Vienna , completed at the beginning of 2010, errors in the calculation as well as manufacturing errors of the shipyard are held responsible for the failure of the rotation. According to the Chamber of Civil Engineers, it is therefore not possible to maintain the rotation of the Danube solely through hydropower without extensive renovation or new construction.
After the third improvement, which began on April 13, 2010, the permanent rotary movement was supported by the additional installation of an electric motor . The work was carried out on site by MCE AG and completed on May 3rd.
criticism
Due to the breakdowns during construction and commissioning, the Linz eye was controversial among the population. In addition, it was criticized that the location of the platform in the immediate vicinity of the Nibelungen Bridge is only partially suitable as a vantage point over Linz. With regard to the Murinsel in Graz , which was also built as a project of the cultural capital in 2003 , the steel construction was perceived as less attractive. In the population it was therefore also disparagingly referred to as nudlaug or fades eye .
Floods June 2010
The Linz Eye was connected to the concrete foundation on the bank in two places by means of its two footbridges . In the night of June 3rd to 4th, 2010, the Linz Eye was torn from this anchorage by the flood of the Danube . The retaining plates were welded to twelve iron rods each. Due to the tensile and compressive loads caused by the flooding of the Danube, several of the welding points tore and some of the smooth iron rods were pulled out of the concrete. The current of the Danube washed the Linz eye together with the two jetties to the Schönbrunn landing stage, which is about 180 m away . The floats were damaged, causing the pontoon to almost completely sink.
In a large-scale operation by the professional fire brigade, the Linz eye was initially secured and recovered on the evening of June 4th with three winch vehicles and a recovery crane. A few days after the accident, it was finally clear that the platform would no longer be repaired and would return to its previous location.
Rudolf Kolbe, who, as President of the Chamber of Architects and Consulting Engineers, had commissioned the Linz Eye, confirmed that experts told him several times that the steel structure would withstand a flood of the century . The Chamber of Civil Engineers decided on judicial proceedings to preserve evidence, in which it was determined by an independent expert that "an improperly made weld seam was complicit in the accident". During the evidence preservation proceedings, the damaged Linz eye remained on the banks of the Danube on the premises of the Urfahraner Markt and was then removed on July 8, 2010.
financing
At the beginning of the project, the initiators put the construction costs at around € 300,000.
The steel for the 58.5 ton pontoon was donated by voestalpine . The construction was supposed to be sponsored by Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich , Energie AG and the organizers of Linz09. Due to the shortcomings, the contracts were considered not to have been fulfilled by the intended sponsors, whereupon they terminated the contract. Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich and Energie AG wanted to donate around € 50,000 together and paid around half of the amount. The amount already paid will be reclaimed after the breakdown series and the terminated sponsorship agreement. The city of Linz, as the organizer of Linz09, has also promised € 50,000, of which € 30,000 has been paid so far.
There is currently no publicly available data on the total costs for construction, material, repairs and reports. Due to the numerous complex repairs including the installation of an electric motor, it can be assumed that a multiple of the originally estimated construction costs were incurred. It was not clear who would be responsible for the planning and construction errors and thus the various additional costs incurred. So was z. B. tried to take the Slovak shipyard into recourse for the design errors. In addition, it had to be clarified whether the damage was covered by the insurance after the platform sank. The Chamber of Architects and Engineering Consultants refused to accept responsibility for the problems in the construction and referred to calculation errors by the planners and manufacturing errors at the shipyard.
Three years after the accident, the parties to the dispute reached an out-of-court settlement. The amount of the compensation was not disclosed. The Chamber of Architects and Engineering Consultants "definitely not made a profit".
Individual evidence
- ↑ linz09.at. Archived from the original on March 16, 2010 ; accessed on March 15, 2013 .
- ↑ linzerauge.org. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008 ; accessed on March 15, 2013 .
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,385454
- ^ A b Upper Austrian News, March 15, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2013 .
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,405636 Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, June 5, 2010
- ↑ Waiting for the "Linzer Eye" is over. In: oesterreich.orf.at. September 11, 2009, accessed November 30, 2017 .
- ^ Criticism of the "Linzer Auge". In: oesterreich.orf.at. August 25, 2009. Retrieved November 30, 2017 .
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/linz/art66,258087
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,273960 Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, October 10, 2009
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,284987 Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, October 30, 2009
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,302374 Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, December 1, 2009
- ↑ http://derstandard.at/1259280878161/Linzer-Auge-Ohne-Drehung-dafuer-mit-Loch Der Standard, November 30, 2009
- ↑ krone.at January 29, 2010. Retrieved March 15, 2013 .
- ↑ Electric drive for "Linzer Auge". In: oesterreich.orf.at. April 13, 2010, accessed November 30, 2017 .
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,369952 Nachrichten, April 13, 2010
- ↑ "Linzer Auge" has to be dismantled. In: oesterreich.orf.at. September 16, 2009, accessed December 1, 2017 .
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,405556
- ↑ ooe.orf.at - "Linzer Auge" will never turn again
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,405648
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,424281 Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, 6 July 2010.
- ↑ Upper Austrian News, September 16, 2009, p. 22
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,310873 Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, December 19, 2009
- ↑ http://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/art4,407422 Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, June 9, 2010
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 18 '33.1 " N , 14 ° 17' 4.6" E