OFRA (company)

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OFRA

logo
legal form GmbH & Co. KG
founding 1945
resolution 2014
Seat Beverungen
Number of employees approx. 50 (2010)
turnover approx. EUR 30 million (2010)
Branch System construction

The OFRA Generalbau GmbH & Co. KG was a German company based in Beverungen , the building construction system produced. The steel frame construction with preassembled segments was used; according to this lightweight construction , the manufacturer's smaller buildings are often referred to as OFRA pavilions . OFRA was founded in 1945 by Oskar Franz in Karlshafen , the abbreviation of the founder's name “O. Fra. ”Formed the company. In 1953 the company moved to Beverungen, the product range initially comprised tubular steel furniture. In 1961 OFRA began with the production of system buildings, mainly for schools and administration buildings, later also hospitals and hotels. OFRA ceased operations at the end of 2013.

story

The company founder Oskar Franz (1913–1994) came from a farming family in the village of Frohnhofen , part of Laufach in Lower Franconia . After attending the technical and engineering school in Würzburg , he worked at Siemens . During the Second World War he served as a soldier and founded his company on his return in 1945. In 1973 he was made an honorary citizen of Laufach for his services to his hometown. In 1994 Oskar-Franz-Strasse was named after him there.

Mark on the plywood seat of an OFRA folding chair

Oskar Franz founded OFRA in Karlshafen in 1945 . His first product was hand-sawn breakfast boards, then jewelry boxes, both made of wood. Tubular steel furniture and garden furniture were later added to the product range. OFRA was particularly successful with Hollywood swings . In addition to furniture for private use, OFRA also manufactured tables and chairs (especially folding chairs ) for schools. In 1953 the company moved to Beverungen. Between 1956 and 1965, Franz registered almost 80 patents for folding loungers and chairs as well as garden furniture .

In 1961 OFRA began to manufacture system buildings, initially for schools, kindergartens and administration buildings. The quick assembly and the lower costs compared to solid structures favored the creation of rooms in the educational sector, where many schools were needed in the 1960s in view of the baby boom . In the late 1960s, OFRA was producing modules for more than 100 classrooms per month. Until 1970, according alone Hamburg about 800 classrooms school buildings with a total delivered and installed a total originated in Hamburg more than 100 school buildings. As of 1979, more than a million children across Germany had completed part of their schooling in OFRA schools. Hospitals and hotels were later added to the product range.

In 1987 Oliver Franz joined the management as the son of the company founder . Between 2005 and 2010, OFRA Generalbau's turnover was between almost 19 and 32 million euros, with the 2007 financial year being an outlier with just under 10 million euros. The financial crisis in 2008 caused a severe slump in the construction sector. The management of OFRA reacted to the underutilization with a major downsizing, previously 90 employees. In 2010 the company had 51 employees.

OFRA ceased active business activity at the end of 2013. At this point in time there were still six unfinished building projects that could not be completed with the workforce that had already been dismantled. The company and its associated investments were dissolved or went bankrupt in 2014 .

technology

OFRA buildings consist of self-supporting modules that were manufactured in our own production halls in Beverungen. Each module consists of a steel frame with integrated outer walls, ceilings, floors and windows. In production, the base of the module was first formed from a square frame made of square steel tubes that were welded together at the corners. Then the floor was lined with trapezoidal sheet metal , the beads of which were later filled with lightweight concrete . The corners of the module were formed by posts made of square steel tubes. Like the floor, the ceiling was a frame made of square steel tubes stiffened with girders . Floor, corner posts and ceiling were connected to each other at the corners. The load-bearing steel skeleton is thus formed solely by the outer edges of each module; inner walls, like the facade elements, are never load-bearing. This means that inner walls can be moved later, and the facade cladding or insulation can also be exchanged.

Internal access elements such as stairs and elevator shafts were prefabricated and were already included in the modules when they were delivered to the construction site. Also in the factory, the modules were planked on the walls and insulated with mineral wool on the ceilings and outer walls . In terms of sound insulation , the requirements of DIN 4109 (“Sound insulation in building construction”) were met, and the thermal insulation had a U-value of 0.2. Upon request, the modules were specially equipped for fire protection , whereby a fire resistance class of up to F 180 ( DIN 4102-2 ) could be achieved.

These modules were transported to the construction site by heavy truck or ship and assembled there. The sequence of assembly was unusual: the modules of one grid width were stacked and connected up to a maximum height of seven full storeys, and only then was the next row assembled. A multi-storey building grew sideways, not from bottom to top. The modules were screwed or welded at the installation site. Thereafter, the expansion took place in the conventional way. Supply lines were attached to the ceiling, which was then suspended . Facades could be designed as desired, plastering was just as possible as metal, plastic or wood.

The above-mentioned values ​​for sound and heat insulation in OFRA new buildings are based on data from 2005 and 2010. Earlier OFRA pavilions often no longer meet the current requirements, such as those stipulated in the Building Energy Act. Due to their design, steel frame buildings are more difficult to insulate afterwards compared to solid buildings , since a thermal insulation composite system cannot easily be glued or dowelled onto non-load-bearing panels. Besides the poor thermal insulation was in "containers [n] mobile [n] pavilions or demountable [n] units" in schools and kindergartens after a usage time of more than 20-30 years, partly the outgassing fears of contaminants from plastic panels and insulating materials. Taken together, this often leads to a decision against the renovation and the demolition of OFRA buildings in the case of fundamental renovations at school sites. The type of installation means that valuable materials can be separated comparatively well, and the steel components can be recycled.

Buildings (selection)

Airbus plant in Finkenwerder (2007), the comb-shaped buildings at the top left in the aerial photo form part of the administrative center (buildings 54–58)

Web links

Commons : OFRA  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d OFRA Generalbau GmbH & Co KG, Beverungen: Annual financial statements as of December 31, 2010 with management report . (Published in the Electronic Federal Gazette )
  2. ^ Story (s) from the Laufachtal: Oskar Franz - "Ofra" . In: Laufacher Official and Mitteilungsblatt, Volume 62, No. 49 (December 4, 2020), p. 8. ( Online )
  3. ↑ a b c German Economic Archives , Volume 1, third edition. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, p. 207. ( Online )
  4. ↑ a b c d e Andreas Moseke: Ofra survives the storm: Construction company overcame the crisis in 2008 . In: Westfalen-Blatt, September 29, 2011.
  5. ^ Registrations by Oskar Franz with Google Patents
  6. ↑ a b c d Gisela Schütte: Room on room instead of stone on stone . In: Die Welt , August 17, 2002.
  7. ↑ The City Day . ISSN  0038-9048 , Vol. 32 (1979), p. 189.
  8. ↑ For the person of Oliver Franz see also his website , accessed in July 2021)
  9. ↑ Alexandra Rüther: Ofra in bankruptcy . In: Westfalen-Blatt , February 20, 2014. (The insolvency proceedings were conducted before the Paderborn District Court , and lawyer Wolfgang Köhler from Lippstadt was appointed as the insolvency administrator.)
  10. ↑ a b c d OFRA Generalbau GmbH & Co KG: The principle of the OFRA system construction . Beverungen 2005.
  11. ↑ Environmental toxins in school containers . Small question from the MPs Vera Lengsfeld, Rita Grießhaber, Michaele Hustedt, Dr. Jürgen Rochlitz and the Alliance 90 / THE GREENS parliamentary group of June 5, 1996. (German Bundestag, 13th electoral period, printed matter 13/4815 ) and response of the federal government of June 24, 1996. ( printed matter 13/5045 )
  12. ↑ New offices are being built in no time . In: Saarbrücker Zeitung , September 17, 2003. (Economics department, complete edition)
  13. ^ R. Hoffmann-Wittenburg: NDR documents clinic construction: TV team shoots at Ofra in Beverungen . In: Neue Westfälische , August 17, 2004.
  14. ↑ Architekturbox , website of architectural tours in Hamburg, May 26, 2016. (Compare Walter Meyer-Bohe: Baubaus: ein Kompendium . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2008, p. 81. and Deutsche Bauzeitung , Volume 140 (2006), p. 117. and The Architectural Review , ISSN  0003-861X , Volume 220 (2006), p. 94.)
  15. ^ Office building in Korbach , Hesse, completed , March 5, 2009, Baunetz
  16. ↑ Korbach: Administration building - sealing with different construction methods , Bitumenbahn GmbH (accessed in August 2021)
  17. ^ Bundesbank Frankfurt extension building , draft opencast mine architects, Leipzig
  18. ↑ Inselklinik: The foundation stone has been laid . In: Fehmarnsches Tageblatt , September 29, 2011.