Precast parts for the James-Simon Gallery in Berlin – a masterpiece from the Dressler precast component factory, achieved with the aid of mixing technology from EIRICH.

On July 13, 2019 the James-Simon Gallery in Berlin was opened. It serves as a central reception building for the five museums on Berlin’s Museum Island. The building was constructed with reinforced concrete in the architectural concrete class SB 4 and with precast components made of architectural concrete. The precast parts were manufactured at the precast component factory of Dressler in Stockstadt am Main – with the aid of mixing technology from EIRICH.

Dressler Bau GmbH, from Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, can look back on over 100 years of company history. When the company built its precast component factory in Stockstadt in 1970, EIRICH was involved right from the start. Dressler Bau places great importance on always using state-of-the-art technology and machines so that it can manufacture high-quality precast components. Accordingly, the mixing technology has been modernized on several occasions to keep it up to date with developments in technology.

Until just a few decades ago concrete was a functional building material that was improved in visual terms by applying paint, plaster or cladding. Today, concrete has become a highly versatile designer building material. Bespoke creative solutions – like the architectural concrete from Dressler – lead to individual construction elements and open up new, varied design freedoms. The distinctiveness of contemporary architecture is derived from form, surface and color.

Supplying high-quality precast concrete architectural components is one of the company’s specialist fields. The requirements in terms of color and surface/edge finishing are steadily increasing. There is a whole range of completed showcase projects such as, for example, the Tour Total in Berlin, Neues Museum in Berlin, Leitz-Park in Wetzlar, the reconstructed Berlin Palace (the so-called Humboldt Forum) or the Eastsite facades, now thirteen in total, in Mannheim, just to mention a few.

The manufacturing program of the precast component factory, which alongside architectural concrete facades also produces hall construction elements, weighbridges for road and rail vehicles as well as elements for parkour courses, skating parks and climbing equipment, requires the use of different types of concrete. Reproducible, uniform surface colors and consistent air pore content can only be achieved if high demands are met by the fresh concrete. This is where the strengths of EIRICH mixing technology come into their own; originating from the further development of the ring-trough and planetary mixers, the design of the system makes it possible to achieve higher tool speeds to ensure more effective cement, fiber or pigment distribution and more homogeneous fresh concrete. This enables the precast component manufacturer to respond flexibly to all market requirements and to develop new products and objects – thereby secure the long-term success of the company well into the future.

It is thanks to the constant innovations of Dressler Bau that we keep seeing more and more attractive, sophisticated design objects in the construction sector, and that the attractiveness of concrete as a material is increasing dramatically.