bauma 2016 spurs ‘new impulses for color in construction’


64 Rosenplatz 267

Rosenplatz or Rose Plaza is the latest Lanxess Colored Concrete Works series case study. As a primary design element for a multilane, urban artery, the architects chose a road surface colored in various shades of pink with Bayferrox iron oxide pigments.

Cologne, Germany-based Lanxess AG is demonstrating how inorganic pigments can add remarkable and lasting color to infrastructure and architecture at the bauma 2016 trade fair. Together with distributor Harold Scholz & Co. GmbH, the specialty chemicals company and parent of Pittsburgh-based Lanxess Corp. is exhibiting premium inorganic pigments at the international trade show, staged April 11-17 in Munich.

The extensive line of Bayferrox iron oxide pigments, which offers over 40 shades, and Colortherm-brand chrome oxide pigments help to make urban centers more colorful and attractive. Aesthetic, safe and lasting design effects can be achieved with the coloring agents in a wide variety of building materials, such as cast-in-place and precast concrete, plus concrete pavers and roofing tiles.

The Lanxess Colored Concrete Works initiative inspires architects, planners and construction companies. One example is Rosenplatz in Osnabrück, Germany, where the use of colored concrete assimilates design, appearance and function in an ideal manner as part of an urban renewal project.

Owing to heavy motor vehicle traffic demand and intensive use as a multi-lane thoroughfare, Rosenplatz, or “Rose Plaza,” in the Lower Saxony city was no longer a credit to its name. Over time, the former rose beds after which it was named were gradually replaced with dull, colorless asphalt and concrete. Architect Oliver Borman of yellow z urbanism architecture and landscape architect Martin Diekmann of lad+ Landschaftsarchitektur Diekmann implemented a design that finally made Rose Plaza more inviting again.

One of the core design elements was concrete pavement colored with Bayferrox color pigments in four different shades of pink. Trees planted at irregular intervals, islands of greenery and the integrally colored roadway break up the monotonous look typical of many traffic areas. The result is a first in Germany in terms of both design and technical implementation. Thanks to a two-layer concrete paving method, the very unusual color scheme fulfills the high mechanical demands imposed on federal highways with truck traffic. — www.colored-concrete-works.com