Tag Archive for: Doka Formwork

Project : Skyland Office Tower, Istanbul / Turkey

“Skyland – All-in-One at the Heart of Istanbul”: at 284 m height each, the Skyland Office Tower (image r.) and Residence Tower will be Turkey’s tallest buildings upon completion.
Photo: Eroğlu

Scheduled to reach 284 m height upon completion, construction of the Skyland Office Tower under way in the heart of Istanbul Building contractor of what will be Turkey’s tallest structure selected Doka’s Platform SCP for construction. Known to provide a significant edge when going head-to-head against other systems available in the market, the highrise-core forming machine ensures rapid construction progress. Doka also provides protection screen Xclimb 60 for both, the Skyland Office and Residence Towers.

Istanbul / Turkey — A new project of superlatives under the slogan “All-in-One at the Heart of Istanbul” is creating a buzz in the Turkish metropolis. Builder Eroğlu selected the evocative name “Skyland” for his three skyscrapers: at 284 m height each, the Skyland Office and Residence Towers will be Turkey’s tallest buildings upon completion. The Skyland Hotel completes the highrise-triad designed to meet the requirements of modern living, working and playing in the European part of the city that is home to millions.

Formwork technology is also expected to live up to all demands with respect to speed and safety during the construction process. For this reason, the building contractor Alcen decided on a global leader among formwork suppliers for erecting the Skyland Office Tower: Doka.
Best engineering solution wins out.
The challenge presented by the office tower in terms of formwork technology is twofold: For one, the architects decided on a triangular ground plan and therefore also building core. For another, the risk of earthquakes in Istanbul presents special challenges related to static engineering. Thus, lower level walls are 1.5 m thick, at 100 m they measure 1.1 m, with the wall thickness reduced to 60 cm in the final storeys. Additional stability is created thanks to monolithic construction, where walls and floors are reinforced in one go. Given these demands, Doka’s sophisticated formwork concept and the self-climbing Platform SCP came in ahead of the competition. “We got introduced to this system during the Ağaoğlu Maslak 1453 project; now we are using it to erect the entire primary core of this skyscraper. Doka submitted a better engineering solution”, so Alcen Owner Alparslan Sabanci: “The head-to-head comparison proves us right. The construction progress shows that we made the right decision when selecting the Platform SCP.” As the Skyland Office Tower is continuing to grow taller, the adjacent Skyland Residence Tower built with an alternative commercial system available in the market, is noticeably lagging behind.
Optimised platform for highrise cores.
Doka’s self-climbing Platform SCP is virtually predestined to meet these challenges. Any ground plan can be formed quickly and flexibly with the new version of this modular highrise core forming machine. A few high-performing hydraulic cylinders raise the wall formwork – in this case Doka’s large-area formwork Top 50 – along with the working platform in one lift to the next casting section. With its newly developed lifting unit, the Platform SCP now adapts even more flexibly to complex layouts. As well as anchoring the lifting units to the structure on both sides (like in shafts), there is also an extended solution which makes it possible to transfer the forces on one side only. This makes it easy to use the system where there would not otherwise be enough walls, or where there are openings in the opposite walls.

In order to even further optimize and accelerate the construction progress, Doka experts pulled out all the stops during planning and divided the forming jobs between two platforms. They can therefore be climbed independent of each other to the next casting section and add more flexibility to the processes. Thus, the planned weekly cycle is within close reach.

Safety is the deciding factor.
Apart from that, the self-climbing Platform SCP offers a high level of safety on the entire site. The all-round enclosure of working surfaces allows work to take place safely and unaffected by weather conditions. Giant platform surfaces are ideal for depositing reinforcement and site equipment.

It is not only the building core that benefits from Doka’s safety systems. The building contractors put their trust in the protection screen Xclimb 60 with trapezoidal sheet enclosure at both, the Skyland Office Tower and the Residence Tower. This flexible enclosure for all highrise projects consists of a hydraulically climbed system that can also be quickly repositioned by crane if sufficient crane capacity is available. Protection screens can be dimensioned very flexibly, permitting last-centimetre adjustment to any layout. This Doka System ensures safe working conditions at any height on 15 tower constructions in Istanbul.

Doka Formwork Instructors deployed on the construction site see to it that the Platform SCP is assembled properly and the construction crew receive instruction. Formwork planning was executed by Competence Center Highrise experts at Doka Headquarters in Austria in cooperation with the engineering team of Doka Turkey.

Project Facts:

Skyland Office Tower
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Builder: Eroğlu
Construction company: Alcen
Construction start: 2013
Scheduled completion: 2016
Type of structure: Office building
Height of structure: 284 m
Storeys: 65 + 5 basement levels
Used: Products: Platform SCP, Large-area formwork Top 50, Column formwork Top 50, Protection screen Xclimb 60, Framed formwork Framax Xlife
Services: Formwork planning, Competence Center Highrise, Formwork Instructor