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Showcase projects in the USA: ThyssenKrupp Nirosta and Christian Pohl GmbH fit out three high-rises with stainless steel elements

Three major projects were recently completed in the USA in which stainless steel played an important part: they involved a tower in Portland and two skyscrapers in Chicago. Construction on all three began in 2008. ThyssenKrupp Nirosta (Krefeld) manufactured the material for the stainless steel elements which were then processed by Cologne-based Christian Pohl GmbH and delivered to North America. The projects underline the capabilities of the two companies in the production and installation of facade elements for high-rise buildings.

Both buildings in Chicago were designed by the renowned architectural firm Goettsch Partners. The "Blue Cross-Blue Shield Tower" project involved adding further stories to the existing building. For this, columns were clad with the material Nirosta 4301. The particular challenge for Pohl lay in providing a load-bearing adhesive bond to attach the rounded stiffening panels to the columns. Overall, some 22 metric tons of stainless steel were used for the 226-meter, 54-story office tower.

Roughly 24 tons of linen-finish stainless steel were used to clad column elements in the 195-meter, 45-story building on North Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago.

The 81-meter residential tower in Portland (Oregon), designed by the architects Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, features facade panels of stainless steel. Around 1,800 square meters of the exterior is clad with Nirosta 4401 (finish: linen - design 25). ThyssenKrupp Nirosta supplied some 36 tons of this material.

ThyssenKrupp Nirosta is one of the world's leading manufacturers of stainless flat products with a broad range of stainless steel grades, sizes and finishes. The company has several sites in Germany and employs around 4,200 people.

Christian Pohl GmbH is a longstanding Cologne-based company with activities in metal processing, sheet metal structures and the production of metal facades. The international Pohl group employs around 500 people.