The exhibition sections at BAU 2013: Materials, technologies, systems – Part 5

BAU 2013 is a 180,000 m² showcase of materials, technologies and systems. That´s the equivalent of 25 football pitches filled with state-of-the-art technology for the international building and construction industry. In a five-part series, we present a succinct review of what the main focuses will be in 2013 in the individual sections at the fair. In Part 5, and the last part we look at the following: Floor Coverings, Glass/Building Automation and BAU IT.

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Floor Coverings (Halls B6/A4/A6)

Each room has its own special requirements regarding hygiene, surface texture, aesthetics and sound/thermal insulation. And, to meet these needs, there is a broad range of flooring coverings to choose from, with all kinds of different materials and production methods. Elastic and textile, parquet and laminates —all this and more will be on show for visitors to BAU 2013 to review. It is a chance to find out about new products and accessories, such as edgings and profiles,and about developments in laying techniques and applications. The current trend is towards large-format planks and tiles — that applies to laminates and parquet just as much as it does to designer flooring in plastic and vinyl. In the shopfitting segment in particular, designer floors are gaining in popularity; so, too, are products with a matt surface or vintage look, designed to resemble the patina of aged wood.

Glass/Building Automation (Hall C2)

Glass offers an enormous breadth of applications. In interiors it admits light and creates atmosphere—glass blocks, for example, or semi-transparent and colored glass, can be used to produce impressive effects. Different surface finishing techniques, e.g. sand-blasting, etching or structuring, open the way to using glass for opaque, but light-admitting interior walls: privacy is maintained but light levels are boosted. Glass is also used in structural applications: for this several thin panes of glass are interleaved with film and bonded together using heat and pressure. This thin laminated safety glass can then be used to create glass parapets, overhead windows, floors and walls. On show at BAU will be glass building materials, glass constructions and thin-film membranes, as well as systems and components in glass for façades. The latter includes, for example, solar modulesand also products for building automation and control.

BAU IT (Hall C3)

Software is a key tool in the working processes of design and construction offices. It is used along the entire chain from initial planning through to energy calculations, costings and operation of buildings. With the aid of parametric tools, modern software programs are enabling the design of spectacular buildings like The Gherkin by Foster + Partners and the Glasgow Museum of Transport by Zaha Hadid. The trend is quite clearly towards optimizing BIM (Building Information Modeling) software. Here all the data concerning an individual building are collected and entered into the program. If one parameter in the central file is changed, the other values are then automatically adapted and are accessible for all others involved in the design and build process. Based on this the “Open BIM” area is built up. Another focus is what’s known as “cloud computing” in which the data are no longer held on local computers, but in remote systems; access is via a network.

For a list of all the exhibitors at BAU 2013, the product groups and product presentations, go to the online catalog, at: www.bau-muenchen.com

Your press contacts for BAU 2013:

Johannes Manger and Benjamin Büttner

Tel. (+49 89) 949-21482, Fax (+49 89) 949-9721482

e-mail: Johannes.Manger@messe-muenchen.de , Benjamin.Buettner@messe-muenchen.de