Yet again, we had a 1.5 hour train ride outside of the city for our final company visit. On this train ride, however, we missed our connecting train so we had to wait an hour until another came. This pushed back lunch and our meeting and kept us from returning to Munich until 8pm.
With that said, Gartner was a fantastic company. The company is on a campus-type system, so we were able to eat lunch in their cafeteria (very good food) before the presentation and factory visit.
Similar to Seele, Gartner is a curtain wall fabricator. They fabricate steel and aluminum frames, connections, etc. and install the glass and prepare the units to ship to sites.
Gartner has four type of glass systems
-Double Skin Facade: for natural ventilation
-Closed Cavity Facade: for strict energy codes, no natural ventilation (typical in Switzerland)
-Integrated facades: water flows through the framework to heat and cool the building
-Dicrotic Glass: changes colors depending on the angle of the sun
Gartner had a gallery of visual mockups from iconic projects they have completed in the past. We spent a significant amount of time talking about each one because each one had new and innovative features making the actual building world class. They work with architects like Zahahid, Herztog and Demuron, Rinzo Piano, Richard Rogers and many more. They work with the designers to create fantastic facade designs that have slim profiles, curved glass, shades in the glass, and anything a client could want. Gartner's motto is to never say no, instead find an appropriate way to solve the problem. I think this is why they are one of the most infamous curtain wall fabricators in the world.
While touring the facilities we go to visit their testing yard, and they also have an old airplane propeller that runs wind load test on each of their systems.
Of the last two companies, Gartner was by far the most impressive in their work, but also their facilities and the people we met.
I would love to come back to visit them company one day!
It's getting late, and it is time to pack for Auburn. Fingers crossed I am under 50lbs.
Total Mileage: 4.2
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