Arup Building Design 9783955531416, 9783920034867

Citation preview

Building design at Arup

∂ engineering

2

Editors: Christian Schittich, Christian Brensing Editorial services: Cornelia Hellstern (project management), Cosima Frohnmaier Editorial assistants: Michaela Linder, Kai Meyer, Jana Rackwitz, Eva Schönbrunner Copy editor: Raymond D. Peat, Alford, Aberdeenshire (GB) Proofreading: Philip Shelley, Zurich (CH) Drawings: Ralph Donhauser Production / DTP: Roswitha Siegler Reproduction: Repro Ludwig Prepress & Multimedia GmbH, Zell am See (A) Printing: Kessler Druck + Medien, Bobingen

This work is subject to copyright. All rights reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in databases. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. Bibliographical information published by the German National Library. The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographical data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

© 2013 DETAIL − Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation GmbH & Co. KG, Munich www.detail.de 1st edition 2013 ISBN: 978-3-920034-75-1 (Print) ISBN: 978-3-95553-141-6 (E-Book) ISBN: 978-3-95553-152-2 (Bundle)

Contents

Arup today

7

Preface Arup today – an interview with four Arup leaders

7 8

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

15

CCTV headquarters in Beijing Metropol Parasol in Seville Serpentine Gallery Pavilions in London AAMI Park in Melbourne

16 22 28 36

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

41 42 50

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

81

Kindergarten in Dwabor Canton Tower in Guangzhou Danish Pavilion in Shanghai Marina Bay Sands in Singapore

82 90 96 104

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

111

The art of Building Information Modelling Acoustics and the Arup SoundLab – listening to architecture Lighting design optimisation The bio-responsive facade Sustainable future – responsible designers Sustainable future – sustainability goes mainstream Working with Herzog & de Meuron Ventures in product commercialisation A passion for timber – developing the Life Cycle Tower Geometric architecture

112 116 118 120 122

King’s Cross station in London London Aquatics Centre Chinese National Aquatics Centre in Beijing Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport in London

54 58

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

63

Projects and people

137

The California Academy of Science in San Francisco Kroon Hall, Yale University in New Haven Ropemaker Place in London The Bavarian Parliament in Munich

64 68 72 76

Catalogue of selected recent projects Information on Arup Authors Picture credits

138 154 154 158

124 126 128 130 134

Arup today

Arup today Preface Arup today – an interview with four Arup leaders

For more than half a century, Arup has been one of the great names in Building Engineering worldwide. Soon after it was founded in London by the British structural engineer (of Danish origins), Ove Nyquist Arup (1895 –1988), Arup became involved in the design of many iconic buildings, such as the Sydney Opera House, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Hongkong Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong, the Commerzbank in Frankfurt and the Beijing Olympic Stadium. At all times, Arup distinguished itself by a visionary interpretation and realisation of what Ove Arup himself once called “Total Architecture”. As he described it at the time, “The term ‘Total Architecture’ implies that all relevant design decisions have been considered together and have been integrated into a whole by a wellorganised team empowered to fix priorities. This is an ideal which can very rarely be fully realised in practice, but which is well worth striving for, for artistic wholeness or excellence depends on it, and for our own sake we need the stimulation produced by excellence.” In other words, “Total Architecture” is an ingenious combination of engineering and architectural design as well as construction technology. Throughout the decades the interaction with architects played a key role in the firm’s development. Great designers such as Berthold Lubetkin, Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind and Toyo Ito etc. were and still are inspired by Arup engineers and consultants in offices all around the world. Nowadays Arup is a truly global enterprise with over 10,000 people in more than 90 offices across the globe.

Christian Brensing Christian Schittich

8

Some of this Arup spirit we tried to capture in publication. It is dedicated to some of the core design skills and engineering disciplines at Arup, united under the term “Building Engineering”. The reader should be able to trace the evolution of the design, follow the processes and hopefully gain an understanding and appreciation of the engineering excellence embedded in each of the projects. Here architects can find ideas and inspiration for their own design work, be it of a structural, HVAC, facade, lighting, acoustics or other engineering design specialisation. One of the frequent questions asked by architects is what can be gained from working with Arup? One of the many answers to this question is to fully experience the synergies the firm offers from all its design skills and engineering disciplines. Therefore we divided the book into six major chapters, each dealing with important clues on how to get the best out of this worldwide engineering consultancy. We also paid great attention to have the projects introduced by their leading engineers. The aim was to give the book as much Arup authenticity as possible. Therefore Chapter 6 presents some of the most typical examples of how individual Arup engineers are encouraged and given the space to develop their own personal views. That is why Arup is not just company of thousands of designers and engineers but an assembly of fine minds. DETAIL engineering, Building design at Arup, captures some of the best examples of their work from the last five years. Christian Brensing, Christian Schittich

7

Arup today

Arup today – an interview with four Arup leaders Philip Dilley: Chairman Tristram Carfrae: Arup Fellow and Building Practice Leader Andy Sedgwick: Arup Fellow and Lighting Designer Rory McGowan: Europe Buildings Leader

Detail: Reflecting on the past, Arup can say it has defined a new type and role of building engineering; Arup was involved in many spectacular buildings like the Sydney Opera House, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Hongkong Shanghai Bank – all of them express new forms of architecture. Where do you see this philosophy and spirit in your work today?

Christian Schittich and Christian Brensing interviewed four Arup leaders for Detail at the company’s London office. A concise and abbreviated version of the interview is published here.

Philip Dilley (PD): When I look back at projects as long ago as the Sydney Opera House – it may sound strange – but it was designed to be designed, and it was also designed to be constructed. What I mean by that is that someone could not have just created the shape and then have Arup analyse it, that would have been impossible. The Sydney Opera House design evolved at the same time as the engineering to enable it to be analysed. The geometry was cleverly arranged to enable it to be built, because it would have been impossible to build certain things in those days. As time went by, the profession’s analytic ability progressed enormously to the degree that we could analyse everything, but not everything could be build! However, today you can analyse and build almost anything. That, I think, has made architecture more difficult, as architects can say “Look, here is an icon, please make it work!” I do not think that is clever design. On the contrary the Arup philosophy is to create things that represent appropriate solutions and then get them engineered and constructed. That is still important to us and evident in the work we do. 1

2

8

Tristram Carfrae (TC): I would like to take the discussion back to where we should have been in the first place. That is designing buildings for people and trying to make the world a better place for its inhabitants, and not just concentrating on the complexity of technical calculations or the stunning, abstract nature of a design. Rather, what is the building like to be in, what is it like to touch, what experiences do I have when going into this building? Thus by integrating a lot of different skills, we can start thinking more broadly, because we release ourselves slightly

from that purely technical side, which is nowadays done more by the computer than by us. Detail: Could you please give us an example of how you influence the architect’s ideas or design? TC: This is probably the most delicate ground imaginable for a firm of engineers, to discuss to what extent if any we have an influence on form. Take the design for Kansai International Airport Terminal, where the form was developed around a jet stream, a macro air movement, combined with the lighting – that’s what generates the shape. PD: That is why we produced such an elegant structure in the end. But there is a much more modern example: the Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge, the plant science research centre, for which Arup was not the structural engineer, but the structural components of the roof were designed in order to bring in natural light in a particular way. Our lighting technical knowledge, understanding and contribution influenced the structure, even though we did not design it. TC: But it is almost invariably a partnership between us and the architects. If there is one distinguishing feature of Arup and our approach to building engineering throughout our history, it is simply that we work in partnership with architects to integrate form and functional requirements. Rory McGowan (RMcG): One of the factors coming more and more to the fore in the whole process is buildability. Kansai, yet again, is a classic example of how you take a beautiful form and make it achievable. The main part of the building is just an extrusion but the wings have a three-dimensional geometry. How did the contractor take up that idea, price it and build it? In Asia, in particular, we have seen the continuation of this process, invariably looking at it from the contractor’s point of view: buildability. That is driving the geometry of design (and skills needed) in a lot of the solutions.

An interview with four Arup leaders

Sydney Opera House (AUS) An astonishing architectural – and engineering – feat, this iconic building has come to define its city and serve as a symbol of Australia. In developing the breakthrough methods needed to design and construct the building’s enormous, pre-cast concrete shells (the sails), our founder, Ove Arup enabled Jørn Utzon to achieve his vision. The complex design work for the shells was achieved through the pioneering use of computers to model the roof and analyse its structure. It was an engineering challenge that has since become one of the profession’s epic tales.

3

Detail: Arup is a global company with projects all around the world. How do you succeed in maintaining the quality and obtain pretty much the same high standard of results all around the world? RMcG: The nature of architecture and engineering now invariably involves an international team. There are very few national viewpoints on a project once there is an international starting point. Projects tend to be much more interesting where there is an international ambition, a design agenda that’s pulling in best international practice. That is what we as a firm focus on, making sure that the lessons are learned, say, in a seismic project in the USA, are transferred across to a similar project in Taiwan. And that transfer of information is very, very important. Andy Sedgwick (AS): We put a lot of effort into our knowledge systems, which allows us to find the people with the right expertise very quickly. But personal networks are probably still our most effective tool. Once you have been with Arup for a while you will have met so many people who are now in other Arup offices that you feel comfortable just picking up the phone and saying “I’ve had a call about a project in your part of the world, please give me five minutes on structural systems.” Detail: Despite the size and spread of Arup a lot of architects can immediately recall engineers’ names and say: “Yes, he was there at that meeting and he played a very important role in designing that project.” How do you explain this phenomenon? TC: Projects, particularly building projects, are very personal things. That collaborative partnership we talked about earlier, you cannot achieve that unless you get to know each other quite intimately. As I said, this is a very delicate subject, an area in which you have to develop complete trust. I have spent 25 years working with Philip Cox in Australia for example, to the point where we could start projects just with dialogue, talking

about what we are trying to achieve. Because we have complete trust, we look after each other.

1 2 3

Detail: Speaking about people, what are the main qualities that characterise an Arup engineer?

4 5

Philip Dilley Tristram Carfrae Sydney Opera House (AUS) 1973, Architect: Jørn Utzon Andy Sedgwick Rory McGowan

TC: Brilliance, passion and inquisitiveness... PD: ...collaboration, RMcG: ...and breaking the rules! AS: I think that the real answer is there are many types of Arup engineer and it is the team that is important. Recently the same question was put to our former chairman, Duncan Michael and he listed all the necessary qualities: “You need the brave, the frightened, the diligent, the imaginative. You do not find all the qualities you need in a single person very often. But provided you have them well distributed in your team, you can do anything.” RMcG: I think the reason why a client can name an engineer within Arup is that the structure is relatively flat, and that there are plenty of cells and small groups. A typical Arup building group or team has well under 100 people. It is not a big design institute. A huge amount of effort is put into making sure that the cells talk to each other. The cells are very important and individuals feel that they have an environment in which they can pursue their own interests. I always define Arup as an environment. That is what we give people: an environment to work in.

4

Detail: Do you also need special architects to collaborate with, so that you can show off all your qualities? TC: The truth is that we respond very well to demanding architects. To be honest, an engineer likes nothing better than to be challenged to try to make something work that almost does not work. In an ideal world, we are creating better environments while at the beginning we 5

9

Arup today

6 Kansai International Airport Terminal, Osaka (JP) Located on a man-made island in the bay of Osaka this new terminal by Renzo Piano Building Workshop was one of the world’s largest and most ambitious construction projects of its time. The main feature of the terminal building is the stainless steel curved roof. Its shape was chosen to suit the path of the air flow trajectory, as air travels via large air supply nozzles from landside to airside. Two projecting “wings” extend from the main hall with span, tip to tip, some 1.8 km. In one of the world’s most severe earthquake regions, this led to sophisticated dynamic analysis. The terminal building later withstood the devastating Kobe earthquake of 1995 with negligible damage. Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge (GB) This laboratory brings together world-leading scientists in a working environment of the highest quality. The design brief was to achieve a high-quality and unique working environment that would set the project apart from traditional laboratory buildings. To achieve this, the provision of generous but controlled daylight was central. Early design discussions with architects Stanton Williams informed a key decision that shaped the form of the project: to introduce daylight from above rather than just through windows in the laboratories. High levels of daylight were introduced through extensive roof and facade glazing, with services carefully integrated with the structural form, maintaining the sense of openness throughout. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (F) Centre Pompidou is one of the most influential “high-tech” buildings of the 20th century. It opened in 1977 to great acclaim, with its highly unusual exposed, multi-coloured superstructure and vast column-free interiors. Working with Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, we designed the main steel structure as a “kit of parts” comprising principally trusses, hinged cantilevers (“gerberettes”), tubular columns, ties, bracing, and floor panels. Our use of the cast steel gerberettes enabled the weight of the suspended floor trusses – spanning 44.8 m – to be counterbalanced by a slender external support structure.

10

are in a collaborative mode. For good reasons, we often find ourselves trying to make almost impossible things work as well. PD: It is very difficult when there are no constraints. AS: Some of us round at this table had our formative years in the era of British High-Tech: the work of Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and so on – a time when engineering was very much to the fore visually. Often the architects would need a technical discussion to get them started. The wonderful thing is that we are still working with all those architects today, those dialogues are still happening and resulting in great projects. Yet, during the past twenty years, other architectural approches have emerged and it has been a process of change for us and all our colleagues to work with architects who are driven by many other, different agendas. Understanding these agendas is a new and interesting challenge each time. PD: All those years ago, structural engineering was the dominant profession influencing architecture, now it is form, the environment, the facade and energy... Christian, your starting point was, do we need a special architect to be able to show off our ability. I could say that all architects are special in one way or another. But what we also need is a special client, because the client needs to recognise that there is a design process which does not necessarily get easier, and it is going in a variety of ways to come to a solution. Clients have to be open-minded, willing to look at a range of choices that in some way reflect the brief. Clients who know exactly what they want in a purely commercial way probably do not appreciate what Arup offers as much as one who is open to a result that is unexpectedly pleasing. TC: I think it is a struggle, a perpetual struggle. On any project, our drive is for total architecture, as Ove Arup put it. Our desire to look at the whole breadth of the project, as wide a canvas

7

as possible, drives us to offer more and more disciplines, more and more skills lined up alongside each other in a combination (with Arup Associates – the whole lot!). However, in the end, if we did that all the time, it would also probably be the death of us in many ways. So we have to mix it up, occasionally just delivering one skill set or this batch of skills or that batch of skills and therefore getting that mix with external people and getting new ideas and freshness, but at the same time the underlying drive is still trying to do it all. It is quite difficult to keep that balance, to remain best in class in everything that you are offering the market. Detail: Arup seems to cultivate an atmosphere that you nurture deliberately and consistently, one enables people to develop ideas, to develop projects, to develop insights, and then – almost miraculously – come up with solutions. Are there particular research areas? AS: I look after our design and technical fund, which is a substantial investment the firm makes every year. It was about €3.73 million last year, intended purely for technical research. The sum is spread across the full breadth of the firm, over 50 different disciplines, but with a good proportion obviously focused on buildings. There are hundreds and hundreds of projects around, probably two-thirds are collaborations where we are working with a client, or an architect, or a research institution, perhaps a university. There are vast areas where we have made very good progress in recent years. One example is computational design optimisation. We found that these tools, like genetic algorithms, can be used in almost any technical area of our work. They are now applied to water engineering, acoustics, lighting, facade design and so on. Mathematical and computational techniques are brought into day-to-day use in our business. With the help of our Arup University, we have developed a series of modules that people can take up in midcareer to develop whole new strands of techniques, maybe ten or twelve years into their careers, and then they quickly roll them out into

An interview with four Arup leaders

8

the business. So I think our ability to bring these new tools into the business in a very direct way is a key factor in our success. RMcG: A lot of research goes on in projects, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. One of the areas I have been interested in is where we are heavily involved in designing processes. For example, in China, where the boom of international architecture started in 2001 with the announcement of Beijing becoming the Olympic City for 2008. A completely new group of projects came to China – multi-function, multi-use, an international ambition for design and performance. These clearly fell outside the prescriptive norms in China and the process through which they receive approval. From a very early stage, starting with the China Central Television headquarters (CCTV), the airport, the Water Cube, we basically worked with the Ministry of Construction and a group of experts to help develop an expert planel review process. It was there already as a means by which these new buildings would be approved, but now it became established as a norm, in practice, driven by the early works that we carried out on those projects – and getting them through the approval process. That is research, if you like. We were bringing in best international practice from around the world. As good clients, the Chinese were completely open to learning from FEMA in California, from Eurocodes, from practice in Japan and putting that together into a process which went on to allow them to push forward.

but they are not as connected to the firm as much as they ought to be (laughs). But in a sense that is Arup. And if they were all connected, we would not be Arup anymore. Detail: What extra value do architects get if they design a building with Arup engineers? Please be a little bit more precise on the collaboration process with architects.

6

7 8

9

Kansai Terminal airflow, Kansai International Airport Terminal, Osaka (JP) 1994, Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop Interior view, Kansai Terminal Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge (GB) 2010, Architect: Stanton Williams Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (F) 1977, Architects: Studio Piano & Rogers

TC: One of the advantages we have is that we work with a lot of different architects all over the world. It is not just the fact that this particular person in Arup works with that particular architect and that arrangement continues forever. We act as a cross-fertiliser to some extent: firstly, architects want to know an awful lot of what is going on elsewhere, but they are afraid to have an open conversation with other architects because they are their competitors. So to some extent we are the communication conduit. But also it is about ideas, and ideas move, there is a

PD: There is a culture of research in Arup. What Andy was describing was a relatively formal system in which anybody can apply to get some funding approved. But you find that there are far more applications than we can possibly afford to support, so inevitably there is a choice to be made. You quite often find that whoever it was that put the application in does it anyway. They may not get formal funding, but they will find a way of squeezing a bit of resource from whatever they are doing. So, you could say the board has got all of these formal processes in a way, 9

11

Arup today

10 Section Hongkong Shanghai Bank headquarters scale 1:15,000 Hongkong Shanghai Bank headquarters, Hong Kong (HK) 1985, Architects: Foster Associates 11 Interior view, Hongkong Shanghai Bank headquarters 12 Arup leaders in conversation with the editors

sort of fashion in building design – and I almost wish there was not but there is – “What’s happening here, and what’s happening over there?” And we as this network of individuals – like we said before, not as an institution – still have the conversation that can take ideas from place to place and have a perspective into what is happening in architecture, even though we are not architects. Detail: One of the architects featured in this book said: “I was very sceptical when I met Arup for the first time. I didn’t understand why engineers from different disciplines were sitting at the table. I just expected a structural engineer, but Arup came with a number of engineers.”

10

12

PD: But the fascinating thing is that all four of us around this table grew up in that kind of multidisciplinary environment. We have not come from a single-discipline environment. That to me is normal, not special. But when I look in the marketplace, I see it is actually quite special. TC: I think, compared to lots of our competitors, most Arup engineers are reasonably happy to live in a chaotic world where decisions are being made slightly ad hoc. That is what happens when you have everybody in a room at once. But there are a lot of engineers who prefer to do things logically, in a very linear process. They do not want to start unless the architect has said what he

11

An interview with four Arup leaders

12

wants, so that they can respond from an engineering perspective. But that is not us. We prefer going to workshops that are totally open-ended and nobody knows where you going to end up. RMcG: To come back to your question about the nature of the collaboration, one thing I learned on CCTV, distilling down, was why it is there today. It was all about the trust between Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and Arup, and then the client trusting OMA and Arup to deliver. And then having a contractor who trusted the design – it was all about trust. The trust between partners is important. And the client sees that. It is the only way CCTV was going to happen. The design was important, and it was actually the client looking at the trust and the relationship between the two firms, and then accepting that they can deliver. When we won the competition, two partners from OMA came over and asked me how I felt. I said: “50 % sheer exhilaration and 50 % sheer terror.” That is the right balance. Arup had to put its name to a design which had come together only four weeks before the deadline. PD: There is a great feeling of comfort in that, of course. For any problem there is somebody in Arup who is clever enough to deal with it, if you need help. TC: I am told knowledge is power in some organisations, and people protect their knowledge and hide it, keep it secret if you like, because that is what makes them powerful. It is the total opposite in Arup. Answering, being able to display knowledge is power. So we have got exactly the reverse culture. It obviously works very well for Arup’s people, it encourages them to go out on a limb because the other people will come and help them. Detail: We see Arup today, but where is it going to be tomorrow? TC: One of the changes is technology. And the technology side could loosely be called BIM. This for me is the idea that your whole building

is fully defined before you start building it, in terms of geometric perfection, but also its performance. Moving that change into construction that I see as a big shift at the moment, i.e. construction moving to a manufacturing process with site assembly. This helps working with a supply chain, with what can be manufactured, and what cannot be, how our information can help inform along that chain. In the end, everybody gets a more reliable product, cheaper, faster and hopefully more beautiful! Because you can work it out in advance. When we started, each building was its own prototype and we had no idea what you would get until you finished building it. It was an experiment. And therefore it was slightly conservative because it had to be. All of that conservativeness can now be stripped out of everything we do.

Hongkong and Shanghai Bank headquarters, Hong Kong, (HK) When completed in 1985, Foster Associates’ 100,000 m2, 47-storey Hongkong and Shanghai Bank was acknowledged as setting a new benchmark for high-tech corporate headquarters. Our innovative structural design comprised two rows of four 180 m vierendeel steel masts linked by five levels of two-storey suspension trusses. This system carries all the structural loads, and allowed the creation of a spectacular deep column-free zone at ground floor level. We translated the client’s desire for flexibility into a structural design solution that continues to adapt to the client’s changing needs. A new trading floor with new requirements was later added without any structural alterations.

PD: You ask where we would like to be at some point in the future. Inevitably where we contribute most and where we feel the opportunity to contribute best are in areas of complexity. Some of the most complex projects these days are transport interchanges, for example, with issues related to the transport systems and security, but increasingly with the added complexity of retail. Dealing with those complexities – many of which are outside the culture that many architects are used to – is an area where I see us growing and expanding. And that is where the little office with five people around the corner will not be able to succeed. RMcG: In our remit as a firm, one of the important things we have got to do in the future with the pressures of the economy and on projects and people looking for values and fees being squeezed etc., is to constantly communicate the importance of design as a process that it is not elitist, that does not have to be expensive, that can be applied to everyday buildings, to special buildings, to products etc. It is incumbent upon us to continuously communicate the importance of keeping design relevant, because for an awful lot of us it is design and doing great projects that drives us to get up in the morning.

13

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

CCTV headquarters in Beijing CCTV – the hanging offices of Beijing Championing mega-architecture

Chris Carroll Frank Kaltenbach

16 20

Metropol Parasol in Seville Metropol Parasol – engineering exploration High-level timber engineering Parametric landscape

Jan-Peter Koppitz Anja Thurik Jürgen Mayer H., Andre Santer

22 26 27

Ed Clark Christian Schittich, Christian Brensing Christian Brensing, Ed Clark

28

Peter Bowtell Jonathan Gardiner

36 39

Serpentine Gallery Pavilions in London Serpentine Gallery Pavilions Pavilion philosophy Sharing structure

AAMI Park in Melbourne AAMI Park Realising the bioframe structure

33 34

Structural engineering has been Arup’s core discipline right from the very beginning. Ove Arup himself was a structural engineer by training, and without his pioneering passion, for example, in designing legendary reinforced concrete structures, his company would not have gained architects’ admiration, as it did in those early years. Still today, this spirit pervades the company. Structural engineering is never just a matter of calculating loads. The tectonic of great structures is often synonymous with great architecture. Without question, architects and engineers have to cultivate the merits of structure as equal partners, from the outset of any project. The outcome should never be just a mere demonstration of uninspired forces. Gifted engineering requires both pure knowledge and divine inspiration. Appropriately, the title of this chapter is borrowed from Graham Green’s novel “The Power and the Glory”. The art of structural engineering necessarily balances those two forces: the power and the glory.

15

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

Overhang to be elastic for a level 3 seismic event

S1 R1

II-2

II-4

II-3

II-1

I-2

I-1

De

Overhang to be elastic for a level 3 seismic event

I-3 I-4

R2

CCTV – the hanging offices of Beijing Architect Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) – Rem Koolhaas, Ole Scheeren Location Beijing (CN) Year of completion 2012 Author Chris Carroll, Structural Engineer, Arup, Director

1.1

1.2

1.3

16

China Central Television (CCTV) had been expanding greatly in competition with major international TV and news service providers. Early in 2002 it organised an international design competition for a new headquarters. This was won by the team of Rem Koolhaas’s Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and Arup, which subsequently allied with the East China Design Institute (ECADI) to act as the essential local design institute (LDI) for both architecture and engineering. The winning design for the 473,000 m2, 234 m tall, CCTV building combines administration and offices, news and broadcasting, programme production and services in a single loop of interconnected activities around the four elements of the building: the nine-storey “base”, the two leaning “towers”, which slope at 6 ° in each direction and the 9 –13 storey “overhang”, suspended 36 storeys in the air. The public facilities are in a second building, the Television Cultural Center (TVCC), and both are linked to a third service building that houses major plant as well as security. The whole development will provide 599,000 m2 gross floor area and covers 187,000 m2, including a landscaped media park with external features. Structural form Superstructure – the “continuous tube” The only way to deliver the desired architectural form of the CCTV building was to effectively engage the entire facade structure, thus creating in essence an external continuous structural tube system. Adopting this approach gave proportions that could begin to resist the huge forces generated by the cranked and leaning form as well as extreme seismic and wind events. Behind its final irregular arrangement, the continuous tube structure has arrangement a regular base pattern of perimeter steel or steelreinforced concrete (SRC) columns, perimeter beams and diagonal steel braces, set out on a typically two-storey module. A regular two-storey base bracing module or “pattern” was tuned or

1.4

optimised by adding or removing diagonals and changing brace plate thickness to match the strength and stiffness requirements of the design. The chosen two-storey base pattern coincides with the location of several two-storeyhigh studios within the towers. A stiff floor plate diaphragm can only be relied on every two storeys, hence lateral loads from intermediate levels are transferred back to the principal diaphragm levels via the internal core and the columns. The braced tube structure gives the leaning towers ample stiffness during construction, allowing them to be built safely within tight tolerances before they are connected and propped off each other. The tube system also suits the construction of the overhang, as its two halves will cantilever temporarily from the towers before being permanently connected together. Vertical cores housing lifts, stairs and risers are oriented and stepped so that they always sit within the footprint of the sloping towers. Sloping cores to allow consistency of the floor plate layout were considered but ruled out due to constraints on the procurement of the lift systems. In addition to the cores, the floor plates of the towers take support from a number of internal vertical columns. Given the nature of the sloping towers, it was not possible to continue vertical column lines from top to bottom, so a two-storeydeep system of transfer trusses is used at approximately mid-height. The floor plates of the overhang are also supported by internal vertical columns which are transferred to the external tube structure via a two-storey-deep transfer deck at the base of the overhang. Developing and optimising the bracing pattern The diagonal braces within the continuous tube structure visually express the pattern of forces within the structure and are an important aesthetic aspect of the cladding system. The bracing pattern was determined through an intense iterative analysis and in close collaboration with the architects. The principal structure of the building was mod-

CCTV headquarters in Beijing

1.5

elled using Arup’s in-house finite element (FE) software, Oasys GSA. In this, representative loading was applied, including a static equivalent load to represent lateral seismic actions. Initially, a uniform bracing pattern was adopted, and the SRC and steel columns sized appropriately. The distribution of forces within the braces was then investigated, and the results categorised into three groups, with an appropriate action applied to the braces within a particular group: • Densify the mesh by adding braces: “doubling” • Keep the same • Rarefy the mesh by removing braces: “halving”.

Robustness The continuous structural tube has a high degree of inherent robustness and redundancy, and offers the potential for adopting alternative load paths in the unlikely event that key elements are removed. This was studied and determined in detail during the design process and provides the building with a further level of safety. Substructure and foundations The main towers stand on piled raft foundations. The piles are typically 1.2 m in diameter and about 52 m long. Given the magnitude and distribution of the forces to be transferred to the

Seismic requirements As the seismic design lay outside the scope of the prescriptive Chinese codes of practice, Arup adopted a performance-based design approach from the outset, using first principles and state-ofthe-art methods and guidelines to achieve set performance targets at different levels of seismic event. Explicit and quantitative design checks using appropriate linear and non-linear seismic analysis were made to verify the performance for all three levels of design earthquake (frequent, rare, maximum credible). The basic qualitative performance objectives were: • No structural damage when subjected to a level 1 earthquake with an average return period of 50 years (63 % probability of exceedance in 50 years) • Repairable structural damage when subjected to a level 2 earthquake with an average return period of 475 years (10 % probability of exceedance in 50 years) • Severe structural damage permitted but collapse prevented when subjected to a level 3 earthquake with an average return period of 2500 years (2 % probability of exceedance in 50 years) For the CCTV development site, the peak horizontal ground acceleration values associated with the three levels of design earthquake are 7 %, 20 % and 40 % of gravity respectively.

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

Public space and circulation Studio and broadcast Staff and VIP facilities Unfolded model showing bracing performance Developing the bracing design Construction image during cladding installation. The structure is complete.

1.6

17

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

1.10

1.7

1.8 Excavation and foundations The excavation of 870,000 m3 of earth began in October 2004 under an advance contract. Strict construction regulations in Beijing meant that spoil could only be removed at night: nonetheless, up to 12,000 m3 of soil were removed each day, the entire excavation taking 190 days. Dewatering wells were also installed, since the groundwater level was above the maximum excavation depth of 27.4 m below existing ground level. The two towers are supported on separate piled raft foundations with up to 370 reinforced concrete bored piles under each, typically 33 m long and up to 1.2 m in diameter. In total, 1242 piles were installed during the spring and summer of 2005. The tower rafts were constructed over Christmas 2005. The 7 m thick reinforced concrete slabs each contain up to 39,000 m3 of concrete and 5,000 t of reinforcement. Each raft was constructed in a single continuous pour lasting up to 54 hours. In total 133,343 m3 of concrete went into the foundations of the towers and podium.

1.9

18

ground, the raft is up to 7.5 m thick in places and extends beyond the footprint of the towers to act as a toe, distributing forces more widely and favourably into the ground (fig. 1.13). The foundation system is arranged so that the centre of the raft is close to the centre of load at the bottom of each tower and no permanent tension forms in the piles. Limited tension in some piles is permitted only in extreme seismic events as it does not compromise life safety. A performance-based design approach Although the 234 m height of the CCTV building is within the code’s height limit of 260 m for steel tubular structural systems (framed-tube, tube-intube, truss-tube, etc.) in Beijing, its geometry is noncompliant. The Seismic Administration Office of the Beijing Municipal Government appointed an expert panel of twelve eminent Chinese engineers and academics to closely examine the structural design, focusing on its seismic resistance, seismic structural damage control and life safety aspects. Elastic superstructure design The elastic analysis and design was principally performed using SAP2000 (a proprietary FE package) and a custom-written Chinese steelwork code post-processor, which automatically took the individual load cases applied to the building and combined them for the required limit-state design evaluation. Capacity ratios were graphically displayed, allowing detailed inspection of the critical cases for each member. Due to the vast number of elements in the model – 10,060 elements representing nearly 90 km of steel and SRC sections – and the multitude of load cases, four post-processors were run in parallel, one for steel columns, one for SRC columns, one for braces, and another for the edge beams that together form the continuous tube. The SRC columns used a modified post-processor to account for the differences between the steel and SRC codes; section properties of these columns were determined using XTract (section analysis and design software), which also computed the

properties for the subsequent non-linear analyses. The post-processor provided a revised element list, which was imported automatically back into SAP2000 and the analysis and postprocessing repeated until all the design criteria were met. Non-linear superstructure seismic design and performance verification Inelastic deformation acceptance limits for the key structural brace members in the continuous tube were determined by non-linear numerical simulation of the post-buckling behaviour. LS-DYNA, software commonly used to simulate car crash behaviour was employed. The braces are critical to both the lateral as well as the gravity systems of the building and are also the primary sources of ductility and seismic energy dissipation. Non-linear numerical simulation of the braces was needed to establish the post-buckling axial force/axial deformation degradation relationship to be used in the global 3D non-linear simulation model. It was also used to determine the inelastic deformation (axial shortening) acceptance limit in relation to the stated performance criteria. Postbuckling inelastic degradation relationship curves illustrate the strength degradation as the axial shortening increases under cyclic axial displacement time history loading. The acceptable inelastic deformation was then determined from the strength degradation curve to ensure that there was sufficient residual strength to support the gravity loads after a severe earthquake event. Having established the inelastic global structure and local member deformation acceptance limits, the next step was to carry out non-linear numerical seismic response simulation of the entire 3D building subjected to level 2 and level 3 design earthquakes. Both the non-linear static pushover analysis method and the non-linear dynamic time history analysis method were used to determine the seismic deformation demands in terms of the maximum inelastic inter-storey drifts and the maximum inelastic member deformation. These deformation demands were com-

CCTV headquarters in Beijing

1.11

1.12

1.13

pared against the structure’s deformation capacities storey-by-storey and member-by-member to verify the seismic performance of the entire building. All global and local seismic deformation demands were shown to be within their respective acceptance limits, demonstrating that the building achieves the quantitative and hence qualitative performance objectives when subjected to level 2 or level 3 earthquakes.

and then delivered to site by road, with a size limit of either the tower crane capacity (80 t at a distance of 12 m) or the maximum physical dimensions that could be transported (18 m length). Inspections generally took place prior to shipping, with further checks prior to installation. Only minor fabrication work was carried out on site. The elements were lifted into place by two tower cranes working inside each tower. These were Favco M1280D cranes imported from Australia – the largest ever used in China’s building industry – plus a smaller M600D crane. The cranes not only had to be raised during construction up to fourteen times each, but also slewed sideways up to four times when they reached the upper levels, so as to maintain their position relative to the edges of the progressively shifting floor plate.

Welding The maximum column plate thickness is 110 mm and the volume of weld sometimes reaches as much as 15 % of the total connection weight. At the extreme case, a few connection plates near the base of the tower required a 15 m long site splice of 100 mm thick plate, each taking a week to complete. The welders had to be specially qualified for each particular welding process. Before the start of a given weld, the welder’s qualification, electrodes, scaffolding safety, preheating temperature, and method would all be checked. Procedures were laid down for monitoring preheating temperatures, the interpass temperature, and any post-heating treatment. Non-destructive weld testing 24 hours after completion was carried out by the contractor, sitesupervision company, and third parties employed by the client.

Physical testing As part of the expert panel approval process a requirement for three physical tests was made in order to verify the analytical calculations: • Joint test (“butterfly plate”): Beijing’s Tsinghua University tested a 1:5 scale model of the column-brace joint to confirm its performance under cyclical loading, in particular the requirement that failure takes place by yielding of the element rather than at the connection. • Composite column: Tongji University in Shanghai carried out destructive tests on 1: 5 scale models of the project’s non-standard steelreinforced columns. These tests resulted from concerns that the high structural steel ratio might lead to reduced ductility. • Shaking table test model: A 7 m tall 1: 30 scale model of the entire building was constructed to test the structural performance under several seismic events including a severe (level 3) design earthquake (fig. 1.9). The tests were undertaken by the China Academy of Building Research (CABR) in Beijing, using the largest shaking table outside America or Japan. In all cases, the physical tests correlated closely with the analysis. Steelwork Construction The first column element was placed on 13th February 2006. In total, 41,882 steel elements with a combined weight of 125,000 t including connections, were erected over the next 26 months, at a peak rate of 8000 t per month. Steel sections were fabricated at the yards of Grand Tower in Shanghai and Huning in Jiangsu,

Due to the 6 ° slope of the towers, the perimeter elements needed to be adjusted to approximately the correct installation angle after being lifted a short distance off the ground using a chain block, thus simplifying the erection process at height. The vertical core structure was generally erected three storeys ahead of the perimeter frame. This meant that the perimeter columns could be initially bolted in place and braced to the core columns with temporary stays, then released from the tower crane before final surveying and positioning. Welders could then start the full-penetration butt welds required at every connection: a time-consuming task requiring shift work to achieve a continuous 24-hour process. The geometrical complexity meant that construction was slower than for other steel-framed buildings. Although the rate of erection increased as the contractor became more familiar with the process, CCTV has no “typical floors”. Nevertheless, a rate of up to six storeys per month was achieved for the relatively uniform levels at midheight in the towers. Concreting the composite columns and floor slabs took place several storeys behind steel erection, off the critical path. Chris Carroll

The “continuous tube” This “tube” is formed by fully bracing all sides of the facade. The triangulated planes of bracing are continuous through the building volume in order to reinforce and stiffen the corners. The continuous tube system is ideally suited to deal with the nature and intensity of permanent and temporary loading on the building. The tube is a versatile, efficient structure, which can bridge in bending and torsion between the towers, provide enough strength and stiffness in the towers to deliver loads to the base and stiffen up the base to reinforce the lower tower levels and deliver loads to the foundations in the most favourable possible distribution.

1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13

Butterfly plate connection Stress analysis of the butterfly plate connection Physical test modelling Construction sequence analysis Construction of the sloping towers Overhang connection element installation Raft foundation

19

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

Championing mega-architecture Frank Kaltenbach interviewed Ole Scheeren (OMA) for Detail (issue 7+8/2008) in Beijing.

Detail: Why did you not just erect the tallest building in Beijing?

CCTV headquarters is the result of the shared ambition of CCTV, OMA, Arup and the other collaborating consultants to realise a very challenging project right in the heart of Beijing; a city claiming more and more global importance. OMA and Arup have been working very closely on the project from the beginning and together we came to design solutions that represent breakthroughs in both the architectural and engineering fields.

Ole Scheeren (OS): In order to circumvent the banality of conventional skyscrapers’ linear hierarchy and to express instead a more civicminded vision of congregating, we came up with a building that takes an organising principle as the basis for its design. We translated the programme into a coherent overall system in which the areas are not isolated from one another but meet up physically. This resulted in a loop of linked activities. Detail: To what extent do you have an influence on the building-site conditions? OS: In China, the architect’s role is defined slightly differently. In the West, the architect is the client’s proxy, which means that he or she submits plans for approval, negotiates with construction firms, etc. In China, only the client can submit plans to the authorities. And it is the client who manages both the costs and the construction process. This system is a remnant of the time of socialism, when architecture was standardised. It functions superbly when each person involved knows exactly what a drawing depicts, and because variety is kept to a minimum. However, when a high degree of innovation intrudes and something is built which has no precedent worldwide, things get much more complicated. The technology is now available to erect such buildings, but the planning process has not yet adequately adjusted to these new conditions. Detail: The large cantilevers and the oblique towers are a feat of engineering requiring an investment which seems out of proportion. OS: It is correct that the building borders on impracticability. Just a few years ago it still would have been impossible to bring it off. On the one hand, the complexity posed an enormous challenge, but on the other hand, once it was mastered, it became the project’s

1.14

20

greatest stabilising factor. Once it has been articulated, a complex concept such as ours can no longer easily be changed or diluted by external factors. Detail: Does the construction not require a colossal amount of steel? OS: In light of two towers inclined at six degrees on two axes and the eleven storeys cantilevering 74 m, 162 m above the ground, it was naturally assumed at first that this building must be wasteful. But that is not the case – Beijing’s tallest building, at 300 m, is currently under construction next door, and uses approximately the same amount of steel per square metre. The building for Beijing Television (BTV), also a vertical structure, requires nearly twice the amount of steel as CCTV. Detail: What effect does the building’s slant have on its safety? OS: The building is equipped to withstand an earthquake of the magnitude which occurs in Beijing once in 2500 years. That makes it is one of the safest skyscrapers ever built. We know the exact performance of each of the 10.087 steel beams when subjected to the possible dynamic loads. Not only were the deformations calibrated in three different simulation programs, but a copper model at the scale 1:30 – which had to withstand earthquake simulations on a vibrating table – was also hand-welded together. The structural system is exceedingly complex, yet highly elastic. At the same time, it is robust and highly redundant. If we were to cut through a row of the most important steel beams, the building would not collapse; the loads would be redistributed by the net structure. With respect to evacuation time too, the building’s circuit principle proves to be a major advantage. Detail: During construction the towers went up separately. Was it difficult to get them to meet at the calculated location?

CCTV headquarters in Beijing

1.14 1.15

1.16

Completed tower Structural bracing pattern expressed in the facade construction Floor plans scale 1:4000 38th floor: museum, café 26th floor: administration 5th floor in plinth: open studio Ground floor: entrance, lobby, gym, studio

1.15

OS: The decisive day was 8 December 2007. The linking beams had to be mounted early in the morning, before sunrise, in order to ensure that solar radiation did not cause divergent stresses in building components otherwise encased in the structural framework. Detail: Upon first glance the facade structure appears arbitrary. Which criteria determined how the diagonals are distributed? OS: What you see is the actual steel structure derived from the structural analyses. The beauty of it is that the seemingly irrational image is completely rational. We wanted this highly unusual structural figure to be discernible on the exterior. The pattern that is now visible on the facade evolved over time through the dynamic analysis. We initially explored an evenly distributed diagonal structure with four-storeyhigh, rhomboid fields of tubular steel. The analysis of all of its different load requirements shows that certain parts of this structure are subject to greater force flow than others. The simplest strategy would have been to dimension each beam according to the largest possible single load. But it would have required twice the amount of steel. In addition, the building would have become so rigid that it could not have withstood an earthquake for lack of elasticity. The second possibility would have been to dimension each beam individually so that it can optimally resist the forces. But the large number of steel sections would have been unmanageable. In the end, the solution was more intuitive: we simply concentrated the diagonals – creating a denser network – where the stresses are greatest, and in less stressed areas, diagonals were removed. I think that the resulting irregularities slightly deconstruct the mega-form, which is crucial visually. Detail: What role does sustainability play? OS: Over and above the glazing values, the facade-to-floor-area ratio is extremely efficient. One central energy plant serves both CCTV

and the neighbouring Television Cultural Conference Center (TVCC), and can thus work more efficiently than separate systems would. We also worked in close cooperation with the authorities on a direct subterranean link from the entrance lobby to the subway to limit the car traffic on the site and to promote the use of public transportation. Detail: Right next to CCTV you are also building the Television Cultural Conference Center with a five-star hotel and a 1500-seat experimental theatre. The placement of the two buildings appears random. Is there a master concept? OS: Both buildings aim at dialectic dissimilarity. CCTV is a steel structure with extremely clear geometry, while TVCC is a nearly formless concrete entity in a zinc envelope and has a completely different character. There are, nevertheless, aspects which link the two. TVCC’s height, with its vertical 100 m high atrium, corresponds to the lower edge of CCTV’s cantilever. But there are other issues beyond the different forms: proportionality is particularly important, as is the multi-faceted, urbanistic building massing. Detail: Can your concept’s openness also be experienced by the general public? OS: The public components we included were part of the programme as stated in the competition brief. But we wanted to go even further and proposed a public path – the Visitor Loop – through the main building. We wanted to seize the opportunity to house an entire television station in a single building and to make it possible to experience it as such. The client made more than 20 000 m2 available for the general public. This Visitor Loop dips below the entrance lobby into the production studios, provides glimpses into the directors and actors’ spaces and the central transmitting stations. Then it proceeds, via elevator, up to a media museum in the cantilever, where there is a view 162 m straight down through three glazed openings in the floor. 1.16

21

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

c

b

Metropol Parasol – engineering exploration Architect J. Mayer H. Architekten Location Seville (E) Year of completion 2011 Authors Jan-Peter Koppitz, Structural Engineer, Arup, Associate Anja Thurik, MetsäWood Jürgen Mayer H., Architect, J. Mayer H. Architekten

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

a

As one of the world’s largest timber structures the Metropol Parasol has transformed Seville’s Plaza de la Encarnación, once an isolated square, into a spectacular new neighborhood and modern urban centre. In 2004 the City of Seville held an open-brief architectural design competition for one of the city’s central squares. The Berlin-based architect Jürgen Mayer H., with support from the Arup timber experts in the Berlin office, submitted a stunning parasol design. The submission also included a budget for the city’s consideration and turned out to be the winning proposal. To ensure the highest level of competence we needed to obtain the input of global experts with the requisite design and material engineering experience both from Arup internally and the broader engineering community externally. We therefore organised help from Arup experts in London and Australia for the Berlin-based concept team. Later on during detail design, we also had the support of the Madrid office. All of us worked closely with the timber-manufacturing

2.1

specialist company MetsäWood in Germany. Further input was received from glue specialists and timber testing laboratories as well as from university institutions at many stages of the design development. As the project moved to final design and implementation stages local input and a close working relationship with the client and the main contractor Sacyr became more critical. To deliver the parasols ultimately on site, not only creative design ability, but also the management of the process, the communication among all team members and the resulting teamwork were essential to the successful outcome. Entering unknown territory When the project began no one was certain about which materials should be used for the main parasol structure. Every kind of construction material, be it concrete, steel, wood, plastics or even glass, was investigated and its advantages and disadvantages analysed. Originally we regarded a steel mesh formed

Finite element calculation model by Arup a Parasol structure b Diagonal steel members following the line of the panoramic walkway c Panoramic walkway Access to plaza (level + 5 m) via open stairs and escalators. The panoramic route on the roof and the steel platform for the restaurant are evident from below from the shadows they cast. Panoramic walkway meandering over and through the parasols. Even though not visible, as originally foreseen by the architect, the steel roof structure of the café below the palecolored area follows the geometric layout of the timber. View outwards from the café at high level (level + 25 m) 2.2

22

Metropol Parasol in Seville

2.3

of a double-skinned foam-based structure as the appropriate solution. But on closer consideration, we soon realised that steel had a number of disadvantages. One being that the thin steel sheets would buckle before the required load capacity was reached. Maintenance would also be a costly process. Furthermore, although steel has a relatively high strength /weight ratio, the parasols are sculptures which mostly carry selfweight and therefore we had to discard this idea, too. In the end, after close consultation with the architects, we chose laminated veneer lumber (LVL) as the most suitable material. The entire project must be called a hybrid structure because we used different materials for each of the individual structures, depending on the various architectural and structural demands. The foundations are concrete piles because the loads of both the museum and parasol structures come together in one location. Two of the parasol trunks are also made of concrete, housing the elevator shafts, emergency stairways and building services for the

high-level restaurant. At street level we chose steel Vierendeel trusses with composite reinforced concrete held together at basement level by tie rods for the large spans of the museum and market structure. The restaurant, located in between two of the parasols and 21 m up in the air, is supported by a composite steel structure. The walkways above are a traditional lightweight steel solution. And finally the main parasol structure can also be seen as a hybrid structure, as the connections at the intersections are based on epoxy-bonded steel rods. The project’s distinctive mark is the massive timber lattice canopy structure that resembles six parasols, 150 m in length and standing up to 28 m in height, nearly covering the entire outdoor square (fig. 2.3). The structure’s geometry is based on a free-form outline resembling trees of the neighbouring squares. The overall structural system is formed by individual wood panels, which are generated by an orthogonal 1.5 ≈ 1.5 m cutting pattern in plan. The width of

One challenge of timber structures is always how to protect them against the elements, i.e. rain, wind and sun. Appropriate steps had to be taken especially against the extremely hot conditions of a Seville summer. Fortunately the architect and Arup had already gained experience in a joint project in Karlsruhe, Germany (Mensa Moltke, Karlsruhe 2007, Architects: J. Mayer H. Architekten), where the timber beams of a University caféteria had been treated successfully against the elements. Similarly in the Seville project the vacuum-pressure-treated LVL panels were sprayed with a 2– 3 mm thick layer of a two component (2K) polyurethane. This solution provides, together with a light-ivory, UV-protective finishing coat, a waterproof, vapor-permeable coating that protects the timber from water seepage and drying-out in the strong sun. MetsäWood prefabricated up to 16 m long constructive timber elements in Germany and had them transported to Spain by truck. The spray coating and the assembly took place on site. All wooden connection details were developed in a close collaboration between Arup and MetsäWood using construction principles never implemented before. The new technique required numerous experiments, for example, at the Fraunhofer Institute, Braunschweig and at the Materials Testing Institute (MPA) of the University of Stuttgart. The life expectancy of the material meets the 50-year design life criteria in the client’s brief and ensures lower maintenance costs than for a steel solution. This PU protection coating effectively ensures that the timber is an internal structure, hence it could be designed as a Service Class II structure in respect to strength and deflection design. This kind of protection effectively increases the stiffness of the wood by more than one quarter, while creep deformation is halved. The exact timber product chosen is an engineered wood product named “Kerto Q” by its manufacturer. In these LVL plates each 3rd– 5th veneer is rotated 90° to ensure stiffness in the perpendicular direction. This allows it to be used as a beam element in the canopy area and also as a plate element in the trunk area.

2.4

23

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

2.8

2.5

2.6

2.7

24

each of the wood panels varies between 68 mm and 311 mm. These structural parasol elements, of which there are approximately 3400, have a minimum height of 80 cm and reach a maximum height of about 3 m in the canopy area, while the largest construction piece in the “trunk” area measures 16.5 ≈ 3.5 ≈ 0.14 m. As no traditional continuous and therefore stiffening roof enclosure was used, additional steel diagonals were necessary to stabilise the wooden structure and ensure sufficient in-plane stiffness and resistance against horizontal forces. A well-defined arrangement of the diagonals made it possible to achieve bi-directional shell action in the wooden grillage and at the same time to optimise the cantilevering zones – an effect similar to that of flowers hanging limply over the edges of a vase. Like a ribbon put around this bouquet of flowers the steel diagonals had a strong influence on the structural performance of the parasols, pulling up the cantilevered edges. We decided to arrange these diagonals as inconspicuously as possible, for example primarily beneath the observation walkways.

tolerances as the assembly would take place on site. Fourth, as all of the connections are visible, their dimensions had to be kept to a minimum. The resulting connection concept compling with all of these constraints is a unique system that we developed together with MetsäWood: the solution comprising steel rods bonded into the timber combines the ability to carry high loads with a relative low self-weight. The rods are simple threaded steel bars, glued into the timber with an epoxy resin, to which the remaining steel plates are then connected. Unfortunately the epoxy resin used around the rods would only be safe up to 60 °C. Arup’s own thermal simulations and further trials preformed at the Fraunhofer

Connecting four pieces of wood in one node is bound to fail, as wood in the transverse direction has only 1/8 of its parallel compression strength and a transverse tensile strength of only 1/50 of the parallel compression strength. In other words, the size of the connection necessary to transfer forces into the timber is of prime importance. With respect to the parasol construction the wooden connection nodes had to transfer forces up to 1.3 MN or 130 t. However, many other parameters played an important role as well: first, the Roman ruins located under the plaza imposed strict design constraints. The number and position of the foundations were coordinated with the archaeologists to minimise impact on the ruins and as a consequence, loads had to be kept to a minimum. Second, each of the 2700 or so joints has a different geometry. Equally different are the forces that have to be transferred and therefore a flexible modular system had to be developed. Third, all connections needed to accommodate erection 2.9

Metropol Parasol in Seville

1 6

2

4 2 3

5

4

3 5 1

6

2.10

2.11

Institute for Wood Research (WKI) in Braunschweig showed that on a hot day in Seville the rods could easily reach 70 °C and thus put the structure at risk. Pre-heating the epoxy resin offered a novel solution for safeguarding the bonds at extreme temperatures. We involved the adhesive specialist Borimir Radovic from WEVO Chemicals with whom we devised a controlled pre-heating process up to about 55 °C to make the connections temperature resistant up to 80 °C. This effectively chemical, not mechanical connection required some additional hard work to convince the contractor, as it meant taking a step into unchartered territory, demanding a lot of testing, trial runs as well as discussions.

values for the widths of the timber beams (most of them a minimum of 68 mm) and the respective connection weights. After checking the loadbearing capacity of the timber beams and connections, the structure was modified where necessary. This meant that the overall weight of the construction increased and therefore the entire structure needed to be recalculated, leading to an iterative calculation which was run as many times as necessary until it converged. For this task we wrote a partially automated calculation routine which allowed the iterative calculation processes to run between our FEM model and the structural checking spreadsheet. Using this process we automatically calculated and optimised the thickness of each timber component and determined the number and weight of the steel connection rods. Therefore, we could rapidly add this structural information to our building model and issue the whole project to the timber manufacturer without using a single piece of paper. This final step in the digital process ensured high precision further down the line during fabrication and erection. The final design of the cross sections was carried out by MetsäWood which took into account the local timber parameters, the detail design of the connections, the individual connecting steel pieces, plate thicknesses and bolt diameters. The result of these calculations were fed into the CAD /CAM system and ultimately into the robot used for cutting and milling the timber structural elements (fig. 2.14).

Entering the world of 3D Throughout the project, the precise shaping, sizing and optimising of the structure’s components were key to the project’s success. A continuous flow of digital information amongst all design team members and the inclusion of as much information in the model as possible were fundamental to this process. This basic building information model (BIM) started with the Metropol Parasol’s architectural and at the same time structural form being created with a 3D geometric modeling tool (Rhino) before it was passed on to us engineers for our structural calculations. This model contained all geometric information: the 1.5 ≈ 1.5 m grid, chosen to optimise the weight of all the single-span timber elements, the structural height as given by the architectural form and the angle of the grain to the element axis, as defined by MetsäWood based on their fabrication criteria. Once all these parameters had been established, we started the final calculations for the structural timber elements. First the engineers at MetsäWood drew up a giant matrix that set out the details of the 26 different types of connection in our catalogue, including their respective weights, every angle of the wooden elements, every possible wood thickness, every grain angle and their respective load capacities. To start off our calculations, we put into our three-dimensional finite element model the initial estimated

laminated timber beam; standard thickness: 68 mm reinforcement to laminated timber at point of moment transfer; thickness, size and position vary according to structural constraints special laminated timber thicknesses: 95 mm, 126 mm, 140 mm, 189 mm or 221 mm moment node where three timber members intersect one continuous and two connecting elements diagonal bracing with steel tension rods shear angle

2.5

Painting the steel sleeve prior to forming the concave sprayed concrete skirting 2.6 Access in baskets from above for touching-up the PU protection. 2.7 The restaurant platform extends up to a height of 28 m and is of composite steel and concrete construction. It spans a distance of 36 m between the two six-metre diameter concrete towers, with lift shafts and peripheral escape stairs. The relatively rigid structure is elastically linked with the more flexible timber construction by prestressed steel rods with stacked disc springs. This allows both parts of the load-bearing structure to contribute to the transmission of horizontal loads. 2.8 Section through a parasol with internal escape staircase. The reinforced concrete plinth is surrounded by a steel plate and sprayed concrete skirting as fire protection. 2.9 One of the parasol trunks, before the temporary construction of the scaffolding platform on which the timber lattice shell is supported during assembly. 2.10 View from the café at high level showing how the timber elements split to enclose the café structure from below and from above. 2.11 Typical detail

In summary, the Metropol Parasol project exemplifies how architects, engineers and specialists can collaborate to deliver transformational projects. Not only technical courage and innovative thinking were necessary, but also teamwork and open communication amongst the diverse range of team members. There were many extremely challenging times too. But now new shops, longforgotten cafés and restaurants are flourishing all over the square and, of course, under the parasols themselves. They all help to give this new urban space a sense of meaning and purpose again. Jan-Peter Koppitz

25

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

1 2

3

6 1

4

7

5 6 8

3

2

a

4

5

aa

2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9

26

a

8 4 4 9

High-level timber engineering 1

5

2.12

UV-resistant coating to sheeting: 2– 3 mm polyurethane 2K sprayed coating; bonding agent 68 mm pressure-impregnated laminated timber element S355 J2+N grooved steel flange threaded M14 rod adhesive fixed in Ø 17 mm hole in laminated timber; adhesive fixing tempered 12 mm steel-flat grooved connecting plate 45/8/225 mm S235 JR steel-flat washer 160 mm M20 clamping bolt 190 mm threaded M30 bolt steel box in the continuous laminated timber element screwed connection of steel box with 70 mm ABC Spax S5

“The architect Jürgen Mayer H. approached us and asked if timber could provide a solution,” recalls Fritz Kunz, Technical Director of the MetsäWood mill at Aichach in Germany, about his first contact with the Metropol Parasol. Arup developed the first timber concept and the initial proposal based on these structural calculations and dimensions led to MetsäWood (formerly Finnforest) receiving the order. Arup developed and refined different single models and finally linked them, while MetsäWood provided information for the calculation process: defining the junctions, element sizes and the slope of grain in the LVL elements. “We not only had to bring our structural expertise to this iterative approach for structural elements and connections, but also our profound experience and competence in producing and erecting complex timber engineering projects in a particular way,” says Kunz. Arup suggested the use of glued-in rods as a form of high-performance but lightweight connection node: tempering the epoxy resin in the adhesive joint of the glued-in rods – an innovative idea for structural timber. By applying heat, the links between gluing molecules get stronger, glass transition temperature rises and the glue achieves a higher temperature-resistance. For this purpose the large timber components have been heated in a drying kiln under a controlled process until the temperature of the adhesive

joint of the rod reaches 55 °C. In a process of several hours the glass transition temperature was able to be increased to more than 80 °C, a figure confirmed in failure tests afterwards. This practical implementation succeeded thanks to the highly professional technical facilities at the MetsäWood mill in Aichach: in total the Metropol Parasol construction consists of 3400 single pieces, up to 311 mm thick, 3.5 m wide and 16.5 m long – remarkable volumes for any project. The next highly complex issue was the coupling of the steel parts. Several practical trials and tests led to the solution: the maximum transfer of forces is provided by a tooth profile at the steel plates, which is connected and fastened by high-tensile prestressed bolts with extremely small elongation at the serviceability state. “Naturally we were technically able to glue oversized elements of LVL Kerto-Q, but we also had to ensure that we could manufacture and trim these to the millimetre and assemble them without reworking,” explains Fritz Kunz. “The tolerance compensation was minimal due to the toothing of the straps and the high-tensile prestressed bolts – everyone involved took their responsibilities for accuracy and precision engineering very seriously, resulting in a very smooth process.” Close coordination between the timber engineering company, structural engineer and main contractor was indispensable at all times. Anja Thurik

2.13

2.14

2.15

Metropol Parasol in Seville

Parametric landscape We worked on the competition from our Berlin office and asked the local Arup Berlin office, and later on, Arup Madrid, for engineering support. Specially developed and applied to the whole project, the design language is a reflection on the archaeological excavations turned into a kind of pixel design as the embodiment of contemporary communication. The pixel can expand, shrink, connect, bend and be concave or convex in the creation of new parasol structures. The formal potential of the code was generated through scripting and applied to the design of all elements in every scale comprising the plaza’s granite flooring, the water basins, street furniture and green spaces. From a formal point of view Metropol Parasol can be perceived as an elastic deformation of the city’s surface or indeed as a parametric landscape. The overall structure is not typologically specific and therefore offers the viewer multiple ways of interpreting it as, for example, parasols, mushrooms, a landscape, clouds but also evocations of traditional Seville elements such as the vaults in the cathedral and the geometric arabesque patterns of medieval buildings. In every respect, it defines Seville’s sculptural as well as architectural identity in an absolutely new and ambiguous way. Already during the competition phase the incorporation of structure and design had the highest priority. We clearly intended a free form emerging from the building’s self-supporting frame. With the help of Arup engineers, we undertook tests in the

2.16

search for an adequate structural solution that included the assessment of different materials such as steel, concrete, synthetic materials (carbon fibre) and complex structural geometries. However, all these experiments were neither successful from a budget point of view nor could they be verified from an engineering one. In the end, political and economic considerations decided in favour of a laminated-veneer timber structure spray-coated with polyurethane as we had developed for our project in Karlsruhe. The calculations showed the necessity for a hybrid structure of steel and wood. The loads are equally spread by gluing threaded steel rods into wooden connection points thus decreasing the occurring stresses. Right from the beginning of the project we were appointed by the client and the contractor as lead consultant, hence we subcontracted Arup as our international engineering partner. The entire project history proved to be tricky at times as we battled, for example, with the differences between German and Spanish mentalities, worked in a public-private partnership (PPP) and had to buffer the impact of the international financial crisis. The special challenge for the Arup engineers proved to be the development of a complex three-dimensional wooden structure measuring 150 m long, up to 70 m wide and 28 m high and unmatched anywhere in the world. Jürgen Mayer H. / Andre Santer 2.17

2.12 2.13

2.14

2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18

Moment connection: sections scale 1:10 Steel elements from the “kit of parts” for the connection detail Five-axis CNC-controlled robot cutting the individual timber elements to their correct geometry. Individually shaped timber elements North-south section scale 1:1000 Plan at high level (level + 28 m) scale 1:2000 Promenade looking south towards the cathedral

2.18

27

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

Serpentine Gallery Pavilions Location London (GB) Author Ed Clark, Structural Engineer, Arup, Director

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion is an annual commission organised by the Serpentine Gallery to bring the work of internationally acclaimed architects who have not yet built in the UK to London’s Kensington Gardens. The commission is in built form and stands for just three months. The Pavilion programme has been running since 2000 and the appointment of the architects is by invitation only. Every year it seems that the project becomes more challenging as the gallery and clients refine and tighten the brief to enhance the function of the building and the type of events it can be used for. So each year the chosen designer has an increasingly tough series of acts to follow and is challenged to find a unique response to the brief. Arup has been involved in eleven of the Pavilions, including all of the last five. By looking back at these recent incarnations we get a good sense of the diversity of the challenge that has arisen year on year: Complexity Architect, year: Frank Gehry, 2008 Key engineering challenge: Complexity – weaving an invisible structural logic into the chaos.

3.1 a

3.1 b

28

The biggest structural engineering puzzle came in developing the hanging system for the timber and glass canopies that form the roof of the Pavilion. The nine variously-sized canopies are set at different heights and angles. The concept was for these overlapping planes to be supported from the primary frame by a seemingly chaotic arrangement of hangers. To start with, each canopy was examined independently, restrained against movement by the minimum seven hangers (one on each corner and three for bracing). Once the theoretical minimum number of hangers was provided for each canopy, the challenge was to thread these through each other in 3D space to avoid any clashes while still providing enough support. Even once this had been done, the movement of some canopies under their own weight was still predicted to be excessive and would have resulted in the fragile glass canopies hitting one another. To solve this, the canopies were braced off each other at key

3.1 c

locations to control the critical movement directions, so that the canopies acted together to provide a closed system of sufficient stiffness. The resulting structural arrangement was a visually chaotic and dramatic solution which disguised the underlying engineering logic. Simplicity Architect, year: SANAA, 2009 Key engineering challenge: Simplicity – honing and reducing the structure to a very minimum. The slenderness of the columns and thinness of the roof resulted in the development of an unconventional structural system. The structure is stabilised by all 115 slender stainless-steel columns cantilevering from their individual foundations and working together like a field of reeds. The position of these columns and their differences in length gave a complex distribution of forces between columns under lateral load. At first, the process of assessing these forces seemed simple and trivial but in reality it was not. Sway stiffness, second-order effects, buckling and dynamic characteristics of the system all influenced the final number and size of the columns. The overall performance of the structure under load was also very sensitive to the degree of stiffness at connections, both in the roof panel-to-panel joints and the column-tofoundation connections. All of these things we could not accurately quantify from theory alone. Hence we developed a process of physical prototyping and testing of these critical joints in parallel with virtual modelling. Only by feeding in the results of this physical testing were we able to gain confidence in the design and our ability to predict the real behaviour of the system. Transformation Architect, year: Jean Nouvel, 2010 Key engineering challenge: Transformation – enabling the building to go from open to closed mode (and back again) within seconds. The character of this Pavilion was to be as changeable and flexible as the British summer

Serpentine Gallery Pavilions in London

3.2 a

weather. Its removable roof and walls meant that from one visit to another the experience would be entirely different. In engineering terms this meant designing a 450 m2 roof which could effectively be made to disappear at the flick of a switch. The solution used five cantilevering fabric awnings which overlapped when deployed to form a continuous pitched roof. The awnings themselves were an existing product (the largest cantilevering fabric awnings available) but had never been used before in this way. One of the key limitations of this product was the wind pressure that the cantilevering awnings could resist. Under “normal” circumstances the control system would be linked to an anemometer and the awn-

ings automatically retracted above the limiting wind speed. We worked closely with the Swiss manufacturer to push the product to its limit, and to find a way of connecting the awnings together in their deployed positions such that the roof could safely remain closed even in high winds. Craftsmenship Architect, year: Peter Zumthor, 2011 Key engineering challenge: Craftsmanship – refinement of detail and choice including testing of materials.

3.2 b 3.1

3.2

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2008, Frank Gehry a Erection of primary frame b Erection of glass canopies c Completed Pavilion Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009, SANAA a Concept sketch b Roof bending moment distribution determining column positions c Completed Pavilion

In many ways this Pavilion was more about the hortus conclusus, the enclosed garden, than it is

3.2 c

29

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

3.3 a 3.3

3.4

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010, Jean Nouvel a Completed Pavilion, closed b Completed Pavilion, open Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011, Peter Zumthor a Pavilion under construction b Concept sketch

about the enclosure itself. In terms of structural engineering the result ended up being a relatively simple timber solution with traditional studwork acting compositely with a plywood skin. However, the challenges lay in the choice of these materials, the subtlety of the detail and the process of construction. The material choice proved to be particularly pivotal as the building was originally conceived as a brick structure, with the pitched roof built up from mass brickwork balanced on the two supporting walls. The decision to move away from this heavyweight solution was partly architectural but also partly driven by programme and the time it would take to physically make and lay the brickwork. Methods of prefabrication were explored to overcome this problem, and to improve deconstructability, but in the end it became clear that we were trying to force the wrong solution and so we took a different tack: A difficult decision, taken late in the process, but one which prevented almost certain failure or at least serious compromise to the finished building.

Water Architects, year: Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei, 2012 Key engineering challenge: Water – maintaining a dry excavation and a full reflecting pool during the wettest drought on record. The concept of a submerged Pavilion was yet another spectacular design approach and presented its own unique set of engineering issues. The first was to keep the Pavilion dry. The Serpentine lawn can get very boggy when wet and although the base of the excavated dish is above the groundwater level we were worried about rainwater ponding in the Pavilion. A layer of gravel with land drains and sump pumps were used to remove water from the base of the dish into a soakaway beneath the cork landscape. The reflecting pool on the roof presented exactly the opposite challenge – keeping the water in. Watertightness of the steel roof was achieved through seal-welding between the individual roof panels. Of course, the pool will not maintain a constant depth but will fluctuate with

3.3 b

30

Serpentine Gallery Pavilions in London

the changing weather conditions of a London summer. On hot days, the water will tend to evaporate and so the pool will experience a level drop. On wet days, the water level will rise as the volume of water is increased due to rainfall. A constant process of draining and topping up is needed to maintain the required depth and to prevent stagnation. Despite these radically different approaches, technical challenges and outcomes, there are constant themes that run through all these buildings – themes that relate to the scale of ambition, the level of trust within the team and the process of delivery. Ambition The Pavilions are small but their impact is large as they punch above their weight in terms of significance and scale of ambition. Accepting the commission is a serious undertaking for the invited architect and the result needs to capture the essence, the zeitgeist, of that practice as the world at large will judge them on the outcome. As engineers our approach and attitude has to match this ambition, we have to do more than simply make the concept stand up. Our first challenge is to listen, to get inside the mind of the architect and immerse ourselves in the concept to a point where we are equally as emotionally connected to the vision. Only if we can achieve this will we be able to truly contribute to the design evolution. The “big idea” is not ours, it belongs to the architect. As engineers we rarely get the chance to contribute to this initial creative act. Indeed, you may argue that we should not, it is not our role. However, this is only the first step on a long journey and step two is the conceptualisation of this ephemeral and abstract notion into a physical reality. It is here where we can engage and where we start to influence the success of this interpretation on an equal level. Creating a facsimile of the vision in built form does not constitute success. The result has to actually be the vision and not just look a bit like it.

3.4 a

3.4 b

The path that leads to this authentic outcome is not straightforward. We are constantly testing the architect and our understanding of their ideas through the exploration of different solutions – systems, materials and details. Experimentation is at the very heart of the Pavilion programme and sometimes it is necessary to step away from the comfort of previous experience and predictability in order to push the design into a more exciting place. The Pavilions have a function but are not constrained by the complexity and prescription of functional requirements that exist in conventional buildings. This provides a unique opportunity that needs to be exploited if the result is to be exceptional.

A test bed for new ideas Most buildings are prototypes or one-offs. This is one of the defining differences between building design and other areas of the broader design industry. One consequence of this is the degree of emphasis that the construction industry is able to place on pure research. As a oneoff, it is rarely possible to invest significantly in the development of new systems, processes or products for the sake of an individual building. However, the Serpentine Pavilions are an exception to this rule. They are of course very much one-off responses to the same brief, but the temporary and experimental nature of the project provides an environment where technical research and investigation can exist more easily than under “normal” circumstances. Over the years this has allowed us at Arup to trial several innovations that have later gone on to be reused or further developed on subsequent projects.

Of course, there is a balance between ambition and risk. We must not let our ambition exceed our grasp or raise false hopes of what might be possible. The pressures of time and money are ever present and are arguably as intense for the Pavilions as for any other type of project. The margin between delivering something extraordinary and not delivering anything at all is very slim. Herein lies the root of our challenge. Trust The success of the Pavilions has also been influenced by the level of trust that exists within the team. The gallery trusts the architect to come up with a concept that will stand up to all those which have gone before. The architect trusts us to turn this concept into a physical reality. We in turn trust the contractor to build the design on time and to the highest possible quality. Each of us has high expectations of the other and we all need to perform at our very best. In the construction industry we talk a lot about collaboration and there is a general recognition that the best results are achieved when project teams are able to work in an open and collaborative environment. However, our ability to achieve this is inconsistent. The reasons for this vary from project to project but are often linked to contractual set-up, procurement route, money or simply the chemistry between the key individ-

31

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

3.5 a 3.5 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012, Herzog & de Meuron a Completed Pavilion, interior b Completed Pavilion 3.6 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2002, Toyo Ito

uals. Where these factors become divisive trust and respect break down. This cannot and must not happen on the Pavilion projects. It is not easy to define what makes the Pavilions different in this respect compared to more conventional projects. What is it that allows this trust to exist even when people are being thrown together for the first time (which has often been the case)? The short timescale and limited level of investment /exposure of each party is undoubtedly a factor. This context allows a generosity of behaviour that is seldom possible to recreate on larger or longer projects. It is an intense but refreshing environment in which to work. Delivery The ambition and trust of the team feeds into the process of delivery which is also similar from year to year. The gallery is not an experienced client when it comes to delivering building projects, but over the past eleven years has become very aware of what decisions need to be made by when in order to deliver the Pavilion on time. The routes of communication and

reporting are much more informal than usual – again everyone is being trusted to “do the right thing” and contribute to resolving problems where they are best placed to do so. Shortcuts in the delivery process are perhaps inevitable when the task is to get from a blank sheet of paper to a finished building in under six months, but it is not just about cutting corners. Experimentation and innovation in delivery (as well as in design) are also key factors in finishing on time. The best example of this is from 2008. The Gehry Pavilion was geometrically so complex that the entire design and delivery process was driven around one common 3D digital model. The architects were in Los Angeles and the contractors in Switzerland which made face to face meetings very difficult. Issuing the model back and forth to iterate the design was the only way we could progress, taking advantage of the time difference with the American west coast to allow more or less 24-hour working. The result was a building that had no drawings. It was manufactured and built almost entirely from the virtual model. Ed Clark

Nowhere to hide As engineers we are sometimes referred to as the “unseen hand” in terms of our contribution to the design of buildings. However, the Pavilions are different, because the structural engineering is almost always visible in all its glory, and there is nowhere to hide. No chance to conceal a clumsy detail behind a plasterboard ceiling or within the cladding system. In this way, we are exposed to scrutiny in very much the same way as the architect, client or contractor. The Pavilions are (almost) always completed on time, and always stand up well to this scrutiny from the public and press alike. There is an effortlessness to the result every time, as if it is the only conceivable thing that could exist on this tiny patch of grass in the park. What remains unseen is the process, research, collaboration and energy that are required to make these dreams a reality year after year.

3.5 b

32

Serpentine Gallery Pavilions in London

Pavilion philosophy Detail: How did you conceive, and what is the main idea and intention of, the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion programme? Julia Peyton-Jones (JPJ): The main intention of the programme is to present to an international public, but with a particular focus on the British public, the work of international architects who at the time of our invitation have not completed a building in the UK. Instead of presenting an exhibition on architecture, we want the public to experience at first hand what it is like to be inside the architectural space that we commission. We ourselves started with no knowledge. We are somewhat practised now, but nevertheless, we are amateurs, not professionals. From every conceivable point of view, we go against the current thinking of what it means to work with great architects or with people who are designing great buildings. From every conceivable point of view, we turn the accepted norms on their head, including the idea of how the architect is selected, which is, of course, not by competition, but as a curatorial decision by myself and, since he came to the Serpentine Gallery in 2006, Hans Ulrich Obrist (Co-director, Exhibitions & Programmes and Director of International Projects), with our advisor Lord Palumbo of Walbrook, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Pritzker Prize. So we have in the Board a group of people who are prepared to take risks and who understand the importance of what we are trying to do. Detail: Arup also plays a vital role in implementing the Pavilion. How did you introduce Arup to the Pavilion programme? JPJ: Each Pavilion is a project where we encourage the architects to be ambitious and we do everything we can to support them in their ambitions. Obviously, Arup is extremely important in this. We have worked with the engineering consultancy since 2001 and it was Peter Rogers who introduced us to Arup. Tony Fitzpatrick from Arup was one of the two princi-

3.6

pals who were involved in the Daniel Libeskind Pavilion in 2001. I remember having a meeting at Arup about that pavilion, and at that point I think it was difficult for Arup to see the potential. I was sitting there saying, “This is what we’re going to do”, and it was not a situation that Arup had been in before. And how could they have been? Because a Pavilion, as we would have conceived the project, had never been done before. Of course, people design and realise temporary buildings, but arts organisations do not usually do that – they do permanent things, but not temporary things. So it was no surprise that there was with Arup what we could call a healthy scepticism. We needed their structural engineering help and Cecil Balmond’s relationship with Libeskind at the time was very close. Libeskind recommended Cecil. And so that was really how it happened. Cecil and his team became central to the project.

Christian Schittich and Christian Brensing interviewed Julia PeytonJones for Detail in London. Each Pavilion is in situ for three months. And like an exhibition, it is dismantled after that time, but it has a future. Every Pavilion is sold as part of a financial plan, but the contribution never amounts to more than 40 % of the costs. So it is an important financial contribution, but it is a small one relative to the bigger picture. We have no budget for the project, all the funds have to be raised each time, and one of the things we want to say as an institution is that you do not need to be rich, you do not need a lot of space – we only have a small lawn on which we build this Pavilion every year – and you do not need to be a specialist in building in order to commission an architect to design a structure.

Detail: What are the main qualities that Arup brings to the programme? JPJ: Each project requires a different way of working. And it is that way of working which defines the involvement of the team. It was never intended to create a platform for Arup, or indeed anybody else. It becomes obvious what the design need is, in terms of the involvement of Arup or other specialists and the project progresses. These are also people who provide invaluable help with materials and so on; all of these factors come together to make the project work. It is almost inconceivable in these days of health and safety and accountability in all its myriad forms, that there could be a project, such as ours, that is still undertaken on a handshake and an exchange of letters. So when I say that this project goes against everything that is conventional and the norm, I really mean it. Anybody who comes into this project has to do it on the understanding that it is a group effort. And that is not to in any way to underplay Arup’s role, which is, of course, hugely significant.

33

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

Sharing structure

3.8 a

Christian Brensing and Ed Clark interviewed Peter Zumthor for Detail in Haldenstein (CH).

3.7 Peter Zumthor at his Pavilion 3.8 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011, Peter Zumthor a Completed Pavilion, exterior b Hortus Conclusus c Alpine flowers at the Pavilion

3.7

34

Detail: What was your reaction when you heard that Arup would be the engineers of the Pavilion?

Detail: Because engineering is never just black and white.

Peter Zumthor (PZ): Let’s try it, I said. I had no idea of this international engineering firm. Arup has a good reputation, it works professionally, but I was not sure whether an artistic approach to engineering would be welcomed. However, in working with a firm like Arup you always have to speak to a person. That person was Ed Clark. He is competent, a person with a face, and I could see from my experience that this was not a firm just following commercial interests, but they were interested into helping. I also began to appreciate Arup’s history and background, I mean, all the research departments and centres of competence. They were very nice to work with because I did not have to ask other specialists when I had specific technological questions. There was always someone in the office to ask and it never took long to find things out. Here I can see the advantages of a big firm as long as it is organised well.

PZ: Yes, if the structural engineer is interested in form, the logic of the form and vice versa, the architect is interested in the structure and why it is like this and how it works, that is the idea of collaboration. That is what I expect from an engineer.

Detail: Was there common ground between you and Arup? PZ: I found no difference at all. I am interested how things are constructed and how they work. I try to do things from the inside out, this is the subject matter I love, I like to get into things and understand how and why they work. This is an experience I like to share and I had the feeling that Ed Clark wanted to share our ideas and interest in architecture. This reminds me of Jörg Conzett who 20 years ago was working with me in my office. I asked him, “Why is it that you want to work with me when you are an engineer?” He replied, “Before I go into an engineering office I would like to learn how architects think.” You should never accept what is offered as the best solution without question. That is the way I work with all engineers. I try to understand. You can never just tell me “It works or it doesn’t work!” That makes me angry! (laughs) I want to share the architecture, how the structure works.

Detail: How does a design come together from an architectural and an engineering point of view? PZ: I see designing as a process – a process including all the people involved with buildings. So when I start, the canvas is blank, there is nothing there. I then start to work in many different layers asking “What does this building want to be?” Earlier in my career I was interested in very small things, or even big things. In the morning over a cup of coffee, I would wonder, “How would this or that work?” The opposite of that would be if you had an image, then you outline the image and then you make it work. I have an image but the image is more like an atmosphere, it is not complete, more a desire, it is not so much a concrete thing. The concrete form will come after many processes and discussions. At this point, I am open and demanding at the same time. That is my way of working. Detail: At the Serpentine Pavilion the structural engineering was not the key technical issue. It was to do with the materials, fire properties, the daylight. PZ: It was good that you offered all of that competence and coordinated it. I would like the engineers to work like me, very direct, and in that respect it is great to have a collection of competences. I also learned that collaboration is always good for an architect like me, one who decided to stay small, who produces originals. I have to collaborate with the opposite, so to speak. I have a lot of information in my twenty to thirty people here in Haldenstein but I cannot take stock of it. That is why I need your help with the project in Russia, for example.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilions in London

3.8 b

Detail: What is the role of material, place and location with regard to the Serpentine Pavilion? PZ: In the end it was a simple solution. However, it was not easy to deal with, because it was temporary. Perhaps the description of a ceremonial tea house is not bad. You go to a place, you change your attitude, it becomes something special. In terms of place I wanted to have an experience in the park that went beyond a hamburger stall. I had to create a place where I could put an object that changes my mind. In that place I had to create a mental island, that was what I wanted. For me then the place was complete. The Pavilion was a momentary intrusion, it looked as it would come and go, it should look transitory, not permanent. This was something which we found out after a while because in the beginning it looked permanent and strong. There was this strange thing, it dominated the place, you did not understand it, you wanted to go in – this is exactly what I wanted! On the subject of location the Pavilion was in a park. It worked like a magnifying glass. You entered and there was a garden in a park. You also experienced a change in scale, like through a magnifying glass. You did not see the big park anymore and you focused on the plants. We questioned whether we could do this kind of enclosed garden in a park, would it work, would it be ridiculous? And we saw that it worked. In terms of material my buildings always have a materiality early on because my images are not abstract, though materials change in my mind. The Pavilion had to be dark. As a preparation you had to enter darkness and then see colour again, like on a theatre stage. But just a black box would have been a little bit too one dimensional, so I started introducing materials. It should have a smell of an old-fashioned nursery and I looked for a material that had something to do with this. This is how I selected my materials. You had this steel, you had the zinc watering cans, all low-key things. Then we wanted to use normal asphalt with its distinctive smell. But, actually it did not smell, yet people still smelt it

from memory! When we got around this abstraction, what images go well with plants, we came across this hessian fabric. We wrapped, we painted it and after a while it looked like an abstract painting. But the main materials, of course, were the plants. Detail: What constitutes its identity? PZ: In Goethe’s time, people would have said character instead of identity. This means you add something to the world, you describe a place which resonates. We wanted this emotional, spiritual and maybe also intellectual resonance. At its best, you then have a personality, a statement, charisma. This is what I can offer, I think that through my buildings I bring something to the place. I believe I also create buildings that say “I like to be here” and not buildings that say “I like to be here but all the others around me are no good.” This is not exactly my point. This is a very important task the architect can do. Sometimes you expect big theories about urbanism and critical things about this and that from an architect. I offered this 25 or 30 years ago but now I am offering buildings (laughs)! There is a certain modesty in knowing what one can do.

The journey to Atelier Zumthor Visiting Peter Zumthors’s atelier is a bit of a trek. Nestled in the heart of a small village in the mountains, it is not totally remote but is certainly detached from the pace and anxieties of the city. Being there feels a very long way from our large engineering office in central London. This detachment has a profound effect on the process of design and the feelings of purpose and joy that result when the process is going well. Maybe it is the mountain air and great views? Undoubtedly it is due to the quality of space and light within Peter Zumthor’s designed buildings, and his guiding influence over everything. But it is more than that. Here is a place where design rules and can exist without the constant constraint of formal procedure. The approach is relaxed and rigorous at the same time. Constraints are embraced, not forgotten, but here the design is allowed to evolve into the genuine sum of all constraints. It is a very inspiring place to work.

Detail: During the making of the Serpentine Pavilion there were a lot of questions of materiality, time and other challenges. At the London end things got a bit “tense” at times. Was there ever a moment you felt you would not make it? PZ: No. Many times I have to deal with the nervousness of my clients. I would never hire a project manager who thinks it is all about organisation. It is not all about organisation, you should know your things inside out then you would not get so nervous. Of course, we had some stress. For example, we had to find our way around some regulations but in the end it was not so difficult. In the end I said, “Don’t worry, everything will be fine!” (laughs) I appreciated all your proposals; what we should do to reach this or that goal, but I thought you should just relax. 3.8 c

35

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

AAMI Park Architect Cox Architecture Location Melbourne (AUS) Year of completion 2010 Authors Peter Bowtell, Structural Engineer, Arup, Principal Jonathan Gardiner, Director, Cox Architecture

36

4.1

that utilises multiple load paths to distribute load and ensure that each element of the roof contributes to the carrying of load to the supports.

Evolution of stadium roof forms The structural engineering design of stadia has evolved in tandem with the technology and tools that have enabled the designs. Early grandstand roofs comprised trussed systems supported by columns at the perimeter, with the trusses typically manufactured from local timber. Inevitably, the columns in front of the crowd obstructed the views of the action. Later grandstand roofs eliminated the use of columns in front of the crowds, giving unobstructed views. The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Great Southern Stand (1992) is an example of a steel cantilever structure that protects crowds from the elements. Cantilever roofs have further evolved, as demonstrated by the MCG Northern Stand where a cable-net and mast arrangement is used to support the roof, providing a more efficient structure. The City of Manchester Stadium uses a cable-stayed system to support its roof structure, allowing further structural efficiencies, while at Khalifa Stadium, Doha, Qatar, the inherent efficiencies of arches have been emplyed. The Beijing National Stadium, in turn, employs a sophisticated system based on interconnected planar trusses to provide a column-free environment over the crowds. AAMI Park, in contrast, draws upon the principles of the geodesic dome, first elaborated by Buckminster Fuller. The AAMI Park roof design extrapolates these principles to achieve a highly efficient structure

Steel roof structure The 182 m long and 130 m wide roof consists of 20 geodesic shells, five along each of the long sides, three on the short sides, and one in each corner. The shells are made of 273 mm diameter tubular steel sections, rigidly assembled in triangles to form the structure, bounded by a 508 mm diameter groin member to the sides and front edge, and a 457 mm diameter member to the back edge. All are clad in combination of metal and glazed panels. Four light towers spring from each of the corner shells. The weight of the roof is approximately 50 kg /m2, which compares favourably to other contemporary stadium roof structures. The roof is supported by a combination of arching and shell action, catenary and cantilever action. The roofs on the shorter sides have an overall gentle upward curve that arches back to the corner shells, while the longer roofs have an inverted curve that also spans back to the corner shells. Each shell is supported from two points at each groin – by a ball joint connected to the groin at the back corner of each shell, and a raker prop to the back of the seating that functions as an axial restraint. Key to the roof design was the calculation of its stiffness, and the estimation of

4.2

4.3

AAMI Park in Melbourne

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

City view with completed stadium Parametric model Analysis model Virtual 3D model Optimisation routine Performance results

4.4

effective member lengths. Traditional coding methods for the latter could not be used, as it was difficult to estimate points of member restraint. A second-order buckling analysis was used both to measure the effective length of the system for each load case and to devise a set of forces for member design. Structural optimisation Arup’s structural design team used in-house optimisation software together with Strand 7 analysis software to study the structural efficiency of the roof geometry. A total of 24 models with variations in shell curvatures and heights were studied to determine the most efficient geometry. By optimising the structural size required for each of the 4156 roof elements, the most efficient structure was determined, resulting in steel tonnage savings. Overall, the virtual 3D design process comprised: • generation of 3D parametric model geometry • importing of initial members and nodes into Strand 7 analysis software • application of loads and restraints to the structural model, and analysis for stress levels and steel tonnages • production of alternative 3D geometry by the parametric model, the revised node geometry being imported into the analysis model, allowing member properties, restraints and loadings to be used from the previous analysis model

4.5

• analysis of revised model to compare stress levels and report steel tonnages • testing of the geometry’s structural efficiency by modifying and testing differing overall arch shapes and local shell shapes; by testing a number of shape variations, the final geometry was chosen • analysis of final geometry by optimisation software to determine final member section sizes. Project documentation and steelwork drawings were generated from the parametric geometry, after it was imported into Bentley structural design. The parametric model was also used to make allowances for the self-weight deflection of the structural steelwork at the front edge of the roof. The contractor used this preset model as the primary set-out for the roof geometry, and this information was then used to prepare the steelwork shop detail drawings, as well as for steelwork fabrication. Roof steelwork erection The design of 20 individual interconnected shells allowed the contractor to appoint three separate fabricators, reducing overall construction time. The roof steelwork was fabricated offsite (two fabricators were in Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs, the third in Tasmania) allowing works on the concrete bowl structure to progress. Each shell was split into transportable

Virtual 3D design process The design team worked within a virtual 3D environment from concept stage through to construction. Parametric modelling was used to define the roof structure because of its ability to test alternative geometric configurations, and to accommodate the final preset geometry for fabrication and construction purposes. During concept stage, initial studies of the roof and shell geometries were undertaken with Cox Architecture and RMIT University’s Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory, using a combination of Catia models and 3D CAD. Parametric modelling The parametric model was developed using Bentley’s structural design software after concept design, when basic geometric principles were agreed between Arup and Cox Architecture. Parametric modelling enabled revised geometry to be speedily generated and imported into the structural analysis model to study structural geometric efficiencies. The parametric modelling software created the centreline wireframe models, which were used by the structural engineering design team and by Cox Architecture for coordination and approval.

4.6

37

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure

4.7 Completed building 4.8 Shells under construction 4.9 Simultaneous shell erection and facade installation

sizes, allowing steelwork to be painted and delivered to site (including being ferried across the Bass Straight from Tasmania). Bolted splice connections were adopted in preference to on-site welding. The roof erection procedure adopted by the contractor differed significantly from the original Arup concept, which included the delivery of the largest possible prefabricated sections for welding into shells on site, prior to large crane lifts. The contractor’s preferred scheme relied heavily on-site bolting, with connection plates adding weight to the structure. The scheme also added complexity to the structure, requiring mating end-plates at connections, with zero tolerance. Arup developed a bolting and shimming procedure to ensure that the contractor’s preferred scheme could achieve the structural design intent. Roof/bowl interface Each of the 20 steel roof shells is connected to the concrete structure at the bottom corner, and at the back of the seating bowl. The base connections allow rotation via ball-and-socket details, while transferring axial loads and shear forces into the concrete structure. All vertical load is transferred to the concrete structure at the base connection. V-shaped columns are

designed to integrate with the 13 m structural floor grid. The connections at the back of the seating bowl transfer axial thrust into the raking steel beams used to support the seating bowl. Each connection is detailed with a slotted hole to prevent bending moments being transferred into the steel structure, and to eliminate any axial load being transferred to the steel and concrete columns. Facade installation The facade is a combination of triangular glass panels and aluminium sandwich panels. The glass panels comprise approximately 20 % of it, positioned at strategic locations in line with internal concourse spaces to allow patrons views of the surrounding parkland. The lightweight aluminium sandwich panels enable an enhanced thermal and acoustic performance of the stadium. They are self-supporting, held between the triangular openings of the primary steel frame, eliminating the need for the secondary and tertiary layers of steel often part of traditional cladding systems’ designs. The facade panels were assembled and sealed on-site prior to being lifted and fixed directly to the steel structure, eliminating the need for secondary steel purlin systems. Peter Bowtell

4.7

38

AAMI Park in Melbourne

Realising the bioframe structure 4.8

AAMI Park continues the strong architectural lineage of Melbourne and Olympic Parks evidenced since 1956 by the Myer Music Bowl and Olympic Pool Complex, and later by Rod Laver Arena and the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It represents a move forward by the city to provide residents and visitors alike with a first-class facility that embodies a pioneering approach to public architecture and in turn public life. A key philosophy was to provide the perfect seating bowl, with seats rising up to optimise the preferred east and west flanks with excellent sightlines and proximity to the action, while allowing close seats for the goal end fans at north and south. This form was articulated in a series of bays to maximise the sense of theatre and engagement that is so important to creating great events. Integrated into the seating bowl is the bioframe roof, designed to integrate the idea of roof, walls and support into a coherent whole. Working with Arup, Cox Architects has designed a structure where each element serves multiple purposes, using no more material than absolutely necessary. Using parametric modelling, each member is optimised for size and load, giving a lightweight steel structure that uses 50 % less steel than a traditional cantilever.

As the bioframe shells are designed to suit their position around the bowl, they are each unique in their form, cladding and relationship with the adjoining landscape. The considered placement of each panel and frit in each of the glass panels ensures that heat gain and loss is optimally managed with minimal impact upon views into and out of stadium. In addition, the panels may be modified or replaced to support various technologies including photovoltaic cells, affording the stadium with the opportunity to evolve with technology and sustainable design practices. The roof form dips to the north allowing maximum sunlight onto the turf, providing a sustainable playing surface. The roof also acts as a water harvesting device, with the water stored for stadium operations. In essence, the stadium is designed as an active weekday hub providing good value to the city, with the venue operating 7 days a week, able to host multiple events during the calendar year. The key value of AAMI Park is in this high level of usage, and access to public transport. As a distinctive addition to Melbourne’s public architecture, AAMI Park has enhanced the events being hosted, and contributes to the public realm in this key part of Melbourne. Jonathan Gardiner

To find the ideal product for these requirements, Grocon, the Australian contractor responsible for erecting the stadium, turned to the Australian construction systems sales unit of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe. Hoesch isowand vario is a steel sandwich element designed specially for modern industrial architecture with high aesthetic requirements. The component, which comprises two thin steel face sheets enclosing a thick polyurethane rigid foam core, is low-weight and has first-class thermal insulation properties. Hoesch isowand vario has concealed fastenings as well as precision joints. The elements are available in smooth, lined, microprofiled and V-profiled finishes. Perfect corrosion protection is ensured by means of a duplex coating system, in which an initial zinc layer and then a paint or plastic finish is applied to the steel face sheets. The bioframe roof of the Melbourne stadium consists of 25,000 m2 of 100 mm thick Hoesch isowand vario elements that weigh less than 13 kg /m2. The units were also prefitted with rubber seals to ensure that the roof structure is watertight. ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe created the “whisper white” shade selected by the architects using a high-quality PVDF coating (polyvinylidene fluoride). The plastic layer is 25 micrometers thick, and its high chemical and thermal stability ensures that the surface remains impervious to the effects of environmental influences and sunlight for years to come. The surface of the elements is micro-profiled to allow rainwater to run off easily into tanks for subsequent use as service water in the stadium. Rainwater management is part of the sustainability concept for the stadium, which also includes an integrated waste and recycling system.

4.9

39

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

King’s Cross station in London Redevelopment of King’s Cross station

John Turzynski, Mike King, Mike Byrne Steffen Feirabend

42 48

John McAslan, Hiro Aso

49

Design collaboration

Emanuelle Danisi, Gordon Mungall, Michael Stych Jim Heverin

50 53

Chinese National Aquatics Centre in Beijing The Water Cube – Chinese National Aquatics Centre

Tristram Carfrae

54

Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport in London Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport

Dervilla Mitchell

58

From design to fabrication and installation Architectural innovation and pragmatism in the design of the Western Concourse Aquatics Centre in London London Aquatics Centre

Multidisciplinary engineering was one of the traditions established by Arup. Looking at projects like the London Aquatics Centre, the observer can imagine that its architectural integrity would not have been so successfully realised without the thorough integration of all leading engineering and technical disciplines from geotechnics to lighting design. This publication puts great emphasis on showing how different disciplines – specialist or mainstream – interact with others and above all with the architecture itself. Therefore, the editors invited architects and other companies involved in the projects to share their views and put a spotlight on some details that hold the design together. Arup’ philosophy is that architects, clients and construction companies find extra value in interdisciplinary exchange. The comprehensive understanding and appreciation of the entire architectural project dates back to Ove Arup’s definition of “Total Architecture”. As a direct result of this ethos, there should be no strict interdisciplinary boundaries in an Arup design project.

41

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

4 3 1 2

Redevelopment of King’s Cross station Architect John McAslan + Partners Location London (GB) Year of completion 2012 Authors John Turzynski, Civil / Structural Engineer, Arup, Director Mike King, Structural Engineer, Arup, Senior Associate Mike Byrne, Mechanical Engineer, Arup, Director Steffen Feirabend, Structural Engineer, Seele John McAslan, Architect, John McAslan + Partners Hiro Aso, Architect, John McAslan + Partners

The Western Range building Passengers in the 1850s taking a train from the new King’s Cross station made their way via gardens on the west side to the Pay Office (booking hall) in the centre of the Western Range building. By the beginning of the 21st century, the Western Range was far from new and grand, the station architect Lewis Cubitt’s straightforward design had essentially vanished. The redevelopment offered Network Rail and the architects John McAslan + Partners (JMP) the opportunity to rethink the entire station. The Western Range building would now be its centre geographically and functionally, containing facilities for passengers (ticketing, shops, a pub and the first-class lounge), station operations (staff and management offices, and the station control room) and train servicing (the on-board services logistics operation housed in the basement). Design approach The structure of the Western Range building had, broadly speaking, worked acceptably for 160

1 2

Western Range building Western Concourse

3 4

5.1 Great Northern Hotel St Pancras International

years. The 1941 bombing had been a major structural test but also demonstrated some robustness, in that the damage was restricted to areas only directly hit by the bomb. The structure was thus considered to have been proved in service and could be relied upon to perform satisfactorily in the future, provided that: • Any flaws the original design exposed in use were rectified. • There was no adverse change in the magnitude or point of application of loads on the structure (previously or proposed). • There had been no unacceptable deterioration of structural elements from fire or moisture damage, dry or wet rot, rust, abrasion or other action. • There had been no reduction in structural capacity due to structural reordering over the life of the building. • There was no change in other performance requirements (e.g. fire resistance). With some exceptions these conditions were found to be met over most of the building.

5.2

42

King‘s Cross station in London

5.3 a

b

Integration of new structural elements New structural elements were introduced for many reasons in the station masterplan, but in all cases the team kept the bigger picture of load-paths in mind. This seems self-evident but, astonishingly, there were areas in the existing building where this seemingly obvious principle had been ignored over the years. Load-path assessments had to include: • Determining the most likely vertical and lateral load-paths through the existing structure, and understanding how structural modifications would interrupt these. • Designing new structure to achieve both strength and stiffness equivalent to any elements that it replaced. • Paying particular attention to any secondary action an element may be performing. For example, floors often form critical lateral restraints on masonry walls toppling or buckling. Where these were removed either new structural elements were installed to provide restraint or the walls’ stability was carefully assessed.

• Developing in principle the steps required to make the change from the old configuration to the new, including an indication of the temporary works required to support the interim configurations when the old structure had been removed but the new had not yet been introduced. New western gateline Recreating passenger movement lines similar to those of the 1852 original set was a big challenge for the design team. This would require supporting all the existing structure from the first floor and above, gutting the internal structure beneath to allow a new concrete frame to be built without long- and cross-walls obstructing passenger movement, and then lowering the overhead structure onto the new support. Encouraged by Network Rail, Arup developed a three-dimensional concrete frame solution, to be inserted between the ground and first floor levels only. Loads from the first floor level walls flow around this open frame and are redis-

b

3

6

7

6

3

1

2 8

5

a

a 3

3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Entrance Underground entrance Shops Hotel Station concourse Access to platforms Tickets Information

2

3

3 3

1

3

3

3

4

Load Paths Original structural diagrams showed clear load-paths from the arched roof of the train shed through the Western Range’s cross-walls and buttresses to the foundations, but change upon change had muddled this clarity. The building’s structural operation was hard to understand, let alone assess and credibly analyse. To avoid “analysis paralysis”, coherent design principles were needed. Three important principles had to be established – how to: 1. Establish the fitness for purpose of existing elements. 2. Integrate new structure into the existing where changes were required (either because of existing problems, or because of new requirements). 3. Safely make the change from an existing structural configuration to a new one.

The funnel The central support to the semicircular skylight above is arguably the most dramatic structural and architectural element of the roof structure. The “funnel” was developed in response to the challenge to create an efficient structural support at the centre of the roof as well as a strong architectural focal point and obvious meeting point for passengers. Its structure is a natural extension of the diagrid shell form, curving from the horizontal diagrid at the edge of the roof skylight to near-vertical at the support at ground level. As the funnel structure is doubly-curved, it has strong resistance to out-of-plane buckling, enabling the use of relatively slender tubular steel sections.

5.1 5.2

3 2

5.3 1

1 b

5.4

Location plan /cutaway Western Concourse roof with the Western Range Building behind Load paths through the Western Range Building a Axial forces b Bending forces Floor plan scale 1:1250

5.4

43

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

5.6 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9

Roof geometry forming a complete circle Cubitt’s Pay office Vertical section scale 1:200 Tree columns bear loads of up to 600 t Tree column with roof construction

tributed back into the walls of the basement beneath. The central (large) Y-shaped column is critical functionally, aesthetically and structurally. JMP and Arup modelled the gateline area in 3D to optimise the shape. Its smaller lower section maximises sight-lines for both passengers and gateline attendants, while the flare above provides support along the line of the spine walls either side of the corridor at first floor level, thus avoiding deep transfer beams that would have been visible through the historic window openings in the facades. Arup’s review of the lateral stability of the buildings under the main train shed roof arches showed this area to have been compromised by previous modifications. The new concrete frames were designed to achieve the strength and stiffness needed to support the roof under the new and heavier cladding loads. The proposals made substantial demands on the temporary works. The masonry cross-walls between ground and first floor that provided the critical load-path for thrusts from the main train shed roof to the foundations, already compromised by ad hoc alterations, were removed completely to enable the installation of the new concrete frames. Substantial temporary works would be needed to act as stilts supporting the first and second floors of the building while the ground floor structure was removed and replaced. These stilts would also need to be braced to provide lateral support to the main train shed arches. Pay office Time had been cruel to Lewis Cubitt’s impressively tall (originally 12 m) column-free Pay Office (fig. 5.6). The north-east corner was damaged by the bomb, and alterations were made in the 1970s. JMP’s vision was to restore this space to its original function and grandeur, stripping out the clutter and restoring two of Cubitt’s original elements – the floor above the Pay Office ceiling, and the first floor level cantilever balcony along the east wall. “Badminton court floor” To create the grand space beneath, the floor

5.5

44

over the Pay Office had impressively long spans for the period: six 12.5 m riveted wrought iron girders (a new technology at the time) supporting primary joists under the common joists and floorboards. Originally an open-plan office, it was at one stage used as a badminton court, and the name stuck. A survey identified weak points in the primary timber joists and the bottom flange splice connections in the girders. The existing floor is 10 m above ground, making access for repairs difficult, so Arup and contractor Vinci developed a solution that took full advantage of all the existing structure. This involved assessing everything down to the rivets in the splice plates, but gave confidence that only the lower flange splice-plates in the girders and one layer of timber joists needed strengthening, the former with additional splice plates and the latter by inserting lightweight cold-formed metal beams to relieve load from the existing joists and enhance lateral restraint to the girders. The Western Concourse roof The roof design evolved through close collaboration between John McAslan + Partners and Arup, driven by the need to work within and respond to the following constraints and challenges: • Create a long-span structure that would bridge fully over the London Underground northern ticket hall “box”. • Develop an efficient and elegant structural scheme that did not apply any loads to the neighbouring Grade I listed Western Range facade, and would also fit within the curved form of the Grade II listed Great Northern Hotel. • Create an architecturally welcoming space that was also visually and operationally unifying, forming a hub to serve both the suburban and mainline intercity platforms. Evolution of the roof design The light, dynamic diagrid shell form came together relatively quickly. As well as the architectural benefits of the semicircular plan geometry in terms of pedestrian and passenger flow,

King‘s Cross station in London

5

4 2 1

2 3 4 5

galvanized welded steel pier, painted: 2≈ Ø 355/36 mm steel tubes; 40 mm or 30 mm steel plate; 6 mm sheet-steel cladding cast-steel node to pier Ø 219/16 mm steel tube Ø 355/16 mm steel tube 250/150/20 mm welded steel box beam

3

1

5.7

there were also great engineering advantages. Key among these was that, as well as creating a thin shell structure, the doubly-curved S-shaped section and semicircular plan form act to carry most of the roof load away from the Western Range facade and support it at the perimeter. Ideally, for structural efficiency, such a shell roof would form a complete circle, but the functional and geometrical constraints imposed by the presence of the existing buildings required it to be cut into a semicircle at the Western Range facade (fig. 5.5). This meant that a flexibly-stiff edge to the cut shell was required where it abuts the Western Range facade. This was achieved through deep vertical truss elements, also

glazed to enclose the building envelope and enable views from the Western Concourse to the Western Range facade. Geometry and structural elements The entire roof diagrid geometry and funnel form were developed and finalised through “sculpting” in Arup’s 3D structural analysis software, GSA. Conceptually, the roof structure is divisible into radial rib elements (primarily bending forces) and a diagrid (largely in-plane shell forces). The former are fabricated as boxes to produce a more efficient section for bending and to visually distinguish them from the diagrid tubes, which are conversely optimised for axial loads.

5.8 Lighting design The roof is a major visual element within the concourse and needed to be illuminated sympathetically. The essence of Arup’s concept was to uplight the diagrid, using highly efficient and colour-stable, ceramicbased, metal halide projectors to ensure that it is lit homogeneously. Most of the uplighters are mounted in areas where lamp replacement and maintenance can be done easily and safely during the working day without disrupting the station’s operation. For instance, the main functional lighting is mounted on a maintenance platform above the roof of the food court, thus ensuring easy access for maintenance without detracting from the visual appeal of the roof. The efficiency of the luminaires was also a top priority, as the design involved uplighting the roof high above a vast public space that requires an average maintained illumination of 200 lux at floor level to ensure a safe and pleasing environment for the station users. The luminaires are connected using interleaved circuitry, which provides greater resilience in the event of circuit failure. The lighting control system maximises efficiency as it benefits from the use of daylightlinked controls and also provides a further service benefit from the alternate switching of luminaires so as to maximise lamp replacement interval. The concourse features a colour lighting scheme, with the colour blue chosen to provide a complementary contrast to the natural beauty of the Western Range’s sand-coloured brickwork. The final stage of the design took the aspiration a stage further by providing a full colour spectrum using red, green and blue projectors. This enables the diagrid roof to be washed with any colour while maintaining the daily emphasis on blue and allow the station to alter the roof’s colour for special events, such as using green for St Patrick’s Day. The Western Range building is washed with sympathetic LED lighting in the hours of darkness, enhancing the beauty of the heritage backdrop, and creating a contrast to the 21st century engineering of the concourse. By contrast, the main funnel steelwork is illuminated with in-ground cool white uplights from the granite floor to emphasise the structure.

5.9

45

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

5.11 5.10

5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14

Previously hidden atrium above the old Parcels Yard, now a pub Construction of the roof Installation of roof cladding panels Sections through facade scale 1:20 Completed Western Concourse

Parcels office atrium A luggage trolley seemingly disappearing into one of the station walls beneath a sign for “Platform 9 ¾” attracts countless Harry Potter fans. But the walls of the real platform 9 enclosed a real secret: the atrium in the former Parcels Office (fig. 5.10) in the Western Range was boarded over and had been entirely forgotten. The refurbishment included plans to make this area accessible to everyone in the form of a pub. An internal atrium bringing natural light to deep floor plates was highly revolutionary for the 1850s, and the construction had several other unusual features. For example, to provide column-free space for the ground floor parcels depot, the first and second floors were originally hung from the timber roof trusses with wrought iron rods. As the structure was revealed, it became clear that some areas previously hung from the roof trusses had settled a very obvious 150 mm or so. The increased live load caused by change in use to pub made appraising the strength of the existing structure necessary.

5.10

46

The fabricated box rib radial sections are typically 150 mm wide, varying from 250 – 450 mm in depth, in line with the changing bending moments. The diagrid tubes are standard circular hollow sections varying between 139 – 219 mm in diameter. The “tree trunk” columns at the bottom of the funnel need to resist large net lateral thrusts from the ‘branch’ struts supporting the roof, thus enabling shell action in the roof diagrid. These forces are up to 600 t at the top of the columns in the radial direction, and produce considerable bending moments in the column itself and large overturning loads at the baseplate. The restraint forces in the minor axis (circumferential direction) are more modest – “only” 90 t in the horizontal direction. Thecarefully-shaped tapered ovoid section makes these columns look deceptively slender for the forces carried. At the base, a typical tree column is 1.4 m on the longer axis and 0.6 m wide, skilfully fabricated from large circular hollow sections connected by a curved plate. The branches are pinended at the connection to the diagrid shell to allow the roof to articulate and avoid bending forces being transferred from the diagrid radial members into the branches themselves. All but two of the tree columns are identical. Two “super-tree” columns with only two forward-facing branches, carrying significantly larger forces than the typical case, stand 114.7 m apart on opposite sides of the funnel and provide the edge restraint to the shell adjacent to the existing Western Range building. The super-tree columns are larger – 1.9 ≈ 0.65 m maximum dimension, with a 3.35 m long baseplate – and each is 54.6 m from the closest point on the funnel. Some of the trees are carried directly on dedicated concrete bored pile foundations, while others are supported on the basement concrete box structure of the London Underground Northern Ticket Hall. The long span presented several structural challenges. A key part of the analysis involved checking for global and local buckling of the elements under the very high loads. This was also carried out using GSA, in combination with a custom-built automated spreadsheet that analysed every element of the roof under around 100 separate load combinations.

5.12

Connections The connections between the tree column branches and trunk have to transfer significant forces from several directions down to the foundations and are one of the largest and most visible parts of the structure. It was decided that a solid cast “node”, sculpted to smoothly transition the geometry between branches and trunk, was the best solution, though it is not something often found on such a scale in a modern building. A 3D finite element model of each node was analysed to optimise the plate thickness and geometry within the constraints of the casting process. The detailed design of the roof required close collaboration with the architects, as all the structure is fully exposed. No bolts are visible from the underside, as all connections are hidden within the structural members themselves. The constantly changing geometry of the roof required careful grouping of connection types to give some uniformity to the connection design while still achieving an efficient and lightweight roof. The overall result is a very clean structure, with no interruptions to the curving geometry of the diagrid. Conclusion Passengers once again go to the west side of the building, to the site of Lewis Cubitt’s garden, now enclosed by the new Western Concourse roof. Tickets can yet again be purchased in the original Pay Office. If they have time passengers can wait, for example, in the first-class lounge in the former bomb gap or perhaps in the pub in the rediscovered atrium. They pass through the Western Range building to the platforms following passenger movement lines set by Cubitt 160 years before. The 21st century King’s Cross will be busy, with passenger numbers exceeding 1850s’ levels by orders of magnitude, but new facilities and the restored holistic clarity to passenger experience will ensure a high level of service despite the increased demands. John Turzynski, Mike King, Mike Byrne

King‘s Cross station in London

3

1 5

6

2

7

8 4 9

10 9 1 2

10

11

12 3 4 5 6

2 mm aluminium flashing to existing building bituminous sheet sealing layer 20 mm EPS insulation, compression resistant 160 mm mineral-wool insulation between 80/120/5 mm steel RHS supporting structure 500 mm mineral-wool insulation 2 mm perforated sheet aluminium cladding 13.5 mm laminated safety glass roof light 250/800/20 mm galvanized steel RHS, painted stainless steel ventilation grille fall restraint system

7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

opaque roof element: 2.5 mm anodized-aluminium sheeting 70 mm mineral wool 3 mm galvanized steel sheeting 50 mm mineral wool; foil membrane 2 mm perforated aluminium sheeting light fitting 150/250/20 mm welded steel box beam Ø 244/25mm galvanized diagonal steel tube 25 mm steel plate Ø 323/25 mm steel tube 20 mm steel plate 400/400/50 mm steel plate

12

13

12

cc c

c

14 5.13

5.14

47

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

aa 5.15

From design to fabrication and installation 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20

Section scale 1:1250 Tree column Erection of the funnel structure Tree node casting Section scale 1:1250 View looking up the funnel

5.16

48

Arup and Seele are a well-groomed team when it comes to the design and installation of demanding structures and facade systems. The steel structure of the new 9000 m2 freestanding grid shell structure of the new Western Concourse at King’s Cross consists of radial beams made from welded rectangular hollow sections, with wall thicknesses of 8 –20 mm, a height of 265 mm and a width of 150 mm. Together with intermediate diagonals made from circular hollow sections, it forms a triangulated grid shell that is semicircular in plan. This grid is supported at its centre point by the “funnel” structure as well as by 16 tree columns spaced 12 m apart along its perimeter. The roof was subdivided into prefabricated elements. After prefabrication the elements were pre-assembled in the shop to ensure the overall geometry before single elements were shipped to London for erection and installation. Starting at the centre point of the grid shell, the outer super-radial beams of the funnel were installed first. These beams were braced between each other, with initially only tackwelded M-shaped elements forming the funnel. At the edge of the semicircle, two “super tree” columns were installed, with each weighing approximately 19.7 t and with a total height of 6.2 m. Each tree column consisted of two circular hollow sections connected with plates and a cast crown on top.

5.17

After the installation of the skylight tie-beam above the funnel and the super-radial beam connecting the funnel with the two super tree columns, the structure was surveyed to ensure that the geometry was correct. Then, starting with the funnel, the prefabricated elements were finally welded together. The 14 standard tree columns with branches were installed next. At the same time the provisions for the installation of the diagrid roof structure commenced. A stepped scaffold structure was erected to a level of 1.0 – 1.5 m below the underside of the steel diagrid structure to allow the exact positioning of prefabricated ladder elements before they were welded together. Hence, the erection of scaffolding, delivery and installation of all steel elements were all interdependent and required precise logistics. The diagrid roof structure consists principally of prefabricated ladder sections with lengths ranging from 8.8 m to 20.7 m radiating outwards from the central funnel. The infill beams were installed and tack-welded between these ladders. Final welding started after a quarter of the total diagrid had been installed and adjusted. A secondary aluminium structure was installed on top of the primary steel grid, covered with glass and metal panels with concealed fixings and all joints sealed with silicon. After installation the stepped scaffold was sequentially lowered to achieve the final geometry. Steffen Feirabend

5.18

King‘s Cross station in London

bb 5.19

Architectural innovation and pragmatism in the design of the Western Concourse The quest to innovate was dictated by the complexity of the design challenge, and its value post-completion. The phrase “architectural icon” has certainly become rather debased, but there is no doubt that John McAslan + Partners, Arup, the contractors and ultimately, Network Rail, sought a new concourse whose very presence would be iconic – an architectural brandmark signifying a step-change in the aesthetic and operational quality of a massive intermodal transport hub at the nexus of London’s newest creative industries hotspot. The ultimate architectural clarity of the Western Concourse belies the complexity of the requirements it faced. There were, in essence, six quite different factors that bore down on the design process: heritage sensitivity; interchange connectivity; the structural challenge; construction logistics; sustainability and security.

age “gain”: it has maximised the legibility of the Booking Hall facade, the most architecturally problematic elevation in the station. The diagrid also allowed the canopy structure to be supported in front of the Western Range, clear of its foundations. The slim-sectioned, relatively light structure did more than maximise visibility across the volume to the Western Range; it ensured that the recently completed structure of the London Underground ticket hall, which lay directly beneath the Western Concourse was not compromised by the point-loads of the canopy’s 16 tree columns and the central funnel. John McAslan, Hiro Aso

The diagrid canopy offered another important architectural benefit. Unlike the clarified simplicity of the Eastern Range’s architecture, the Western Range is asymmetrical in plan and elevation; indeed, the Booking Hall is three storeys high to the south, rising to four storeys to the north. The curved profile of the new concourse canopy creates the impression of a unified volume, centred on the Booking Hall.

The primary functional design consideration concerned the volume of the structure, based on the fact that the number of travellers using King’s Cross was forecast to rise to 55 million within a few years of the project’s completion. The decision to develop the concourse volume within a semicircular canopy was a reaction to several factors. The first concerned the Grade I listed elevation of the Western Range and the presence of the Cubitt’s less than remarkable Great Northern Hotel, 60 m to the east; which, by useful coincidence, possessed a curved facade. The decision to design a diagrid structure followed fairly straightforwardly from the design starting point of a concourse with a semicircular plan. Working with Arup, the key heritage advantage of a wave-form diagrid soon became clear: not only would this ultra-rigid structural solution span long distances apparently effortlessly, but it would allow a minimised structural depth. Any proposal for a conventionally trussed canopy structure would have tripled the depth of the construction, blighting the view of the elevation and causing justifiable outrage at English Heritage. And so, the thin section of the diagrid, allied to the funnel structure of its primary anchor-point, produced a decisive herit5.20

49

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

London Aquatics Centre Architect Zaha Hadid Architects Location London (GB) Year of completion 2011 Authors Emanuelle Danisi, Mechanical Engineer, Arup, Associate Gordon Mungall, Structural Engineer, Arup, Associate Director Michael Stych, Mechanical Engineer, Arup, Director Jim Heverin, Architect, Zaha Hadid Architects

Interdisciplinary teamwork The London Aquatics Centre’s (LAC) distinctive long-span roof has a characteristic linear wave form – a stunning piece of architecture. To achieve this, Arup brought a wealth of expertise to the project. Over more than seven years, this team fulfilled the ambitious architectural expectations for the London Aquatics Centre within a tight budget, balancing the needs of all the different stakeholders. Arup’s culture encourages problem-solving, making it easier for the project team to explore the possibilities and respond creatively to the challenges set by the architects and the client. Arup drew on the firm’s resources around the world. As well as the team in London, this project has involved engineers from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sydney. Having established a clear team structure with a single point of contact per discipline within the Arup team, we set about building strong relationships between key people at Zaha Hadid Architects, the client body and contractor Balfour Beatty. Over the course of the seven-year project, a core team of 40 members took ownership of

6.1

different aspects of the design and saw them through from concept to completion. Foundations and substructure The challenge for Arup was developing a costeffective solution for the Aquatics Centre’s foundations, given the presence of the underlying tunnels carrying power lines constructed across the Olympic Park as part of the Power Line Under Grounding (PLUG) project. Arup’s Geotechnics team carried out finite-element analyses to establish the effects of individual pile foundations and check for stress increases in the tunnel lining. This enabled us to define an exclusion zone within which we could not place foundations. We then designed the pile layout, varying the pile size to keep them clear of the exclusion zone. Sharing 3D models ensured the process of coordination went particularly smoothly. Rather than use 2D drawings, our Services Engineering team integrated the concrete 3D model in to the MEP distribution 3D models for ductwork, pipework and cable trays and defined the openings required in the walls

Temporary stands The Aquatics Centre’s temporary stands needed to be easy to remove after the Games. Therefore they were designed as steel structures, with Arup’s structural engineers responding to the challenge of ensuring these relatively light structures met dynamic performance criteria. The stands were originally going to be formed of steel primary frames supporting standard scaffold-like terrace support structures on top. At an advanced stage in the design process, we were asked by the main contractor to design the terrace support structures in structural steel. This involved a redesign of the existing structure within tight constraints, including foundations that had already been constructed, and challenging geometry. The terraces were formed using a composite material known as the “sandwich plate system” (SPS), originally developed for shipbuilding. Comprising two steel plates with an elastomer core, this stiff but lightweight system was used not only to transfer vertical loads but also to assist with global and local lateral stability. 6.2

50

Aquatics Centre in London

6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.3

6.4

and slabs (fig. 6.9). This approach also enabled us to work closely with the team of architects, as we were able to share 3D models easily.

The systems are also designed to allow for operation for the two configurations of the building, before and after the Games.

Concrete superstructure The concrete superstructure was designed by the Arup Newcastle-upon-Tyne office as two distinct elements – a bridge (which spans the training pool), and the pool hall spectator bowl. The architect’s aspiration was for a completely clean visual aesthetic. In order to achieve this, all of the signage and lighting is fully integrated and cast into the exposed concrete elements. Achieving the required aesthetic was particularly challenging in the training pool area, as this structure also forms the highway bridge into the Olympic park. A single movement joint separates the bridge structure from the pool hall bowl. Movement joints within the 120 m long bowl structure were avoided by utilising timed joints, which were completed after initial shrinkage had taken place. The geometry and shape of the pool hall is complex, with exposed structural support elements. The visibility of the concrete surfaces meant that it was important to minimise flexural cracking. In response, the team developed a phased programme for casting the integral concrete elements, incorporating sufficient time to allow high-quality finishes when casting the complex exposed concrete forms.

Roof structure Our challenge was to make the flowing geometry that Zaha Hadid Architects defined for the longspan roof work effectively. This meant reducing the self-weight of the structure. As well as selfweight, wind was also a key design load. The roof needed to resist the wind loads in three different configurations: during construction with no podium structure or facade; in Games mode with the temporary stands; and in legacy mode with the temporary stands removed and the legacy facade installed. Refined wind loads were determined through extensive use of wind tunnel tests to gather simultaneous measurements across the entire roof. Strict requirements for the substructure meant the Arup structural engineers had to think creatively. Long spans are usually arches, which require abutments or ties. However the design needed to move away from an arch solution to minimise the interdependence of the roof and substructure and make the roof easier to build. Therefore we decided on a series of trusses, spanning longitudinally, and supported at just three points – making an effective structure with limited supports. The roof not only spans a large length, but also a large width. In the centre, the depth was used to span the distance using truss sections. But where the roof becomes thinner towards the wings, our team had to find a different solution. The inclined arch shape geometry of the roof in the cantilever wings was used, meaning that the structure could support itself.

MEP The design of the mechanical, electrical and public heath systems was integrated with the architecture and structure. All main distribution for ventilation is via concrete plenums below ground that feed warm dry air via supply louvres at the poolside, and below the spectator seating extract air is drawn via the pool drainage channels. These systems meant there was no need for large ventilation systems in the roof, reducing weight and complexity. These below ground walkthrough ducts also act as the main distribution for heating, cooling and water treatment pipework, and electrical and IT services to the building, keeping access and maintenance requirements to a minimum on the main function spaces above.

3D model of roof structure Completed building Completed roof structure on its three concrete supports View of completed roof structure from the Southern end 3D model of diving board reinforcement Completed diving boards

6.5

M&E and sustainability The Aquatics Centre aims to be 50 % more energy-efficient than the 2006 benchmark. Because one-third of this saving would have to come from the building itself, our challenge was to design efficient systems without compromising the building’s distinctive geometry. The key to our success was a holistic engineering approach that worked with the architecture. Using this approach we im6.6

51

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Warm air naturally exhausts from the top of the stands Natural ventilation louvres opened to enhance fresh air ventilation Roof void ventilation and temporary cooling Fresh air supply to pool hall Low velocity air supply at pool surround Local low level humid air extract Pool and pool surrounds 26 °C and above Cool conditioned air supply for spectators Temporary low velocity air handling units

1

2

3

4 8

5

9

6 7 6.7

6.8 Lighting The sports lighting in the main pool has to avoid glare for swimmers, it also has to meet exacting broadcast standards and be suitable for legacy mode. Zaha Hadid’s flowing, wavelike design meant that – unlike a standard pool – there were no trusses to hang lights from. So instead Arup’s lighting designers came up with a system for the lighting bubbles. Drawing on their experience in the high-end retail sector (where this solution is widely used), the team developed elliptical openings in the ceiling to house lights. Because the lights are recessed and not directly visible, this solution avoids excessive glare. By using more lighting fixtures, it also reduces flickering.

6.7 6.8 6.9

Section showing air distribution Warm-up pool lighting Virtual 3D model of structure and building services 6.10 Completed warm-up pool

52

plemented innovative ideas such as the microclimate environmental system in the main pool hall. Here, a low-level ventilation system extracts moist air from the pool surface while the underfloor heating provides radiant heating for swimmers. Spectators benefit from a dedicated displacement ventilation system which supplies conditioned air under seats to enhance thermal comfort. During the Games, these adaptable local systems worked with other temporary space heating and natural ventilation systems. Meanwhile, the glass facade, which extends up to 15 m at its highest point in legacy mode, is integrated with heating elements to control down-draught and provide local heating. A roof conditioning system maintains optimum conditions within the roof void, which is insulated in excess of the 2006 standard. The concrete structure, including the pool tanks, are also substantially insulated to minimise heat loss. The large amount of concrete needed for the swimming pool substructure has a high level of embodied energy. We reduced this by using secondary aggregates and cement replacement material. We were the first team on the Olympic Park to push beyond the standard concrete supplier offering of 50 % coarse aggregate substitution. More than 75 % secondary aggregates were used in some concrete mixes to offset the use of limestone aggregates for the pool tank concrete. Overall, the Aquatics Centre exceeded the targets set by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) achieving a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) Excellent and were given a BREEAM Innovation Credit for the concrete mixes used. Public health and water usage Working with specialists inside and outside the firm, Arup’s public health engineering experts helped to reduce the domestic potable water use in the Aquatics Centre by 42 % and achieve the architects’ vision of a slender roof profile through careful coordination of roof drainage systems. Collaboration was key to achieving water savings inside the building. Tasked with cutting potable water use by 40 %, the team worked with a swimming pool specialist to design a system that uses

backwater from the swimming pool filtration plant to flush urinals and toilets. This system stores, treats and then reuses the cleaner portions of water harvested from the pool filters. Further water savings were achieved by fitting low-flow sanitary fittings. With the highest demand for potable water coming from swimmers and showers, incorporating low-flow showers and basins delivered a 35 % water saving. Acoustics and sound design Swimming pools are a difficult environment in which to deliver excellent speech or music to an audience. Working from the basic guidelines laid down by the international aquatics sports’ governing body, FINA, we created a detailed brief for the sound design that aimed to deliver clear speech, create a sense of aural excitement and complement the architectural vision for the building. Our solution was to place the speakers in the ceiling lighting bubbles created by Zaha Hadid Architects and Arup’s lighting team. We then designed the system so that sound from these speakers goes only where it is needed and stays clear, rather than bouncing back and generating echoes. Fire During the Olympic Games, large portions of the Aquatics Centre will be open to the outside and there is capacity for 17,500 spectators. Afterwards the temporary stands will be removed and the Centre will be transformed into a building with a capacity of 2,500 and sealed by glass facades. How do you create a successful fire strategy for two such different configurations? Drawing on their experience of working on sports stadia and the Olympic aquatics venues in Beijing and Sydney, Arup fire engineers ensured the Aquatics Centre’s fire strategy had the flexibility it needed. The building is designed primarily for its legacy mode, when a 2.5-minute evacuation time is required. But our team showed that this could be safely extended to eight minutes for the Games – because the low fire risk and high level of fire safety management means the risk to occupants is low. Emanuelle Danisi, Gordon Mungall, Michael Stych

Aquatics Centre in London

Design collaboration We want to work with consultants who are willing to undertake the necessary iterations to achieve the right balance between an idea and practicality. Zaha was supported by Peter Rice of Arup in the early days of the office and since then there has been an ongoing relationship with Arup. We recognise that Arup has become a larger organisation but we still know people in Arup with whom we want to work. In recent years we found considerable success with Paul Nuttall and his colleagues at Arup. We have successfully collaborated with them on a range of projects from the CMA Tower in Marseille to the Evelyn Grace Academy in London. A typical length of a project is six years, and that is a long duration for a collaboration so it is very important that the architects and engineers are comfortable with each other. In the case of the London Aquatics Centre we have been working with Arup since 2004 when Paul accompanied us to the competition presen-

6.9

tation. And in the seven years it has taken to design and construct the project, we have relied on the depth of that relationship to find the right solutions in challenging situations. It was a project where the design was changing at various stages for various reasons, while at the same time needing to be completed in mid-2011, a year before the Olympic Games started. Incorporating these changes, particularly during construction, while maintaining an overall coherent design was a priority for us as the architects but without the cooperation of the other designers it would not have been possible. Doing so means revisiting and revising designs not in an expedite manner but in a satisfactory manner. This takes time and effort and with a willingness to do it comes an appreciation that the benefit is something more than the fee provision of the appointment. We know from experience that Paul and his team have this appreciation and that they give us this support when we need it. Jim Heverin

3D modelling Close working was helped by the team’s decision to commit to modelling in 3D from the outset. Working in 3D meant that the engineers were able to import accurate architect’s models directly into their own software. It also made it easier for our Newcastle-based Structural team to share information with the Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) team in London. As a result, team members had instant access to the information they needed to understand the context of their own design elements. And when external consultants were required, for example for the swimming pool water filtration systems, they were brought seamlessly into the team. The concrete detailing was a substantial task, due to the extensive use of complex concrete forms. Arup and Zaha Hadid Architects worked to complete the design and geometry to very tight deadlines, giving our Newcastle team time to detail 7000 t of reinforcement used in the Aquatics Centre ahead of the Contractor’s programme.

6.10

53

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

7.1

The Water Cube – Chinese National Aquatics Centre Architects PTW Architects CSCEC + design Location Beijing (CN) Year of completion 2008 Author Tristram Carfrae, Structural Engineer, Arup Fellow The competition PTW Architects of Sydney, China State Construction and Engineering Company (CSCEC) and Arup had already teamed up to compete for a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) opportunity for the Beijing Olympic swimming centre when the Beijing Government changed its procurement strategy. Many wealthy expatriot Chinese had donated substantial sums of money to help China host the Olympics and it was decided to use this money to design and build the best swimming centre in the world, starting with an international design competition from which ten teams were short-listed. Competition team aims: • Architect – an iconic building with a visual identity directly referenced to its use – water • Programme architect – provide as much leisure water as possible as an Olympic legacy for the people of Beijing • Urban designer – form a partnership with the (as yet unknown) Olympic stadium to form the southern gateway to the precinct • Structural engineer – isolate the seismically competent structure from both the corrosive pool hall atmosphere and the aggressive external environment • Mechanical engineer – use as much solar energy as possible to heat the swimming pools • Acoustician – design either a highly absorbent space or an acoustically transparent envelope so that leisure users enjoy being inside the building • Lighting designer – maximise use of natural light for its inspirational quality and to reduce energy demand • Everyone – design an efficient building that uses minimal material and is cheap to construct and operate. Ideally the design should be truly authentic with minimal add-on decoration – what you see is what you get.

Efficiency What is the most energy-efficient swimming centre? How do you create an acoustically pleasant space full of screaming, splashing children? What qualities will inspire swimmers to break world records? These are just a few of the challenges that the Water Cube design team set themselves at the beginning of 2003. The best way to heat the swimming pools was to design a naturally lit, insulated greenhouse. Diffuse natural light would enter through two layers of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) pillows separated by an air cavity. The ETFE pillows are acoustically transparent and create an aurally comfortable space for competitors, spectators and leisure users. Two layers of pillows are needed to insulate the building and retain the trapped heat overnight. The ventilated cavity full of hot dry air provides the perfect opportunity to place the structure away from the pool halls laden with hydrochloric

acid from the chlorinated pool water, yet protect it from the weather. Structural form The prime challenge was to decide the form the structure should take and how the resulting cladding pattern would look. The team preferred the notion of a continuous skin covering the walls and roof alike. We discussed a roof structure of vertical cylinders, clad top and bottom with circular panels. However, circles do not fit together well and we faced the uncertainty of how to continue the cladding from vertical cylinders in the roof to horizontal cylinders in the walls without a clumsy intersection. So we asked ourselves: if cylinders do not work, what else will? What sorts of shapes (besides the somewhat prosaic triangulated space-frame) fill threedimensional space uniformly? I suspected nature could provide the answer, from living cells to mineral crystals, but after much research I realised that this seemingly innocuous question has no straightforward answer.

7.2

54

Chinese National Aquatics Centre in Beijing

7.3

Geometry, physics and nature Exploring the abundant information on the world wide web, I discovered I was far from the first to become curious about this particular problem. In the late 19th century, Lord Kelvin asked what was the most efficient way to divide space into cells of equal volume. Kelvin himself proposed a highly regular solution to his own problem. But when we applied the 14-sided Kelvin shape (called a tetrakaidecahedron or truncated octahedron), it proved visually uninspiring. Nor was Kelvin the only one to seek the solution. At the same time, a Belgian scientist, Plateau, was studying soap bubbles and derived empirical rules for the way they join together in three faces forming a line; four lines coming together at the tetrahedral angle of 109.4 °. Surely it would be simple to create the geometry of a continuous array of soap bubbles? This would in turn answer Kelvin’s question because surface tension automatically minimises the surface areas of the partitions between the bubbles. At this point we again found a “But”, because Plateau’s rules cannot simply be applied to create a geometry that tesselates.

effectively as an insulated greenhouse (fig. 7.6). We developed new software that would automatically select the member sizes through an optimisation process – and the result is a remarkably efficient structure. Before long, the entire analysis, sizing and production process became automated. One computer program generated the entire geometry from scratch, based on Weaire-Phelan foam with its challenging characteristics (75 % of cells in the foam have 14 faces, the rest have 12 faces and all have the same volume) and on the size and shape of the building. Meanwhile, the bespoke structural optimisation process sized all the steelwork members and their connections, and a specially written script converted the structural analysis wireframe model into an accurate threedimensional solid CAD model. Construction drawings and schedules were produced automatically from this 3D model. By the end of the design phase, we had created a system for which it would take less than a week to generate a whole new set of construction documents, should we choose to change the building size or shape or add a new doorway.

Foam and structure However, we found our answer in much more recent research. A century after Kelvin and Plateau, Professor Denis Weaire and his assistant Dr Robert Phelan used advanced computer programs to help them discover a solution up to two per cent more efficient than Kelvin’s, subsequently named “Weaire-Phelan foam”. We soon found a curious feature about this foam. In spite of its complete regularity, when it is viewed at an arbitrary angle it appears totally random and organic. So we can derive a beautiful organic facade from a completely repetitive structure without any secondary framing. Our approach to constructing the geometry of this building began by visualising an infinite array of Weaire-Phelan foam, oriented in a particular way, and then carving out a block the same external size as the building, 177 ≈ 177 ≈ 31 m. This then gets clad with two layers of ETFE pillows, inside and out, to gain the desired organic look and to function

Rapid prototyping To convince the jury of our solution we decided to build an accurate physical model of all 22,000 steel tubes (which join at 12,000 nodes) and the 4000 different cladding panels. Rapid prototyping machinery seemed to offer the only hope, but no-one had ever made a model this complex. As part of the judging process, the Beijing public were asked to vote on the submissions and the Water Cube garnered one million votes, more than ten times the second placed competitor. Fortunately the real jury agreed with the public: so in July 2003 the team was announced as the competition winner and awarded the design commission.

7.4 Shading The facade has variable shading properties to ensure that fabric heat loads are minimised in summer but maximised in winter, when the solar gains are most beneficial. This is achieved by patterning the various layers of the facade with painted silver dot patterns (frit) of different densities and by ventilating the heat out of the cavity in summer and containing it in winter. Condensation Due to the Water Cube’s unique facade, surface temperature and air movement must be maintained to prevent condensation. Nozzles are located around the perimeter of the building to supply air up the walls. During winter, thermal buoyancy lifts warm air to the top. The reverse applies in summer, with cooler air being supplied to compensate for heat gain. This cooler air does not have the same buoyancy force so it will not go all the way to the roof and only condition the lower part of the building. This stratification of air also helps reduce overall energy consumption. Pedestrian modelling With an estimated 20,000 people in the building at any one time during the Games, the rigid Chinese codes would have required a 200 m width of exit doors – the equivalent of two sides of the building. Using international guidelines for sporting venues and through detailed analysis of egress and circulation, the number of exits was reduced significantly. We used a computer model called Fire Dynamic Simulation to look at how smoke and heat would spread through the building; then tried different smoke exhaust rates in different areas to keep smoke away from people as they move through and leave the building. This was the first time such a major public building in China has been designed using a performance-based fire engineering approach.

7.1

Greenhouse The Water Cube is designed to act as a giant greenhouse. Its ETFE cushions allow high levels of diffuse natural daylight into the building and, as swimming pools are predominantly heating-

7.2

7.3 7.4

National Aquatics Centre with the National Stadium in the background Internal view of the National Aquatics Centre swimming pool Environmental strategy Closer view of the ETFE facade

55

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

1

25 mm aluminium eaves section, insulated four-layer transparent ETFE sheeting 80 –250 μm; skins facing facade intermediate space printed (10 – 65 per cent) stainless steel anti-bird wire roof ventilation services 300/300 mm steel SHS Ø 200 – 800 mm steel tube buffer space in roof 7.20 mm air supply to pneumatic units:

2

3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14

Ø 25 mm polythene tube Ø 200 mm air-supply pipe acoustic panel lined with perforated sheet aluminium aluminium cover strip three-layer ETFE sheeting outer layer coloured blue; middle layer transparent; inner layer transparent, printed with silver dotted grid buffer space in wall 3.60 m louvres for cross-ventilation

3

4 2

3

1 8

5

6

9

7

6

11

2 12

13

10

7.5

14

7.6

56

Chinese National Aquatics Centre in Beijing

7.5 7.6

Vertical section scale 1:20 Installation of ETFE facade pillows 7.7 View of roof structure from below: RHSs at top and bottom edge; tubular members and spherical nodes in facade intermediate space 7.8 Exploded drawing of roof node 7.9 Water bubble configuration 7.10 Weaire-Phelan idealised foam structure 7.7

7.8

driven, they utilise the power of the sun to passively heat the building and pool water (fig. 7.3). This sustainable concept reduces the pool hall’s energy consumption by an estimated 30 %. It harnesses more solar energy than if the entire building were clad in photovoltaic cells. The system generates an effectively negative U-value or a net energy gain for the building. For this principle to work, the solar load entering the building must offset its heat losses. The use of thermal mass heat storage and an insulated envelope ensures that the heat the building gains from the sun during daylight is offset by overnight cooling. The thermal mass of the pool water and heavy mass surrounding the pool effectively stores the excess heat during the day and re-emits it at night, minimising variation in load.

tion is necessary before they are welded to the hollow spheres. 22,000 tubes and 12,000 balls were delivered to site by the truck load and welded together in situ. The critical item for the Water Cube’s construction was the ETFE pillow cladding system. This would be the only trade package requiring procurement from outside of China and would consume half the construction budget at trade costs prevalent in 2004. Fortunately, a British company, Vector Foiltec, joined forces with a Beijing curtain wall contractor, Yuanda, to create the best of both worlds and fabricate, erect, maintain and operate the cladding system without consuming half the budget. The completed Water Cube building comprises 4000 ETFE pillows, some as large as 9 m across. Seven different sizes of bubbles feature in the roof and 15 in the walls, repeated throughout. Yet the eye is still deceived into seeing a random pattern. ETFE is a tough, durable plastic that transmits more ultraviolet light than glass and being closely related to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which is used a non-stick pan coatings, it cleans itself thoroughly with every shower of rain. Each pillow is continuously inflated by a low-power pump. This internal air pressure transforms plastic just 0.2 mm thick into a cladding panel capable of spanning relatively large distances. In pillow form, ETFE is also a better insulator than glass.

Air-conditioning Energy consumption by the large pool halls is also reduced by using displacement ventilation in the mechanical system to cool the spectators, while leaving the competitors hot and humid for best performance. The concept of stratification is critical to achieving high passive solar heat gains without generating large cooling loads. By allowing stratification of air in these large spaces, the mechanical system needs only to provide cooling to the occupied spaces, effectively reducing cooling loads by a factor of ten. Airconditioning will keep non-pool and office areas at around 23 °C in summer, with heat rejection from the mechanical systems warming the pools. The leisure pool must be kept at around 30 °C, while the competition pool requires 28 °C. Cylinders, spheres and pillows In Beijing, the structure forms a true spaceframe in which all members are framed into the nodes. This might seem inefficient to someone in a country not prone to major earthquakes, but for seismically active Beijing it provides a perfect energy-absorbing structure. We decided to make the structure from simple circular tubes welded to spherical nodes at each end to simplify fabrication. The tubes could have simple straight cuts at each end and no weld prepara-

Result The Water Cube is renowned worldwide for its revolutionary architecture. What is less wellknown is that the architecture was driven by engineering ambitions. It is made of bubbles to provide an acoustically pleasant insulated greenhouse using minimal structure. The lightweight steel structure is based on the optimal way to subdivide three-dimensional space and is possibly the most earthquake-resistant structure in the world. It just happens that this structural geometry is also that of a perfect foam, so we have the wonderful, if somewhat coincidental, reality of a building, filled with water, made from a box of bubbles. Tristram Carfrae

Fire protection A complex combination of structural and fire engineering analysis showed that for the worst fires the building is likely to experience, the structure would continue to carry the loads without failure – and so no fire protection was needed for the steel. This uses a beneficial property of the fully framed, non-triangulated structure – its ability to redistribute forces when required; behaving more like a concrete structure than a steel one. The greatest attribute of ETFE in fire is that it shrinks away from the heat, thus opening up holes and effectively self-venting; letting smoke out of the building. Egress and circulation routes were specifically designed to maximise net lettable area. Lighting As well as using diffuse natural lighting throughout the building to both create a better environment and save energy, the ETFE pillows are lit up at night using highly efficient LED lighting. Each pillow has its own individually addressable three-colour LED floodlight capable of producing any one of 16 million colours on demand. The result is that each pillow can be treated as a megapixel in the world’s largest television set.

7.9

7.10

57

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport Architect Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Location London (GB) Year of completion 2008 Author Dervilla Mitchell, Structural Engineer, Arup, Director

8.1

When Heathrow Airport opened in 1946, the terminal facilities for those early passengers were housed in a group of tents. Air travel and the needs of passengers have changed significantly since then and Heathrow has grown to meet these ever increasing demands. Terminal 5 itself was 20 years in the making, from inception in 1988 to its opening in March 2008. The early stages of design and the process of getting planning approval was long and drawn out and there were a number of schemes which were developed before the final concept evolved. By early 2000, the project team was assembled and had begun working in earnest on the design and planning the construction of one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe. Some of this work was at risk as it was not until November 2001 that the UK Government gave the goahead for Heathrow’s fifth terminal. BAA Airports Limited (BAA) set up the project team under a

partnering contract and made Arup responsible for the structural engineering of the buildings above ground level. The team worked alongside the other “first tier suppliers” in a partnership where architect, contractor, engineer, and client took joint responsibility for the project’s successful design and delivery. The whole team moved in to offices at Heathrow within sight of the future terminal. In the early design stages the project strapline was “T5: the world’s most refreshing interchange”. Although perhaps lacking clarity, this ambiguous statement encouraged the teams to think differently to aim at achieving something exceptional. Later on, stage when the project moved into delivery stage it became “T5: the world’s most successful airport redevelopment”. This also served its purpose, and it makes clear that long-term projects have to be able to adapt and change over consecutive phases. The

1 2 3 10 9

8 6 7

5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4

Central arch rafter Tusk rafter Wingtip node Strap Leg Wing Torso node Arm Hand node High tie 8.2

58

Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport in London

1

2

3 4 5 6 7 8

150 mm multiple “teeth” provide sufficient bearing area to carry compressive force 250 mm “megaplates” collect loads and resolve into vertical plane plate edges left flame-cut except in bearing areas 400 mm pin for angular adjustment in vertical plane curved bearing face allows angular adjustment out of plane cast steel “claw” transfers load from tube wall to megaplate Ø 914 mm CHS leg carries up to 18 000 kN bolts carry strut action moments and provide tensile capacity for frame robustness

2

3 4

1

8

5 6

7 8.3

€5.00 billion Terminal 5 project involved the construction of a new main terminal (T5A) and satellite terminal (T5B), together with their associated aircraft stands, a new control tower, transport interchange, 4000-capacity car park and energy centre. A total of 13 km of tunnels were constructed underneath the airfield, extending the Piccadilly line and Heathrow Express to Terminal 5, adding a road tunnel between the central terminal area and the new terminal as well as an underground track transit system between T5A and T5B. A new road connection was also made to the M25, London’s orbital motorway. T5 is a large canvas and it is not possible to cover all the different projects within the programme so I will focus on the design and construction of the roof and facades of the main terminal building to give an insight into the project and the way we worked together as a team. The main terminal roof The roof has a span of 156 m and is 396 m long. It is supported by 22 pairs of 914 mm diameter steel legs that reach down to apron level in dramatic full height spaces just inside the facades. The span is formed from steel box girders at 18 m centres: 800 mm wide and up to 3.8 m deep. 914 mm diameter steel arms reach up from the tops of the legs to support the rafters, and solid steel tie-down straps from the rafter ends complete the 3D hybrid portal frame struc-

8.4

ture. The superstructure of the terminal is completely separate from the roof and facades. This structural arrangement was adopted because it gave several important benefits. The simple lines of the structure and roofing make navigating the building intuitive for people. The construction critical path went straight from completion of basement slab to roofing and facades, which meant water tightness was achieved at an early date. Moreover, the internal structure was constructed in a semi-indoors environment, improving build quality and reducing programme delay as a result of bad weather. Perhaps the most significant benefit was that design and construction of the roof and facades was able to go ahead completely unimpeded by decisions about the function and layout of the internal spaces. This proved to be a wise move as there were many changes made both during the design and construction phases and the approach adopted allowed the project to proceed with little impact on the construction schedule.

8.1 Internal view of completed building at departures level 8.2 Schematic section through roof and support structure 8.3 Schematic torso node detail 8.4 Torso node detail under construction 8.5 Torso node showing claws and mega plates 8.6 Completed torso node detail

Facades People at airports take great delight in having views of airfields and aircraft taking-off and arriving. For this reason and because of our ambition to maximise natural light, the facades are fully glazed. In order to minimise the structure and the maximise the views the team decided to use the roof tie-down straps to support the facade

8.5

8.6

59

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise

8.8

and elliptical hollow sections to span (18 m) horizontally between the roof tie-down strap to avoid vertical structural elements which would block oblique views. The facades on the gable ends of the building each consist of a simple grid of steel that carries gravity loads down to apron level and resists wind loads by spanning vertically up to the underside of the roof. There is a joint at the head of the gable facade that allows vertical and in-plane horizontal movement between the facade and the roof while still carrying wind loads in the out-of-plane direction. It is the resolution of complex details like these which are not visible in the final building but were decisive in enabling the overall scheme to be achieved.

8.7

60

The torso node The torso node is, in contrast, one of the most visible connections in the roof structure (fig. 8.5.). The challenge for the team was to find a way to connect the 914 mm diameter circular hollow sections so that they could carry compressive loads of up to 18,000 kN but still be easy to assemble on site in the required geometry. The team looked at past precedents for to this type of problem and investigated fully-welded structures and very large steel castings. The design implications of solutions were studied, together with their procurement strategy, constructability programme, cost and visual impact. The plated solution seemed like an unlikely choise at this stage because of the scale of the plates required, but the more we investigated this the more attractive the solution became. The 225 mm plates could be procured, a consistent quality could be achieved, site welding could be avoided, the large compressive loads could be efficiently transferred through the connection and it could be detailed in a way that allowed for tolerances and adjustment during construction. A 3D digital model was built of the entire roof structure including this joint and this was used as a tool to develop the design and discuss the details within the design team and with all those involved in delivery. A 1:2 scale model was also constructed to understand the scale of the job at hand and for the teams to develop their thinking

on its fabrication and detailing. The node was brought to sit in a jig and once lifted into place connected simply to the claws at the end of the large tube sections. Planning of the delivery The Terminal 5 development was constructed close to one of the world’s busiest international airports adjacent to one of Europe’s busiest roads with site access limited to one entrance and where there was limited space for storage or setting down of materials. The low radar ceiling from the airport meant that construction at high level was restricted. BAA had also challenged the Roof team to avoid welding where time, quality and safety issues could arise. In addition BAA was seeking to achieve new standards in health and safety and move the industry forward. All these factors demanded that the team consider the construction at an early stage of the design and its a tribute to the collaboration that we are now uncertain if was the architect, engineer or steelwork supplier who suggested the construction sequence which was ultimately adopted. As well as agreeing upon the sequence early on, the structure was analysed for all the interim steps during construction, not just its final configuration. The designers carried out a statistical analysis of the probable combined effect of all the individual dimensional deviations of the elements, and designed a set of connections which allowed for all the likely adjustment that would be required. The roof was assembled in five phases of 54 m and one of 18 m. The central arched section of each phase was assembled, clad and prestressed at ground level, which had the benefit of minimising the work at height and for the roof erection to be carried out below the radar ceiling. Two temporary works frames were used to position the abutment steel and once the centre section was jacked 30 m vertically into position it was bolted to this steel. Once the load transfer had been achieved the temporary works frames were rolled 54 m north, ready for the next phase. At a very early stage the Roof team discussed

Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport in London

8.9

the risks associated with the roof construction and the implications for subsequent works. We all agreed that the most complex aspect of the roof construction was the erection of the abutments and therefore chose to assemble one complete abutment off site prior to its erection on T5. The “abutment first run study” (AFRS) took place almost nine months before the start on site and involved assembling an abutment structure at Rowen’s factory in North Yorkshire in order to test the assembly method before construction started on site. The exercise proved valuable both for the erection crew to become familiar with the installation methodology and to identify problems before they reached site. The site works went well and the investment in the AFRS was well justified. Roof construction started on site in December 2003 and the building was watertight by November 2005, beating the programme milestone by three months and coming in on budget. This was a testament to the hard work, professionalism and, above all, team spirit of all involved. Everyone on that team was focused on designing and constructing a great building and doing it in the best, safest, and most efficient way possible. Factors influencing success The success of the Terminal 5 project was due to many factors but there are two aspects which I believe were unique at the time and have left a legacy within the construction industry. They are: • The partnering contract: Terminal 5 Agreement • The use of 3D models both digital and physical Terminal 5 Agreement Critical to the success of any project is the way it is set up and T5 was no exception. BAA put in place a behavioural contract which brought together the first-tier suppliers in integrated teams. All suppliers were paid for properly incurred cost and the profit level was preagreed. There was project insurance policy in place and BAA had a management team working with suppliers to manage the risk. The suppliers in any particular team agreed the level of risk and incentive they were prepared to take

8.10

and if they could not reach agreement the default was equal shares. These arrangements allowed the teams to focus on delivery of the project rather than considering their companies commercial position. Working in the same office helped to build team spirit and a sense of common purpose and being able to see firsthand the work and efforts of others made everyone appreciate their different skills and built a strong bond of trust between parties, where many friendships have continued well beyond the project.

8.7

Visualisation of roof erection sequence 8.8 Roof under construction 8.9 Mounting of roof components 8.10 1:20 scale study model of roof support structure

Use of 3D models BAA had a vision that the all the construction information would be created and coordinated in 3D in a Single Model Environment (SME). There were several strong reasons for implementing this, including the efficiency of the design teams in producing information and sharing with supply chain for both pricing and fabrication; coordination of the many disciplines but especially services and baggage where clash detection could identify issues during the design stage rather than during construction thereby mitigating potential delays; an essential tool for asset-coding all elements which would support their facilities planning going forward. At the start of 2000 no such system existed but BAA and their suppliers worked together to develop this to meet the programme needs. One aspect of the programme’s investment in 3D was that a model shop was set up and permanently employed producing physical models, some of them extremely elaborate, to test ideas and interfaces as the design developed. The 1:20 scale model of the T5A roof and facade was built right in the middle of the design office (fig. 8.10.). It was used as a tool for design development; particularly for testing design interfaces and construction issues. It was useful for many other purposes as well, especially to quickly give people outside the design team or new to the team an understanding of this key element of the main terminal building. It became the place to go to whenever discussing the roof design or delivery. Dervilla Mitchell

61

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco The California Academy Of Sciences A great adventure

Alisdair McGregor Renzo Piano

64 67

Kroon Hall, Yale University in New Haven Kroon Hall, Yale University Collaborative development

Dave Richards Mike Taylor

68 71

Mike Beaven Mick Brundle

72

Rudi Scheuermann Siegfried Wernik

76 79

Ropemaker Place in London Ropemaker Place – designing a sustainable office

The Bavarian Parliament in Munich Bavarian Parliament – an extension to the Maximilianeum Interdisciplinary teamwork

Environmental concerns play an increasingly important role in the design and operation of buildings. Issues of energy efficiency and sustainability have become significant economic factors. On the other hand, once a building is rated, for example, by international environmental assessment methods such as LEED or BREEAM, its value in the real estate market increases. To get the full picture, a holistic view is mandatory, in other words, a total building design strategy. The Arup design strategy for sustainable buildings includes, for instance, the development of a comprehensive assessment tool called SPeAR. It appraises projects based on key themes as diverse and wide ranging as transport, biodiversity, culture, employment and skills. As a result building design can rely on empirical data beyond purely construction-related factors. In the following chapter projects were chosen that demonstrate this wide-ranging approach for sustainability. The goal is carbon-neutral projects that get us closer to regaining the planet mankind has endangered, for example, by indiscriminate construction.

63

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

The California Academy of Sciences Architect Renzo Piano Building Workshop Stantec Location San Francisco, California (USA) Year of completion 2008 Authors Alisdair McGregor, Mechanical Engineer, Arup Fellow Renzo Piano, Architect, Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Founded in 1853, the California Academy of Sciences is a premier scientific and cultural institution in the Golden Gate Park of the City of San Francisco, one of the world’s ten largest natural history museums. The visually striking building features an undulating living roof, a hectare in size, with a perimeter steel canopy supporting photovoltaic cells, a large glass skylight supported by a tensile net structure, a freestanding 27.43 m diameter planetarium dome, five separate iconic aquarium tanks and a 27.43 m diameter glazed dome housing a rainforest exhibit. The Academy was awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification upon completion and has since gone “double Platinum” after receiving Platinum designation for operation. Integration was a major theme of the design. Many components and systems have multiple functions. This required close collaboration between, client, architects, Arup and the contracting teams. The team pursued ideas of synergy rather than simple efficiency. The result is a high-performance building completed within budget. Arup provided an integrated engineering and consulting team which included structural and building services engineering (mechanical, electrical, plumbing), fire engineering acoustics consulting, LEED sustainability consulting, lighting design consulting, sustainability advice and design review and benchmarking and life-cycle analysis. Sustainability at its best Close collaboration between Arup, the California Academy of Sciences and the architects, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, yielded innovative strategies to help preserve the natural integrity of Golden Gate Park, conserve water and energy, reduce pollution and maximise natural ventilation and light. The goals of sustainable design and the mission of the Academy to preserve the natural environment and educate the public about the natural world are closely linked. It was natural that the Academy would embrace sustainability and attempt to embody it in both form

64

9.1

and function. With more than a million visitors annually, the building itself will be an important exhibition – an educational tool for the general public. The attainment of LEED Platinum certification was not an end in itself but a means of demonstrating the Academy’s commitment to sustainability. The living roof The new roof of the Academy comprises more than one hectare of native Californian plants (fig. 9.3). Due to the undulating form of the roof, the 1.7 million plants experience a diversity of exposures, slopes and biological interactions. To assess which plant species could thrive in the climate regime of northern California – including a variety of exposures – slopes and nutrient/ water combinations, the roof of the former building on the site of the new Academy was used to assess the viability of three dozen different plant species and several systems for soil mixtures, stabilisation and drainage. The undulating roof aims to mimic the seven hills of San Francisco. Functionally, it helps to serve as a chimney so when hot air in the Academy rises; the public spaces will be naturally ventilated. It will also serve to save energy (keeping the interior temperature 10 degrees cooler than on the roof), conserving water through the use of reclaimed water in a micro-irrigation system. By addressing stormwater management issues, 13.25 million litres of rainwater will not flow into the storm drains of San Francisco, but will be captured on the Academy’s roof. San Francisco has a combined storm and foul sewer system which gets overloaded during major storm events resulting in discharges of partially treated sewage into the ocean. By containing stormwater within the site, the frequency of these discharges is reduced. Renewable energy The perimeter of the roof is bordered by 60,000 photovoltaic cells. This system will not only provide cover and modulate light for visitors, but provide over 213,000 kWh of energy annually. That is the equivalent of preventing 181,800 kg of greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmos-

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco

1

2

6 1 2

3

4

3 4 5 5 6

operable skylight aluminium casement with double glazing 250 mm layer of vegetation root barrier on 50 mm drainage layer on filter mat 50 mm insulation three-ply bituminous sealing layer 140 mm shotcrete roof deck 20 mm acoustical ceiling raising bar curved structural beam Å 190 mm exhibition lighting fixed skylight aluminium casement with double glazing

9.2

phere, and would be the equivalent of planting 340 trees. The photovoltaic cells generate up to 5 % of the building’s total energy requirement. The overhang of the photovoltaic panel canopy provides shade to the largely glazed walls of the main exhibit floor. The shading reduces the solar loads so that the main exhibit floor and the research offices can operate on natural ventilation. The clear glazing entices people into the building and provides a visceral connection to the natural environment of Golden Gate Park from within the building. This is another example of synergistic thinking. The energy produced by the photovoltaic cells is highlighted and demonstrated on the publicly-accessible roof deck. In addition, tours of the building highlight and demonstrate how the building works, the materials used and performance of conservation approaches. Indoor environmental quality By employing natural daylighting and ventilation, high-efficiency electric lighting and commissioning, the Academy will use 30 % less energy than federal and state requirements. The glazed transparent facades and roof sections of the building allow daylight to be filtered into the office, research and exhibition spaces, helping to reduce energy use and heat gain from electric lighting. Lighting controls include dimming – linked to the external light level – to ensure that

a minimum of electric light is used at all times. As part of the low-energy design strategy, the Academy plans to minimise the use of mechanical systems for ventilating and cooling internal spaces. The exhibit area is naturally ventilated. Operable windows, daylight and views in 75 % of all regularly occupied research and office spaces ensure thermal comfort, and the health and productivity of staff and volunteers. The public spaces have 90 % with daylight and views. The roof shape in the form of “hills” provides the height differences required for stack-driven (warm air rises) ventilation on calm days. On days with some wind, the roof hills generate a negative pressure at the top to provide driving pressure for airflow. The design of the passive ventilation is described in detail in the mechanical engineering section below. The open offices are naturally ventilated. The building shape and materials are designed to be a climatic filter, limiting the solar gain and cooling / heating requirements. Easy-to-open windows are used so that occupants still have control over their local environment. Natural daylight is accomplished with the glazed facades, the roof design and lighting controls.

Structural solutions From the ground floor up, the Academy appears as four rectangular cornerstone structures reminiscent of the old Academy arrangement. These structures contain the research, collections and administrative areas, exhibits, retail, dining and conference facilities. The main structure of these buildings consists of concrete shear walls and columns with concrete flat plate floors on a 7.32 ≈ 7.32 m grid. From the main podium level, two 27.43 m diameter domes rise to house the planetarium and rainforest exhibits. Glass walls and an undulating, 1 ha, native green roof – representing the seven hills of San Francisco – enclose the volume between the cornerstone structures. Included within are the two large spherical volumes (the rainforest and planetarium), a 557.42 m2 glass piazza and a 3530.32 m2 flexible exhibit space. As the executive architect Renzo Piano described it, the green roof design is like lifting up a piece of the park and putting a building underneath it.

Mechanical engineering The 38,000 m2 main exhibit space was a challenge for Arup to ventilate and condition. The aim was to maintain monolithic, sheer surfaces cou-

9.1 9.2 9.3

Aerial view of completed building Sectional detail of roof lights scale 1:20 Completed roof

9.3

65

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Restored adjacent park (natural shadow) Green roof (insulation and passive cooling) Roof geometry favours “Venturi effect” Glass canopy with photovoltaic cells Concrete walls (passive cooling) Operable vents and skylights Sunshades Radiant floor Natural light for plants

1

3 4

6

1

6

2 6 7 6

2

5 8

1

9

Planetarium Back of house

Piazza Aquarium exhibits

Rain forest

4

6 5 7 8 6 Back of house 9.5

Innovative suppression system The Research Collections & Administration (RC&A) storage for the California Academy of Sciences includes approximately 26 million scientific specimens, many of which are “archival”, and more than 100 years old. Many of these specimens are preserved in a 70 –75 % alcohol solution. The total amount of flammable liquid is estimated at 378,500 litres. This volume of flammable liquid in a large assembly building can be a cause for concern. In addition, the specimens are stored in a special high-density shelving system (compactors) that slide on tracks for access. Due to the special hazard and configuration (flammable liquids in compactor shelving units), the design of an appropriate automatic fire-suppression system was a particular challenge for Arup’s fire engineers. In addition, a secondary containment of spills plus 30 minutes of fire sprinkler water discharge were required. Since no published protection guidance existed for this special arrangement (high-density storage, low ceiling clearance, flammable liquids in glass and plastic containers), full-scale fire testing was proposed using a mist deluge system. A mist system, which uses orders of magnitude less water for fire control, alleviated the need for hundreds of metres of draining piping and a runoff containment tank. The successful testing program not only alleviated concerns for safety, it proved a system that did not require additional drainage.

9.4

66

pled with the desire to display the geometry of the green roof above ruled out traditional overhead air systems with obtrusive ducts and higher energy consumption. Instead, Arup’s approach was to take advantage of San Francisco’s mild climate, using natural ventilation with supplemental heating and cooling by a radiant floor slab. Solar gains are minimised by the roof overhang and by motorised sunshades protecting some of the glass walls and canopies. Natural ventilation does the majority of the space cooling, while the radiant floor delivers all space heating requirements and also provides supplementary cooling. The massive exposed concrete surfaces serve as a thermal capacitor, reducing peak heating and cooling loads and assuring space comfort is maintained. Sunshades on the east and west glazed facades and on the north canopy are activated when solar intensity is high, unless wind speed is excessive. High and low-level ventilation openings are located in the glass walls surrounding the exhibit areas. During cold weather, high-level openings provide background ventilation and minimise low-level drafts. During warmer weather, high and low-level openings work in tandem to maximise air-flow and limit space temperatures. Roof vent hatches are also provided at the high points above the rainforest and planetarium exhibits. All openings are automatically controlled to adjust space airflow and temperature. Exhibit space temperatures and wind conditions drive the ventilation sequence. Wind direction determines which banks of dampers operate, and the space temperature dictates damper position. Vents can be overridden by several means. They move to a more fully open position when CO2 concentration or humidity level exceeds the allowed upper limit. Some or all of the vents close if conditions are right for floor condensation, if wind speeds are excessive, or if rain or fog is present. Complex analyses were necessary to hone the system design and prove that comfort conditions would be maintained throughout the Academy’s operating hours. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Arup proved that on a

summer’s day (26 °C), with the floor slab at 20 °C, the occupied zone’s operative temperature is expected to be around 23 °C and the average air velocity to be 10.67 m/s. Likewise, the CFD studies proved the exhibit area will be maintained at an average temperature of 20.6 °C and air velocity of 18.32 m per minute in the winter. For both design conditions, these parameters fall well within comfort requirements. Water Use of reclaimed water and low-flow fixtures means that the Academy will use 20 % less water than required by the code, and reduce reliance on municipal potable water for wastewater conveyance by 85 %. The building is plumbed for the use of recycled water, which will be provided by the City of San Francisco. Recycled water will be used in the WCs and in the life-support systems to backwash the aquarium filters. Arup has also developed water systems for the aquarium so that energy and potable water use is minimised. Building resources The Academy’s original building was taken down, except for outer walls of Africa Hall. A target of recycling 80 % of the materials in the original building was set. In fact, 90 % of demolition materials were recycled; 32,000 t of sand from excavation was used in dune restoration in San Francisco; 95 % of all steel used was from recycled sources; 50 % of timber came from sustainable-yield forests; 68 % of the insulation was made from recycled blue jeans. The stone was crushed and included in a number of public building and construction projects around the Bay Area. More than 9000 t concrete went to the Richmond Roadway project site, 1200 t metal were recycled and 120 t green waste were recycled for landscaping on site. Building materials including non-virgin or renewable resources that feature high recycled content, low embodied energy, long lifespan and containing no or low concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOC) were used in the construction of the new Academy. Alisdair McGregor

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco

A great adventure It has been a great adventure. This is the only thing that I could express in words: to build the new building of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park has been a great adventure. As an architect, I hope I have been able to express all the rest through the building itself: the poet expresses himself through his poems, the musician through his music, the writer through his words and the architect through his buildings. It has been a great adventure also because it has been extraordinary to work with scientists on their home ground. To explore forests, to plunge into deep sea waters, to peer at nature and discover its secrets; all these things

9.6

inevitably inspire a building that wants to be an exploration ground itself. This is why the roof became a living surface with native Californian plants and wild flowers that grow and multiply, and the piazza is covered by a subtle spider web made of steel cables and thousands of small photovoltaic cells that capture solar energy. This building has the ambition to direct the architects’ attention towards a new language, inspired more by nature and by the energy contained within it. Our present century opened with an unexpected discovery: the earth is fragile. Therefore architecture should learn to breathe with the earth’s rhythm. Renzo Piano

9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7

Scientific specimens preserved in alcohol Schematic section showing environmental strategy CFD model of airflow Rainforest dome

9.7

67

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

Kroon Hall, Yale University Architects Hopkins Architects Centerbrook Architects and Planners Location New Haven, Connecticut (USA) Year of completion 2009 Authors Dave Richards, Environmental Engineer, Arup, Director Mike Taylor, Architect, Hopkins Architects

10.1 Solar savings The sun’s energy is harnessed in two ways. Power is generated by 100 kW of solar cells integrated into the south face of the roof and meets 24 % of the building’s yearly electricity demand. Half of the buildings hot water is generated by solar hot water panels integrated into punched openings in the south-facing stone facade. The net impact of the building integrated technologies is a striking 61 % reduction in carbon footprint, with the residual capacity being generated by Yale’s own carbon-free wind farm. In consequence, the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies is a building that is made comfortable and habitable using electricity only and using as little of it as possible.

68

In 2005 the Yale President Richard C. Levin announced that the University would reduce its carbon footprint by 43 % in fifteen years – an aggressive target to achieve the greenest campus in the world. One year later Yale appointed Hopkins Architects and Arup to design a new School of Forestry & Environmental Studies as a flagship for its carbon reduction plan. The school wanted an exemplar academic building for the 21st century that would promote a collegiate spirit, achieve the highest standards and a high rating under the US environmental accreditation scheme, “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED). They made a fitting choice in the site of a decommissioned gas power station for a building to unify the School of Forestry which, up to that point, was operating from seven different buildings spread over the University’s Science Hill. By doing so the school hoped to build a creative hub for world-class research and teaching. The building comprises a 5200 m2 faculty building including auditoria, teaching rooms, office space and a library. It has achieved LEED Platinum certification with one of the highest point scores on record at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The project has received multiple awards including being named one of the ten greenest buildings of 2010 by the US AIA Committee on the Environment and as Building of the Year by the UK Architects Journal. An exceptional team Yale wanted a building that would promote a collegiate spirit at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. The building would take the name of Kroon Hall; a place where creativity and collaboration would be enhanced. And to do this meant starting with the same collegiate approach to the design. Building on the existing strength of the Hopkins/Arup relationship – spanning 30 years and over 25 built projects – the team also included Connecticut architects Centerbrook, Atelier Ten providing LEED consulting and local civil engineer Judith Nitsch. The Yale team were highly engaged

10.2

both philosophically and technically and Tunrer Construction provided early advice on buildability, eventually becoming overall construction manager. The result was a team which worked openly and collaboratively, constantly bringing innovative ideas to the table and felt comfortable enough to challenge each other. The integrated team approach has yielded a building which is visually seamless, at ease with its surroundings and confident in its ambitions. A natural response From the start Yale set out to achieve an unconventional agenda, focused on building social capital and set to inspire the future of environmentalism. They wanted a healthy place to study and work, and what Stephen Kellert, Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social Ecology, calls “restorative environmental design”, bridging the gap between nature and people, even in the middle of the city. These aims are embodied in the design’s passive response to the local climate and context. The building is oriented in a north/south direction to allow the solar gains to be easily minimised in summer and encouraged in the winter. The plan is narrow promoting excellent daylighting and natural ventilation – despite summer and winter extremes, natural ventilation is feasible for almost half of the year in New Haven. The design of the facade was generated through much iteration to blend and enhance Yale’s courtyard campus. The core material is a pale sandstone backed with mineral wool insulation to achieve an exceptionally low heat transmission of 0.19 W/m2K, exceeding the requirements of both local and national energy regulations. Inserted into this envelope are carefully sized windows designed to optimise daylight while achieving excellent solar and insulation performance (fig. 10.3). The top storey includes glazed end walls to create brightly daylit lecture and study spaces. Both are layered with timber solar shades to control heat gain and glare.

Kroon Hall, Yale University in New Haven

10.1 Roof-mounted photovoltaic panels 10.2 Erecting the glulam timber roof 10.3 Facade technology – the local sandstone facade with integrated solar collectors and a rooftop photovoltaic array 10.4 Scheme of how the building works 10.3

Fossil fuel free To achieve net zero carbon emissions the building has two modes of ventilation. When the climate is mild – in the spring and autumn – occupants are encouraged to open their windows and let nature cool the building. The concrete structure of the building is exposed providing a thermal flywheel to keep the building passively comfortable for as long as possible. To make sure people understand this clearly, the design incorporates “traffic lights” in corridors to tell occupants when the weather is good for natural ventilation and when they should keep their windows closed. For when the weather is more extreme – as low as -15 °C in the winter and up to 35 °C in the summer – the building has a lowintensity displacement ventilation system. Air is supplied to this system by highly efficient ventilation units that employ indirect evaporative cooling and double-pass heat recovery. The units are strategically placed directly under the building’s cores to minimise the energy needed to push the air throughout the interior space. Heating and cooling is generated by four openloop groundwater wells in nearby Sachem’s Wood. Each well is 500 m deep and reaches down to collect groundwater at around 13 °C. During warm weather this water is used directly for cooling. During much hotter summer periods the water is passed through an electric heat pump which produces the colder 7 °C water needed for dehumidification in the intense Connecticut climate. In winter, the ventilation units recover maximum heat from air leaving the building and use this energy to preheat incoming air. Top-up heat is provided by the heat pump, this time working in reverse to provide hot water. The aim of this process is to use the ground below the building to store energy across the seasons – heat taken from the building in summer is recycled to heat the building in the winter. Closing the water loop The water efficiency of Kroon Hall was approached with equal vigour. The design includes stormwater harvesting, waterless urinals

and low flush-toilets. The stormwater scheme is particularly spectacular. Rainwater from the roof is blended with excess water from the thermal wells and fed into Mars Pond in the southern courtyard where it is naturally filtered by a series of reed beds and aquatic plants. The water is then disinfected and used for flushing toilets and irrigation. The building achieves an overall reduction of 55 % compared to a benchmark building and achieved all of the available LEED water credits.

Roof-mounted photovoltaic panels

External shading

Photovoltaic panels provide 24 % of the building’s annual energy use

reduces heat gain on east and west facades. Allows the use of a lowenergy mechanical systems

Facade-intergrated solar domestic hot water panels

Displacement ventilation and exposed thermal mass

provides 10 % of the annual domestic hot water heating Mixed-mode ventilation

Low-energy space-conditioning system that also provides good indoor air quality

Natural ventilation utilised during the shoulder seasons Menerga air handling unit

Ground source heat pump system

High-efficiency heat recovery with indirect evaporative cooling reduces plant loads

provides high-efficiency heating and cooling generation

10.4

69

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

1

2 3 4 5 6

1 7

Material gain Deceptively, the south courtyard is in fact a green roof hiding the service node for the Science Hill area of Yale’s campus. Here waste and recyclable material is collected, sorted and shipped – the materials hub of the campus. The materials story extends into the building itself. The facade of Kroon Hall is constructed from highly durable sandstone and precast concrete – both durable materials that age gracefully. The sandstone is quaried from Ohio hitting the LEED 500-mile travel target and the cement content of the concrete was halved by the use of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) a normally waste by-product of the steel industry. And the concrete is left exposed to provide passive cooling and also, critically, to avoid the need for the additional embodied carbon of a ceiling system. Timber is the third dominant material, notably on the building’s upper floor. After a number of design iterations the team settled on a simple, elegant roof of curved glulam beams. The short elements forming the glulam waste less material than longer single elements, providing a design of minimum embodied carbon and cost. The space is lined with red oak harvested from Yale’s own forests and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. So popular is this space that its use is almost twice that envisaged, with students using it as a 24-hour study space (fig. 10.7).

2

3

4

5

Environmental harmony Yale’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies is an extraordinary harmony of environmental design, structural simplicity and architectural elegance. This was achieved by a rigorous team collaboration. The team worked together from start to finish, constantly testing and probing each others’ ideas with a healthy disrespect for discipline boundaries. The result is a building of exceptional character that blends effortlessly into the Yale campus, yet does so with a clear modern technological interpretation of environmental design and response to nature. Importantly, it also excels technically. At the end of its third full year of operation the building is hitting its design targets. Dave Richards

6 7

10.5

70

Solar roof: photovoltaic modules mounted on steel support frame 310 mm ventilation cavity, 3 mm metal standing seam roof covering, vapour barrier, roof deck structure 2≈ 100 mm thermal insulation 660 mm glued-laminated timber frame 150/75 mm metal framing inbetween timber frame 25 mm wooden ceiling panels steel gutter 19/121 mm external timber eaves board aluminium window with triple glazing solid douglas fir frame Wall construction: 152 mm external wall construction sandstone 53 mm ventilation cavity, 100 mm thermal insulation, vapour barrier, 203 mm concrete mansonry 170 mm ventilation cavity, 70 mm metal standing construction, 12,5 mm plaster board Floor construction: 10 mm carpet, raised access floor 686 mm reinforced concrete

Kroon Hall, Yale University in New Haven

Collaborative development 10.6

Kroon Hall is a result of a long-standing collaboration between our office and Arup, that has produced in a sequence of projects that have continuously evolved in terms of their environmental performance and technical integration. Architectural appointments tend to happen in isolation from the selection of engineers, so this collaboration spanning several decades has presented a rare and valuable opportunity to develop a series of themes and ideas across different commissions whilst working for a variety of clients. This evolution started with a radical approach to structure, with the architectural use of long-span tensile membranes and then for reasons of context, shifted to the use of masonry, where we collectively rediscovered how to work with traditional lime mortar, developed post-tensioning for brick and stone and refined these into a series of prefabricated elements from which a building could be assembled. Over time, the emphasis shifted to environmental performance and low-energy ventilation systems were developed to avoid the need for air conditioning.

and very demanding, especially when they are being used together in a country for the first time. The prior experience of the team meant that we had a good understanding of the value and effectiveness of each of the possible sustainable measures, which was most useful when pruning the long-list of 26 items down to the most effective dozen or so.

10.5 10.6

10.7

Vertical section scale 1:20 The library – showing exposed concrete and highly efficient lighting Knobloch Environment Centre – a 24-hour study space for Yale’s environmental researchers and students

The most unusual challenge was the integration of an optional natural ventilation system that uses a traffic light system to inform occupants if it is appropriate to open individual windows or revert to the collective air displacement system driven by an adiobatic air handling unit linked to the ground source heat pump. Mike Taylor

The main challenges for the Hopkins /Arup team were twofold: designing a low-energy building for the unforgiving extremes of the Connecticut climate and trying to attain build quality in the risk-averse culture of the US construction sector. If I had to define the success of Kroon I would say that it is a building that feels particularly comfortable in its own context: it sits well with its neighbours and is carefully tailored for its occupants. The “foresters”, for instance, are literally surrounded by their own forest as the timber lining of the interior came from seasoned timber from Yale woodland. The technical measures that mark out its environmental performance as cutting-edge are numerous and the main challenge for the team was to integrate everything from solar panels, ground source heat pumps, solar hot water collectors, external solar shading to exposed thermal mass etc. into a single, welldisciplined architectural statement. The effort involved to coordinate all these disparate and frequently conflicting needs is time-consuming 10.7

71

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

11.1

11.2

Designed by Arup Associates for the UK property company British Land, Ropemaker Place is a 21-storey 81,218 m2 commercial development on the borders between the City of London and London Borough of Islington. It was completed in May 2009, within three years of the original acquisition of the land in April 2006. British Land allocated design and construction to only two organisations: Arup Associates as architect, structural, and building services designer (supported with specialist consultancy from Arup and Townsend landscapes architects), and Mace as project manager, construction manager and cost consultant (with its inhouse quantity surveyor, Sense). The building was designed on the basis of British Land’s office design brief and, from the early concept stage, British Land’s sustainability brief, ensuring that principles of sustainable development were embodied in the design and construction from the outset. A comprehensive sustainability strategy was thus adopted for Ropemaker Place.

spans and deep, clear office floors. Floor-to-floor heights are generally 3.95 m, offering a 2.75 m floor to ceiling height with a typical raised floor zone of 150 mm. Levels 1 and 2 were designated as dealer floors with enhanced floor-tofloor heights of 4.2 m and 4.5 m respectively, providing 3.0 m floor to ceiling and a 450 mm raised floor. The integrated structural services zone incorporating cellular beams is 1050 mm deep. Levels 1– 16 can be subdivided to a maximum of four separate tenancies. A top-lit atrium facing north engages the Chiswell Street elevation and provides daylight to the deep floors on levels 2 – 5. This is designed as a flexible space; depending on whether the surrounding floors are let to single or multiple tenants, the atrium is designed for fitting out as a useful amenity space, accessible from level 2.

Ropemaker Place – designing a sustainable office Architect Arup Associates Location London (GB) Year of completion 2009 Authors Mike Beaven, Building Environmental Engineer, Arup Associates, Director Mick Brundle, Architect, Arup Associates, Lead Architect

11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5

Floor plan lower level scale 1:1500 Floor plan upper level scale 1:1500 Architectural visualisation Completed building in urban context Principal elements of the building anatomy

Building anatomy The main entrance is on the site’s south-east corner, diagonally opposite City Point Plaza on Ropemaker Street. The main core containing the lifts, services risers, toilets and escape stairs was positioned directly off the entrance to the west, allowing vertical connection to all the office floors. In plan, all cores were pushed to the perimeter of the building envelope, providing uninterrupted floor space with good sightlines, particularly on the lower levels. The main core contains three zones of 17 passenger lifts that drop off towards the upper levels and are controlled by an automatic destination service call system for maximum efficiency. In addition to the lifts, escalators serve the large and more intensively populated levels 1 and 2 directly from the main entrance reception. Satellite cores on the east and west elevations provide additional fire-fighting lifts and stairs, services risers and other ancillaries to the lower levels. The office floors were planned on a 1.5 m grid which, coordinated with the base structural column geometry of 9.0 ≈ 13.5 m, gives large 11.3

72

Garden terraces An important aspect of Ropemaker’s external form is the five ascending landscaped garden terraces that cover most of the available roof (fig. 11.4). These “green lungs”, still rare in City of London architecture, are the latest development in Arup Associates’ interest in the greening of buildings and the associated social, environmental and biological advantages. As the building’s major services areas are either in the basements or at high level, the terraces were designed to be substantially free from mechanical and electrical plant. The gardens were set out in plan as a series of triangular forms based on an orthogonal geometry twisted away from the basic north/south building orientation. The planting was selected to reflect the changing seasons and includes native and non-native species common in alpine landscapes, similar in degree of exposure to London rooftops. Over 30 plant species were selected, including trees such as birch and dogwood through to box and heather and herbaceous ground cover such as sages, hardy geraniums, and bulbous plants. Facade design The site orientation determined that the facades should face directly towards the north, south,

Ropemaker Place in London

11.4

east and west aspects orthogonally. The combination of the interlocking cubic massing and setbacks with the immediate architectural context created an animated composition of light and shade. The facade design exemplifies the integration of architectural treatment with environmental performance: a bespoke system of unitised 1.5 m wide modular cladding, designed as a series of storey-height insulated cassettes with projecting and tilting vision panels where required, the combination of which reduces the average annual energy consumption for cooling by up to 27 % compared to a flat facade. The cladding system was installed from the individual floors using sophisticated mechanical manipulators and without expensive and time-consuming tower cranes. Projecting windows Ropemaker’s facade design was a key part of the environmental strategy. The windows to the east and west project from the flat facade and tilt in the vertical axis away from the sun towards the north to reduce incident solar radiation, helping to reduce peak cooling loads and energy consumption (fig. 11.9). Similarly the south-facing windows are rotated around a horizontal axis, leaning forward (fig. 11.10). The rotation allows for an element of self-shading similar to what can be achieved by louvres and projections. A secondary effect is the reduction of solar transmission of the glazing due to the increase in the solar angle of incidence. The effect of the window geometry varies with orientation and conditions, but annual energy consumption for cooling is reduced in all cases. Above the main entrance loggia on the southeast corner, a projecting volume, triangular in plan, was provided with a series of external horizontal glass sunshade louvres over 20 storeys in height to attenuate solar transmission. This change to the cladding programme was for architectural and environmental reasons; the windows here are exposed fully to the southern sun with no shading from surrounding buildings, and the change of cladding grain gives the projecting

volume additional emphasis on the Ropemaker Street/Finsbury Street corner above the entrance. Environment and sustainability Energy conservation and the adoption of viable renewable energy technologies feature strongly, but the strategy was to strive for simplicity by adopting passive techniques. Energy reduction focused on an airtight, thermally efficient envelope, with heat demand minimised by recovering it where it was not required and using it in other areas. Free cooling was maximised, the implication being that the building could be cooled without using chillers when outside temperatures were favourable. Standard chillers for cooling were adopted when required and no borehole or ground source heat pump systems were used as they were found to be unattractive technically. This low-energy ethos enabled the building to achieve a 32.7 % improvement over Building Regulations part L requirements 2006. Mechanical systems Ventilation and cooling systems are conventional. Ground source cooling and combined heat and power (CHP) were investigated and rejected. The base building heating/cooling systems were designed to allow independent occupant thermal control in all separate rooms/ areas. The metering strategy allowed for monitoring different energy demands throughout, and sub-metering is provided for each office floor. On-site renewable energy At the time of construction, renewable sources were to form 10 % of this building’s energy generation, a metric conditioned in the planning consent. In the event, Ropemaker Place uses a combination of biomass boilers, foundation-stored heat harnessed by a heat pump, and 75 m2 each of solar hot water heating panels and solar photovoltaics; this range of on-site renewables supplies 12 –15 % of the building’s energy demand. Water Ropemaker Place’s strategy for water management included provision for storage and dealing

Entrance hall

Entrance circulation

Service zone and goods lifts

Car parking and bicycle store

Retail units

Atrium volume

Stair cores and fire-fighting shafts

Cores

Volumetric composition

Garden terraces 11.5

73

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

Waveform Ceiling The sculptural waveform-shaped ceiling was designed by Arup Associates in collaboration with Zumtobel Lighting, SAS international and Stortford Interiors as an important element in the main entrance and the atrium. The purpose of the ceiling is to create an indirect /direct lighting source with an acoustic performance. The appearance of the ceiling is that of a series of illuminated vaulted waves flowing into the interior, the volume of space is perceptually expanded by the uplit waveform surfaces. The ceiling’s curvaceous profile provides a visual tour de force as well as a practical solution to the lighting and acoustic requirements of the interior space. 11.6

with stormwater run-off while conserving supply through the design of plumbing systems. A 90 m3 rainwater harvesting tank allowed attenuation of 80 % of the run-off from hard roof areas and 30 % of run-off from the green areas, the green roof attenuating up to 70 % of the rainwater that falls on it. Harvested rainwater is used to flush WCs in addition to waste cooling tower blow-down water. Water to showers is limited to between 9 –12 litre/min and faucets are low-flow or aerated. Water meters have a pulsed output connected to the building management system (BMS), which facilitates remote monitoring of water consumption. 11.7

Materials and recycling Wherever possible Green Guide “A”-rated and responsibly sourced materials were supplied during construction; concrete floors and roof achieved “A+” Green Guide rating, and frame, foundation, floors, roofs and timber finishes were responsibly sourced. Design measures to reduce waste included the Technik flooring solution. This reduced waste by over 50 % compared to traditional screed, and prefabricated toilet construction also lowered waste on site significantly. 30 % of new steelwork was manufactured from scrap, and the existing buttress foundations on the site perimeter from the previous building were reused, totalling 20 % of the site footprint. The construction man-

agers used the Waste & Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP) NetWaste tool, which showed the new building to include 24 % recycled content overall. Sustainability summary Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) score of 72.7 % with an “Excellent” rating • Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) core and shell pre-certification “Platinum” level: the first office building in London to achieve this • 32.7 % better than Building Regulations Part L2A 2006 • Building carbon emission rating (BER) of 24.6 kg CO2 /m2 annually • Air leakage rate of 5 m3/hour/m2 of facade at a pressure of 50 Pa. •

Structural strategy The project needed to overcome the difficulties of the existing foundations, as excavation of the major new basement had to start before the new design was fully known and the new planning consent was obtained. The most substantial existing perimeter foundations were reused, with excavation for the new basement only within the clearer central zone and the new building geometry, stepping and loading were balanced between new and existing foundations by adapt-

11.8

11.6

Section through waveform ceiling 11.7 Waveform ceiling in main entrance 11.8 Main entrance interior 11.9 Projection cladding east/west orientation 11.10 Projection cladding southern orientation 11.11 Typical unitised facade cladding with projecting window 11.12 Projecting cladding 11.9

74

11.10

Ropemaker Place in London

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

composite slab raised access floor steel fixing plate halfen channel steel cladding hanger 2 mm PCC aluminium sheet mineral wool insulation extruded aluminium frame rubber compound gasket 3 mm PCC aluminium sheet extruded aluminium shadow box frame toughened glass panel with ceramic frit textured optical glass panel doubled-glazed composite panel with powder coated shadow box and insulation behind

1 2 3 4 5

10 11

6 7 8 9 12 13

14 11.11

ing the grid to suit: a predominant orthogonal central zone, with adjustable tapers at the edges. The design strategy therefore comprised the following key structural stages: • Enabling works: demolition of existing substructure within retained perimeter buttresses, installation of secant pile retaining walls and temporary propping works, and bulk excavation carried out as advanced works for the proposed new basement substructure. • Concrete substructure: construction of a reinforced concrete raft foundation and basement framing up to ground floor to complete a substructure “box”. As the superstructure stability is provided by reinforced concrete walls at the primary core, this work was also included as an independent slip-form operation in advance of the steelwork. • Steel superstructure: construction of multi-storey steel framing, metal decking, and normal weight concrete slabs to form the superstructure floor plates. The orthogonal building geometry and core anatomy was thus developed with a base, repetitive, 9 ≈ 13.5 m structural grid of cellular steel beams, offering deep, clear floor plates, set back at grid lines to mitigate transfer structure, with a variable perimeter grid to adjust the otherwise simple orthogonal plan to suit the trapezoidal site footprint and foundation constraints.

The cellular beams do not occupy the full depth of the structure/services zone, but have a reduced depth to allow fan coil condensate drains to run in a 300 mm clear zone beneath, while ductwork runs through the beams. This option also allows the tenants the alternative of fitting a chilled ceiling. Secondary beam spacing selected was 3 m. The merits were studied of a 4.5 m spacing to further reduce steel piece count and potentially advance the programme, but this was found to increase steel weight and overall building weight, performed less well dynamically, and the nominal programme advantage for steel erection did not in principle follow through to speed up the following cladding to improve end date. Due to the eccentricity on plan of the primary concrete stability core at the south of the site, additional stability bracing was added at the secondary stair cores towards the north of the site to mitigate dynamic lateral torsional effects. Ropemaker Place is rated BREEAM “Excellent”, satisfying the entire heating and hot water demand through passive design and renewable energy systems, and offering an array of other sustainable technical features. The building was also recently awarded the US Green Building Council’s LEED core and shell pre-certification “Platinum” level – the first office building in London to achieve this. Mike Beaven, Mick Brundle

Facade: spandrel panels The insulated glass spandrels that cover over 50 % of the building’s envelope were constructed as shadow box cassettes, incorporating a special optical glass, with back panels coloured to correspond to the cubic volumes of the massing. The layering of colour based on five different indigo tones into the interlocking cubes further enhances this changing canvas. For each block, a single colour based on the Natural Colour System (NCS) became the base colour to the opaque spandrel panel viewed through the glass prism. The spandrels were designed to express depth, light penetration, and reflectivity in areas of the facade where visual “depth” when viewed from the exterior was desirable but vision through the glass from the interior was not required. The overall visual effect is created by the combined properties of the lens and glass cladding unit and their relationship to the base colour. The optics of the glass dilutes the colour in the encapsulated panel, producing a softer effect analogous to the addition of varnishes to base colour in Old Master paintings. Overlaid on this are sky and context reflections from the immediate surroundings.

11.12

75

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

Bavarian Parliament – an extension to the Maximilianeum Architect Léon Wohlhage Wernik Location Munich (D) Year of completion 2012 Authors Rudi Scheuermann, Architect, Arup, Director Siegfried Wernik, Architect, Léon Wohlhage Wernik

A growing shortage of office space and an additional need of conference facilities for political debates led to the decision to launch an architectural competition for the extension of the Bavarian Parliament building, the Maximilianeum. Extra-high performance criteria were collated in order to find an architectural as well as a technical design which could satisfy some outstandingly high requirements. Architects Léon Wohlhage Wernik and Arup’s multidisciplinary engineering team joined up to take on this challenge. The result was a well-integrated design in which architectural expression and engineering design reinforced their mutual strengths. With great precision, the latest extension on the campus of the Bavarian Parliament was designed by the architects to lay claim to its own place amongst the existing historical and contemporary buildings (fig. 12.4). While the subtlety of the ceramic facade panel design pays tribute to the existing built environment, the convincing strength of a simple cubic shape with its protruding upper double-height floor strengthens its presence amongst the monumental surroundings. The building is an excellent example of a design with a fully integrated disabled access strategy which reaches way beyond current regulations. Furthermore, the performance requirements for this extension were not only set to achieve improved energy consumption, but deliberately set to showcase outstanding performance, living up to Passivhaus standard, at that time an achievement that was rare among offices and public buildings of this kind. The newly issued guidelines of the Federal State of Bavaria for “Efficient Energy Use in Office Buildings” had to be fulfilled.

12.1 External view of completed building 12.2 Floor plan third floor scale 1:500 12.3 Floor plan fourth floor scale 1:500 12.4 New and existing building

76

Internal layout A central service core where staircase, lift, facilities and service risers are located is surrounded by office spaces on four floors. The doubleheight conference facility is located on the top floor. The service core is clearly outstanding with its warm red timber cladding in calmer design

12.1

surroundings. The colour red is an element common to both the historical part of the Maximilianeum as well as to the previous extension by architects Staab and Pleuser. The mostly regular arrangement of offices around the core allowed a calm and reduced facade design. It led to a regular vertical window pattern alternating with equally sized ceramic cladding panels covering all office floors of the building (fig. 12.6). A change to extra-large window formats at the upper floor, with its protruding double-height conference hall, emphasises the importance of its function and affords generous views of the surrounding landscape. The facade cladding consists of ceramic elements with a relief allowing a subtle interplay of light and shadow, strengthening the character of its respectable materiality. The simple overall shape of the building with two basement floors and six floors above ground pays tribute to a reduced building envelope. Energy concept The energy concept is based on airtight facades with very high thermal insulation qualities, a building envelope free of cold bridges and with much reduced ventilation heat losses. The highly insulated facade is made up of a structural concrete wall with 220 mm external mineral insulation. The terracotta cladding elements have been mounted with fixings incorporating thermal breaks. This has led to a U-value of the opaque building envelope of 0.14 W/m2K. The aim was to further reduce even minimal thermal bridging. For example, terrace connections to the structure have been avoided by using insulation blocks for separation and the attic connections have been insulated. The individual boxwindows consist of triple-glazed units with a low emissivity coating (Ug = 0.60 W/m2K) and timber frames of the highest quality (Uf = 0.85 W/m2K). An external single-glazed panel protects the external louvres to allow external shading in all weather conditions. With a solar transmission ranging between 0.11 and 0.45, these box-windows provide excellent levels of daylight throughout the year, while avoiding the risk of

The Bavarian Parliament in Munich

1 3

5

4

2

3

1 2 3 4 5 6

6 3

12.2

12.3

overheating of internal spaces. 220 mm insulation at roof level and 120 mm insulation at basement level complete the building envelope insulation strategy. Window and roof-light details have been very carefully designed to ensure continuous airtightness to minimise heat transmission losses due to air leakages in the building envelope. A blower-door-test demonstrated an air leakage of only 0.13 h-1, at 50 Pa air pressure, which is less than a quarter of the permissible limit of 0.60 h-1 required by the Passivhaus standard. Despite the fact that the windows of this building can be opened manually for comfort, the aim was to reduce the air exchange to the hygienically required minimum by using a mechanical ventilation system. In this building, the mechanical ventilation system has been designed to recover more than 75 % heat from the extract air. Furthermore, the main ventilation systems are

equipped with desiccant and adiabatic cooling to reduce the amount of compression cooling required to cool and dehumidify external fresh air. This reduction in electricity use is a fundamental part of meeting the Passivhaus standard. The minimisation of energy use in the design of the ventilation systems has also been implemented in the layout and sizing of the ductwork distribution system, which incorporates a simple horizontal arrangement in the basement with vertical risers located at the facade serving two office units on each of the floors above. This, together with the ductwork sizing, achieves the required low specific fan power values. Furthermore, the supply and extract air branches to the individual office units are equipped with motorised dampers. When the offices are unoccupied, the air volume delivered by the central fan is regulated by a variable speed drive (constant

Entrance Meeting room Single offices Boardroom Kitchenette Storage

The design of the Bavarian Parliament extension is an example where the requirement of close collaboration between architects and engineers throughout the project is particularly apparent. To meet the tight Passivhaus requirements, the architectural design and the engineering solutions had to mutually reinforce each other. This required the sort of unusual and intelligent solutions that result from constant dialogue and mutual trust, as well as the courage to follow new paths. Strong and integrated design solutions are also required in order to convince all project collaborators, including those joining the design team part way into the process, who might otherwise be tempted to divert from the path to the desired solution, which in return could result in the required performance criteria or given budget not being met.

12.4

77

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering

1 1 2 3 4 5 6

7

8

9 10 11

Terracotta facade cladding Sun protection louvres Vent with double facade screen Glass balustrade Timber window frames with triple glazing Structural facade support with integrated ventilation duct (fresh air supply) Plinth cladding with integrated media infrastructure and air intake Window zone temperature control unit for heating and cooling integrated into concrete slab Thermally activated concrete slab for heating and cooling Electric socket for cleaning Glazing above doors

2 3

8

9 11

5

4

6 7 10

12.6

12.5 Close up of facade 12.6 Section showing environmental strategy 12.7 Interior view of the boardroom 12.8 Interior view of the office floor

12.5

78

differential pressure drop) to meet the actual air demand only and thus reduce electricity use. The building is connected to Munich’s municipal district heating system and thus uses heat with a primary energy-source factor of 0.36. Heating and cooling is achieved by activating the thermal mass of the concrete floor slabs with embedded hydronic pipe systems. Pipes carrying water for heating and cooling are embedded in the centre of the concrete slab. Activating the building thermal mass not only achieves a direct heating /cooling effect but also a reduction in the peak load and transfer of some of the load to the period of non-occupancy. As these systems for cooling operate at water temperatures close to room temperature, they increase the efficiency of the already much minimised compression cooling system, which is coupled with a high-efficiency heat rejection system employing adiabatic cooling. The concrete core cooling/heating system provides the base heating or cooling load and the baseline temperature levels of the interior. Fast-reacting elements (the embedded hydronic pipe work within the concrete slab is closer to the underside of the slab) alongside the facade provide individual room temperature control, which can be adjusted by the user. Renewable energy While warm water for the building is provided by solar thermal panels, 26 m2 of photovoltaic panels counterbalance the energy consumption of the building with renewable electricity production to meet the Passivhaus criteria. The lighting concept for the building relies on maximising the use of natural daylight. This is also reflected in the artificial lighting concept by making use of a daylight control system which will only feed the relevant amount of artificial lighting into the interior to substitute the natural daylight where needed. Furthermore, the lighting concept makes use of energy-saving lighting equipment that reduces the need for electricity at the same time as it reduces internal heat gains, which in return has a positive influence on the cooling requirements. This way, the maximum allowed

heat consumption of 15 kWh/m2a required to meet the Passivhaus standard, was able to be undercut to result in a maximum heat consumption of 13 kWh/m2a with a primary energy demand of 112 kWh/m2a and a primary energy factor of 25 kW/m2a, which both exactly meet the requirements of the Passivhaus standard. Facade system Despite the fact that meeting the Passivhaus standard for buildings is a great achievement, it has also become apparent in recent projects that there is a new challenge in the design process of Passivhaus buildings of this kind. Methodologies and construction solutions cannot be readily varied, because contractors have their own preferred methods of construction. Equally, high performance requirements have a substantial influence on the budget. The introduction of more economic solutions is often not possible at a later design stage due to the very limited range of solutions that meet the performance criteria. Changes that might be desired by the client to reduce budgets often cannot be implemented as the interaction of elements becomes critical. The energy performance of the building is primarily determined by the facade performance. If the facade performance is reduced to anything less than the minimum required, this may well mean that the energy provided by the active systems might not then meet the high-efficiency performance criteria, which in turn will lead to the requirement to compensate by providing a larger proportion of the energy demand from renewable sources. The attempts to change the original facade concept to a fully unitised facade system, to increase the speed of construction and improve site logistics on an already very constrained site at a late stage in the project could not be realised because this proposed change would have led to a failure to meet the tight conditions of the Passivhaus standard or to a significant increase in budget in order to upgrade the efficiency of the active systems and enable the standard to be met. Rudi Scheuermann

The Bavarian Parliament in Munich

Interdisciplinary teamwork Interdisciplinary working was already the order of the day for the architectural and engineering design teams as early as the architectural competition stage. The design challenges were tough: the Passivhaus standard had to be met for the building and for the facade construction. A solution also have to be found for ventilation, heating and cooling with core activation to utilise the building mass in combination with a quickacting control system while allowing for rapid user adjustments.

balance is created because weather-independent shade is possible in all seasons. The daylight yield could therefore be optimised. In addition, the screen supports the monolithic character of the building and was correct in this respect also from an architectural point of view. The design team carried out feasibility studies which proved that this solution under the given circumstances is economically feasible.

Facade – construction system and double facade screen A number of different facade systems were considered as part of the preliminary design in order to find a solution that could achieve the Passivhaus standard requirements for airtightness and incorporate the very thick thermal insulation with a ventilated ceramic finish. The solution would also have to be assembled and erected at an acceptable cost in the limited space available around the Maximilianeum. We examined various facade options and finally decided in favour of a traditional perforated facade. The outer skin is defined by a double facade screen. It increases user comfort inside the building, reduces the impact of noise pollution from traffic outside, reduces inter-office sound transmission (confidential discussions) and also reduces the maintenance costs of the facade. A better energy

Passivhaus strategy To design an office building with relatively high internal heat loads to Passivhaus standards presents a special challenge. The internal energy generated all year round by the internal loads and particularly in the summer through the entry of external thermal radiation cannot be fully extracted through the very dense and highly insulated external building skin of a Passivhaus. Solutions had to be found which would ensure a specific level of comfort at the work places while on the other hand would not have too much of a negative effect on the overall energy balance. A jointly developed concrete core activation system to utilise the large building mass in combination with a quick-acting control system that allows rapid user adjustments was discussed very intensively and controversially. The design team’s jointly supported solutions were finally implemented with a sophisticated control system. Siegfried Wernik

12.7

12.8

Basement waterproofing The building was required to have two basement levels in order to accommodate the room programme. The second basement level contains valuable server rooms with strict requirements for air humidity. The adoption of a classic outer adhesive membrane system was not achievable due to limited excavation conditions on site. A solution with only waterproof concrete is not reliable enough for the requirements. The jointly developed solution was found in a completely new technology, a composite waterproofing assembly that is fixed on top of the blinding layer below the base and to the formwork of the exterior basement walls. The concrete was then poured in the “refined formwork” to form a composite seal which acts similarly to the traditional external adhesive seal. The scepticism about such a novel solution was initially significant but evidence from specially conducted joint trials convinced the doubters.

79

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

Kindergarten in Dwabor Dwabor Kindergarten – a sustainable school Engineering in the developing world Reflections on working with Arup

Hayley Gryc Sarah Fray Dominic Bond

82 87 89

Canton Tower in Guangzhou Canton Tower – engineering haut couture Architectural haut couture

Joop Paul Mark Hemel, Barbara Kuit

90 95

Danish Pavilion in Shanghai The Denmark Pavilion Translating realities

Michael Kwok Christian Brensing

96 102

Marina Bay Sands in Singapore Marina Bay Sands – horizontal skyscraper An architectural appraisal Leveraging global skills

Va-Chan Cheong Moshe Safdie Peter Bowtell

104 108 109

To shape a better world – has been an Arup core idea for many years. What is behind it is the knowledge that we live in an endangered world, threatened by overpopulation, pollution, exploitation etc. Buildings contribute to half of the world’s CO2 emissions and that is an area where mankind can actively contribute to saving resources, in short, help to sustain our planet. Shaping the world is an arduous and strenuous mission. Millions of steps and decisions have to be taken towards a better future. As a company, Arup proactively takes responsibility for what, where and how we build. The better world begins right on our doorsteps and it extends all around the globe. Therefore, the projects in this chapter are located in Africa, China and South East Asia. Arup’s history demonstrates how its engineers work with architects on their projects wherever they may be. Unsurprisingly, Arup offices can be found in many countries. Many offices outside the UK were established, which later became the stepping stones for the company’s international success.

81

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9

Terraced steps/ seating Playground area Entrance /outside teaching area / eating area Kindergarten 1 Kitchen Store Kindergarten 2 Nursery Biodiversity planting area

9

4

9

6 5 7

3

8

2

1

Dwabor Kindergarten – a sustainable school Architect Arup Location Dwabor (Ghana) Year of completion 2008 Authors Hayley Gryc, Structural Engineer, Arup, Senior Engineer Sarah Fray, Director Engineering and Technical Services, Institution of Structural Engineers Dominic Bond, Managing Director, Sabre Charitable Trust

13.1 Site plan scale 1:1000 13.2 Stakeholders 13.3 Teacher consultation 13.4 Community labour day

To date two kindergarten schools have been completed. The first opened in February 2010 in a village called Dwabor and the second was completed in Ayensudo in November 2011, both within the KEEA municipality. The next stage is to scale up within the KEEA municipality and then nationally.

82

In 2004, recognising the lack of a pre-primary education programme, the Government of Ghana launched a comprehensive early childhood care and development policy aimed at significantly expanding state support for early education initiatives. The Ghanian education authorities recognised that high-quality pre-primary education significantly improves educational achievement and attainment but the newly prioritised central government funds are simply not sufficient to tackle the huge shortage of kindergarten infrastructure and resources nationwide. The need for more education infrastructure is huge. In addition, where facilities do exist, they are not conducive to learning, especially for kindergarten learning which is primarily about learning through play. A typical government school building is a three-classroom linear block built from unsustainable poor-quality concrete masonry units, metal roofing sheets and is not earthquake resistant. The buildings are dark and poorly ventilated and classes are often cancelled during rainfall because of the noise generated from the rain on the metal roof; almost half do not have toilet facilities and 40 % lack access to drinking water. The Sabre Charitable Trust (Sabre) is an education charity working in rural Ghana to improve the future of disadvantaged and marginalised children. Sabre works with the local education authorities there to implement school improvement projects that support the government’s programme of education reforms. Through close links with rural communities in the area and in partnership with the Ghana Education Service (GES), Sabre has identified the need to focus on the kindergarten sector. When Sabre approached Arup in September 2008, we were inspired by their vision and agreed to design and build a kindergarten prototype that was sustainable, maintainable, replicable, and scalable, value for money and childcentred. The project goal is for the prototype to be accepted as a building standard in Ghana and rolled out through the national government school-building programme.

13.1

Arup provided, on a pro bono basis, engineering and architectural design services, including sustainability assessment (ASPIRE), construction supervision and strategic advice.

The design process Prior to Arup’s involvement, Sabre had worked with the GES district office to identify the village in most critical need of a kindergarten school. Dwabor was selected for the first kindergarten school and the site was cleared by the community. A stakeholder analysis was undertaken at the beginning of the design process to understand the impact of relationships on the project (fig. 13.2). We used the results to plan how we would engage with the different stakeholder groups to build relationships and understand the social, political, economic and cultural opportunities arising from them. The key members of the design team undertook an initial research trip to Ghana to gather information to feed into the design, research local resources, and understand the community structure and the patterns of daily life. We progressed the design in its context and aesthetically, identifying different possible implementation processes. We also considered the potential of community construction training programmes. It was paramount that this trip was about understanding the views of the Ghanaians and not imposing western or our personal views on them. One of the most valuable consultations was with the teachers of the local school. The team had prepared simple massing blocks made from cardboard; each block represented a different accommodation space needed to make up the school. The team and the teachers collaborated in a workshop to understand the best layout for the school and other requirements. As users of the school they were in the best position to communicate the needs. The team came away with two very clear options favoured favoured by the teachers. A lot of time was spent visiting other schools in the district and in Accra speaking to teachers, students, looking at the architecture to see how different materials had been used and in what

Kindergarten in Dwabor

World Bank

District Local

UNICEF Micro projects Head, Accra

Regional

National

Ghanaian Government

A-Kon

Atelier Architects

Micro projects Programme Regional Office District Assembly (School Infrastructure)

Education Authority (School management)

S A B R E

AES

VILLAGE • Elders • Parents • Teachers • Children

ways, analysing what worked well and what did not and what was considered culturally acceptable. GES were very impressed by the consultative process and recognised that gathering information from a variety of different stakeholders would eliminate the problems of building poor, dysfunctional infrastructure in the future. Achieving buy-in of the GES was critical for the success of the rollout programme. The consultations facilitated a huge amount of knowledge transfer and the team focused on understanding the existing knowledge and built upon it. We also shared our own knowledge and understanding of the design and construction process. As a result the local stakeholders were also empowered by the experience. It is this model of engagement and collaboration that is key to delivering genuinely sustainable projects and in my opinion is hugely important to the future of our profession. While in Ghana we also researched locally available materials by meeting with material suppliers and local building merchants. We gathered information on costs, including transport, availability, performance and typical sizes. The design and material choice in the kindergarten school

Material Suppliers

Bamboo Project Workshop 13.2

13.3

were also influenced by these factors, which were helpful in eliminating material waste, making the building more sustainable and arriving at the most economic design. At the beginning of the design process it was important to think about the procurement of materials and the construction process and the possibilities of upskilling and training local labour. We also carried out site investigations while in Dwabor. This included assessing the soil as a possible building material, gathering information for the foundation and the site drainage design. It was important to consider the impact of our new school building on the surrounding area and develop a site design strategy that took into account drainage and future resilience in terms of climate change. On our return to London we translated all the information gathered into a prototype design for the kindergarten school. We then returned to Ghana to present the final designs. Further iterations based on workshops and consultations folloed to ensure that the needs and requirements of all the stakeholders had been fulfilled. The team met again with local consultants (architects

Several different stakeholders were consulted: • At the national level meetings were held with UNICEF and World Bank to find out about their role in education and infrastructure projects in Ghana. • At the regional level local consultants and other NGOs were consulted to gain a better understanding of the local construction methods and skills. • At the district level, the District Education Office (part of GES) had a significant contribution to the design and planning of the project. • At the local level we focused on consultations with the community, teachers, elders of the village and Joseph Aggrey, the local project manager Sabre had employed to oversee the construction.

The design approach Starting with the notion that education is the cornerstone of social and economic advancement, Arup’s approach to planning and designing this kindergarten complex was shaped by local needs, materials, capacity and culture. We optimised the performance and buildability so that the prototype could be replicated and the programme scaled up. The key to this development design approach was to have sustainability at its heart. The sustainable kindergarten school is unique because the design brief was developed through participatory planning consultations with the community, local government, education authority and local consultants. This facilitated an understanding of the local capacity, environment and resources to ensure that we left a workable legacy. The kindergarten project became more than being about producing an engineering product; due to the collaborative approach it ensured knowledge transfer and enriched learning. 13.4

83

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

13.6

13.5

The kindergarten design The design and construction of sustainable kindergarten schools is guided by six key principles: 1. Performance-based design 2. Community participation 3. Local materials 4. Livelihood opportunities 5. Value for money 6. Buildability, replicability and scalability

13.8

13.9

84

and engineers) to finalise the construction details. It was important for us and Sabre that Joseph Aggrey, who was the trust’s building projects manager and would be overseeing the construction, was present at these design meetings so that he understood the build process.

The kindergarten complex We refer to the school as a kindergarten complex, as the classrooms are complemented by external teaching areas, a staff room, toilets and a kitchen to provide a complete educational environment. Educational outcomes have been the overriding imperative in the design process. The child-centred design and layout of the kindergarten complex creates a hub of playful exploration within a safe and contained space. It promotes a learning environment unprecedented among standard government schools in Ghana. The complex is organised around a central spine, which forms the core circulation route extending from the kitchen past the three staggered classrooms to the toilets and provides opportunities for interaction between pupils and teachers throughout the day (fig. 13.1). This design feature came out of the consultation with the teachers. Government schools typically have their circulation areas round the perimeter of the classrooms making it easy for children to abscond during the day. Each classroom module is flanked by two solid walls which provide shade to the strong low-lying morning and evening sun. The main elevations contain colourful pivoting bamboo shutters that create the right amount of light and ventilation internally. Four large pivoting doors in each classroom give access to individual shaded external teaching areas which encourage the use of different learning environments and offers children the chance to investigate their surroundings. The off-centre pitched roof on each classroom forms a large area for rainwater collection and overhangs to reduce glare internally and provide sheltered external walkways. The school is a child-friendly building, ergonomically designed for schoolchildren but also designed to be safe against disasters such as

13.7

earthquakes. Getting people to accept the real danger of earthquakes to buildings and their users is a challenge in Ghana, where a major quake has not occurred for over 70 years, a lifetime longer than the average life expectancy in the country. Most buildings here are not designed seismically and the country’s building code stems from the provisions of US code UBC90, now superseded. Through the consultation and construction process the team is helping to improve awareness of seismic risks as well as teaching how to build safe buildings. Informed by the extensive consultations we produced a modular classroom designed as a “kit of parts”, with different wall designs to fit within a durable reinforced-concrete frame. Each classroom is made up of a series of bays which can be extended or reduced to accommodate different numbers of children. It should be to noted that concrete was not our initial choice for the frame, preferring cheaper and more sustainable timber, bamboo or soil blocks but it was important to understand and respect the views of the community to encourage ownership of the build. The team found that concrete, used in typical government schools, was seen locally as a sign of development and materials like bamboo and timber were widely viewed as “poor man’s materials”. The consensus was that a model based on a durable concrete frame designed to resist seismic forces and complemented with local and sustainable materials struck the right balance and achieved a design of which everyone could be proud. The concrete for the frame was designed with locally sourced pozzolana made from clay and palm kernels replacing 30 % of the Portland cement in the mix. The infill walls are made of low-level soil block walls with either bamboo cladding or windows and we worked with the communities and labourers to make these materials more durable. This design reinforced the concept as a durable, strong, sustainable and replicable building. These finishes can be adapted to suit climate, culture, and availability of materials which is potentially interesting in terms of scaling-up and replicating the prototype nationally and else-

Kindergarten in Dwabor

13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 13.10 13.11

Erection of the roofing sheets Erection of the bamboo cladding Community breaking coconut fibre Roof insulation Soil blocks Playground shading Roof truss fabrication drawing 13.10

where in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fast-growing, widely available bamboo was also used to clad the ceiling and as a lightweight structure in the external shaded areas. Extensive tests have been and continue to be undertaken to find suitable treatment methods. This project created an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how to produce cheap, sustainable, durable building materials that local community members can reproduce in their village and use for their own houses. The roof was made of metal sheets which are readily available and the preferred option locally. The disadvantage is that the roof gets very hot and radiates heat into the space below and during rainfall the noise can be dis-

ruptive to lessons. However, metal roofing has its advantages as the heat burns away any bacteria growing on the roof, making it good for collecting rainwater. To resolve these issues fibre from coconut husks was used as acoustic and thermal insulation to the roof.

The kindergarten construction One of the core intentions of the project was for the construction process to educate and train those working on it, leaving a lasting legacy in the socio-economic fabric of the community. During the construction of Dwabor kindergarten and the next school at Ayensudo, an Arup structural site engineer was seconded to Sabre to

In rural Ghana, mud and bamboo are commonly used as building materials, but considered “poor man’s materials”. We were able to demonstrate to locals how to make durable soil blocks from the soil on site to minimise the use of expensive concrete. Compressive strength tests carried out in the UK confirmed them to be twice as strong as locally procured sand /cement blocks, and due to their durability and rich appearance they have gained a reputation in the region.

13.11

85

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

13.12 13.13 13.14 13.15

Exterior view of completed building a Environmental strategy b Daylight strategy Windows showing rotating louvers Principle of window louvres 13.12

supervise the works and introduce a quality control strategy on site, working alongside Sabre’s site manager, while training a Ghanaian site engineer. Voluntary local labour contributions were agreed with the village elders at the project start. This was excellent in theory but a reliance on voluntary labour to keep to the construction programme became problematic in practice, with people not turning up for a variety of reasons. A good compromise was to have a fulltime team of paid skilled and unskilled labour and then organise community participation days to complete large volumes of unskilled work. Typically, there is little concern for health and safety when working on construction projects in developing countries. One of the roles of the Arup structural engineer was to raise awareness of the risks and teach on-site safety. We were also able to advice local consultants about how to design-out risks prior to construction. Signage to communicate the health and safety issues to the wider community as well as informative display boards explaining the design and its progress were erected. During the building of Dwabor a local team of skilled labour was supported by local unskilled labour. The local construction team was trained to build the school complex by Arup’s site engineer and through initiatives such as the bamboo training programme. Sabre then selected a core workforce from Dwabor who went on to help lead areas of work on Ayensudo kindergarten. This approach helped speed up the programme and assist in dissemination of knowledge. The benefits to the delivery of the kindergarten school programme are already apparent, for example, the timber roof trusses for the second school were fabricated in a quarter of the time it took in Dwabor. This continuous knowledge transfer is incredibly beneficial for the host country as it develops the skills of the individuals immediately involved, who can then go on to educate others in the population.

Review Once Dwabor was completed it was reviewed in terms of buildability and function through further

86

workshops with teachers, children, the community, local government and labourers. These workshops were tailored to the individual stakeholder groups. For example, many of the labourers were illiterate, so for one workshop we used yellow stickers (easy to build) and red stickers (hard to build) which they then stuck on photographs of each stage and detail of the construction process they had undertaken. All the details with red stickers were then discussed and then adapted with the labourers’ help to make them easier to build. All feedback was used to optimise and improve the design. Arup also repackaged the construction information into a user-friendly construction manual to speed up progress and reduce building costs, leading to a more efficient roll-out of the kindergarten programme. The manual is divided into chapters and includes a set of rules intended to provide guidance when Sabre itself undertakes the initial needs assessment, community consultations, appropriate site selection, site set-up and site-specific drainage design. The later chapters focus on the construction drawings and contain 2D and 3D images with easy-to-follow construction sequence cartoons augmented by annotated material schedules and specifications designed to make the building process as understandable and accessible as possible. The kindergarten prototype evaluation and redesign reduced classroom building costs by 5 % and the overall build programme costs by 15 %. Attendance at both schools has also double since they opened. The sensitivity of the design team to the needs of the local culture and environment has been key to success of this project, which has proved to be sustainable, functional and of long-term value. It was never about imposing our views of what we assume people want and need; it was always about hearing what their needs are and creating innovative solutions that meet these needs and delivering solutions that are financially and socially sustainable. Hayley Gryc

Kindergarten in Dwabor

Shelter Vertical louvres shield low-angle sun during morning and evenings

Shade Quiet Air circulation

Breeze

Cool surfaces

Daylight without direct sun

Interior surfaces are light in colour and finish

Overhang provide shading from highangle sun during midday

Diffuse daylighting from roof gives background ambient lighting

13.13 a

b

Engineering in the developing world Engineering in the early 21st century is commonly identified with analysis and design applications, CAD drawing production and latterly the drive towards the further management of information through BIM (Building Information Modelling) – all of which, while effective tools, can and do create a deep divide between the business of construction and development and the human purpose and needs of the projects being constructed. In being asked to write a commentary on the Sabre kindergarten school project I have been granted the privilege to reflect on the reasons why we design and build “things” – to change the world, improve the places we live in and the lives of individuals. I believe this project demonstrably delivers against all these aspirations. The ambitions for the project were extensive: to create a generic, transportable and implementable model for a sustainable kindergarten school development in rural Ghana. It was designed to provide a high-quality learning environment. The

project balances the “western” view of sustainability, which focus heavily on energy management and carbon emissions with the views held in the developing world where social sustainability is the key driver and it gains in stature by that balance. In simplistic assessment – does the project fulfil its brief? – without doubt. This project showcases the benefits of gaining a real understanding of the end users’ needs and the local community’s aspirations. It is clearly apparent that the project achieves the obvious success it does as a result of that understanding and the synergies of purpose gained by the dialogue process. As in the case of all building projects time will reveal whether the end results have achieved the ambitions set out at the project inception. However in developing the design, the experience of a multitude of issues with existing school sites was clearly reflected on and significant confidence can be drawn from the coherent ways in which these issues have been assessed

Vertical louvres are adjustable to provide flexibility of lighting conditions inside and varying degrees of view to the outside

Reveals and louvres are light in finish but could include some moderate colour treatment 13.14

13.15

87

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

13.16 1. Roughen foundation at base of column until you can see the blue aggregate colour. Then clean all dirt away.

and then addressed during the design development of the Sabre project. The success of this project is not limited to the simple outcome of providing an accessible and well-considered learning space for young children. It is clear that there has been significant transfer of skills and technology to the local community, which will benefit the whole community as well as individuals. There is an enhanced sense of ownership of the schools by the community which everyone hopes will reduce the risk of them becoming neglected in the future. The use of non-local materials, particularly those produced by industrial (energy-intensive) processes has been critically interrogated and only adopted where their use and benefits align with those of the social sustainability drivers. The use of local materials has been well considered and the development of techniques to offset inherent problems with those materials was very beneficial in achieving the holistic success of the project.

2. Fix upper cage and soil block wall starter bars. Fix concrete block spacers.

Arguably perhaps one of the major achivements of the project is the production of the construction manual. For this manual to fulfil its ambitions it had by necessity not only to be generic, which always presents risks, but also transportable and implementable. It addresses the challenges of a generic design that has to be implemented admirably in a variety of site-specific locations; the design and construction techniques are clearly transportable to and implementable in different areas – largely due to the benefit of using a “cartoon” style. I believe this project is an exemplar and “blueprint” for local community projects in the developing world. It showcases the clear advantages of considering and adopting the use of technologies appropriate to wherever these projects are to be constructed. However, and importantly, it also reminds us that communities and individuals are at the heart of the projects we design and construct. Sarah Fray

13.17

88

Kindergarten in Dwabor

4. Build formwork, oil it and install it. Use supports and a spirit level to make sure it is vertical (use a string line to check it with the other columns.) Pour and compact bottom half firtst

5. Close top formwork, pour and compact top half of column

Reflections on working with Arup When we approached Arup in 2008 to sound out Jo da Silva, the firm’s Director of International Development, we had very little expectation of what might follow. We pitched to Jo our desire to develop a new prototype kindergarten school to support early years education in Ghana, where the government had recently included two years of kindergarten education in the primary school system. Our interest was in creating a new model of school building that would place the child and learning at the heart of the design and would make strong use of local and sustainable materials in a modern context, while using simple building technologies capable of being transferred to local community members. Fast-forward on four years, and we now have a building that achieves all of these goals and has been recognised by the Ghana Education Service and key donors such as the UK’s Department for International Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation as providing some of the best kindergarten classrooms in the whole of Ghana. We have built two schools, in the communities of Dwabor and Ayensudo, and have a further three projects planned for the coming year, as well as broader ambitions for a national roll-out programme. Quite simply, none of this would have been possible without the vision and dedication of our colleagues and friends at Arup. This was a project concept which clearly captured the imagination of Jo and her colleagues, and to date over fifty Arup employees have been involved in the development and refinement of the school design – all of them working in a voluntary capacity as part of Arup’s unique approach to shaping a better world through corporate philanthropy. In addition to the hours spent at the drawing board in the UK, two Arup engineers were seconded to Ghana to work on the first two projects – providing site supervision as well as valuable training for the Sabre Trust’s own site team and project engineer. As a small organisation, one of the ways we seek to deliver excellence through our projects is by harnessing the skills of expert partners to

help us deliver our programmes – in this respect Arup was able to draw on all of its global engineering expertise, and harness it with our local knowledge and understanding to deliver a building that appears very modern and progressive in its context, while making fantastic use of local materials and passive design. Complimentary cost and project management services were also provided by Davis Langdon (now part of the Aecom group) through the firm’s charity partnership with Sabre. The Arup name also carries a lot of credibility with prospective donors and supporters – to be able to table an Arup-branded comprehensive construction manual, with orthographic and axonometric drawings in two and three dimensions and easy-to-follow site instructions, is an incredible tool when talking about the project to funders (figs. 13.16 and 13.18). Arup is a brand which inspires confidence, and opens doors that would otherwise remain closed to a small but ambitious organisation like ours.

13.18 a

Working with Arup does of course mean working to Arup’s exacting standards – and there have been occasions when our local site team has questioned the need to follow practices that are far more rigorous than the local conventions. However, we were building in a seismic zone and safety is one area where Arup quite rightly refuses to compromise – the school is designed to withstand earthquake forces. Over and above the team’s enormous contribution to the sustainable kindergarten school project, staff at Arup have also shown an interest in supporting Sabre’s work more broadly – backing our Christmas Appeal campaign, mobilising volunteers to come out on a working holiday to help build the schools, and helping us to develop our longer-term growth strategy for scaling-up the project.

b

13.16

Working with Arup has been an overwhelmingly positive experience, and we look forward to continuing to progress this exciting project over the coming years as we scale up the school design across Ghana and beyond. Dominic Bond

13.17 13.18

Sequence drawings and instructions for column construction Internal view Corner column reinforcement detailing a Isometric view b Typical column elevation

89

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

Canton Tower – engineering haute couture Architect IBA Information Based Architecture Location Guangzhou (CN) Year of completion 2010 Authors Joop Paul, Structural Engineer, Arup, Director Mark Hemel, Architect, Information Based Architecture Barbara Kuit, Architect, Information Based Architecture

Buildings of imposing scale have historically symbolised both our technical capability and desire to bequeath significant artefacts to posterity. In recent times, nothing has expressed this more graphically than the increasing height, complexity and expressive form of tower construction. The Eiffel Tower (325 m) may forever remain the most famous of its type. In keeping with the economic upswing in China, it is therefore understandable that Chinese cities, with millions of inhabitants, will also exploit the symbolically prestigious television tower as a means to broadcast a message of economic prosperity out into the world. The Canton Tower (610 m) has become a new archetype of this development.

14.1

The shape of the Canton Tower is an example of the harmonious fusion of architecture, structure and symbolism. The particular challenges included a tight design and construction programme; a fixed budget and the integration of the flow of forces with the architectural aesthetic. On the National Day of Celebration in October 2010, the Canton Tower was ceremoniously opened amid a great rush by the general public with around 30,000 visitors. It became the symbol of the 2010 Asian Games and of the city where the games were held – Guangzhou. Design competition The competition arose from a desire of the Chi-

The international design team for the Canton Tower, originating from different cultures, developed an extremely robust and elegant solution based on modern design and construction techniques. With the near mass-customisation of the joint design; parametric design methods; application of a simple structural concept and the development of robust prefabrication and erection methods all challenges were realised. In addition, a futuristic lighting concept strengthened the urban symbolic function of the tower. With a total height of 610 m and the main deck at 450 m, the tower is composed of 24 columns, 44 rings and 24 inclined braces, resulting in 1104 nodes. The tower shape is generated from two ellipses of different size inclined at 45 ° to each other. The lower ellipse has dimensions of 60 ≈ 80 m, and the upper of 41 ≈ 50 m. The waist, between 330 m and 340 m above ground, measures only 21 ≈ 27 m. The columns, rings and braces triangulate the structure to ensure axial loading in the main members in order to optimise material usage.

14.2

90

Canton Tower in Guangzhou

14.3

nese city of Guangzhou to find an appropriate representation of its breath-taking technical and industrial development. Not without reason is Guangzhou, capital of the province of Canton, known as the “World’s Factory”. Until now an appropriate symbol to adequately represent it around the world was missing. The symbol chosen was an urban landmark – a tower – sitting directly on the bank of the Pearl River, opposite Guangzhou’s rapidly developing Central Business District. In the autumn of 2004 my former colleague and lighting designer Rogier van Heide brought me in contact with Barbara Kuit and Mark Hemel of

the architects Information Based Architecture (IBA), Amsterdam, asking us to team up for a competition for a tower in Guangzhou, China. When Mark and Barbara presented their idea of a twisting tower we saw the potential and decided to work with them. After the entry had been selected as one of the last 12, the race really started and I got in contact with our Chinese colleagues Man Kan and Vincent Lam in the Arup Hong Kong office and the London-based specialists Andrew Alsop and Hayden Nuttal to strengthen our Amsterdam team, which also included Arjan Habraken, Jeroen Coenders, David Gilpin and Simone Collon.

14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4

Completed tower in urban context External view of completed building Interior view External view of structural frame configuration

14.4

91

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

Monitoring The tower is the first in the world to adopt a structural health monitoring system. Fitted with a system of a type more usually found on bridges, Canton Tower is under 24 /7 surveillance by 600 sensors embedded into the structural steel of the tower. The recorded data is analysed, and any structural anomalies can be investigated and if necessary immediately addressed. This also increases the understanding of the behaviour of tall structures, both at present and in future. 14.6

The team’s strategy to win was simple. In the knowledge that the construction budget was fixed, strategies were developed to adopt architectural and structural concepts that were flexible, interacted with and strengthened each other. The team agreed that the combination of rchitectural form and fabrication/erection economy was the design imperative rather than absolute height. Three design strategies were followed for the competition: The first strategy aimed to improve cost predictability. A reliable structural form was chosen, which was transformed to align to the architectural form – the basic form being an elegant and efficient arrangement of columns, rings and diagonals. Secondly, in order to achieve economies in fabrication and erection, the number of joint types was minimised. The third strategy focused on keeping erection costs low by defining a simple construction method. The outstanding aesthetic feature of the Canton Tower is its open steel lattice structure, which has a shape modelled on a female torso with a slender waist, shoulders twisted and turned in relation to the feet, gently leaning in the wind and quickly earned the nickname “the Supermodel”. Arup engaged global expertise from its offices in Amsterdam, London, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou – to cover all of the technical, engineering and planning services and form a cultural link between the design team and our client – the Guangzhou Xinxin TV & Sightseeing Tower Co. After the preliminary design, I handed over the day-to-day leadership to Tony Choi who, together with Vincent Lam, led and guided the growing team. Programme Besides the symbolic function for the region and the city, two main functions define the tower. The tower is a main component of China’s telecommunication system and functions as a television transmission tower with the associated technol14.5

92

ogy and requirements, replacing an older Guangzhou TV tower. In addition, it functions as a major tourist and entertainment centre. Attractions include multiple panoramic decks in the tower and an inclined panoramic deck at the top of the tower. In addition, it incorporates special entertainment attractions such as the world highest Ferris wheel; the Shoot – a gravity machine fixed to the tower mast; the Skywalk – an open staircase wrapped around the core, inside the lattice structure, and a revolving restaurant. The most popular attractions are the glass cantilevered boxes, with glass floors approximately 400 m above the ground. The tower programme totals 114,000 m2 over 37 floors comprising five different zones at various intervals and in various sizes. Five small miniature buildings are suspended inside the lattice structure, creating cathedral-like open-air spaces offering stunning 360° views. The functions inside the miniature buildings range from viewing decks, restaurants, space for leisure activities television and radio studios as well as technological areas. Three miniature-buildings are arranged in the lower half of the tower, and two in the upper half. Geometry and structural concept The main geometrical and structural concept consists of the following elements (fig. 14.5): The columns are circular hollow sections and are inclined to the vertical. In the lower tower area, they have a diameter of 2 m and are manufactured from 50 mm thick steel plates. At the top of the tower, they are reduced to 1.1 m diameter with a wall thickness of 30 mm. The columns were filled with concrete, which provides increased fire protection and additional weight, resulting in an efficient foundation and cheaper building costs as well as improved axial rigidity. The lattice structure is completed by using 44 steel rings (750 – 850 cm in diameter) all at 15° inclination, as well as a network of steel braces (800 cm in diameter). The 15° inclination of the lower ring introduced a possibility for the

Canton Tower in Guangzhou

Performance-based design verification Guangzhou’s typhoon climate was of particular concern. The tower’s unique structural form is not covered in any building codes, so performance-based engineering techniques were developed. From time to time, Guangzhou has seasonally heavy storms and typhoons with very high wind speeds. In addition, the site is in a seismically active region. Accordingly, wind and earthquake tests and analysis were performed to ensure that the tower is safe under the most extreme conditions and that wind-induced vibrations are within acceptable levels to ensure optimal comfort for building occupants. The tower was simulated, modelled and analysed to produce a special set of design criteria. A very tall tower with an open lattice allows wind to blow right through it. The aim was to ensure the tower would withstand typhoon winds and provide optimum comfort for building occupants. As wind-induced vibrations were one of the governing design criteria, supplementary damping to the structure was provided in the form of a hybrid mass damper at the 438 m level. The hybrid mass damper is a combination of a passive mass damper with an active mass damper mounted on top. The passive mass damper is composed of two 600 t water tanks mounted on a bi-directional rail roller. The 50 t uni-directional active mass damper improves the performance of the passive mass damper in the direction of the weak axis of the tower. To verify the design, large-scale tests on 1:50 scale models were undertaken. With regard to seismic model testing, Arup worked in conjunction with the University of Guangzhou and for wind tunnel testing with Tongji University in Shanghai.

entrance at the bottom of the tower, while the 15° inclination at the top offered the possibility of an inclined panoramic deck at the very top of the tower. The distribution of the rings over the height is not constant. The ring spacing reduces distances near the waist to increase overall stiffness of the structure, but also to simplify fabrication of the joints. In order to ensure the joints were easy to weld and inspect, the angle between the elements was kept at a minimum of 30°. A reinforced concrete core is situated inside the steelwork lattice structure. The main functions of the core are vertical transportation – it houses the lift and stairs and makes a major contribution to in the strength and stiffness of the tower. The core is connected to the lattice structure at different levels so that the core and the lattice structure work together to resist wind and earthquakes. The connections also prevent the lattice structure from buckling. The footprint of the reinforced concrete core is also elliptical, with diameters of 15.6 m and 18.6 m in the short and long directions. The wall thickness of the core varies from 1300 mm at the bottom to 500 mm at the top. On the top level, the 160 m long antennae mast is installed centrally. In the lower area, it is a steel lattice, while the mast point is made entirely from prefabricated steel tubes. Parametric design tools Using parametric associative software, our structural engineers generated geometric and structural models and linked this data to analytical and drafting software. To test the design strategy and to control the fit between the architectural and structural form, a parametric tool was developed that mapped the geometry of the structure using ten basic parameters. With this tool, numerous options were generated for studying the architectural implications; the fit between the architectural

14.5 14.6 14.7

Geometry and structural concept Sky garden interior Shaking table test

14.7

93

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

column

ring

brace

14.9 Erection method In order to achieve a short building programme, prefabrication and offsite construction were maximised. The steel joints were all prefabricated and three types of parts were assembled on site: column/joint parts, ring parts and brace parts. The parts were then welded together on site. The concrete core was constructed by slip-form in advance of the steel structure, with two cranes fixed to the core to lift up the steelwork. The simplicity of the erection procedure increased the robustness of the programme and ensured no major delays in the construction of the tower.

and structural forms; the structural performance in terms of strength, stiffness and stability and finally the resulting joint geometry for all the joints. The tool allowed very rapid parametric studies to be undertaken to facilitate a thorough understanding of the architectural and structural qualities of the design so that informed design decisions could be reached quickly. Joint design – a key detail The joints are the most important design detail of the tower and their conceptual development was key to the overall design (fig. 14.9). Within lattice structures, the joints are costly relative to the members. When the joint density increases, the costs increase. Furthermore, the complexity of the fit of the architectural and structural forms increases with the joint density. The fabrication and erection costs decrease with an increase in joint repetition and rationalisation. With this knowledge, the number of joints was minimised without compromising the aesthetics, while the number of joint types was radically reduced to one single joint type that would fit for all 1104 nodes. To achieve this, a more regular pattern of rings and braces was established without rings or braces crossing each other. This was a step change improvement compared to the more random member configuration from the most early competition stage. It was also possible to reduce the number of columns from 30 to 24, decreasing cost and improving buildability. The rings were offset inboard of the columns and braces. This created inside spaces governed by the rings, while the outside appearance is governed by the larger continuous columns in combination with the smaller braces. To offset the rings from the columns and braces, an internally plate-stiffened stub was introduced. Although there was only one generic joint type, all 1104 joints were different with the member sizes and the angle between the members varied. As the variations were within controlled limits, the same welding solutions and welding inspection techniques could be employed throughout – resulting in the ability to mass-

14.8

94

14.10

customise the joint design and manufacture. This led to a highly cost-efficient jointing solution. Lighting design After sunset, Canton Tower appears as a luminous icon on Guangzhou’s skyline. Light Emitting Diode (LED) fixtures are integrated into the structure, which illuminates from within. Instead of a tower lit from its surroundings, the tower illuminates its surroundings – a departure from conventional lighting. The lighting fixtures are mounted on the columns, rings and braces and the structure’s 7000 LEDs are separately controlled by a computer, making it possible to create the most fantastic urban light displays. The results shown during the 2010 Asia Games were really amazing, adding to the symbolic function of the tower. Epilogue Remarkably, the completed tower has only very small deviations from the winning competition design. The entire design team working on the tower from different locations all over the globe was constantly driven by the vision, and later on by a sense of common achievement. This was an achievement of many in Arup and our partners at IBA, the Guangzhou Design Institute, the client and the contractor. The positive feedback about the tower has been magnificent. The tower has been in the limelight of the international press and television exposure. The television documentary Mega Structures was particularly well received and got us exposure outside the field of architecture and construction. The Tokyo Skytree Tower surpassed the Canton Tower as the world’s tallest freestanding tower in 2011. However, when it comes to symbolism, size is not the most important and by steppingup from conventional engineering design the Supermodel graces the Guangzhou skyline and will ever remain one-of-a-kind, giving inspiration and strength to one of the world’s most important regions. Joop Paul

Canton Tower in Guangzhou

Architectural haute couture Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit, both directors of Information Based Architecture (IBA), Amsterdam and chief architectural designers of the Canton Tower, explain some of the architectural and urban implications that played a vital role in the design: Urban context On the one hand, there is the north-south axis, planned by the government as a new monumental sightline connecting the existing CITIC Tower and central commercial plaza with the more southern part of Guangzhou that stretches over to the other side of the Pearl River. On the other hand, there is the Pearl River, which forms a delta and flows from west to east and reaches the coast near Hong Kong. These two axes cross one another at the site of the tower and form the basis for the tower concept. We applied it to create a rotation within the tower: the base would be orientated towards the local city axis and the top would be pointing towards the flow direction of the Pearl River. Form and shape While working on the competition, we wanted to offer the city something simple but strong, a new form that would be in tune with the contemporary times and that would challenge the current building technologies. Where skyscrapers have historically borne male characteristics: described, for example, as angular, simplistic, heavy and based on repetition – we defined our tower as having a female identity: smooth, curved, slender, gracious and incorporating a diversity of spaces and floorplan sizes, in short a combination of sexiness and complexity. The tower aims to be simple and complex at the same time, it should attempt to form a new and exciting coherence between structure and architectural effects. Concept Our approach to the project was twofold, encompassing the pragmatic requirements of the brief and the organisation of all the functions

14.11

in and around the tower, as well as aiming to develop a simple concept for combining the tower’s various aspects. For the first-round submission we designed a 560 m tall, twisted, tapering tube. The form, volume and structure are generated by two ellipses, one at foundation level and the other at an imaginary horizontal plane, just above 450 m. The tightening caused by the rotation between the two ellipses forms a “waist” and a densification of material. This means that the lattice structure, which at the bottom of the tower is porous and spacious, becomes denser at waist level. The waist itself becomes tight, like a twisted rope; transparency is reduced and views to the outside are limited. Further up the tower the lattice opens again, accentuated here by the tapering of the structural column-tubes.

14.8

Construction with cranes on core 14.9 Joint detail 14.10 Installation of ring element between two nodes 14.11 City view at night time

Synthesis of architecture and engineering Recent technological advances have created space for a more integrated approach to architecture. Analysis techniques and software simulation have developed a great deal in recent decades, making it now possible to strive for true integration between architecture and other disciplines. This gives great opportunities to fine-tune building projects to achive a more efficient and environmentally friendly solution. We, at Information Based Architecture, have been anticipating the arrival of these new possibilities. We have consciously sought opportunities to develop new concepts in which we integrate structure and architecture more strongly. The Canton Tower is an example of such integration. The tower‘s structure forms the skeleton of the external facade of the tower. It densifies where it needs to be stronger and stiffer and becomes more open where we wanted it to be lighter and more open. It holds the space within it and filters the light. In other words, it is an optimised system influenced by many aspects of design; by architectural, aesthetic, conceptual, environmental and structural aspects – all influencing it at the same time, making it a true artwork of integration between architecture and engineering. Mark Hemel, Barbara Kuit

95

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

The Denmark Pavilion Architect BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group Location Shanghai (CN) Year of completion 2010 Author Michael Kwok, Structural Engineer, Arup, Director

15.1

The Denmark Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai China was designed in response to the Expo theme “Better City – Better Life”, portraying life in Denmark and celebrating various aspects of Danish culture. A temporary building with a net built-up area of 3000 m2, it articulates into a continuous geometric knot, forming a looping ramp that serves as the exhibition’s backbone. On this continuous flowing display area, pedestrians move from internal, to external, and back to internal spaces around the building – a continuous spiral that rises to a total height of some 11 m. The structure also acts as a velodrome, with bicycles available for public use. At the centre of the knot is a pond with the statue of Hans Andersen’s “Little Mermaid”, moved from Copenhagen for the occasion. Teamwork from competition to construction In summer 2008, with the competition for the Denmark Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Arup conceived a new

kind of architectural space generated from the flow of structure around a geometric knot. The structure would coil onto itself, supported only by the ground and its overlapping loops, and sweep out into space to form spans of up to 120 m. Structurally, the concept was a stiff box with a 4 m deep rectangular section, lifted along a smooth knotted centreline. This effectively generates a curved walk-through box girder, torsionally stiff and able to span along a curve. The Weave Bridge1 in Philadelphia – also designed by Arup and already on site – demonstrated the effectiveness of a walk-through lattice box both structurally and spatially. For the pavilion, Arup proposed a thin structural skin with internal stiffeners. Really a hybrid bridge/sculpture in its complex curving form, this project was highly unconventional, and fully stretched Arup’s expertise in bridge design and facade engineering. In the final structure, cladding and form are one, as originally intended, with the skin of the pavilion

Sustainable Danish living With the Expo “Better City, Better Life” theme‘s strong emphasis on sustainable living, the team behind the winning entry deliberately chose to showcase and celebrate the Danish way of life, with city bicycles as one central theme and the inside/ outside connection as another. The pavilion was to allow visitors to experience the exhibition while moving through the space on bicycles. This strong concept was not in harmony with a design based on an air-conditioned space, where visitors would travel through a cool zone to exit on the roof and return through the cool space again, let alone the notion of conditioning a space that intrinsically needed to be connected with the outside. The design team therefore decided to push for a passive design and challenge the perception that an exhibition space should have a tightly controlled environment. Zones occupied by staff (e.g. offices) and the conference facilities would need to be mechanically controlled.

15.2

96

Danish Pavilion in Shanghai

Linear exhibition

Rotating exhibition

Continuous exhibition

Roof terrace, bike parking and reception area

Interlocking loops create the relationship between internal and external space

The pavilion forms a bridge above the ground and raised walkway

perforated with circular holes, emulating the stress patterns flowing across the structural box. Shanghai office involvement With the London team’s support, from the beginning of 2009 the Shanghai team gradually took over the design work to produce the necessary analyses, calculations and drawings to obtain local approval. Working with BIG, the structures team in Shanghai produced all the necessary details and drawings for building the steel structure, while the building services team was busy coordinating with the local design institute (LDI) responsible for detail design of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems. Shanghai office also carried out inspections of steelwork fabrication and installation on site to ensure that the complex structures were constructed correctly and completed on time to welcome the tens of millions of visitors. Structural and geometric concept Topologically, the pavilion is a unique continuous body, whose knot geometry creates spatial and structural opportunities focused on the centre, where the Little Mermaid draws visitors. The geometry is a modified logarithmic spiral in plan, formed by the rectangular tube, in section typically around 10 m wide by 4.5 m high. The first stage of the geometry has its starting point at the vertical core, after which the rectangular tube moves along the ground through a quartercircle. The second stage launches into a cantilever that rises to 7.5 m above the ground, completes the remaining 270 °, and connects again to the core, directly above the starting section. Exhibition events take place between two parallel facades – the internal and external. The key concept was to keep the outer layer as light as possible and create a “dialogue” between the exterior and the inner exhibition space. The internal facade is closed and fully braced, while the outward-facing pavilion facade is a perforated, stiffened 8 mm thick steel skin, porous and smooth. The diameters and densities of the holes in the facade were calculated according to the structural stress diagram to create an

15.3

“informed and graphic structural pattern”. In the evening, the facade becomes a “sequenced instrument of interactive light illuminating the passers-by”. Environmental concept: natural versus mechanical ventilation The building envelope works as a screen between inside and outside with natural ventilation through the perforations. Solar studies were carried out to assess the penetration of direct sunlight into the exhibition space and possible implications for both solar gains and light conditions. Summer climate conditions in Shanghai are generally challenging, with high temperatures and relative humidity. The Expo bureau expected an air-conditioned exhibition space, but the design team decided to explore the feasibility of a naturally ventilated pavilion while progressing with the mechanically ventilated fancoil-based design. The client was sympathetic and open to the idea of natural ventilation. Simplified modelling of the pavilion geometry and ventilation openings provided information on likely ventilation rates. Sensitivity studies were carried out to assess the impact of variations in the facade perforation, while the exhibition space was assumed open at the ground and roof levels. A dynamic thermal simulation model was set up for the naturally ventilated scenario. Internal gains were modelled in line with the design scenario agreed between design team and client (number of simultaneous visitors etc). The studies focused on comparing environmental conditions within the exhibition space to conditions experienced outside at the same time. Assessing comfort conditions for such a pavilion space is a cutting-edge research field; progress is being made, but there are no current applicable standards. The team saw the space as “semi-outdoors”, in the sense that visitors would be approaching the pavilion from across the Expo, sometimes waiting outside the pavilion, transiting (walking or cycling) through the exhibition space, out onto the roof, and back down through the exhibition.

15.1 15.2 15.3

Sections scale 1:800 Perforations on facade Concept components

A structural journey Along its structural journey, this “looping ribbon” experiences different boundary conditions: touching the ground, interlocking, disconnecting, floating, reaching the core, interlocking again, and finally reaching the ground again. Structurally, the knot‘s box girder comprises two interlocking loops, the outer one cantilevering in space over the entrance to the internal courtyard. The tectonic shift between the box’s loops creates a dramatic effect over the cantilever, and an overall dynamic form. This project, in its unconventional and innovative nature, is about the individuals who created it, pulled together because of their particular skills or local know-how. It is also about the communication across continents and time zones that made it a seamless flow of design and a success.

97

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

15.4

15.5

15.6

98

The approach was thus to focus on perceived conditions as users moved from outside, through the space and then back outside. The team chose to compare the “operative temperature” within the exhibition space with that outside. Studies showed that the operative temperature within the pavilion was likely to be higher than outside for conditions that can be defined as acceptable (or even pleasant). More extreme conditions (with outdoor operative temperatures > 29 °C) occur rarely within the pavilion and far less frequently than outside. The analyses were reported in terms of percentage of the occupied hours exceeding certain operative temperatures and always compared with the outdoor conditions. On this basis the client accepted the passive design concept, and the design team communicated the intentions and findings of the studies to the Expo bureau in Shanghai. The technical aspects and performance criteria were discussed in detail and the definition of the pavilion in terms of indoor/outdoor was clarified and approved. Structural system The structural system is divided into three main parts: there is the vertical core, then the overlapping scissor beams and finally the transverse C-profiles closed by the structurally active facade, linked by longitudinal horizontal bars and bracing, forming the continuous tube (figs. 15.4 – 6). Where the structure is not supported directly to the ground, vertical stability is provided by the core and the scissor beams. A series of transverse frames fabricated from 550 mm deep steel sections comprise the C-shape, continuous in bending, with the outer perforated facade closing it to complete the tube section. The facade plate is stiffened, curved and pinned to the frame, and together with the bracing system on the inner elevation provides horizontal stability. The tube is interrupted by ramps, linking the top and bottom flange of the frame. The C-profiles are loaded on their top and bottom members. Longitudinally, the tube acts in bending or bending coupled with torsion to carry the loads to supports. The loads are delivered directly to the

Danish Pavilion in Shanghai

15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 15.7

foundations where the tube touches the ground; elsewhere, loads are delivered to the core and from there to the foundations. Directly opposite the core is the scissor beam area, a set of two connected trusses much stiffer than the rest of the tube. The bottom ends of the scissor legs touch the ground, effectively creating a support opposite the core and so reducing the span of the large cantilever. Between the scissor beam and the core, the outer box is disconnected from the inner box and cantilevers. Transversely, the C-shape is vertically braced on the cantilever part to provide some additional transverse stiffness. The structural box girder benefits both from its tor-

sional stiffness and its curved geometry in plan to control the transverse rotation. Directly opposite the core, the frames align horizontally. At two points around the curve (grids 26 and 17) the bottom of one frame is on the same level as the top of the other, so that a beam can pass straight through both to link them. Between these two frames is the scissor truss, creating a stiff support around the point where the two sections are level, and reducing the length of the cantilever so as to control deflections and dynamic response. The facade closing the C-profile provides vertical restraint. The stiffness and weight of the external facade panel of a typical segment is equivalent to 1.6 m

Transverse C-profile frames Transverse frames connected via curved edge beams Completed frame with bracing and structural facade Deflection analysis External view of completed building

Support from the Shanghai office The Shanghai office was first introduced to the project in September 2008. The team immediately realised that it would be a fast-track schedule: complete design development by December 2008; detail design and tender by April 2009; construction completion by April 2010. Like many other iconic buildings in China, the project had to pass local expert panel reviews before construction could start. The design development was carried out by Arup in the UK, and the Shanghai office placed engineers in London to work with the team.

15.8

99

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

a

grid 17

b

b

grid 26

c

a

c

15.9

2

1

3

4

3

4

5 1

aa

2

1

3

5

6 1

3

bb

2

1

3

5

4

6 1

cc 1 2 3 4 5 6

secondary beam steel section Å 220/110 mm edge beam steel section Å 350 mm steel section HEB 550 cross-bracing steel tube Ø 250 mm 8 mm sheet-steel panel exterior facade 4 mm sheet-steel panel interior facade 15.10

100

15.11

wide cross-bracing, and so in the computer model the structural facade was simulated with 1.6 m wide cross-bracing. As characteristic values, the total dead load is 12,770 kN, and the total live load is 15,220 kN. In the characteristic combination case (1.0DL + 1.0LL) the maximum value of vertical displacement is 158.3 mm at the cantilever part. As a cantilever structure, the frame spans about 10.5 m and carries the floor and roof loading. The maximum vertical displacement occurs at the cantilever end of the C-frames, dominating the global maximal deflection. As the displacement of the C-frame at grid 24 is relatively large, precamber was necessary to control the deformation. After deduction of the precamber value suggested by the code (DL + 0.5LL deflection), the deformation of the frame satisfied the code’s requirement. The key scissor truss element is at the overlapping zone (grid 17~grid 26) of the inner and outer transverse frame, where the span is 30 m. As the support for the outer C-frame, it carries the shear force from floor loading, and has a significant effect on the C-frame’s displacement. The upper and bottom chords of the ring frame trusses are subject to axial force, with the peak at the supports. The elements of the scissor truss have very large axial forces, as they support the structure. The top and bottom beams of the C-frame and the beams fixed at the lift core have large bending moments as they are mainly cantilevered. The scissor beam bears shear force from both outer and inner frames. The top chord is in compression, and the bottom chord in tension. The C-frame cantilevers, with the inner circumferential truss as the support, so the elements of the C-frame near the support have more axial force and bending moment. Dynamic analysis was used to assess the performance of the building under footfall-induced vibration and crowd loading; the footfall analysis was performed using Arup methodology based on Kaspersky. The effect of crowd loading was calculated assuming periodic excitation of nodes around the node of maximum displace-

Danish Pavilion in Shanghai

Mode shape

Mode no

1

2

3

Frequency (Hz)

2.83

3.14

4.82

Modal mass (t)

70

81

104

15.9 Key plan 15.10 Sections steel construction scale 1:200 15.11 Close up of the perforated skin with circular holes 15.12 Dynamic structural analysis results 15.13 Construction of core 15.14 Erection of ramp frames 15.15 Completed ramp framework 15.12

ment of the mode of interest. The applied dynamic load from “group effect” was based on Willford. Human perception of vibration is very subjective; a level that causes one individual discomfort can be completely unnoticed by another. BS64725 gives a base curve which defines the threshold of human perception. The satisfactory dynamic response is then specified as multiples of base curve magnitude, for example response factor R = 4 is four times greater than the threshold of human perception. The following recommendations were used a basis for the acceptance criteria for the Denmark Pavilion: Modal analysis was carried out to calculate the dynamic properties of the structure. The total structural mass is 1200 t. Fig. 15.12 shows the calculated natural frequencies and their corresponding modal masses and mode shapes of the first three modes of vibration. For the calculation of footfall response, the following assumptions were made: • The total structural mass includes self-weight of the beams and 70 kg/m2 of superimposed dead load. No live load is included. • Pedestrian mass is 75 kg. • The structure has 1 % critical damping. • The structure was analysed for all modes up to 15 Hz to capture the effect of resonant response at frequencies higher than four times the maximum footfall frequency. • The footfall frequency range is 1.0 – 2.8 Hz. CCIP-0162 recommends a maximum footfall frequency of 2.5 Hz for footbridges, corridors and circulation zones of any building. There are no clear references for this type of pavilion, so 2.8 Hz was adopted, considering the building’s open-plan layout. • There is no pedestrian access on the bike lane. The footfall excitation nodes on the roof and inside the building always start from 2 m from the outer edge of the loop. The average frequency of people walking is around 2 Hz; this can vary depending on factors such as the layout and use of space. In general, people walking faster have the potential to induce greater levels of vibration up to 2.8 Hz,

though this extreme is unlikely. However, the impact of increasing the maximum assumed walking frequency from 2.5 Hz to 2.8 Hz was assessed. The R value can increase from R = 11.6 to around R = 36.7 of local mode. Similarly, response due to the effect of mode 1 can increase from R = 4.1 to R = 16.3, mainly because the first mode of the structure is excited at its resonant frequency (2.83 Hz) by the first (and most significant) harmonic of walking frequency. Frequencies of both the footfall and the structure can therefore have a considerable effect on floor vibration. Dynamic crowd action can be a critical floor vibration scenario from the coordinated movement of a group of people. Considering the main use of the pavilion as an exhibition space, it was to be expected that visitors would congregate in groups inside the building or on the roof area. Normally they would be very unlikely to perform any kind of coordinated activities, but rare exceptions could occur involving small groups of people trying to synchronise movement. Crowd loading assessment was thus carried out to assess the consequences of any such rare events. In this assessment, the dynamic response due to groups of 4, 10 and 20 was calculated. This was done for 1 % and 5 % of critical damping so as to identify the potential benefit of supplementary damping devices. It also assumed that each average 75 kg participant would occupy about 1 m2 at the location closest to the maximum displacement of the first two modes of vibration.

15.13

15.14

Conclusion Expo 2010 Shanghai China, and the Denmark Pavilion, opened on 1 May 2010. The initial response to the pavilion was overwhelming, with over one million visitors in the first month alone. In addition to Arup’s contribution to the design of the Denmark Pavilion, the firm also worked on the Expo masterplan with Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, was structural engineering designer for the Korea and Singapore Pavilions, provided the structural design review for the UK Pavilion, and joined the expert advisory panel for the facade design of the China Pavilion. Michael Kwok 15.15

101

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

Translating realities Christian Brensing interviewed Finn Norkjaer (BIG) for Detail in Copenhagen. The Chinese people received the Denmark Pavilion as a great honour. Even on my flights to China, people knew about our project, were very polite and welcomed the fact that a real fairytale object was to be exhibited in China. We were surprised by all of it. Normally two million people could be expected to visit an Expo pavilion. The Danish one was visited by six million people and they had to queue for two to three hours to get inside. Some of the detailing could have been better, but on the photographs you cannot see it. Nowadays most of the steel structure is still in place. Our pavilion was one of five scheduled to remain but because it is so close to the Shanghai river the site is much sought after by property developers, who can get rentals of around € 13,000 per m². In the end the Danish government handed the building back to the Expo and said do what you want. We took part in an architectural competition on the site but did not win it. I think it would be nice if some of the pavilion could survive there and give some room and space to an otherwise densely built-up Shanghai. It could also serve as a memorial to the Expo – one thing with China is that they avoid history. You do not really see history because everything older than twenty years is replaced by something new. Thus the Danish Pavilion could be part of an attempt to keep some of the city’s modern history. Alas, it has not happened.

Detail: How did the idea of the pavilion come about? Finn Norkjaer (FN): Denmark is a small country so we asked ourselves what we could bring to Expo. Perhaps we could even do things another way. So we started our investigations by looking at where Denmark and China are different. Despite the many differences there are also a few things that connect us. For example, we found out that about 400 million Chinese know at least five fairytales by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Hence the Chinese are also familiar with the story of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. This sparked our idea of not showing things on boards or video screens but to put the real thing on display. As architects, we generally want to show the real material, so why not take the Little Mermaid to China? In Copenhagen 33 % of all people living in the city take the bicycle to work, a third of the population. This is part of our view of a modern city. So we introduced 500 bicycles that the visitors could use to ride through the pavilion. We also had real Danish food, we had picnics, play with the kids. We wanted to show the real thing – the fundamentals of Danish life! Detail: How did Arup enter the scene? FN: When you look at the model you can easily

save a lot of money by putting in some columns. But we intended to exclude anything from this pavilion that you can see in a normal building: columns, doors, windows, interior walls etc. In the middle, we wanted to have a “harbour bath” you could swim in and be overlooked by the Little Mermaid. Back to the structure, we demanded a very simple one in which you did not only see no columns but also no lights, switches, detectors or any other technical paraphernalia. We wanted it to look absolutely pure, absolutely clean! Ove Arup is from Denmark, Arup is a global engineering practice with offices in China – for us it was an obvious choice. We had already worked with Arup, though only at the level of sketch proposals. It was our wish to do the Danish Pavilion as our first real project with Arup. We started the discussion with the Arup Advanced Geometry Unit (AGU) based in London and led by Daniel Bosia. Immediately feeling good about it, we decided to pursue this course of collaboration. Detail: Up to which design stage did you develop the project in Europe? FN: We developed it past the concept stage, halfway to schematic design (SD), and the structure was conceived by Arup in London with only very basic mechanical engineering design. Then we had this meeting with Arup China, before

15.16

102

Danish Pavilion in Shanghai

15.16 15.17 15.18 15.19

View of the Little Mermaid View from the ramp Interior view of completed building Interior view of completed building

15.17

which we were a little afraid that we might have to give up some essential details, perhaps it was not possible to do the job as we wished, perhaps they wanted to introduce a lot of columns? We had an initial two-hour meeting with Michael Kwok and Gang Liu in the Arup Shanghai office and at the end of this meeting Michael asked me whether I had any special wishes? Half-jokingly I said, yes, you can get rid of these twelve columns! Two weeks later, he called me in Copenhagen and said, Finn, there are no columns anymore! I then called Daniel Bosia who was very sceptical of what his Chinese colleagues had proposed. Michael then explained that they had done away with the frames over a length of 60 m and put in one big beam. Very simple, it was so ingenious, just where we had the bar the space really took off like that... (whistles). Thus we realised that all our fears about the consequences of having the project transferred from one Arup office to another were unfounded. We were in the best hands and we benefitted from the internal Arup competition for the best structural solution. Detail: Did this also apply to other construction details? FN: Yes, when we started the project we had a different facade pattern, one which resembled the Copenhagen cityscape. But AGU said outright, this should not be just a pattern, this should be the path of the structural system. Then they came up with a beautiful solution of their own. They unfolded the 3D facade as a strip and indicated the different stress levels by different colours. As a result, we got this facade with differntly sized circular holes, a fantastic image produced from the information in the structural model. The forces were expressed by the position and the size of each hole. At some points we have a beam in the wall, hence we have hardly any holes and at others we have plenty as there are hardly any forces. As a result we ended up, not with an architectural facade, but an engineering facade. Yes, engineers designed this facade! As a direct spin-off, we

could also use all the holes for ventilation, sometimes we put a fan in the hole... Detail: How thick was the facade? FN: It varied from about 15 cm up to 65 cm depending on the forces. The depth of the holes told you... here are so many nice stories like this in this project which underwrite that what you saw was the structure! You do not need to be an architect or an engineer, you just understand how the structure works. This story can be understood by everybody. When you look at the detailing, there is not one light fitting hanging down from the ceiling. All the lighting is fully integrated. We have 3586 different LED lights in compartments and a computer enabled us to manipulate them so that when the sun went down, the lights went on gradually, not with a bang, but gently.

15.18

Detail: What do you associate with the pavilion? FN: A lot of our projects inspire something, maybe they are symbolic, but the Pavilion was much more universal. The shape itself could be used by people, it gave room for everybody including the Little Mermaid. The cantilever, for example, created a room for the bar. The pavilion had something of a free form but it was also the answer to the building programme. It fulfilled all of the client’s wishes. From a more technical point of view, we drew in 2D as well as 3D, we generated 2D drawings from the 3D model. However, after two revisions, we realised that this was crazy. So we turned the project from an “unintelligent” 3D model into an “intelligent” 3D model for which we used a program called grasshopper. Unlike Rhino where you draw solids, with grasshopper you can do a lot more parametric design – we all used the same program.

15.19

Detail: Was that engineered by Arup as well? FN: That directly resulted from our cooperation with Arup and BIG. You cannot take out a single lamp, it might ruin the architecture – this is total design! This is really how we want to work.

103

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

ArtScience Museum The Shoppes Theatres Sands Sky Park Sands Hotel Casino Sands Expo and Convention Centre

1

3

2

4 6 5

7

Marina Bay Sands – horizontal skyscraper Architect Safdie Architects Location Singapore (SGP) Year of completion 2011 Authors Va-Chan Cheong, Structural Engineer, Arup, Director Moshe Safdie, Architect, Safdie Architects Peter Bowtell, Structural Engineer, Arup, Principal

Early in 2005, Arup was engaged by the resort developer Las Vegas Sands Corporation (LVS) to work on the planned integrated resort development at Marina Bay, Singapore, which is branded as Asia’s most exciting urban lifestyle hub-to-be and the centrepiece of Singapore’s redevelopment. This crowning jewel would energise and activate the whole waterfront through its connections to other leisure and entertainment destinations, such as the Marina Barrage and the Gardens by the Bay. The whole development is envisaged as Singapore’s new downtown, its facilities both boosting tourism and making it South East Asia’s leading hub for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE). Origins Conceived by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority and Tourism Board, the resort was envisaged as including hotel space, landscaped sky terraces, convention/exhibition

16.1 16.2 16.3

16.4 16.5 16.6 16.7

16.1

areas, entertainment, recreation, public attractions, lifestyle, retail, and dining facilities, casino, links to the existing infrastructure network, an observation deck, night lighting, public art etc. The design competition parameters were expressed as Explore (new living and lifestyle options), Exchange (new business ideas, and information) and Entertain (rich cultural experiences, fun and beautiful surroundings). In early 2005, the architect Paul Steelman Design Group, in association with Arup’s Hong Kong office and other consultants, helped LVS in the request for concept (RFC) stage of the development competition to a shortlist by the Tourism Board for the request for proposals (RFP) stage. From then on, Arup worked successively on the RFP, schematic and detailed designs. Boston-based Safdie Architects was engaged by LVS for the RFP competition, and in May 2006, the Tourism Board announced that the development rights had been awarded to LVS.

Site plan scale 1:10 000 Marina Bay Sands from the south-west ETABS models for checking the overall stability of the hotel towers CAD model of the towers and SkyPark (truss system) GSA model for checking the detailed stability Tower deflection Angular rotation at top of tower 16.2

104

Marina Bay Sands in Singapore

16.3

16.4

Arup’s contribution For this mega-project, Arup provided a one-stop design service to its client, including advance works, infrastructure, structural, civil, and geotechnical engineering as well as traffic, acoustic, facade, fire and risk consulting. Design team members came from many offices, including Boston, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Singapore. For its work on the scheme design, the Boston office had the advantage of being close to Safdie Architects. Arup’s Singapore office was involved in the advance works, foundations, and substructure, as well as the fire and facade engineering designs. The Australia office worked on the traffic consultancy and the dynamic behaviour of the structures, notably the SkyPark. The Arup Hong Kong office was responsible for the overall performance and for the civil works design, while the detailed superstructure design was a collaboration between Singapore, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The Arup Singapore office, with representatives from Hong Kong, was responsible for day-to-day liaison with the client and contractors to ensure proper implementation of the designs. Each principal element in Marina Bay Sands is a major project and a significant building in its own right. Marina Bay Sands was technically challenging from the very start with the enabling works, foundations and basement construction to the geometrically complex ArtScience Museum and the extraordinary 66.5 m cantilevered SkyPark 200 m above ground. Construction sequencing was another big challenge; it included both top-down and bottom-up methods. Since the works involved many different disciplines and trades, the procurement packaging and interfacing between them required serious consideration so as to achieve and complete the works within the constrained timeframe.

tinuous space that links all three towers to form a grand atrium at ground level. Building Information Modelling (BIM) was extensively used to resolve complex coordination and documentation issues amongst designers and consultants arising from unique and complex geometry of the towers. 3D structural analysis was essential to create a realistic model capable of estimating the complex behaviour of the towers, their deformation, wind-induced movement, and elements stresses (figs. 16.3 – 5). Unlike most high-rise towers, the primary lateral stability demands on hotel towers 1 and 2 are induced by gravity loads rather than wind or notional loads. The dramatic curve of the eastern halves of the towers creates overturning forces due to gravity loads in the short direction that overshadow those due to wind or notional loads. Special consideration of assumed material properties was needed since these lateral loads are permanent, not transient as is usually the case when they are due to wind loads. The primary lateral system in the towers consists of the reinforced concrete shear walls between the rooms and the concrete cores around the elevators. The walls and cores provide stiffness in the short direction, while the cores and sway action between walls and slabs provide resistance in the long direction. The link trusses at the plant room on level 23 form an essential part of the towers. Without the trusses, the two walls would act independently and significant differential displacement would occur across the corridor at the upper levels. This would have resulted in unacceptable cracking and floors that were out of level. The use of embedded steel sections with shear studs enables the forces to be effectively transferred from the external braces to the wall elements. The sectional geometry of the truss elements was also sized to fit within the wall thickness. As selfweight was the driving factor for the lateral demands on the structures, it was therefore prudent to adopt a floor system that offered the lightest overall structural weight. The floors were designed using post-tensioned concrete construction with a maximum span of ten metres.

Sands Hotel Each of the three 55-storey hotel towers has a unique geometry with varying curvatures on the east side of the hotel. This creates an open con-

16.5

1 A

θ B

4 X1

4 Y1

X2

3 F

δ3

Y2

C D

2 E

δ1

X3

2 δ2 Y3

X3

16.6 1 2 3 4

Angular rotation at the top of the tower Maximum δ on elevation Differential settlement between straight and curved wall Differential settlement between adjacent wall bays

bA A

e

bB B

L1 = 30 m (tower 1) 16.7

105

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

16.8 16.8

Tower link truss under construction 16.9 Erection of the Sky Park box girders 16.10 Erection of the Sky Park bridge truss 16.11 The habitable cantilever observation deck 16.12 The completed Sky Park

16.9

This system was used to eliminate the need for internal columns and provided the lightest combined horizontal and vertical structures. Movement of the hotel towers With their asymmetrical geometry, the lateral movement of the towers is not only induced by lateral loads but also gravity loads. As this behaviour was critical during both construction and operation of the towers, the following tower movements were observed and carefully studied (figs. 16.6. and 16.7.): • angular rotation at top of tower, • maximum deflection on elevation (vertical and lateral), • differential settlement between straight and sloping wall, • differential settlement between adjacent wall bays, • differential movement between towers, which affects the behaviour of the SkyPark. Short-term movements due to self-weight were offset by applying precamber during construction. The completed towers are expected to continue deforming sideways due to their geometry, concrete creep and shrinkage effects before converging in 30 years. This was factored into the early design of the various building services, such as the vertical transportation system, building enclosure, mechanical, engineering and plumbing (MEP) services etc. Construction of the hotel towers Constructing the inclined towers proved to be another challenge as this was impossible without massive temporary works. Rigorous studies were conducted early in the design stage to assess the numerous construction options available. The study concluded that it would be very costly, if not practically impossible, to construct the towers without introducing locked-in stresses on the structures. Hence reasonable locked-in stresses were considered in subsequent designs of the key structural elements. Subsequently, a performancebased specification was prepared to provide tenders with the flexibility of providing their

106

16.10

preferred temporary works system while limiting the locked-in stresses in the key elements. SsangYong Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd., who were appointed as the main contractors, together with their specialist VSL Singapore Pte. Ltd., devised a temporary works system that combined post-tensioning and steel strutting systems. Steel strutting was installed to prop the sloping walls against the straight walls in order to limit movement. A series of vertical post-tensioned tendons were provided in the walls to control the locked-in stresses. As hotel tower 3 had an almost vertical geometry, it could be constructed without any special temporary works. Rigorous stage analysis was performed to estimate the stresses and movement at various construction stages to ensure compliance to the design intent. During construction, a real-time monitoring system was implemented to record the actual stress level and movement. Backanalysis would be done if the actual stress / deformation differed from the prediction. The SkyPark The 38 m wide and 340 m long SkyPark is the world’s longest habitable cantilever observation deck and is a symbolic icon for Singapore. The one-hectare park sits on top of three 55-storey hotel towers and includes facilities such as landscaped gardens, signature restaurants, infinity pools and a 66.5 m cantilevered viewing platform, which offers visitors a 360degree view of the city (fig. 16.11). Over 7000 t of steel were used in the construction of the SkyPark alone. Notably, the most challenging aspect was the 66.5 m long cantilever that overhangs from hotel tower 3. Much time and analytical effort was spent by Arup’s bridge and dynamics specialists to understand the complex behaviour under wind and human excitation (e.g. dancing). Arup had to overcome a number of structural challenges. The first was to formulate a design that allowed for safe and easy erection so high above the ground. This was achieved through a combination of bridge and building

Marina Bay Sands in Singapore

16.11

technology. The second was to cater for the natural movements of the towers, upon which the SkyPark was to be supported, through the composition of five distinct joined plates. The third challenge was the dynamics of the SkyPark in response to strong winds and vibrations caused by people movement. The dynamic properties of a structure were particularly hard to predict as many structural elements and architectural finishes contributed to them. Large tuned-mass dampers, which act in a similar manner as shock absorbers, were incorporated within the SkyPark’s belly. Large-scale vibration tests were also conducted to verify the design. The SkyPark elements are fully articulated and form bridge trusses between the towers. While designed as simply supporting, the bridge bearings are provided with a special tie that holds each deck in place in the event of an earthquake. The movement joint strategy is to split the SkyPark into three zones corresponding to the three hotels and fully isolate each portion laterally. Numerous options for the design of a

66.5 m long cantilevered structure 200 m above ground were considered, and finally a posttensioned box girder was used to achieve the purpose. Steelwork erection for the Sky Park was completed at the end of December 2009. The bridge trusses (six sections, each 400 t) box girders (two sections, each 700 t) and the cantilever parts (six sections, each 200 t) were assembled at level 1 before the lift. At a lifting rate of 15 metres per hour it took almost a whole day for each section to be lifted and placed in position. A movable lifting gantry was fixed at the secondary beams between main box girders, a method normally used in bridge construction, for the lifting of the cantilever parts. Over 7000 t of steelwork was hoisted 200 m above ground in 13 weeks, a great achievement to the design and construction team. Marina Bay Sands integrated resort is set to become an icon for Singapore and an industryrevolutionising project that will change the face of construction. Va-Chan Cheong

16.12

107

Shaping the world – global reach and influence

An architectural appraisal 16.13 16.14

16.15 16.16

Structural model of the ArtScience Museum Vertical section of the the ArtScience Museum eggshell skin scale 1:20 Interior view of completed building Exterior view of completed building

16.13

The one-million-square-metre mixed-use complex of Marina Bay Sands should not be considered as a building, but as an urban quarter. From the outset, we recognised Marina Bay’s potential to demonstrate our capacity to create a new kind of urban centre for the 21st century: vital, connected with nature, interactive, on a human scale, and climatically sustainable, its enormous complexity and size notwithstanding.

with the support of Aedas, the client’s design and construction team, that became reality four years later. The four-year schedule for the design and construction called for some formidable organisational measures. The team expanded exponentially to embrace Aedas and Arup offices across the globe, including those in the region, as well as engineering teams in the other disciplines and all the specialist consultants for landscaping, lighting etc. Indeed, two comprehensive teams of American consultants and their counterpart Singapore consultants were formed as work slowly shifted from Boston to Singapore. The hallmark of the process was the workshops held every three weeks, where architecture and engineering teams, specialist consultants, and client representatives from Las Vegas and Asia gathered in Boston for two to three days at a time to evolve the design and make the required decisions. In all my 47 years of practice, I have never seen such a formidable team effort. Moshe Safdie

A major challenge facing the Arup structural engineers and our architectural team working together was that the entire concept (including its presentation) had to be formulated in four months. This was the result of the client LVS turning to Safdie Architects only four months before the submission deadline. Since it can beseen that the concept as presented and selected by the Singapore government was almost identical with what was constructed four years later, the initial concept held up to the test of later development. Indeed, it was the result of four months’ cooperative effort by the American Arup team working with our team in Boston,

1 2 3

3 4 5

5 2 6 4

200/200 mm steel SHS primary structural “ringbeam” 80 mm steel RHS substructure fixed skylight 120/120 mm steel CHS 45 mm 3D-curved open joint composite cladding 95 mm ventilated cavity 65 mm thermal clip barrier 65/400 mm pre-curved tapered sheets 5 mm plasterboard 2≈ 12.5 mm gypsumboard 2≈ 10 mm OSB board suspended curved aluminium profiles

1

6

16.14

108

Marina Bay Sands in Singapore

Leveraging global skills Only rarely does a project need the global reach of an organisation to be fully engaged. However, delivering Marina Bay Sands required Arup to draw deeply upon its international pool of skills and bring expertise to bear from all over the world. In terms of sheer scale, the conceptual undertaking was enormous, with billions of dollars of construction to be delivered in less than two years. Manpower was a key strategic resource and each region did its part in shouldering the load. While Arup’s Singapore practice had delivered significant infrastructure projects, Singapore as a country to work in was new to nearly all the Arup staff involved from other regions, and the design conceived by Safdie Architects was complex. However, previous knowledge of the client’s Las Vegas Sands’ requirements from the East Asia office’s earlier experience with the Macau casinos on the Cotai strip provided an invaluable jump start. Awareness of the client’s preference for structural systems allowed scheming to commence from day one, even before the architectural concepts were laid out

16.15

on tracing paper. Arup’s Hong Kong team mobilised with lighting speed, marshalling resources, reinforcing the local Singapore practice and coordinating with the concept team in Boston. Senior staff relocated at a moment’s notice and in just a few weeks a fully capable design team was operating with the best resources from Singapore, East Asia, Australia, and the USA. Design activities split across the globe. In Boston, the local office combined with the New York team to scheme the above-ground elements, working side-by-side with the Safdie office. In Singapore, conceptualisation of the belowground works moved ahead with breakneck speed to allow early commencement of the excavations. Technology enabled rapid communication between global sites, with “See and Share” virtual collaboration meetings taking place frequently throughout the days and weeks. Client briefings led by Safdie Architects were held monthly. In every way, Marina Bay Sands tested and challenged the ability of Arup to deliver world-class engineering on a massive scale. Peter Bowtell

Marina Bay Sands demonstrates how Arup’s global resources respond to project design and management challenges. For example, in this instance the architect was in the USA and the client and building site in Singapore. The firm deployed expertise across four continents, and made a virtue of the different time zones to overcome geographical restraints and facilitate continuous design development through real-time coordination between the parties. The project is technically challenging in almost every aspect and stretches the limits of engineering. Alongside its comprehensive civil and structural engineering experience, Arup also deployed its expertise in fields such as materials, dynamics, risk engineering, bridge engineering, and frequently involved the range of skills within its Advanced Technology Group. Arup’s cross-continental collaboration contributed significantly to the project’s success, overcoming challenges related not only to construction issues but also the severe global financial crisis that began as construction was underway.

16.16

109

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

The art of Building Information Modelling

Stuart Bull

112

Acoustics and the Arup SoundLab – listening to architecture

Raj Patel

116

Lighting design optimisation

Giulio Antonutto-Foi, Andy Sedgwick

118

The bio-responsive facade

Jan Wurm

120

Sustainable future – responsible designers Sustainable future – sustainability goes mainstream

Alistair Guthrie Chris Twinn

122 124

Working with Herzog & de Meuron

Stuart Smith

126

Ventures in product commercialisation

Rebecca Stewart

128

A passion for timber – developing the Life Cycle Tower

Carsten Hein

130

Geometric architecture

Francis Archer

134

Often Arup is described as an “engineering family”. Arup is proud of its organisational independence, not being owned by anyone else but its employees. Irrespective of the company size, individual support and freedom play a significant part in the day-to-day dealings among Arup engineers and consultants. In more than one way Arup is a seedbed for engineering talent. Consequently in this chapter the editors gave ten individual engineers the chance to explain their own – not necessarily projectrelated – ideas and pursuits and how they found their way into the world of Arup engineering. Often the ideas came about as a side effect of project work and were persued in spare time or even outside of work. Arup supports that kind of inquisitiveness and each member can apply for official programmes to further their interests. Ideas and innovation are at the core of the Arup culture. The quality of its solutions stem from the quality of its family members.

111

Perspectives and synergies

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

The art of Building Information Modelling Author Stuart Bull, Civil / Structural Engineer, Arup, Associate Virtual Building "Virtual building” is a concept in which all design, construction, environmental performance and operational problems are visualised, solved and optimised using integrated computer simulation. The virtual building is intended to support project stakeholders throughout the lifetime of the project in the following areas: • Exploration: A constantly evolving tool for exploring new directions in design and construction activities. • Communication: Enabling project teams quickly and accurately to communicate design forms, functions and behaviours to other team members and the broader collection of stakeholders. • Integration: Providing an environment where design and facility team members can share and coordinate project information quickly and efficiently. • Optimisation: Facilitating analysis tools that are capable of optimising performance, sustainability and costs to meet both short and long-term goals. We define and practice BIM as a process and implementation, i.e. as a mechanism to allow our clients to visualise their investment. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a tool for creating and authoring model-based information and is a process application rather than geometry. The main purposes for which BIM can be used are: • automated scheduling of baseline quantities and costs • construction scheduling (4D) – for planning construction and staging activities • scheduling of quantities and costs over time (5D) • direct manufacture – automating the fabrication process • supply chain integration – automating the procurement process • facilities management – for managing the asset using the model as an interface.

112

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a buzzword in the industry. It enhances the intuition and know-how of an experienced building designer and builder. It is fundamental to a successful building project. However, there is much more we can do in the virtual world now, to allow designers, builders and clients to avoid some of the time consuming and costly trial and error approaches in practice in the building industry. The concept of BIM or the “virtual building” enables designers to develop a tested building solution with confidence, not just in the building’s constructability but also in its longterm operational performance. 2D drafting versus 3D modelling versus BIM For the foreseeable future, 2D drawings are, and will be, the main form of contract documentation used in the construction industry, though the problems with traditional 2D documentation usually relate to poor coordination and poor detailing (fig. 17.2). 3D modelling, on the other hand, is the building block of the virtual building. A 3D model of the building is created early in the process, which forces the designer and documentation team to think and resolve the proposed solutions in all three dimensions and in all parts of the building. Through representation in 3D, the building can be far more easily understood by both the designer and by other disciplines, clients and builders. As a communication tool, the 3D modelling approach is therefore far superior and is already showing results in producing a better product with less rework. By producing a virtual model of building system components, it is possible to effectively visualise and manage design coordination, thereby improving confidence in the design and reducing the chance of late changes and clashes between building systems on site (fig. 17.1). This process is best enacted if all consultants are using the same software. By collaboration and interaction of the design team as well as involvement of the client and contractor, opportunities present themselves to deliver the BIM as a tender document, which could lead to contrac-

17.1

tors pricing more effectively with reduced risk. During the construction phase, subcontractor’s models can be added to the process to provide further assurance on fit. This can be considered to be a virtual dress rehearsal for the construction process, saving potentially costly remedial works on site. It is estimated that this will reduce construction costs by between 2 % and 10 %. The next step beyond virtual construction is to introduce a common model approach from the outset of the project. A common model is where the BIM model is shared centrally with all members of the design team. A shared central model requires agreed protocols regarding who can alter what, and how and when it is updated. The model will need to be hosted on a central server located either at the client’s office, at any design team member’s office, or by a specialist modelling firm appointed to the project. From 4D to 5D scheduling Planning a construction site is notoriously difficult. 4D modelling is a powerful new tool that provides an interactive ability to visualise, inform and rehearse construction sequences, driving higher efficiency into the construction process. The term “4D” is an acronym that has developed in the industry to represent the addition of the time dimension to a 3D model. In simple terms, the 3D model contains “objects”, which are controlled and driven by a Gantt chart timeline. The application of the fourth dimension allows us to manipulate the sequence of the objects with almost limitless permutations. When we combine the automated extraction of quantities over a timelined 4D model, we add a fifth dimension – more commonly known as 5D. One of the great benefits of a 5D process is that rapid assessment and reassessment of costs is now possible. Any changes to the model and their impact on cost can be quickly (and automatically) assessed. In a recent shopping centre project, moving the bars on the Gantt chart rippled within the 4D model and onto the 5D documentation, present-

The art of Building Information Modelling

17.1 Princeton University Chemistry Laboratory – overlay of all engineering disciplines 17.2 Chinese National Aquatics Centre – The Water Cube – projects like this are now beyond conventional 2D design and documentation methods 17.3 Sydney Opera House test FM linkage model

ing the number, location and availability of car park spaces available at any point in time during the refurbishment, which was essential to the client in order to understand the maximum parking arrangement during a busy operational time. The power of 5D scheduling allow us to exploit the relationships along the objects’ timeline within the 4D environment, and then report on their subsequent quantities and costs at a particular point in time. Collaborations with contractors utilising BIM models have been limited, but on a recent project a model was passed directly to a contractor for costing. The contractor used a pricing software package called CostX. The software was linked directly to cost databases and returned a building cost schedule in 30 minutes, saving significant time by dispensing with manual measurement from 2D drawings. Direct manufacture The virtual building process enables advanced manufacturing technologies that extract fabrication data directly from the 3D model using Computer Numerical Control (CNC) technology, eliminating the need and risk associated with the interpretation of 2D drawings. Digital fabrication can be used for routine assemblies, but can also enable the fabrication of more complex shapes and assemblies that would not be possible using conventional methods. This technology is used extensively in the steel industry but can also be adapted for precast concrete construction.

17.2

By linking components in the virtual building to a facility management database, the building manager can operate and run the asset using a visual interface. The virtual building database can be designed to hold drawings, specifications and maintenance history for the components within the model. Hence an asset manager could simply click on a room in order to find the relevant information for that room. Alternatively, the manager could move directly from the database to the location in the model to identify a component in question. Or the model 17.3

113

Perspectives and synergies

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

Surfaces – 2 no Primary Control Lines Fingers – 2 no

17.4 Built examples of parametric and generic modelling The spectacular ArtScience Museum and the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort in Singapore are examples of the sophistication required to manipulate extremely complex forms in a manageable and cost-effective way. The museum is 80 m across at its widest point and is supported 11 m below and 60 m above a surrounding reflective pool, which gives the appearance that it floats on water. The fingers of the lotus were rationalised from the free-form geometry developed by Moshe Safdie Associates (MSA). The top, bottom and side surfaces of each finger are described by flattened spheres or spheroids. This leads to a series of doubly curved surfaces, each with constant radius in plan section and variable radius in vertical section. A further example in which Arup was involved is the One Island East project for Swire Properties in Hong Kong where the entire project was designed and procured using a digital project platform. A central model coordinator was appointed with the role of overseeing and supervising the central model all through the design and construction process. Clients can see the advantages in this procedure as a way of rationalising their approach to all the projects in their portfolio with benefits that flow into how they manage their assets.

could be set up to warn of faults or scheduled maintenance, or monitor energy usage (fig. 17.3). Environmental performance modelling Arup uses environmental modelling during the design process to help our clients understand the relationship between the physical space and the people who will use it. We study the physical aspects of an environment, such as sunlight, wind, air quality and rain, which not only have an impact on function and amenity but can also be associated with elements of risk and safety. Ultimately as designers, we are looking to match the performance of an environment to its intended use. A BIM now offers a central database from which compliance reports for environmental rating systems such as LEED in the USA or GreenStar in Australia can be automatically created. Facade optimisation Optimisations in facade systems save the designer, contractor and supplier significant

amounts of time and cost. Optimising may also be done to suit component size, environmental requirements, procurement strategy or to provide increased gross floor area (GFA) and additional revenue for the building owner in terms of rent. This was recently demonstrated on new landmark London commercial building, where facade optimisation had a by-product of a 10 % increase in GFA over the entire building. The appeal of optimisation for architects is that it provides an objective basis for design, but optimisation is in no way a replacement for design itself. The design team and client must control the subjective process of selecting and weighing the parameters. The strength of this approach is that we can assess project solutions without any presupposition about form and increase our confidence of finding the best solution. Immersion (SoundLab) Auralisation and visualisation are now used as fundamental design tools to allow design ideas

Parametric and generative modelling Arup uses various parametric software packages such as Bentley Generative Components, Rhino Grasshopper and Gehry Digital Projects to deliver time savings. On complex structures, we address the ability to employ analytical and experimental methods to predict and evaluate the behaviour of each of the options generated through the design development stage and provide a robust solution that can be changed rapidly by adjusting the variables and is tested for efficiency, aesthetics and performance. The impact on building design is liberating. Current trends in building architecture for curving, non-orthogonal building forms are being driven by this new-found power in parametric modelling. 17.5

114

The art of Building Information Modelling

Urban and City Modelling Whole cities can now be modeled to demonstrate client and communitywide benefits, a “virtual city” of virtual buildings. Arup produce 3D City Model, as a key tool to assist in planning for the City’s future. The 3D city model is helping visualize a City’s future, particularly in relation to growth scenarios and land use planning.

17.6

17.7

to be both visually and aurally investigated before a building is constructed. Through the use of computer and scale models, we are able to produce a representation of what it would be like to sit inside an as-yet-unbuilt space. This provides key information with respect to echoes, sound colouration, and other complex phenomena to which people are very sensitive. It is now possible to provide an accurate aural footprint of a space using acoustic simulation rooms such as SoundLab, operated by Arup. In the SoundLab the acoustic performance of a space can be demonstrated at any position inside the space using surround speakers, with visual clues provided on a screen showing a 3D model. So for instance, it is possible to demonstrate the view and sound at any given seat in a performance theatre.

measure fine details and capture free-form shapes to quickly generate highly accurate point clouds. Designs frequently change during the life of a building project. This may require supplementary information from the surveyor. Due to the completeness of the laser scan survey, additional details or plans can be generated without the costly and disruptive involvement of a repeated site visit. Arup has these skills and equipment in some offices but usually opportunities arise to partner local survey companies. The speed and usefulness of these 3D laser surveys cannot be overestimated. In the areas of existing building verification, the survey can be completed in extremely short timescales and at night, so little or no impact on day-to-day operations will be experienced.

Analysing virtual buildings and environments Ultimately the designers aim is to achieve an integrated environment where – during the design process, including the early stages – the designer can generate a three-dimensional geometrical design, set up interrelated analysis and optimisation routines and receive meaningful feedback in real-time. Arup made a first feasible step towards this ultimate goal with “3D urbanism: multidisciplinary real-time quantitative simulation” project, which aims to establish a protocol and partially automate the process of bringing discreet quantitative analytical solutions (urban design, moving vehicles, moving people, acoustics, lighting and climate) into a unified real-time interactive environment to demonstrate performance based design to designer, client and urban planner (fig. 17.6).

Conclusion As the technology develops, the potential exists for the creation of a complete virtual building in which all aspects of the building and its internal relationships can be tested and understood in an automated fashion. The BIM process therefore enables alternative layouts and building system strategies to be modelled quickly and accurately, including final clash detection and installation procedures. The use of model viewer technology, such as Tekla BIMSight, Sloibri model review, Autodesk Navisworks Freedom, Adobe 3D PDF and Autodesk DWF, is essential to allow the entire team to effectively collaborate across disciplines and at all design and delivery levels. Arup strongly encourages engineers to become “hands on” with the tools and understand the overall process from integrated design to documentation. BIM will change organisations and these changes could include, for example, cloud computing, high speed and informed decision-making at all levels, both in design and construction, with the client being presented the best schemes as a full dress rehearsal of building design, tendering, procurement, construction and operation in a virtual environment. Stuart Bull

Existing building laser scanning LiDAR 3D laser scanning is a non-contact, nondestructive technology that digitally captures the shape of physical objects using a laser beam. 3D laser scanners create “point clouds” of data from the surface of an object. In other words, 3D laser scanning is a way of capturing a physical object’s exact size and shape in a computer as a digital 3D representation. 3D laser scanners

BIM & management consulting BIM-oriented management consulting is a natural continuation of the mainstream BIM implementation within organisations. Arup offers this as an additional value-added service to clients who wish to embark on BIM delivery but have little or no experience of implementing such a delivery mechanism. Arup has developed BIM management consulting services, dealing with clients at CEO, COO and CFO level. This important role allows key BIM process advice to be passed to the decision-makers within organisations, sometimes a number of years before any development opportunities arise, but sowing the seed at the highest levels means clients are kept appraised of industry trends and feel that Arup is keeping track their longterm strategic needs. BIM management will eventually become an extension of project management services delivering project execution plans, team establishment, model protocols, 4D construction simulation, 5D costing models and much more. The overall aim of BIM management is to provide continuity and ensure progress within the entire design team, manage strategic implementation of new workflows, advise the client on progress with virtual design reviews (VDR), implement requirements for contractor model continuation through construction phase by project execution plans and workflow documents. These opportunities are not yet mainstream, mainly due to the misunderstanding of the opportunities offered by BIM management: ultimately this role must be delivered at project management level not modeller or “doer” level. At the moment, BIM management and consulting opportunities are delivered at the “3D level” utilising BIM-enabled software, which leads to many lost opportunities and lack of direction beyond the design phase.

17.4

Marina Bay Sands IR ArtScience Museum utilised Generative Components 17.5 Abu Dhabi Airport facade optimisation 17.6 Modelling carbon-coding CO2 and energy consumption 17.7 Eco city simulation, China, real-time model

115

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

Impulse

Real room or computer model

Anechoic music

Impulse response

≈

t

Listen in SoundLab

=

17.8

t

Acoustics and the Arup SoundLab – listening to architecture Author Raj Patel, Acoustic, AV, Theatre Consultant, Arup, Principal

17.8 The process of auralisation. A known signal is played into a computer model of a room. The impulse response (acoustic signature) is derived. Anechoic music is convolved with the impulse response, and the listener hears what the computer model sounds like in the Arup SoundLab. 17.9 Sound visualisation. 3D graphic animation showing sound propagation over time (GLA Building, London). 17.10 The SoundLab is able to recreate the sound of any space by taking the sound reflections from the computer model (a) and recreating them using an arrangement of loudspeaker in an ambisonic sphere (b).

116

Sound plays a vital role in how we understand and appreciate the environment around us. What we hear, and how we hear it, has a fundamental impact on all aspects of our lives. Positive acoustics are important to well-functioning buildings – not just for appreciating music in a concert hall. Public address systems guide us through train stations and other public buildings. Good acoustic conditions positively influence recovery time in healthcare facilities. Noise (unwanted sound) has the opposite effect. Controlling noise is equally important in ensuring that buildings work functionally inside. And limiting noise emission from buildings is equally crucial to creating pleasant and sustainable environments. Acoustics is architecture. Architecture is acoustics Acoustics within any space are governed by shape, form, volume, and choice of materials, so working closely with the architect is crucial to delivering an acoustically successful building. This is best achieved by close collaboration from the very outset of a project, since the acoustic performance is so intrinsically linked to fundamental design choices. Correcting problems later in the design process can be challenging, and in some cases impossible. And rarely is there a technological solution that can compensate for poor acoustic design – sound systems only sound good when the acoustics of their environment are appropriately tailored to them. The fundamental driver behind the Arup SoundLab was the need to completely change the role of acoustics in the design dialogue. To create a vehicle through which architects and clients can experience the sounds of spaces before they are built, and to use acoustics and sound system design proactively in the design process. Not only does it assist in validating design approaches, it also allows a proactive means of being able to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in architectural design without fear of acoustic failure – both liberating and challenging in equal measure.

Early development The first acoustic computer-modelling programs designed for architectural acoustics were introduced to consultants in the mid-to-late 1980s and the Acoustics team at Arup was one of first beta testers. In the early years of this development, we built computer models of spaces we had already completed and compared the measured in-situ results with the models in order to provide feedback to the software makers to improve the products. In the real rooms, we were measuring the “impulse response” or acoustic signature of the rooms, and the computer models also provided this as their primary output. By the early 1990s, the software was well developed, validated, and in use as a day-to-day design tool. At the same time, we had numerous commercial building projects in Hong Kong and London being built over, or close to, underground rail lines. Many of these required assessment of structure-borne noise to determine if the buildings required base vibration isolation. Some of our early “auralisations” were in conference and office spaces, using calibrated recordings of trains, empirically calculated performance of different structural design schemes, and playing them back to clients to determine acceptability criteria. These demonstrations clearly showed that allowing all parties to listen to acoustic design provided a significant step change in both understanding and decision-making speed. By the mid-1990s the acoustic computer-modelling programs were well developed, and computing power was adequate for them to be in widespread use across a range of projects. Advances in 3D visualisation software developed tools to visualise sound in real-time during this period. One of the first projects to use it proactively in the design process was the Greater London Authority building with Foster + Partners. There was a strong desire for the debating chamber to be circular and glass, both acoustically challenging, and the novel spiral ramp design emerged from a 3D design process that allowed us to watch where the sound was reflecting, and then strategically place sound absorbing material in the

Acoustics and the Arup SoundLab – listening to architecture

17.9

right places to catch it (fig. 17.9). This analysis was done jointly between the London and New York offices, in order to make use of the time difference to meet the challenging project schedule.

Peabody Essex Museum, Salt Lake City Library (both Moshe Safdie Architects) and JFK Airport Terminal 4.

Current state of the art In 1999 Alban Bassuet joined the Acoustics team in New York after two years’ post-graduate research at IRCAM in Paris. His research was focused on 3D sound spatialisation techniques. While there, he became an expert in the use of 3D microphones for measuring acoustic signatures of rooms, 3D sound reproduction techniques such as ambisonics, transaural and binaural, which had been largely confined to the lab environment. He also wrote programs in the visual programming language Max-MSP, which was developed at IRCAM and is now widely used by composers, performers, software designers, researchers and artists for creating innovative recordings, performances and installations. By fusing this knowledge with the output of the computer models, Bassuet built the first fully functioning SoundLab on a floor of an office that was awaiting fit-out. It was installed over a weekend (without permission) and unveiled on a Monday morning to the Arup Leadership team, who recognised its potential and funded a more robust version immediately. During the latter part of 1999, it was used to design and demonstrate several unusual design projects including the

Since 1999, the technology has continued to advance, and Arup has supported the creation of SoundLabs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, London and Glasgow with more to follow soon. Hundreds of projects have benefited from its use, with notable examples including Torino Hockey Arena (Arata Isozaki), Stavros Nicarchos Cultural Foundation (RPBW), Florence TAV Station (Foster + Partners), Clark Art Institute (Tadao Ando), Beijing National Stadium (Herzog & de Meuron) and Oslo Opera House (Snøhetta). Sound is also becoming a much more important part of the design dialogue with increasing urbanisation. Environmental noise, and the concept of shaped “soundscapes” in cities are receiving greater attention. As electric vehicles become more common, the SoundLab will likely have a role in defining and shaping the sounds of the vehicles themselves, as well as the emerging city soundscape of the future. It will also have an important role to play in defining new spaces for the arts, as the arts themselves change to include more digital and interactive components, and the demand for less formalised performance spaces comes from a younger generation. Raj Patel

17.10 a

b

What is SoundLab? SoundLab allows you to experience the sound of existing spaces or predict the sound of spaces that are yet to be realised. It uses a process called “auralisation” to create 3D renderings of sound – the aural equivalent of 3D visual renderings produced by architects and designers. The SoundLab itself is an acoustically neutral space, resembling a recording studio. The dimensions are specifically chosen for their acoustic quality. The walls and ceiling are lined with sound-absorbing materials so there are no sound reflections in the room. This creates the perfect environment for listening to musical sounds and specifically identifying and understanding the acoustical nuances of spaces. The space is also isolated from surrounding spaces with heavy wall, floor and ceiling constructions to provide the listener with a completely controlled listening environment.

117

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

17.11

Lighting design optimisation Authors Giulio Antonutto-Foi, Lighting Designer, Arup, Associate Andy Sedgwick, Electrical Engineer, Arup Fellow

Finding a reference project In 2003 Andy Sedgwick and Jeff Shaw were working together with the London architect Gianni Botsford on a private house in Notting Hill. The house occupied an unusual site, almost completely surrounded by opaque party walls, hence all daylight had to be taken from the sky. Gianni, building on computational techniques he had developed at the Architectural Association, had conceived the structure and the daylight distribution for the roof as an optimised pattern of different types of glass with different thermal and lighting properties. We initially focused on sunlight and daylightavailability problems, looking at how to maximise the volume yet retain the daylight and sunlight qualities for the site and the existing properties. This work was very promising as it was linking an interesting design problem with a sustainability issue: how to get the most out of the available resources, without affecting the existing environment? A few

months later, Dr Kristi Shea joined Arup on industrial secondment from Cambridge University. She is an expert in computational tools for engineering optimisation. We also took part in several other competitions with Gianni Botsford, designing libraries, museums, cities and highrise buildings. Questions and solutions Together we started to use computational design optimisation (CDO) for lighting within Arup, with the Notting Hill house as our first test bed. As part of our initial consideration of sunlight and daylight-availability problems, we also looked at how to maximise daylight levels in certain parts of the building without letting excessive sunlight reach more sensitive parts such as the bedrooms. Using these techniques, we can easily prepare dozens of Pareto-optimal layout and massing options, ahead of a client or design workshop, ready to tweak and discuss, in real time. The precalcu-

17.13

17.12

118

17.14

Lighting design optimisation

17.15

lated solutions are drawn from a pool of millions or indeed billions using genetic algorithms. These solutions are Pareto-optimal options, which means, for at least one combination of criteria, the best in the set – but all ‘best’ solutions can be investigated and discussed in a working session once the solution set has been derived (fig. 17.12). At the time, there were no graphical programming languages and most of our initial CDO work was scripted using plain UNIX text. This was a helpful challenge as this issue was initially hindering the wider adoption of this technique. But in Arup, we always have people with passion and skills, so the CDO revolution continued. Acoustic support of lighting Luca Dellatorre, an acoustician at Arup, has started to collaborate with our Lighting team introducing our tools to acoustics and sound modelling design problems. He has used CDO techniques to optimise the location and size of acoustic reflectors within a concert hall, but instead of stopping there, he has been developing a new generation of programming techniques. We started to explore the network, the idea of connecting different machines, one for each specific discipline (lighting, acoustics, structural engineering) and making them talk together. It was like watching a design meeting, where different specialists validate or reject a design based on their experience and criteria. Instead, a cluster of computers discussed the quality of a given proposal and directed changes until a “good for all” solution was found. Sports broadcasting The cameras used for super-slow motion HDTV coverage of sports event are highly demanding in lighting terms. A key issue is the flicker of the floodlighting, which can be problematic when footage is viewed at superslow speeds. Modern HD television super slow motion creates the challenge of how to stabilise the lighting output

17.16

for frame rates that may exceed 150 frames per second. How can we get crisp and unwavering images when the light sources are flickering? One approach is to create a blend between different groups of lighting fixtures, each fluctuating with a slight shift. Each group is on a different electrical phase. There are usually three phases to mix. But how should we pick the right phase for each of the 500+ luminaires so that at any point in the venue the flicker factor is minimised? When we started writing the problem description, we realised it was an ideal candidate for an optimisation approach. Using genetic algorithms, we have been able to reduce flicker by a factor of ten at a number of existing and new sports venues simply by optimising the distribution of luminaires across each of the electrical phases.

17.11 17.12 17.13

17.14 17.15

17.16

Solution space navigator Pareto-optimal set of roof glazing solutions Panel distribution for one of the Pareto-optimal configurations Multi-dimensional solution space Raytracing to establish shading effect of development massing Sunlight availability in an urban courtyard

Optimising the city Lighting challenges come at all scales. In the masterplan of new developments, there are inevitable trade-offs between building massing and the availability of daylight and sunlight between the buildings and the public spaces. These trade-offs are affected by many local conditions: existing buildings, cloud cover, solar geometry etc. We now use CDO techniques in the early stages of urban masterplanning, while still meeting all best practice guidance for sunlight in public squares and streets (figs. 17.15 and 17.16). CDO is particularly powerful at addressing situations where there are many performance parameters to study that are to some extent mutually conflicting. The compromises and trade-offs are laid bare, leading to a more focused discussion of the real objectives of the project. We are inspired by curiosity and a passion for the unexpected as well as an open-mind approach from the entire team. Or as Kristi Shea used to say, “Computational design optimisation is also about giving away control.” Giulio Antonutto-Foi, Andy Sedgwick

119

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

The bio-responsive facade

17.18

In 2009, Austrian architects SPLITTERWERK invited us to join their design team in a competition for a Smart Material House. The design featured a second skin enclosing the stacked residential units to create a mezzo-climate between inside and outside. A significant element of it was the facade-applied microalgae systems. A similar idea had been suggested previously by the leader of our global planning practice, Peter Head, which was then adopted by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and some architects were quick to pick up the concept of algae systems in their architectural renderings. These concepts were all based on glass tubular bioreactors in which water and algae are circulating through a meandering transparent tube system to absorb light and carbon. Unfortunately the

idea proved to be a cost and maintenance intensive method that was not really suitable for integration in a holistic building concept. Our competition support team identified a small specialist hydrobiology company called Strategic Science Consult (SSC), whose research focuses on the research on processes for cultivating microalgae. In an open field test, SSC developed and tested a flat-panel bioreactor that could turn daylight into biomass with an efficiency of 10 %; this bioreactor became a crucial component of our competition design. The outstanding performance is achieved using airuplift technology (familiar in conventional biomass process), where pressurised air is injected at the bottom of the panel and the turbulences created by rising air bubbles stimulates the

17.17 Author Jan Wurm, Architect, Arup, Associate Director Microalgae perform photosynthesis up to 10 times faster than higher plants species allowing the implementation of short carbon cycles. Unicellular organisms absorb carbon and light to generate glucose which has an extremely high energy content. In other words, the algae form a biomass as a renewable energy store. In contrast to electrical power generated through photovoltaics biomass presents a form of stored “solar energy”. It can be stored without loss and the use of special technical equipment such as batteries. In Germany about 8 % of the total energy consumption is provided by bio-energy. Apart from wind energy it is the second largest renewable source for electrical power. Microalgae can be cultivated in photobioreactors (PBR) integrated into the building envelope without any additional land use – a topic which has started a controversy with respect to biomass. Another outstanding feature of biomass is that it is available as a solid (e.g. timber pellets), as a liquid (e.g. bio-fuel), as a gas (e.g. methane) to be used in extremely flexible way in the fields of power and heat generation. The transformation of biomass into energy is CO2 neutral as the same quantity of carbon is released during combustion as what was previously absorbed by photosynthesis during growth.

biomass potential algae off-site energy conversion of biomass

building integrated bioreactor facade

do

residential building 10 units

me

sti

co

oli

he

ng

ati

ting tial hea poten l a rm the

ch

ot

wa

ter

ar

sol

ng

certified biogas

energy management centre ting

hea

g

olin

, co

geothermal probes

ste

t hea

om

fr eat

bio

al h erm ade h t ar fac sol ctor rea wa

ae

alg

gas grid

po

po

we

we

rd

rd

em

em

an

an

d

d

co

he

ati ng ng

oli

electrical grid

district heating

photovoltaics

solar power

17.19

120

The bio-responsive facade

17.20

algae’s absorption of carbon and light. At the same time the aqueous medium “washes” the internal panel surfaces clean and bio-fouling is prevented by the high velocity movement of the water, which can be observed by the human eye. Our scheme convinced the jury, which announced that the SPLITTERWERK team, including Arup, had won first prize. The bioresponsive facade was praised as a key achievement in building innovation. By 2010, we had advanced the design further, to attract private investment. Arup, too, provided internal funding to set up an industry consortium to develop, test and introduce the bio-responsive facade to the market. This also involved the German facade specialist contractor COLT International. Further funding for the product development was secured through the research initiative “ZukunftBau” (Future Construction) of the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. Within this team Arup holds the roles of coordination, design management and engineering. SSC is responsible for the process technology and COLT for the detail and system design as well as for the procurement. Our combined efforts resulted in the development of a secondary external shading system, comprising storey-high glass louvres with integrated photobioreactors (PBR) for the generation of biomass and solar thermal heat. The louvres are supported on the vertical axis to track the path of the sun. All services, such as the supply of pressurised air, inlet and outlet of the medium (i.e. water with nutrients) are integrated in the parameter framing. The configuration of the glass units comprise four panes of monolithic glass forming a central cavity of 18 mm for the circulation of the medium and insulating cavities of 16 mm on either side. The front glass pane is a laminated extra-clear safety glass (fig. 17.21). The BIQ project A pilot project featuring 300 m2 of the facade system, including all mechanical components, will be implemented in a four-storey residential building on the grounds of the IBA in HamburgWilhelmsburg by 2013 (fig. 17.17). The facade is

fitted as a secondary structure on the south-west and south-east elevations. Each panel is 2.50 m high and 0.7 m wide. Clusters of three to five panels are linked as a closed loop with the plant room. The inputs and outputs of the loop system are monitored by the building energy management system, controlling the supply with nutrition and the harvesting of the algae at the interface with the building services system. At this interface the algae content and the temperature level of the medium are also monitored. The heat generated through solar gain needs to be dissipated to prevent overheating of the system. For a stable production rate, the temperature is kept below 40 °C. The excess heat is taken out of the system by a heat exchanger and either used directly for the provision of hot water or stored in geothermal boreholes. The algae biomass is continuously harvested, stored and transported in regular intervals to a nearby biogas plant, where it is transformed into methane. For this small-scale pilot plant, the biomass potential of the algae represents approximately 30 kWh/m2a and the net solar thermal heat gain is roughly 150 kWh/m2a. In total about 6 t of CO2 is saved and additionally 2.5 t of CO2 is absorbed by the biomass every year. The bio-responsive facade aims to create synergies by linking different systems, i.e. building services, energy and heat distribution, various water systems and the mitigation of emissions. The key to a successful implementation of PBRs on a wider scale will be the cooperation between stakeholders and designers. It is a technology that benefits from strong interdisciplinary collaboration, combining various skills in the fields of environmental design, facades, materials, simulations, services, structural engineering and control systems. What is most needed is a holistic understanding and view of the benefits of these systems for the user, the building and the environmental context. In a unique way, the bioresponsive facade represents a smart and adaptable building envelope, a first step towards the external skin of our buildings becoming fully synergetic with the natural and technical cycles of our environment. Jan Wurm

17.21 17.17

17.18

17.19 17.20

17.21

17.22

Visualisation of the pilot project BIQ fitted with 300 m2 of bio-responsive facade, to be realised as part of the IBA 2013 in Hamburg Wilhelmsburg “Napkin Sketch” during competition stage showing the bio-responsive facade as external skin wrapping around circulation zones. During summer months panels are inclined to optimize solar gain and facilitate natural ventilation. Overview of the energy system During winter months panels are vertical to optimize solar gain and provide protection from the weather. First prototype of the glass bioreactors, designed for building integration Detail of the flat-panel bioreactor developed by SSC, showing the rising air bubbles to enhance turbulence within the medium

17.22

121

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

Sustainable future – responsible designers Author Alistair Guthrie, Mechanical Engineer, Arup Fellow

At Arup we are designers. Our role is to provide designs that fashion and craft materials and resources into a built environment. How we do this determines how good and responsible we are as designers. We have one planet’s worth of resources, so we must address how we should go about using them properly. Three principles guide us in this task: 1. The earth’s resources are to be used. They may be fashioned into products, buildings, cities and energy to enhance our lifestyle and build thriving communities. 2. The earth and its resources are to be enjoyed. We should experience the beauty of created things, natural and man-made to enhance and celebrate life. 3. The earth and its resources are to be cared for. They are to be used in a way that meets the needs of the present without not compromising the ability of the future to meet its own needs. What does this mean for us as building professionals? Building and construction are good for providing work, shelter, care and communication. We

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18

All rainwater to opera house reservoir Insulated and airtight facade Thermally massive stone facade All rainwater captured Building exhaust Return air at high level Stratified space reduces energy for cooling Low pressure displacement system with supply and return plenums All heating and 90 % cooling energy by ground source heat pumps Plate heat exchanger Lobby AHU Naturally ventilated inverters Solar panels FCU in ceilings or integrated with furniture Significantly openable facade for ventilation PV inverter in riser Mixed mode: fresh air supply and FCU control by occupancy and window opening Stone shade louvres

4

5

should strive to make our buildings and structures beautiful and elegant. Our projects should enhance society, life and work, helping us care for all. They need to be constructed in the most efficient way. They need to provide a framework to help us use resources more efficiently. We need to be careful that where we build and how we build does not change the delicate balance of biodiversity, not just locally but globally. Our tendency is to design using the earth’s resources in a one-way process that does not consider what is left for future generations. It works on the principle that they will find their own solutions with what is left. At Arup, we have tried to respond to those three principles in the way we tackle our projects. We approach design as a holistic exercise involving the whole design team and the client. To achieve a truly sustainable design, we need to start from scratch and take into account the whole context of the project in its social and physical environment. We use an approach with the rest of the design team and client that we call our Designing Sustainable Buildings (DSB) strategy. 12

13

15

14

6 3

17 16

7

18

2

8

10

1 9

11

HP HP HP

17.23

122

Sustainable future – responsible designers

Pin socket in stone Neoprene pad Stainless steel bottom plate: anchors into stone block above Primary steelwork

Neoprene pad

Stainless steel washer Stainless steel top plate: anchors into stone block below, and includes welded pin for connection to block above, oversized holes and serrations to accommodate

Notched surface of stone 17.24

17.25

We recognise that a building in and of itself cannot be described as sustainable. We are really speaking about how it facilitates sustainable living and activities. However, we use this shorthand to help us describe what we need to do in our designs. This strategy requires that we present to the team at the beginning of every project our first thoughts about how the project could be designed to achieve a number of sustainable goals. We try to make these as absolute as possible as a starting point for our discussions. We use six objectives to categorise these goals: 1. Carbon-neutral 2. Self-sufficient by collecting and reusing water 3. Built using sustainable materials 4. Able to cope with future climate change 5. A positive contribution to the community and built environment 6. Sustainable in operation

The ambition has been to use the natural materials and environment of Malta to create state-ofthe-art facilities for the new parliament building and the open-air theatre facilities. Stone is the ubiquitous material on the island, it is a soft sandstone and is easily cut and shaped. The traditional construction on the island provides heavy stone walls, which keep out the hot summer sun, and windows, which are shuttered and shaded. The new buildings are constructed from carved stone and glass. The stone is cut in such a way that it forms external shading to the windows with different facades being cut in different ways to shade the sun at an appropriate angle (fig. 17.24). The shaded windows open to allow the cool sea breezes, present for much of the year to blow through the MPs’ offices and committee rooms.

Of course, this is all a lot easier when we are starting from scratch on new buildings or new cities, as we have done on some of our new city planning projects, particularly in China. The reality is that much of our work is about change and adaption. To make existing buildings and urban centres more efficient is vital if we are to arrest the rapid one-way use of our natural resources, particularly non-renewable energy. We can still apply our six strategies to and formulate equally inventive designs for existing buildings, but here we must start from a different place. A good example of a project which has been designed with these principles in mind is the Malta City Gate project with Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The project combines many aims: to improve the parliament facilities for the Island of Malta, to provide a new gateway to the island for its all-important tourists and to create a new outdoor performance venue out of the ruins of the old opera house. The project puts back into public use disused or underused areas of public land including an old moat, a disused railway tunnel, a car park and the ruins of the old opera house.

There are, of course, periods in the year when it is too hot or too cold to open the windows and it is necessary to supply additional cooling and heating. To do this most efficiently and with minimum energy, we extract the heat from the building in summer, store it in the rock under the building and then recover it in winter to heat the building. The heat is extracted from the building using a heat pump and is then put into the ground through a pipe loop in each of 26 boreholes extending 150 m deep into the rock under the building. During the winter, the process is reversed and the heat is extracted from the rock and fed into the building. This uses approximately 40 % less energy than a traditional system. The lighting systems in the building are state-ofthe-art, using efficient LED and fluorescent sources with a control system that ensures lights are turned off or dimmed when not needed. All this means that the photovoltaic panels on the roof are able to meet over half of the annual electrical energy demand. The project combines the ingenuity of Arup engineers, who sought from the outset to think about all the aspects of creating sustainable solutions, with creative architects and a forwardlooking client. Alistair Guthrie

17.23 Environmental strategy for Malta City Gate 17.24 Facade mock-up for Malta City Gate 17.25 Facade construction detail from Malta City Gate The line we use is that we want the client to “imagine what is possible in moving towards a fully sustainable building.” This approach starts by looking at the location, its transport links, its social context and its vulnerability to climate change. It then looks at the shape, orientation and materials of the building and the opportunity to link the climate, rainfall and insolation to the design of the building, providing insights, for example, into how we should design to capture rainwater or use the daylight, sunlight and air around the building most effectively. The design of the energy-consuming systems such as heating, ventilation, lighting are then based on what cannot be achieved by natural means. We also consider how the building will be operated and maintained, i.e. how the users will interact with it, so that the system design efficiencies can be reached in practice. Then we consider the quantity of materials, their origins, new or recycled and the embodied carbon content in the structure, the foundations, the cladding and the internal finishes. Renewable energy systems are then explored to see how they can provide what energy is still required and how these can be integrated in to the building.

123

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

Sustainability

Sustainable future – sustainability goes mainstream Author Chris Twinn, Senior Sustainability Consultant, Arup Fellow

One great success of the past two decades has been the raised profile of sustainability among the general public. It was just 25 years ago that the UN’s Brundtland Report introduced to us the term “sustainable development”. Its underlying principle of environmental, social and economic imperatives was well summarised as the Triple Bottom Line – all three having to be addressed for mankind to prosper sustainably. On the environmental front, the quantifying of environmental impact has continued to be refined. In principle, we have one planet’s worth of natural resources available, but the demand for these resources relates to a population rapidly heading for 10 billion. The built environment, in particular, has been identified as a critical area that needs to respond, not least because it bridges all three aspects of the Triple Bottom Line. Many important first steps have been made towards delivering tangible sustainability benefits: • Politically there is now a general acceptance that the long-term prosperity of any country will depend on a sustainability-related policies and regulatory framework. • Assessment of the environmental impact of our actions has become accepted in many sectors and world regions. • Built environment specific assessment rating methods have been developed, such as BREEAM /LEED /3-Star/GreenStar/etc. • Many ideas have been explored and tested in the pursuit of lower-impact alternative steps forward. But before we become too complacent with a list of abstract achievements, we need to take a step back and quantify the context of how far we have travelled compared how far we still need to go. Looking closely, the realisation is that our situation is not at all rosy. Indeed almost any sort of rational analysis shows we have merely scratched the surface and the larger challenge is yet to come. In the 1970s, we first outstripped our fragile planet’s ability to continuously supply

17.26

124

17.27

the natural resources and absorb our waste. Since then our demands and our eco-footprint have collectively risen as we accelerate our draw-down of the planet’s natural “capital” – instead of living off the planet’s natural “interest”. Indeed, even if all new building projects and all refurbishments and regeneration were to achieve the very highest of the environmental ratings mentioned above, we would collectively still be adding to mankind’s eco-footprint and making our situation less tenable. We remain on a trajectory for 6 °C of climate change. We are continuing to use more natural resources, producing more “stuff” and produce ever more waste and pollution. The term “collectively” is important here. Just because we give the task of making our “stuff” to another country does not absolve us of responsibility. And too often we are content to don some sort of sustainability “label” and regarded this as sufficient. There is little concern for how far or how fast we should be changing the way we do things. The underlying fundamental issue remains that general day-to-day economics does not relate to the sustainability imperatives. As for mass takeup, there is simply perceived to be too large an economic cost. This is now reinforced in a time of austerity by political leaders, who are busily backtracking on their previous sustainability roadmaps. The fundamentals of the world financial situation are not likely to radically change soon. The West is technically broke for the foreseeable future. The developing world will remain focused on living standards catch-up against a backdrop of slowing growth. Day-to-day economics for construction projects are not going to change. The economic part of the sustainability Triple Bottom Line has been largely set aside and forgotten. But now is just the right time to break out of this impasse. An increasing number of people are looking for new and radical ways to recover some resemblance of prosperity growth. Business-as-usual is simply not delivering. This is

Sustainable future – sustainability goes mainstream

Eco-footprint (gha) hectares of bio-productive land / sea per person

Other Services

Goods Mobility

Housing Food

Global fair share equals 1.8 globalhectares per person

14 12 10 8 6

17.26

4 2

17.27

0

17.28 Santiago

Beijing

Tokyo

London Shanghai Toronto

just as likely to be the view of a Chinese province struggling to initiate an eco-city to house its millions presently living in poverty as it is for a western developer struggling to compete in a stagnant local market. A new paradigm is needed for mainstream sustainability penetration. The trigger for this new paradigm is cost. Fundamentally, sustainability should mean using and consuming less material resources, using smaller and fewer systems, getting more from using substantially less. Delivering this step-change for less cost than business-as-usual is the contribution the built environment can and must make. Only when it costs less will the door open door for much needed mass mainstream adoption. So how are we finding ways of achieving this? Well, drawing on the feedback of some 20 years of thought and project innovation shows us where fundamental changes are needed in both delivery processes and solutions: • Much higher levels of design integration are needed – both with the “longitudinal” process of project delivery, as well as “horizontal” integrated team. Supply chains are long with many players needing assistance to help avoid defaulting to business-as-usual. This integration spans policy, legal and procurement procedures; urban planning, infrastructure, as well as building design, fit-out and end-user operation. • Far greater feedback is needed to understand which of all the many trialled sustainability solutions actually deliver and can be integrated together. Key to this is making the solutions simpler and more transparent for occupants and operators, because complexity too often fails to deliver. • An increased understanding of how people actually interact with their built environment – instead of reliance on institutionalised past presumptions. • A clear distinction between the rapidly changing fit-out with its technology bias, versus the

New York Houston 17.28

longer-term more passive needs of environmental shelter and urban setting for the building fabric. • A longer-term view of building design with abilities to evolve for different uses, future climate change, changing transport and societial needs. • Converting reduced building resource needs and technology into reduced infrastructure capacities. In design terms, this involves masterplans that enable microclimates for natural ventilation, humanising the streets, facades for daylight quality instead of quantity, building structures providing room environment condition control and fit-out /occupant systems that harness the latest low-energy IT solutions. While the extent of change may vary depending on location around the world and local institutional frameworks, the overall trend is clear. Indeed, where we are beginning to influence institutional standards the potential benefits are now on the increase. There is also every indication that the costs involved can be further reduced as local construction industries become familiar with and develop the supply chains for new ways of delivering sustainability. Feedback from monitoring the actual costs of delivering the progressive implementation of the UK’s Code for Sustainable Homes has indicated a 70 % implementation cost reductions compared with the predictions. Similarly, some 10 years of UK building regulations incremental improvements to reduce regulated energy predictions by some 45 % have produced no associated identifiable upward trend in capital costs.

Capturing feedback and learning from pioneering projects such as Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED), London Sustainability Triple Bottom Line Ecological footprint for different world cities

Feedback from pathfinder projects: • Building capital cost reductions of as much as 20 % • 15 % reduced material volumes and associated reduced embodied energy • Reductions of 75 % in mechanical plant capacities and 50 % electrical capacities • Operating energy reductions of 50 % against current regulatory standards • Up to 15 % extra net lettable floor area due to reduced plant requirements • For masterplanning as much as 15 % reduced infrastructure landtake and expenditure, 20 % increased floor areas and increased business yields With reduced renewable energy needs this permits net carbon neutral building operation at less than current business-as-usual overall building costs.

A future with a defined roadmap towards a level of harmony with our finite planet is possible and practical. But it is dependent on us in the construction industry adopting an economic paradigm shift that is implicit in the sustainability Triple Bottom Line. The art is to get more from less. The opportunity is there. It is for us to accept that challenge. Chris Twinn

125

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

Working with Herzog & de Meuron Author Stuart Smith, Building Engineer, Arup, Director

17.29 Museo Barranca, Guadalajara, Mexico For the art museum in Guadalajara at the first meeting we explored the use of the boxes as self standing structures and tried to use the walls to span great distances. We limited the number of columns to only a handful working from ideas of many columns to wild thoughts of only one or two. Later when we studied the structural behavior we found the boxes could support themselves given three support points. We used simple cardboard study models wrapped in our computer output to demonstrate the flow of forces and the required support conditions. Museo Barranca is now under construction.

126

For seven years I have collaborated with Herzog & de Meuron Architects on buildings that explore themes of cultural, natural and human influences and references. Our response and approach is to understand and engage with these themes from the perspective of engineers to provide solutions that consider all of our disciplines, rarely solving just the structure or the mechanical system in isolation. The collaboration so far covers around 30 projects from the Tate Modern Project to the recently completed Serpentine Pavilion. Many more are in planning or under construction, here we present just a few of those projects. The Tate Modern Project Tate Modern had been such an outstanding success that to follow this with the Tate Modern Project was daunting. When we became involved in the project, it was at a masterplan stage, and the team was grappling with the site constraints and finding some meaning from the brief and site. The form of the building was described both by the footprint of the site and by the pedestrian movements at ground level (fig. 17.30). It was important that just as Tate Modern had transformed the Southbank, the Tate Modern Project should continue that transformation and encourage the north-south movement of people through the building’s connections and onto the London Millennium Footbridge. But the site was still occupied by one of London’s largest electrical transformer houses, and it had to remain operational throughout the scheme. Working on the client brief to provide spaces for long-span galleries, learning spaces and offices, we used simple sketches to describe principles that we thought would allow good engineering solutions, as well as making best use of the site as we found it. Though the very poor condition of the old oil tanks meant that they would be difficult to retain, every time we discussed it as a team, we returned to the importance of the tanks as part of the building’s history, much like the turbine hall. The sense was that these spaces would inspire different forms of art and that they should be kept. So the oil tanks were retained, although

17.30

the roof was removed and a new concrete structure built within. The concrete structure was preferred here because the thermal mass could be exposed and used to help balance the environment within the spaces. The offices and learning spaces had been placed around the perimeter. We held a workshop on the energy strategy – facilitated by our Foresight and Innovation team – and came up with this solution: Whereas the existing transformers used oil to cool them, the new transformers used water, and the waste heat carried by the water could be recovered and used to provide hot water and heating in the new building. This was a breakthrough moment in the project. While not strictly renewable energy, the solution was so neat and unique to the site that we became very excited about the innovation and the benefits it would have for the client and for the project. Sao Paulo Cultural Centre Sao Paulo appeared as a prospective project just as Herzog & de Meuron and Arup were independently converging on the idea of working in Brazil. The Beijing Olympic Stadium had been completed, and Herzog & de Meuron’s international profile was on the rise, prompting a cascade of inquiries, many of which came from a rapidly-developing Brazil. Meanwhile, Arup was considering opening a new office in Brazil. Having worked on the Miami Art Museum together (fig. 17.31), we saw Latin America as a natural progression for our collaboration. It would represent an opportunity to continue our exploration of concrete structures, which already had been enlightened by some impressive Brazilian architecture – that of Oscar Niemeyer, in particular. The project provides three performance spaces, dance company, music school as well as a series of public venues and support spaces. When we received the brief for the project, Herzog & de Meuron’s architectural concept was a series of overlapping concrete slabs, long and narrow but of various heights and sizes (fig. 17.32). These plates would combine to accommodate smaller rooms for teaching and

Working with Herzog & de Meuron

17.31

larger ones for rehearsals. An orthogonal layout set up visual connections among the spaces. The climate in Brazil allows for transparent borders between inside and outside, which lends a sense of freshness and a connection with the environment. We wanted the interior environment – its light, temperature and air – to be as close as possible to changing conditions outside. From an engineering perspective, this transparency allows for a dramatic reduction in systems capacity, and the building’s sustainability flows directly from that decision. As well as being environmentally responsive, the internal spaces had a lot of greenery, which presented a soft contrast to the hard concrete. The plant life was so inte-

gral that Jacques Herzog suggested we recruit a botanist rather than a landscape architect. Local teams and clients make a world of difference to a project, and in Sao Paulo their influence was very powerful. At our first meeting in Basel – about twenty people in what is known as “the garage”, a rectangular box with glass walls on either end – we only had a few simple sketches drawn up, but it was clear that the client was deeply inspired by the concept. They, in turn, inspired us in taking us through their vision for the creation and training of a world-class dance troupe. The dance company would take five years to develop, while the building that would house it rose to meet it on a similar timeframe. Stuart Smith

17.29

17.30

17.31

17.32

Architectural visualisation of Barranca Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Guadalajara (MEX) Architectural visualisation of the Tate Modern Project, London (GB) Architectural visualisation of Miami Art Museum, Miami (USA) Architectural visualisation of São Paulo Cultural Complex Luz, São Paulo (BR)

17.32

127

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

Ventures in product commercialisation Author Rebecca Stewart, Industrial Designer, Arup, Senior Designer

Arup Materials team members Bruno Miglio and Darren Anderson were advising the British property developer Stanhope on its stone floors for a new office building in Lime Street, London. The supplier for the stone tiles was Grants of Shoreditch. Stanhope complained to Bruno and Grants that it was not happy about the prospect of laying beautiful stone onto a screed which would take up to 80 days to dry (at a rate of 1 mm a day per mm thickness) and even then would not be stable enough to support the stone when laid on top – the long drying times cause extended building programmes due to the inability of other trades to work around a wet screed. Once the screed is laid there is no going back! From their experience with laying tiles onto plywood or medium-density fibreboard (MDF), the two engineers have naturally become concerned about the differential movement between the underlying panels due to humidity, loading and

temperature differences and the effect this has on the stone laid on top. Taking a step back from the problem, they came up with a brief for the optimum stone flooring build-up: the system should be a dry one to reduce program times. This means panels onto which the tiles can be pre-bonded off site, further reducing programme times, enabling other services to work around them on site and decreasing dimensional variance. The panels should also interlock to get rid of the differential movement as much as possible, creating a surface which behaves as one. To help find a panel that would meet the above criteria, Arup and Grants turned to the German contractor Lindner, who supplies bare boards to the construction industry. One of these is a calcium sulphate board made from 95 % recycled material including paper. The material make-up of this board lends itself to machining and shaping. To enable the adjacent panels to interlock,

Since the first use of the product, numerous office projects have found benefit in using Technik Floor in their beautiful stone-finished reception areas. For example, the London office building Ropemaker Place, designed by Arup Associates, exploited the properties of the easycut calcium sulphate board to lay an under floor heating system. Equally, the property developer More London found that in-floor services became much easier to route in its lift lobbies (which are notorious for service congestion) as a result of using Technik Floor, even after the installation was complete.

17.33 Technik Floor at Ropemaker Place 17.34 Technik Floor detail section scale 1:5 17.35 Technik Floor detail 17.36 Diagram illustrating SoundScoop design principle 17.33

128

Ventures in product commercialisation

5

3

6

7

4

2

1

17.34

hence forming the desired single layer, tongue and groove joints can be routed from the board edges without delamination. Grants formed a production line in its factory in Brentwood to tightly control the process of bonding the stone tile onto the tongue and groove calcium sulphate board from Lindner. Once the controlled assembly process was honed, the resulting composite panel needed to be tested for the strength and durability required in an office environment. This was completed at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to everyone’s satisfaction and 700 m2 of the system, named “Technik Floor” was laid in Stanhope’s Lime Street office. The first installation of Technik Floor was extremely well received and word started to spread quickly. SoundScoop, a back-to-basics solution for quiet naturally ventilated classrooms Stuart Colam, an acoustic engineer at Arup, was faced with a problem when he arrived late into the design process for an education building project which employed a mixed mode ventilation strategy. This required large air transfer paths in the partitions between the teaching rooms and the adjacent atrium. The size of these transfer paths would result in significant noise transmission. The task was to allow a low resistance air flow while dramatically reducing noise transmission (fig. 17.36). As a first step, we realised that it would not be possible to stop all sound, but found that we did not need to. The majority of occupational noise in a building is associated with speech and people movement, most of which occurs in the mid-frequency range of 0.5 – 2 kHz. This is also the region in which our hearing is most sensitive. Many attenuated transfer air paths employ a bend or two, to prevent “line of sight” transmission of sound from source to receiver. However, when a transfer path is placed at high level (the optimum place to extract the stratified warm air), it is outside of the plane of noise source and receiver and thus by definition presents an oblique path for sound. This therefore allows for it to exhibit an open “letterbox” design which

offers virtually no resistance to the air movement. The next step change in design came with the introduction of internal ribs to interrupt the foam lining. Experiments in conjunction with Birmingham City University confirmed that the ribbed lining resulted in an additional 10 dB of attenuation in a given octave band. We were later to discover that this principle is used in gun silencers. This then allowed for further optimisation of SoundScoop, making it even more efficient in controlling mid-frequency sound transmission. Now all that was needed was a innovative manufacturer to make and supply the solution to the school. The final manufacturing design was tested in an accredited test laboratory in March 2011. When one of the 1200 mm units was being tested, the test engineer was found in the lab staring at the SoundScoop specimen placed in the wall, while the high-volume sound source was running in the adjacent room. When asked if there was a problem, he replied by saying that he had to come in and listen for himself because he could not believe the results he was measuring with his instrumentation. He shook his head in amazement, for although he could clearly see into the next room, he could hear next to no noise. The product has since been branded SoundScoop and has been used for various different venting solutions in five different school and office projects. The first project, Derby College, was a retrofit of cellular offices in an open-plan work space.

17.35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

glued joint between pedestal and concrete slab adjustable floor pedestal glued joint between pedestal and board 40 mm calcium sulphate board 2 mm adhesive bed 15 mm granite glued joint between boards

Conclusion The success of Technik Floor and SoundScoop as solutions to many different buildings problems led Arup to think about the achievement. By taking time out from the constrains of a project, using past experiences as a guide and partnering with trusted manufacturers, we had come up with a solution which resolved the bugbears that traditional construction methods have for many clients. By applying this methodology elsewhere, we may well come up with further solutions that provide an innovative step change in the way we make our buildings. Rebecca Stewart 17.36

129

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

A passion for timber – developing the Life Cycle Tower Author Carsten Hein, Structural Engineer, Arup, Associate

Timber is one of the oldest traditional building materials used in the construction industry. However, it has become marginalised since the invention of reinforced concrete and the adoption of steel for general use in construction in the late 19th century. Nowadays timber construction is experiencing a revival for a number of reasons: • Excess global plantation capacity, resulting in low prices • Speed of construction • More efficient fabrication and high degree of prefabrication due to Building Information Modelling (BIM )and Computerised Numerical Control (CNC) • Strong green credentials, lowering CO2 emissions • Effective strength-to-weight ratio and further improvements due to new timber products, e. g. cross-laminated timber (CLT) and plywood. Why use timber in a modern structure? After the success of the Metropol Parasol project Arup Berlin subsequently formed a Timber Competence team. It consists of structural engineers, facade engineers and a fire consultant. All of us have had previous experience of working with timber and everybody shared a common passion for timber. In 2008 the Austrian property developer Rhomberg gathered a team of architects and engi-

17.37 a

130

b

neers to investigate the possibility of building a 20-storey timber building. Arup Berlin was commissioned to provide structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP), fire and facade advice. All matters relating to the project’s energy efficiency were guided by Brian Cody, the former Arup Berlin MEP leader, now a professor at Graz University, Austria. Brief for the Life Cycle Tower (LCT) Apart from the overall building height, the project’s main drivers were modularity and the amount of prefabrication. Furthermore, speed of construction and cost were important strategic goals. The high-rise was designed with a basic grid of 1.35 m and a 25.6 ≈ 40 m floor plan with a central core of 19.6 ≈ 8.6 m. For reasons concerning below ground humidity and fire protection at street level, we decided that the basement as well as the ground and first floors should be built in reinforced concrete, i.e. only the remaining 18 storeys had a load-bearing timber frame. The core The design team investigated the options, looking into panel construction, CLT and glue-laminated timber (Glulam) solutions. Looking at the stability forces generated in the core, we found that axial load capacity was the main governing design factor, shear forces being almost negligible.

c

A passion for timber – developing the Life Cycle Tower

17.38 a

Timber panels for construction are typically 3 – 4 m high and 10 –15 m wide. For CLT, the standard sizes are 12 –15 m with a width of 3 – 4 m, while Glulam beams can be manufactured up to 30 m long and approximately 2.5 m wide. However, panel systems only provide partial vertical load-bearing capacity, because the load can only be transmitted through the posts. CLT is normally fabricated with half the laminated elements running in each direction, but this can be modified to 80 /20 % to increase the capacity in a particular direction. Finally Glulam beams provide fibres running 100 % in the loaded direction. Based on this comparison, a Glulam wall system was chosen. The initial approach was to model the core as a series of independently acting 2.4 m wide vertical members together forming the central core of the tower and connected only through the concrete base and slab connections. With an overall structural height of 70 m and a 2-storey concrete pedestal, we were able to split the core vertically into only two sections utilising the long lengths achievable in Glulam. A comparative analysis model was created with fully rigid connections between the vertical beam elements and the performance was, as expected, much better. The conclusion from this study was that for a building up to 12–15 storeys simple connections between the vertical wall elements would be sufficient. Above that height, rigid connections with embedded steel plates would be required. One advantage of the use of this combination of materials is that they can be tuned dynamically. By varying the number of bolts, thickness of steel or quantity of adhesive used the overall damping of the system can be adjusted as required. For the horizontal joints, we also adopted embedded and bolted steel plates. An alternative to this could have been to use glued-in steel rods, similar to those we had developed for the Metropol Parasol project. The slab structure The basic concept for the slab construction was already identified at the beginning of the project.

b

17.39

A hybrid solution was investigated in the form of a composite timber beam and concrete slab system. Timber would provide high tension capacity as well as being very lightweight; concrete was required acoustically and also to provide fire separation between the floors. The composite slabs generally span 8.1 m and consist of 2.7 m wide prefabricated elements.

17.37

We studied the provisions of the current building codes – particularly the Austrian, German and Eurocode standards. It is interesting to note that the governing design factors were in the following order: • Acoustic performance: The codes regulating impact noise insulation required a 12 –18 cm layer of concrete (depending on floor build-up and general fit-out of the building) • Fire Separation: For fire resistance, 10 cm thick reinforced concrete was required • Structural performance including footfallinduced vibration – for structural reasons, just 6 – 8 cm would have been sufficient (as this system was developed for the refurbishment and strengthening of existing timber floors) For our research, we decided to progress with an 18 cm thick concrete slab on timber beams, with the option of later reducing this thickness with acoustic and fire resistance tests. For a composite system to work, a shear connection between concrete and timber was required. We had a large number of options in creating this connection. Already available on the market were solutions with shear studs and bolts that could be adapted to our needs, other options were steel plates embedded in concrete with beams bolted on from both sides and “Kerven” (birds-mouth joints) providing shear resistance. “Kerven” are 2 – 3 cm deep recesses in the top surface of the timber beam providing pockets into which the concrete would flow and this way create a continuous shear interlock with the beam. This concept requires the beam to be produced first and the concrete slab poured on top. Together with the Technical University of Berlin, we investigated the possibility of gluing the concrete and timber together.

17.39

17.38

17.40

LTC ONE, Dornbirn (A) a Glimpse into a floor installation cavity b Assembly of a floor element c Assembly of a facade element with columns a Finite element model of the LCT b Colour-coded dynamic deflections under gust wind to evaluate top of building acceleration Structural 3D model of the LCT LTC ONE, Dornbirn (A) Interior view

17.40

131

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

17.41 a 17.41 Floor plans scale 1:800 a LTC ONE b LTC TWO c LTC THREE 17.42 LTC ONE, Dornbirn (A) View of the office facade after completion 17.43 Visualisation from BIM model of LTC TWO 17.44 Columns-to-column connection to allow rotation of connection in case of earthquake scale 1:20 17.45 Slab-to-slab connection with chord detail to enable diaphragm action in case of earthquake scale 1:20

b

c

In consulting with Wiehag, an Austrian timber product manufacturer and also member of the LCT research team, we decided to use the traditional “Kerven” in the timber beams to provide the monolithic interlock; timber beams would be CNC prefabricated with these slots on the top face of the beams. The concrete slab is poured on top filling these slots and interlocking with the beams. Two slab elements were built and tested for fire resistance in a laboratory in the Czech Republic and proved to be able to withstand the test fire for 90 minutes. The integrated facade We designed the facade elements as timber

frames with vertical load-bearing columns incorporated at both sides. The panel was completed with an insulated timber lintel and aluminium-timber window frames. The environmental target is to achieve the zero-energy Passivhaus standard and this eventually lead to compromising on the idea of a fully prefabricated facade. To achieve the high energy standard required, the facade element joints needed to be sealed afterwards. Fireproofing was a critical issue in the design of this module. While the columns are load-bearing elements and were allowed to be designed for fire resistance (with a charcoal layer forming a fireproofing mantle around the inner load-bearing core) the facade itself had to be non-combustible. This is reflected in the fire regulations, which allow fire-resistant design for load bearing elements but strictly require non-combustibility for non-structural elements. While the load-bearing timber columns could be exposed, the timber in the facade construction had to be completely covered with fire-protecting materials. Building construction sequence Using these three basic modules, we developed a construction sequence for the building: • The concrete basement and ground floor would form the base for our high rise; the Glulam core would then be erected in 30 m sections in order to reduce the number of construction joints required on site. • After that, the slabs and facade would then be built floor-by-floor with the facade providing the load-bearing structure on the outside and the core supporting the inner slab edge. • A significant benefit was the principle of a “water-free” construction for the superstructure, all timber connections would be “dry”. Part of our research was also completing a detailed cost comparison with standard reinforced concrete construction. The overall construction costs for the LCT would be approximately 5 % more than a similar concrete building. We aim to bring this forward to break even, with the benefits of prefabrication, mass production and increased construction speed achievable.

17.42

132

A passion for timber – developing the Life Cycle Tower

17.43

LCT ONE At the end of our initial research project the developer decided to build a prototype called LCT ONE in Dornbirn, Austria which in line with our research recommendations was to be of a smaller scale than the original LCT design and would have eight storeys in timber on a concrete base which formed a semi-underground basement level (fig. 17.42). A smaller floor plan was introduced to reduce the cost of the prototype building while still pushing the building permission boundaries, concentrating on overall building height and the approval process. For LCT ONE two main changes implemented from the original concept of the research project were: • The slab system had to be improved, that being the most often used element in a high rise. Slab thickness was reduced to 8 cm reducing the construction weight by another 33 %. • The core was to be built in reinforced concrete The construction of LCT ONE was finished in April 2012; the fit-out will carry on until November 2012 and towards the end of 2012 the building will be occupied. Export markets In June 2012, Arup was commissioned to study how to adapt the LCT concept to the American market. I discussed with the developer how best

to tackle the local requirements while at the same time continuing to moderately push the boundaries. The brief for LCT TWO reads as follows: • Use of existing modules (slab, facade, core) of LCT ONE • Apply American dimensioning with a basic grid of 3.05 ≈ 9.15 m • Build as high as current codes allow (~19.81 m) • Use a concrete core to withstand seismic forces. The building is to be designed to be suitable for ~ 80 % of seismic zones in the North American region, with the assumption that achieving compatibility with the remaining areas would be lead to a significant increase in the structural implications of the seismic forces and hence quantities of materials. • Modify standard connections if required for seismic loads. The design was carried out for 100 % g (approximately magnitude 7.0 earthquakes on the Richter scale) While the LCT ONE had the smallest possible footprint to achieve eight storeys with minimum construction effort, LCT TWO will be optimising the floor plan to achieve maximum floor area with a symmetrical stability system (fig. 17.41). We will either place a single core in the middle of a square plan or two smaller cores placed at the ends of a rectangular floor plan which will enable the system to resist the seismic loads with its concrete stability system. Carsten Hein

1

The acoustic performance would have to be proven in the prototype itself. Various acoustic tests were carried out in June 2012 after completion of the structure. The slab system itself was, unsurprisingly – inadequate acoustically for airborne or impact sound transmission. the acoustic performance was tested with various different build-ups of floor finishes. A combination of an insulating interlayer and a raised floor proved to be more than adequate to achieve the desired acoustic requirements even for residential and hotel use. The facade system was also slightly modified, the elements used were bigger (up to 11 m long) and the integrated structural columns were pushed back to be located at the inside of the panel. While being completely prefabricated the panel joints still had to be “sealed” afterwards to provide the wind-tightness to achieve the Passivhaus standard.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

241/241 mm Glulam column 12,7 mm steel plate fixing of floor element to column Ø 25 mm steel bolt 130 mm precast reinforced concrete 90 mm precast reinforced concrete precast reinforced concrete edge beam laminated timber downstand beam

6

2 a 4

3

a 5

5 1

6 7

b

7

17.44

aa

b

bb

17.45

133

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture

Geometric architecture 17.47 Author Francis Archer, Structural Engineer, Arup, Associate Director

Beauty and joint ownership In his book “On Creativity” (1998), the quantum physicist David Bohm attempts to describe the overlap of the term “beautiful” in disciplines as different as the visual arts and mathematics. Bohm’s explanation is that it is “internal coherence” that links the use of the word. In mathematics the rigorous rules ensure internal coherence – and in the visual arts it is the individual artist whose singular world view and technique result in an internal coherence. In architecture the dictate of a single architect can of course lead to this coherence of the final result – however it is nearly impossible for one architect to control each and every design decision by large multi-discipline design teams. To achieve coherence the architect needs an aid – and this may come from the world of mathematics – and a simple set of geometric rules understood by all those making decisions.

Geometric rules in building design Geometry has always been at the foundation of architecture. Though probably initially guided by physical material constraints and building techniques – geometric rules for planning buildings have been written down through the ages in most cultures – and often have even taken on “sacred” status. As in the complexity that arises from the simple rules of chess, a small number of simple mathematical rules can result in complex systems and behaviour. Building designers often set up such a set of rules to guide the design of a building. These are typically in the form of a simple “background geometry” – consisting of building planning grid, set floor to floor heights etc. as well as geometric guiding principles. This background geometry and geometric ruleset enable each of the designers to divide up space in a consistent manner, limiting the choices from the infinite possibilities available. There are of course a multitude of methods available to set up background geometries for a building, ranging from orthogonal grids on rational spacings to “artist sculpted” freeform surfaces – or even digitally scanned 3D objects. In each case however, there is a need for geometric rules for going from this background geometry to the objects that need to be fabricated and installed. Although often this process happens without much formalisation, it is helpful to develop, test and log both the background geometry as well the geometric design rules in a rigorous way quite early in the design process.

Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo The Grand Egyptian Museum covers a site of 50 hectares with buildings and landscape planned on a series of grids all linked to a master grid (fig. 17.49). The master grid is a 24 m orthogonal grid oriented to true north, as the pyramids are. The zero point is the only external point requiring definition and all setting out then flows from the grid system. All radial grids are defined by rational easterly (x) and southerly (y) ratios and not by angles. This has the advantage of enabling grid intersections to have rational x and y coordinates and, despite the radial grid, allows for the overlay of the modular orthogonal grid (the xy grid). This, for example, is used to set out all orthogonal modular stone paving. All elevations are drawn and defined in their easterly projected view (i.e. looking down the x axis). The roof of the main building complex is defined by a straight line from the zero point to the top of the Khufu pyramid. The massing of the main building complex sits in the linear wedge defined by the four planes that meet at the zero point: • Grid plane Aa defined by x = 9600 · y 24,000 19 • Grid plane Ga defined by x = 200 · y 24,000 1800 ·y • Roof plane defined by z= 24,000 • Ground plane defined by z = 0 Between grid plane Aa and Ga sit 384 more radial planes each defined by x=

Architecture and engineering “Total design”, as defined by Ove Arup, can only be achieved by total engagement of both engineer and architect in the entire design. With regard to building geometry it is also the setting up of geometric rules that must be jointly developed, agreed and understood between architect and engineer. The Grand Egyptian Museum is a perfect example of how geometric rules can result in a coherent architecture. 17.46

134

(9600 + 25 N) · y 24,000

with N ranging from 1 to 383. (Some of these are primary grids Ab, Ba, Bb, Ca, Cb etc. and define the main radial bands and others secondary and used for elements within the bands) With the building there is a strict vertical module of 150 mm resulting in: • All step risers at 150 mm • Stone cladding modules of 600 mm • Main gallery floor trays terracing – 1500 mm

Geometric architecture

17.46 17.47 17.48 17.49 17.50

Translucent stone wall detail Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo Setting-out principles for east elevation Setting-out principles for building plan Hierachy of structure and stone in translucent stone wall

the line meets the top of the Khufu pyramid

zero point building height = grid member x 1800mm 17.48

• Typical floor-to-floor heights: 4.5 m, 6 m, 7.5 m • Typical floor-to-ceiling heights: 4.5 m, 6 m

zero point

All walls and openings are set out so that the face of the finished wall is on grid, not the centreline of structure as is commonly done. The building is designed so that: 1. Every visible plane in the finished building (floors, ceilings, face of wall, glazing face etc.) lies on one of the grid planes and 2. Every visible line (wall opening, edge of floor, cladding lines etc) lies on the intersection of two grid planes.

east/ west chronological grid

site boundary

The main building complex envelope consists of the roof and the translucent stone screen wall. Each of these two key elements has a more complex geometry also directly defined from the main grids described above. Folded plate roof geometry The articulation of the entire folded plate roof and all associated external finish surfaces and internal ceiling surfaces are all described by a simple set of formulae. A small number of carefully tuned input parameters given in the control table, allow all key setting out and dimensions across the entire roof to be described in a table. The reinforced concrete planes in the folded plate have an inner visual face on the defining planes, enabling perfect nodding out at wall to roof interfaces.

building width = grid number x 9600mm

the line hits the midpoint of the Khufu pyramid the line hits the midpoint of the Menkause pyramid 17.49

Translucent stone wall geometry This is an 800 m long and up to 50 m high openjointed stone screen which forms the northern and eastern enclosure to the main building complex. It consists of 40 large steel frames each with steel members following the Sierpinski fractal. The hierarchy of triangular openings left in this fractal geometry are each filled by planar cable nets so that the entire wall element can be clad in 40 mm thick, triangular and translucent stone panels (fig. 17.50). Each hierarchy level of the Sierpinski fractal dictates a structural depth, as the steel and the stone always sit flush with the inner flange of the steel. This results in a fractal-textured global surface. Francis Archer 17.50

135

Projects and people

Catalogue of selected recent projects

138

Information on Arup

154

Authors

154

Picture credits

158

137

Catalogue of selected recent projects

Architects Foster + Partners Client Urs E. Schwarzenbach / Rainer Reber End year 2002 Arup scope Structural engineering design; mechanical, electrical and public health engineering

Chesa Futura, St Moritz (CH) Combining 21st century design and local construction techniques, this shingle-clad apartment building is a striking addition to the mountain town of St Moritz in Switzerland. Arup brought its multi-disciplinary engineering skills to bear on this extraordinary project. Chesa Futura’s shape stems from the nature of the site, local planning regulations and weather conditions. Parametric computer modelling defined the building’s geometry and permitted members of the design team based in the UK, Switzerland and Germany to work together. The geometry of the timber structure makes it an extremely lightweight yet rigid shell. A sustainable local resource, timber is also durable and thermally efficient.

Architects Hopkins Architects Client Nottingham Trent University End year 2002 Arup scope Civil and structural engineering, building services engineering, sustainability consulting, acoustics, fire engineering, facade engineering

Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham (GB) The redevelopment of the existing Newton and Arkwright buildings secured the long term future of both Grade II* listed buildings and provides a vibrant new social heart to Nottingham Trent University’s city centre campus. The design used the residential space between the two buildings – never designed to work together – to provide a new main entrance opening onto a covered central court and link building. Many of the original features are retained in the transformation of the existing buildings into a modern university while maintaining the feel, quality and appearance of the magnificent buildings on the campus.

Architects Gluckman Mayner Architects Client Fundación Museo Picasso de Málaga End year 2003 Arup scope Structural, mechanical and electrical engineering design and site supervision, plus lighting design, audio visual and acoustics

Museo Picasso, Málaga (E) Arup was central to the restoration of the Palace of Buenavista in Málaga, Spain. This beautiful example of Andalucian architecture dates back to the 16th century and houses a permanent collection of Pablo Picasso’s works. The project aim was to design a perfect environment for the preservation of Picasso’s work with systems harmoniously integrated with the architecture. The refurbishment includes new buildings with a contemporary style to house the temporary exhibition galleries, an extensive area for art storage and restoration, book store and offices. Excavations unearthed archaeological relics dating back to the Phoenician and Roman period, which have become an integral feature of the Museo Picasso Málaga.

Architects Future Systems Client Selfridges Retail End year 2003 Arup scope Acoustics, commissioning, communications, controls, electrical, fire, facade, mechanical, public health and structural engineering. Retail fit out and the bridge link between the store and the adjacent car park building.

Selfridges, Birmingham (GB) Designed by Future Systems (and inspired by a Paco Rabanne sequined dress), Selfridges in Birmingham is the larger of two anchor stores in the Bullring shopping centre. Two specific design criteria differentiate the structure and lead to its unusual and ambitious design: the need to define the curved building shape and support the freeform sprayedconcrete facade system; and the desire to create retail floorplates with minimum vertical structure and of maximum height. CAD/CAM technology and mass customisation were employed in the design to allow the economic fabrication of the irregular framework. The store opened to critical acclaim, on time and on budget in September 2003.

Architects Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)/LMN Architects Client City of Seattle End year 2004 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering design; audiovisual, communications /IT, fire/life safety and security consulting

Seattle Central Library (USA) Seattle Central Library effectively integrates sustainable design with a strong architectural identity. Internally the challenge was to maximise public space without the need for visually impairing columns. The result is efficient spatial compartments separating library functions into five distinct platforms. The building’s envelope is also integral to its design – forming the internal spaces, supporting the platforms, offering views that connect indoors with outdoors. The unique form of the library with its varied geometry, high interior spaces and extensive glazed surfaces presented many challenges in the design of the air conditioning systems. The solution maximised the ventilation effectiveness and minimised energy consumption. Seattle Central Library achieved a LEED Silver rating.

138

2002 – 2005

Pfizer Research & Development Laboratory Building 530, Sandwich, Kent (GB) This was the first pharmaceutical sciences building to be built by Pfizer based on, and designed around the concept of integrated research teamwork. The facility includes approximately 35,000 m2 of laboratories, write-up areas, and support spaces, accommodating more than 600 technical and support staff. The ventilation system serves more than 600 containment devices. We worked closely with Pfizer, laboratory end-users and the project team to deliver a holistic solution. The service included a full construction support team, drawn from the original design team, to ensure that the original design thinking was continued through the construction, commissioning, and handover stages. Design development was completed in 12 months and the highly serviced building was successfully completed within a 30-month construction and commissioning period.

Architects CUH2A Architecture Client Pfizer End year 2004 Arup scope Civil, structural and building services engineering; fire strategy, communications and acoustics consultancy

Queenscliff Marine & Freshwater Resource Institute, Victoria (AUS) The DPI Queenscliff Centre is an environmentally “intelligent” research, development and education centre that sets benchmarks for sustainable building design and reclamation of contaminated land. The building responds to the seasons to create a comfortable internal environment. The concrete structure is exposed on the inside, absorbing heat in summer and naturally warming the interiors in winter, while timber cladding insulates from the outside. Arup undertook regular monitoring of the facility after construction to fine-tune building systems and ensure that the occupants understood the fundamentals of the design.

Architects Lyons Architects Client Victoria Department of Primary Industries & Resources, SA End year 2004 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical, public health, civil, fire and water engineering providing several sustainable solutions

Plantation Place, London (GB) Plantation Place is in the heart of the City of London where it occupies almost an entire block. The design of the building reflects a desire to maintain the human scale and complexity of this part of London; and to provide an ecologically efficient, adaptable and healthy workplace. The development delivered a broad range of innovative building services and environmental design ideas on time and within budget. It was the first true office-market building to offer mixed-mode natural ventilation in the City of London. Within three months of practical completion the development was fully let to a range of occupiers at a higher rental rate than local competitors.

Architects Arup Associates Client British Land End year 2004 Arup Associates scope Architectural design; structural, civil, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering

Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh (GB) Opened by HM The Queen, it has received much acclaim from critics, as well as many thousands of visitors, vindicating the intention for it to be a building for the people. It included the construction of a campus of buildings to provide new parliamentary facilities for Scotland. These fascinating and highly varied buildings are characterised by two common themes: high-quality, fair-faced concrete and complex geometrical shapes, both in the overall building outlines and in individual elements such as the “flame-shaped” columns and the boundary wall. A major challenge for Arup, in its complexity, its scale, and its ever-changing requirements, we helped to deliver this unique project, working with five different client bodies during its six year gestation.

Architects Embt Architectes Associates Client Scottish Executive End year 2004 Arup scope Structural engineering design, blast and facade consultancy

Allianz Arena, Munich (D) Completed in 2005 the 66,000-seat stadium is home to two local football clubs and hosted the opening ceremony for the 2006 World Cup. The structural frame of the bowl and the stands are made of reinforced concrete, while the roof consists of steel latticework. The entire building is wrapped in illuminated air-filled cushions. One of the building’s most striking features is the colour-changing facade that reflects which of the two clubs is using the arena. Working with contractors Alpine and Herzog & de Meuron, Arup won the bidding competition and handled the structural engineering and detailed design in collaboration with Sailer Stepan and Partners, Munich.

Architects Herzog & de Meuron Client Allianz Arena München Stadion End year 2005 Arup scope Competition: Structural engineering, design for bowl and roof Project: Structural engineering, design for the stadium bowl

139

Catalogue of selected recent projects

Architects Cox Richardson Architects & Planners Client International House General Trading, Midmac Contracting and Six Construct, Khalifa Sports City Development Committee End year 2005 Arup scope Structural engineering

Khalifa Stadium, Doha (QR) This signature stadium upgrade is a showcase for engineering expertise and a sign of Qatar’s resolve to be a leading venue for world sporting events. Engaged to upgrade the stadium in preparation for the 2006 Asian Games, the existing 20,000seat stadium without a roof was converted into a 50,000-seat stadium with a striking roof over the western side and a signature lighting arch over the eastern side. The award-winning result is a world-class facility, unique in design and instantly recognisable as an emblem of Qatar.

Architects MCG5 Architects Client Melbourne Cricket Club End year 2005 Arup scope Traffic, fire, facade, ESD, civil and structural engineering

Melbourne Cricket Ground (AUS) Arup, in a joint venture with Connell Mott MacDonald, delivered a multidisciplinary engineering service to transform the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) into a 100,000-seat stadium. Construction of the new roof over the Northern Stand was a major Arup contribution to the joint venture works. The new roof is elegant, light and transparent but still maintains the MCG’s iconic status and complements the Great Southern Stand (GSS) without replicating it. To maintain the symmetry of the stadium, the redevelopment included extending the GSS by one bay with new giant scoreboards at each end of the ground, separating the two stands. Arup also incorporated sustainable principles into the complex. This involved reducing the demand for energy, and using building systems that provided optimum operational and resource efficiency.

Architects T. R. Hamzah & Yeang Client National Library Board Singapore (NLB) End year 2005 Arup scope IT and communications systems; facade and fire engineering

National Library, Singapore (SG) Contradicting the reputation of libraries as being academic and rather stuffy places, the National Library is an impressive reference and lending library and a flagship centre that seeks to be a focus for national events and social activities. The forward-thinking facility embraced technology to inform its design and improve its user experience. Discrete passive RFID devices in all books eliminate the need for staff to assist with loans and returns and improve book security. As for the safety of the building, Arup’s design allowed for the majority of the steel floor beams to remain unprotected or to have reduced fire protection applied, while maintaining the building’s structural stability in the event of a fire. This enabled the bare steel structure to be expressed and allowed cost-effective construction of the building.

Architects Jerde Partnership, Epstein Sp. Client Ing Real Estate End year 2005 Arup scope Structural, civil, transportation and geotechnical engineering; acoustics, pedestrian flow modelling and building physics consultancy

Zlote Tarasy, Warsaw (PL) Designed as a lively, multi-level canyon, Zlote Tarasy combines nature with retail and entertainment. The centre of Zlote Tarasy is protected from Warsaw’s weather by an iconic 10,500 m² free-form glass roof which, unique in its shape and construction, provided the greatest design challenge for Arup. The use of Arup software and a common computer model of the roof was of huge benefit, allowing the project team (based in five countries) to work together to resolve complexities quickly. Arup also carried out SPeAR assessments at key stages of the project, successfully demonstrating how sustainability can be integrated into a project – positively influencing lighting, landscaping and cladding design.

Architects Hadi Simaan, AREP Client Midmac Six Construct JV End year 2006 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering; fire, facade engineering and vertical transportation consultancy

Aspire Tower, Doha (QA) Aptly shaped like a torch, the 300 m Doha skyscraper holds the record for the highest ever location and tallest ever games flame. A tight 21-month construction program required the tower’s substructure, superstructure and building services be designed in parallel with the construction. Without columns at ground level, the whole structure cantilevers off the central concrete core. The same technique created a swimming pool, extending 12 m out from the building, 80 m above ground. With a 300-seat revolving restaurant at the top of the building, comfort under high wind loads was an important consideration. Following analysis, the solution was to fit 140 t of tunedmass dampers in the tower to absorb movement and vibration.

140

2005 – 2006

Kanyon, Istanbul (TR) Opened in spring 2006, the Kanyon complex is a city within a city, a vast multi-use development covering some 250,000 m2. Its garden is dominated by the curved facade of a tower that creates an iconic silhouette on the skyline. As lead consultant on the project, Arup’s work provided the high-level technological design demanded by the development of the complex. The facility features a dramatic interior street, which creates a completely unique shopping experience. The retail centre sits alongside an entertainment centre, exclusive private accommodation, a 27-storey office tower, multi-level basement parking and links to the city metro system.

Architects Jerde Partnership Tabanlioglu Architecture and Consulting Client Isgyo Eczacibasi Ilac Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS End year 2006 Arup scope Design management; structural, mechanical, electrical, public health, civil, seismic, communications and security engineering design. Arup was prime agent for the design phase

Kresge Foundation Headquarters, Michigan (USA) In 2003, the environmentally-conscious Kresge Foundation inaugurated a programme to encourage sustainable building by non-profits and embarked on the sustainable renovation and expansion of its own headquarters. The foundation envisioned a new, highly efficient, low-energy building to house its expanding operations. Employing both low and high-tech methods, the LEED Platinum building uses considerably less energy than a typical building of similar size. The facility employs a geothermal system for heating and cooling. Additional sustainable strategies include a series of green roofs, landscaping with drought-resistant native plants, stormwater runoff management and interior water conservation and reuse systems.

Architects Valerio Dewalt Train Associates Client Kresge Foundation End year 2006 Arup scope Mechanical, electrical and public health engineering; fire/life safety consulting

Olympic Ice Hockey Stadium, Turin (I) Highly flexible in its legacy use, the stadium is designed to host multi-purpose sports, entertainment, and cultural events following the Olympics. The design features movable and retractable stands that allow for the rapid change of seating configuration. The world-class Olympic event space shows a rare equilibrium between architectural form and technology. The building services integrate with the architectural and structural form, and are designed to be robust and energy efficient. 3D modelling and simulation techniques were employed to prevent design clashes and coordinate the structural and building services design.

Architects Arata Isozaki & Associates, Archa Client Agenzia Torino 2006 End year 2006 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering design; specialist sports engineering consultancy and site supervision

National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff (GB) The National Assembly for Wales is situated on the waterfront in Cardiff Bay, adjacent to the Grade I listed Pierhead Building and Wales Millennium Centre – also an Arup project. The eyecatching building embraces the desire for open and transparent government, with open and inviting public spaces as well as secure private areas for members. The building’s striking sculpted roof was inspired by the natural flow of forces within a folding plate structure. By refining its unique and complex geometry, it was fabricated and constructed simply, without compromising its unusual design. The assembly building also exemplifies sustainable design, incorporating durable finishes that will last throughout its envisioned 120-year lifespan.

Architects Richard Rogers Partnership Client National Assembly For Wales End year 2006 Arup scope Full structural, civil engineering and geotechnical design to construction; specialist input on facades, transportation, lifts and wind environment

Unilever House, London (GB) The sustainable refurbishment of Unilever House breathed new life into a stunning but under-performing listed London building. Arup recommended a course of action that would allow the 1930s facade to be retained, but upgraded to comply with building regulations for thermal performance and heat gain. Original glazing was replaced with high performance windows, insulation and vapour-sealing solid facade elements. This spectacular and effective refurbishment was achieved whilst exceeding ambitious sustainability goals, attracting a BREEAM “Excellent” rating, with carbon usage 22 % below building regulations. This was achieved through measures such as reusing conditioned air, locally sourcing materials, and using a high performance facade on new-build areas.

Architects Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates Client Unilever UK Central Resources End year 2006 Arup scope Acoustics, structural, mechanical, electrical, fire, facade and public health engineering

141

Catalogue of selected recent projects

Architects Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Client US Air Force Memorial Foundation End year 2006 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering; fire protection and security design

United States Air Force Memorial, Arlington (USA) The United States Air Force Memorial honours the service of the personnel of the United States Air Force and its predecessors. Comprising three stainless steel and concrete spires, the memorial evokes the image of “contrails of the Air Force Thunderbirds as they peel back in a precision ‘bomb burst’ manoeuvre.” The spires cantilever horizontally to a maximum of 19.81 m, with the tallest less than 4.27 m wide at its base. During design, engineers were challenged to make the spires ever more slender. Advanced technology was employed to account for the wind-induced movement on the structure: now when the spires move, the damping system dissipates energy, preventing the swaying movement from gathering momentum.

Architects Foster + Partners Client Beijing Capital International Airport Collaborators NACO, Beijing Institute of Architectural Design End year 2007 Arup scope Structural engineering, MEP engineering, building physics, IT/communications, airport systems, fire engineering, vertical transportation, facade, acoustics and daylighting studies

Beijing Capital International Airport (CN) Beijing’s newly expanded airport – including a new terminal and a new third runway – will increase the airport’s capacity from 35 m to over 80 m passengers per year. Its modular terminal design enabled a fast-track construction programme and provides the inherent flexibility for future growth with minimal disturbance to normal operations. Striving to be one of the world’s most sustainable airports, it incorporates design concepts such as south-east orientated skylights to optimise daylight and thermal performance and integrated environmental control systems to minimise energy consumption and therefore carbon emissions. Arup undertook comprehensive building physics studies to ensure a comfortable and energy-efficient environment for all passengers.

Architects and Engineers Arup Associates and Ove Arup & Partners International Client Drukpa Kargyud Trust End year 2007 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, public health engineering

Druk White Lotus School, Ladakh (IND) The school was conceived to create an educational community in the remote Ladakh region of India and as a model for sustainable development. The school is largely self-sufficient in energy. Classrooms face the morning sun to make the most of natural light and heat and two boreholes and solar pumps supply the school site with all the water it needs. Perched in the Indian Himalayas, the school has to withstand extreme temperatures and earthquakes. Arup’s design for the school combines sustainable local materials and traditional construction techniques with leading-edge environmental design. A team of architects and engineers from Arup and Arup Associates has worked on the Druk White Lotus School since 1997.

Architects Shigeru Ban Architects Client Swatch Group Japan End year 2007 Arup scope Structural engineering

Nicolas G. Hayek Centre, Tokyo (JP) The Nicolas G. Hayek Centre is the new headquarters building of Swatch Group Japan. Its key architectural feature is an atrium space wherein a series of hydraulic elevators double as mobile showrooms, floating visitors up to the boutiques of each of the seven Swatch Group brands. This large atrium space located at the base of the building was made possible by implementing a new seismic damping system inspired by the pendulum movement of an antique clock, involving a series of self-mass dampers (SMD) that can be tuned to reduce seismic excitation.

Architects Studio Daniel Libeskind Client Royal Ontario Museum End year 2007 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering; facade and lighting design; fire protection

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (CDN) Inspired by the “colliding prisms” found in naturally occurring mineral crystals, the Royal Ontario Museum’s “Crystal” is a bold, modernist addition to one of Canada’s most respected museums. Structurally, the challenge was to insert the new construction within the museum’s original form. Arup used 3D modelling and worked closely with the steel fabricator to develop a method and sequence for construction. Care was taken in selecting HVAC systems, components, controls, and optimised space links to recover energy and reduce waste whenever possible, with all new ventilation systems utilising active or passive energy recovery technologies.

142

2006 – 2008

San Francisco Federal Building (USA) The San Francisco Federal Building embodies a commitment to urban renewal and provides a progressive, sustainable workplace that redefines bureaucratic culture. Reducing energy consumption, and maximising natural daylight and ventilation are central to its design. The facade features a “living skin” that can respond to outside conditions, while building systems monitor the interior to maintain a comfortable working environment. The long, slender tower takes advantage of wind-driven cross-ventilation, achieving 70 % natural ventilation, despite adhering to security and blast requirements for the lower floors. By foregoing a mechanical cooling system, the client was able to save €8.53 million in construction costs and recorded annual operational savings of €380,000.

Architects Morphosis Client General Services Administration End year 2007 Arup scope Seismic, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering

Toronto Pearson Airport (CDN) Arup provided the multidisciplinary planning and design of a €3.4 billion new terminal for Toronto Pearson International – Canada’s largest and busiest airport. Carefully planned phasing allowed the facility to remain fully operational during construction. Involved from the outset, Arup worked continuously on the project through the completion of its first two stages in 2007. Arup also led the testing, commissioning, approval and handover of all building (architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing) and information technology and communications (security, network, public address, etc.) systems (ITC). To facilitate these activities, Arup developed a suite of webbased electronic Facilities Activation Support Tools (e-FAST).

Architects Airport Architects Canada Client Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) End year 2007 Arup scope Masterplanning, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering, acoustic, audiovisual, and information technology and communications (ITC) consultancy

Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, Macau (MAC) The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel is Asia’s largest singlestructure hotel building, representing modern engineering on a grand scale. The multi-purpose entertainment complex boasts a casino, hotel and retail space, and performance facilities which include a multi-purpose amphitheatre and theatre. There are also three canals with gondola rides in its shopping mall. The architecture is a replica of the Venetian Las Vegas, inspired by iconic buildings in Venice. With a total construction floor area of 960,000 m2 completed within 43 months, the resort is a feat of multidisciplinary design engineering. Through creative collaboration with the client and across disciplines, Arup delivered a design solution that satisfied the client’s desire for large column free space by employing large-span floors. We also designed a fast track construction programme by using precast elements which enabled an average construction speed of 62,000 m2 per month.

Architects Aedas Client Venetian Macao Management End year 2007 Arup scope Structural engineering, geotechnics, civil engineering, fire engineering, site supervision and transport consultancy

WWF Headquarters Building, Zeist (NL) The brief for the Netherlands’ WWF Headquarters was clear: to provide an energy-efficient and cost-effective refurbishment of an existing building. Located far away from the road and surrounded by trees, and coupled with its long north-south facades, suggested making use of the outside air coming directly through the facade to provide ventilation and cooling. An ambitious energy performance target was achieved using natural ventilation, external shading and retro-fitted concrete slab cooling. Power and data distribution are kept simple, and a ground energy system reduces the running costs. We achieved an energy-efficient solution within budget. The project received the “Best European Environmental Design Award 2010”.

Architects RAU Client World Wide Fund For Nature End year 2007 Arup scope Mechanical and electrical engineering, sustainable building design

National Stadium – Bird’s Nest, Beijing (CN) An iconic landmark in the capital, the National Stadium was designed to host the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics. Inspired by traditional style of Chinese pottery, its structural form eamed the it title of the “Bird’s Nest”. Although seemingly random, the envelope pattern abides by complex rules, which were used to define the geometry of the elements. The elliptical shape of the stadium represents heaven, while the adjacent square form of the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube), also design-engineered by Arup, is a reflection of the Chinese symbol for earth. Located in an area of moderately high seismicity, Arup adopted the performance-based seismic design and advanced analysis to design the Stadium and to ensure the stadium structure can withstand major shocks.

aus DETAIL nehmen 7+8/2008 ab S. 771

Architects Herzog & de Meuron Collaborators China Architecture Design & Research Group Client National Stadium End year 2008 Arup scope Structural engineering, seismic design, MEP engineering, environmental engineering, acoustics, fire engineering, lighting design and wind engineering

143

Catalogue of selected recent projects

Architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Alonso Balaguer y Arquitectes Associats Client Bodegas Protos End year 2008 Arup scope Geotechnical, structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering

Bodegas Protos Winery, Peñafiel, Valladolid, Spain (E) The Bodegas Protos Winery 180 km north-west of Madrid is a facility capable of processing 1 million kg of grapes and fermenting, aging and bottling 3 million bottles of wine each year. Its unique design by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners features five parallel barrel-vaults supported by laminated-timber arches. Cool storage for the wine is created by effective use of the thermal ground mass. The south facade is protected by a nine metre roof overhang while the west facade is further shaded by a system of large, fixed brise-soleils. An innovative structural system, eliminating the need for temporary support structures, allowed for rapid assembly within just 9 months.

Architects Arup Associates Client Citigroup End year 2008 Arup scope Full integrated design services by Arup Associates, LEED Certification, LEED Commissioning

Citi Data Centre, Frankfurt (D) Designed by Arup Associates, Citi Data Centre is a 9300 m2 facility providing office space and separate storage facilities. Sustainability, conservation of resources and security standards (Tier IV) were of particular importance to the project and a priority for the client. The building incorporates a raft of environmental measures – like a plant-lined “green wall” irrigated with recycled water – ensuring it achieves maximum sustainability without compromising operations or reliability. Setting new standards in sustainable design, it is the first data centre in the world to achieve a platinum rating and the first building in Germany to achieve LEED accreditation.

Architects Thompson Ventulett Stainback & Associates Client Sama Dubai End year 2008 Arup scope Design. Currently authorized through schematic design phase only

Dubai Towers (UAE) The Dubai Towers are the landmark project of the Lagoons development. A mixed-use development, it consists of four dramatic towers of different heights above a podium surrounded by a manmade lagoon. The tallest of the four towers stands at 563 m tall and they possess arguably the most complicated geometric forms yet proposed for towers of these heights. The podium under the towers consists of eight levels of mixed-use retail and parking totalling 631,725 m2. Arup brought optimisation of geometry and member sizes that none of the three previous structural engineers were able to achieve. The revised structure saved 95,000 t of steel and 96,000 m2 of concrete compared to the original design, saving €465 million in structural material alone. The substantial savings and improved constructability transformed the Dubai Towers from an architectural concept into a truly buildable design.

Architects Richard Rogers Partnership Client Maggie’s Centre Trust End year 2008 Arup scope Full structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering

Maggie’s Centre, Hammersmith (GB) Maggie’s Centres provide friendly and non-institutional caring environments for people affected by cancer worldwide. Each is close to a major hospital cancer treatment centre, they allow cancer patients to take time out during their treatment. The new award-winning facility at Hammersmith in London was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and is the first of a network of centres for England and Wales. It includes therapy rooms, relatives’ rooms, offices, kitchen, external courtyards and gardens. Arup is proud to have also worked on Maggie’s Centres in Dundee, Swansea and Hong Kong.

Architects Tange Associates Client Mode Gakuen End year 2008 Arup scope Structural engineering

Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, Tokyo (JP) Arup provided structural engineering services for the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Tokyo. Standing at 204 m tall and with 50 storeys it is the second tallest educational building in the world. The iconic building’s expressive design has attracted wide public interest. The structure’s aesthetic excellence and functional design have also been recognised by the industry, winning the Emporis “Skyscraper of the Year” award in 2008. Home to three vocational schools of fashion design, computer technology and medical care, it serves a total of 10,000 students, nurturing their professional development so that they eventually emerge like butterflies from a cocoon.

144

2008 – 2009

Singapore Flyer (SG) Standing at 165 m – the height of a 42-storey building – the Singapore Flyer is the world’s largest giant observation wheel. The Arup design team used its experience working on the London Eye to optimise the Singapore landmark’s design. The team developed a unique spoke cable and rim structural arrangement that simultaneously provides restraint to the radial translational buckling in the plane of the wheel and the torsional buckling along the axis of the rim. The resulting twodimensional ladder truss structure enabled a lightweight structure. Local wind conditions posed a further challenge, requiring extensive wind research and dynamic modelling to ensure the comfort and safety of passengers in windy weather.

Architects Kisho Kurokawa Architect & Associates, DP Architects Client Singapore Flyer, Melchers Project Management End year 2008 Arup scope Civil, structural, geotechnical, mechanical, electrical and fire engineering and transport planning

1 Bligh Street, Sydney (AUS) 1 Bligh Street is Sydney’s first 6-Star Green Star high-rise building and is owned and managed by DEXUS, DWPF and Cbus Property. The high-performance double-skin facade, full-height naturally ventilated atrium, and efficient hybrid mechanical system, are some of the features which contribute to its highly sustainable design. Passive-chilled beams on the perimeter allow for effective tracking of solar loads, and the first use of blackwater recycling in high-rise office buildings, saving 100,000 litres of drinking water a day. The elliptical shaped floor plates enable 74 % of the building to be within eight metres of either the facade or the atrium, providing large amounts of natural light into the building and panoramic views.

Architects Ingenhoven Architects, Architectus Client Grocon End year 2009 Arup scope Structural design documentation; facade, electrical, mechanical, fire, structural, acoustic and lighting design

Campus Palmas Altas, Seville (E) This centre is the first business park dedicated to innovation in Andalusia and the biggest private technology complex business in the region. The design was intended to encourage sustainable building through environmental technologies which are able to reduce energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions by 30 %. To ensure a successful outcome, carbon footprint reductions and economic payback, Arup set out both passive and active strategies. By defining the optimum orientation of the buildings, selecting to design more compact buildings, proposing green roofs and optimized solar control through the facades, the Arup team were able to achieve a high standard of sustainability.

Architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Vidal y Asociados arquitectos Client Centro Tecnológico Palmas Altas (Abengoa) End year 2009 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and public health enginering; fire and facade engineering

Art Institute of Chicago (USA) A renowned encyclopaedic art museum, the Art Institute of Chicago opened its multi-award-winning South Gallery extension to the public in May 2009. Now the second largest art museum in the United States, AIC’s four-storey gallery addition consists of 23,000 m² of space dedicated to exhibition and museum facilities with links to existing buildings. The extension spans the railway between the existing Morton and Rice buildings. Arup helped Renzo Piano to create the “floating carpet” roof that he envisioned, while allowing natural light to illuminate the gallery.

Architects Renzo Piano Building Workshop Client Art Institute of Chicago End year 2009 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, specialist lighting and acoustics engineering

Joseph Vance Building, Seattle (USA) Constructed in 1929, this landmark Seattle building was purchased by Jonathan Rose Companies in 2006 with the intent to make it the greenest and healthiest building in the city. Arup advised the owner on sensible, cost-effective green building strategies. By implementing a number of changes to the building and its systems, including restoring some of the 1929 design, the Vance Building achieved LEED Existing Buildings Gold certification and an Energy Star rating of 96, putting it in the top 4 % of all office buildings in the USA. The demand for “green” office space resulted in an increase in occupancy from 68 % to over 90 %.

Architects Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects Client Jonathan Rose Companies End year 2009 Arup scope Sustainability and MEP consulting services; energy modelling of facade, HVAC and plumbing system, LEED EB consulting. Providing ongoing sustainability consulting

145

Catalogue of selected recent projects

Architects Ray Hole Architects Client Snowdonia National Park Authority End year 2009 Arup scope Mechanical, electrical, civil and structural engineering design; limited site inspection services

Mount Snowdon Visitor Centre, Wales (GB) Building difficult things in difficult places doesn’t come much more extreme than the geometrically complex café and visitor centre – Hafod Eryri (Upland Snowdonia) – at the pinnacle of Snowdon in Wales. At 1085 m, the mountain – and therefore the building – is the highest in England and Wales. The site presented the design team with many obstacles. No gas, electricity or water supply on site, and all construction materials had to fit the dimensions and weight limit of the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The brief was that the building should be constructed from local materials, be as sustainable as possible, and showcase the history, poetry and folklore of the mountain to visitors.

Architects Cox Architects & Planners Client Victoria Department of Infrastructure End year 2009 Arup scope Project management; civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering; risk and security, fire engineering; rail and proof engineering; traffic engineering

North Melbourne Station Redevelopment (AUS) Arup developed innovative design solutions to ensure the new North Melbourne station was delivered on time and within budget. Our team engaged with rail operators, developing a strategy for working in the rail corridor that provided an efficient and safe environment. Constructability planning and reviews informed the design, allowing platforms to remain operational and construction staging to occur over live rail lines. Arup delivered a multidisciplinary engineering design, with prefabrication, modular design and weight minimisation driving design solutions. 3D modelling was used to assist with the seamless design process, as well as detect clashes between components, services and site boundaries prior to construction.

Architects Tekeli-Sisa Architecture Partnership Client Limak-GMR Joint Venture End year 2009 Arup scope Structural, seismic and infrastructural engineering for the new terminal building; infrastructure engineering and consulting for the airside aspects

Sabiha Gökçen Airport, Istanbul (TR) Designed to withstand a 7.5 – 8.0 Richter magnitude earthquake, Sabiha Gökçen Terminal is the largest seismically isolated building in the world, at over 40,000 m2 in plan, the terminal is the largest seismically isolated structure built to date. Arup’s team of seismic experts determined the amount of movement that the building could withstand and tested 14 potential earthquake scenarios. The lateral earthquake loads are reduced by 80 % using 300 isolators, delivering a superior seismic performance and shattering industry standards to redefine what is possible. As testament to its design, the project was granted an Award of Merit from the Structural Engineers Association of California.

Architects Samoo Architects & Engineers Client Samsung C&T Corporation End year 2009 Arup scope Zero-energy design, sustainable building design, LEED certification and MEP advisors

GREEN TOMORROW, Yongin (KR) Samsung GREEN TOMORROW is the first LEED Platinum project in East Asia. Reduction in the energy demand can be obtained by using on-site renewable systems. 163 m2 of photovoltaic panels, 5 m2 of solar thermal collectors and a 1 kW wind turbine are adopted by the building in order to achieve a zero-energy rating. Potable water use is reduced by 80 % and no irrigation water is required due to the application of on-site blackwater treatment, rainwater harvesting and energy-efficient appliances.

Architects Arup Client Silk Way Airlines End year 2010 Arup scope Civil and structural engineering design up to detailed design for construction, author and architectural supervision during design to the specialised contractor and during construction

Baku Airport Tollgate (AZ) Whilst minor in scale, the Baku Tollgate (or gateway) plays a significant role as the new gateway for Azerbaijan’s Heydar Aliyev international airport. Arup’s architectural and engineering design of the tollgate forms part of a broader contribution to a feasibility study for the area. The vision for the project is twofold: to renew and widen the airport’s access route and barrier; and to create an iconic entrance in anticipation of future airport-wide refurbishments. The support and determination of the client to achieve the designs has largely contributed to the project’s success.

146

2009 – 2010

Centre Pompidou-Metz (F) The Centre Pompidou-Metz is an 11,000 m2 modern art gallery. The main galleries are three 80 m long rectangular concrete tubes stacked at 45° angles, with variable spans from 20 to 45 m and cantilevers of up to 22 m. The main facade is a free-standing concrete and steel structure reaching 25 m above ground. The hexagonal roof, inspired by a woven Chinese hat, is an astounding structural achievement: a free-form timber gridshell, constructed from 6 layers of double-curved and twisted glue-laminated timber members, forming a tessellation of hexagons and triangles. The combination of the roof’s size, irregular geometry and gridshell structure redefined the design boundaries for timber construction. This successful design was only achieved through extensive sensitivity studies and integrated structural modelling.

Architects Shigeru Ban Architects, Jean de Gastines Architects, Gumuchdjian Architects (for the competition) Client CA2M Metz Metropole End year 2010 Arup scope Structural engineering for the whole building and the timber gridshell roof; mechanical, electrical, public health and civil engineering in collaboration with GEC Ingenierie

Chanel Travelling Pavilion, various locations Designed to roam the globe, Zaha Hadid’s Chanel Travelling Pavilion’s design challenges ranged from containerisation and handling constraints; realising its complex geometry design and the fabrication of its FRP panels; to adhering to local design codes and withstanding its tour destination environmental conditions. Advanced 3D modelling and technology, more commonly found in boats and racing cars, helped Arup to create this spectacular home for Chanel’s touring exhibition. The Pavilion toured Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York and is now permanently sited in front of the Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris. A truly global enterprise, Arup was able to mobilise engineering expertise from offices local to each site on the tour.

Architects Zaha Hadid Architects Client Chanel End year Tour 2008 – 2010 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, materials, facade engineering, access and inclusive design (DDA); lighting design, electrical and public health engineering; project management

Dublin Airport Terminal 2 (IRL) Terminal 2 forms the centrepiece of a five-year transformation programme at Dublin Airport to upgrade and modernise facilities, increasing capacity and enhance passenger experience. Capable of comfortably handling up to 12 million passengers a year, Terminal 2 allows the airport to increase this to 32 million passengers annually, supporting the future growth of Dublin Airport from its current position as the 13th largest in Europe for international traffic. The project included a 75,000 m2 terminal building, incorporating passenger and baggage handling, security screening and over 9,000 m2 of retail space. The design incorporates energy reduction and consumption requirements with the lighting scheme contributing to an overall 17 % reduction of CO2 emissions (compared to a code compliant design). The first scheduled services from the new Terminal 2 (T2) at Dublin Airport began on November 23, 2010.

Architects Pascall & Watson Client Dublin Airport Authority End year 2010 Arup scope Lead consultancy, structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, public health engineering; transport and airport planning; environmental and local planning; baggage/logistics, fire engineering, acoustics, security, airside engineering to include navaids and pavement design

Evelyn Grace Academy, London (GB) The Evelyn Grace Academy is a new secondary school in Lambeth, a socially deprived inner-city area of South East London. Designed to achieve high levels of energy efficiency, it received a “Very Good” BREEAM rating, as well as the 2011 RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture. The use of a biomass boiler, clever lighting design, and the continuous monitoring of energy consumption helped it to achieve the Greater London Authority’s target for a 20 % reduction in carbon emissions. Arup’s biggest structural challenge was to help realise the architect’s vision within the constraints of buildability and budget, achieving the most economical structure possible.

Architects Zaha Hadid Architects Client Ark Education End year 2010 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering design; site supervision including geotechnical desk study

Harlequin 1 – British Sky Broadcasting, London (GB) British Sky Broadcasting’s (BSkyB) brief for a world-leading, genuinely sustainable headquarters challenged Arup Associates to capture every viable natural resource on the site; and to radically minimise energy use throughout. Sky Studios is the most sustainable broadcasting studio building ever made. The award-winning building houses recording, post-production and transmission facilities for Sky’s Broadcast and Sports News departments. It houses 8 state of the art naturally ventilated studios, naturally ventilated offices for 1370 people, and free-cooled data rooms. The building is uniquely divided horizontally into three zones – “make”, “shape”, “share” – offering a multi-platform distribution hub for all of Sky’s media outlets, including a single home for Sky Sports.

Architects Arup Associates Client British Sky Broadcasting End year 2010 Arup Associates scope Architecture, structural, services and environmental engineering Arup scope Acoustic, facade and civil engineering

147

Catalogue of selected recent projects

Architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Client Project Grande (Guernsey) End year 2010 Arup scope Structural, civil and geotechnical engineering; transport planning and logisitics; geothermal, building physics, wind, and security design services

One Hyde Park, London (GB) One Hyde Park is the epitome of luxury living. Close to Harrods in Knightsbridge, the apartments overlook Hyde Park and include below ground private gyms, swimming pools, a cinema, squash courts, private parking and logistics/servicing facilities. The main structural frame is constructed from reinforced concrete below ground level and a hybrid of precast concrete, steel and post tensioned concrete above ground. Structural steel framing is used to form the feature glazed service cores above ground level, the stability system, Edinburgh Gate canopy, and the conservatory roofs fronting Knightsbridge. The design team worked closely with the contractor, making use of top-down and bottom-up construction techniques to minimise the movement of adjacent buildings and optimise the construction programme.

Architects Arup Associates Client Qatar 2022 Bid Committee End year 2010 Arup Associates scope Lead Design Consultants, architecture, structural engineering, mechanical /environmental engineering, electrical, public health and fire engineering

Qatar 2022 Showcase, Qatar (Q) Qatar 2022 Showcase is the world’s most sustainable stadium; a radical piece of environmental architecture that was a major driver in Qatar’s sustainability plan and World Cup bid. The carbon-neutral, 500-seat “model stadium” serves as a proofof-concept for innovative cooling and climate control technologies and will continue to be a development platform to refine these technologies for application across Qatar and potentially across all arid regions. The Showcase is recognised as being at the forefront of future stadia design and sets a template for creating a positive sporting environment for spectators, players and the local community.

Architects WOHA Architects Client Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) End year 2010 Arup scope Acoustics and theatre consulting; facade engineering, fire engineering

School of the Arts, Singapore (SG) The School of the Arts (SOTA) is the country’s first independent, pre-tertiary arts school which offers a unique connected arts and academic curriculum for youths aged 13 –18. The purpose-built campus houses three performance venues (a 423-seat drama theatre, a 708-seat concert hall and a 200-seat flexible studio theatre) and various academic, rehearsal and supporting facilities. Creative thinking and specialised expertise were required to extract flexible, sustainable and engaging spaces out of the performance venues, for students and professionals alike. A carefully planned learning progression for technical theatre was matched by technical provisions in terms of lighting, stage engineering and sound reinforcement, further whetting the client’s appetite for creating learner-centred environments.

Architects LegoRogers (Collaboration between Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Legorreta + Legorreta) Client BBVA Bancomer End year 2011 Arup scope Structure and seismic engineering services through schematic, 50 % design development and certification of construction documents; MEP services through schematic, early stage specialist services for car parking, facades and vertical transport; LEED

BBVA Bancomer, Mexico City (MEX) BBVA Mexico is the Latin American headquarters of BBVA Bank in Mexico City. The architectural vision for the project is rooted in its engineering qualities. Arup’s innovative structural design principles allowed the design team to realise a building which pushes beyond the limits of existing design codes. This approach reduced the structural steel weight by 1700 tonnes, reduced the building’s carbon footprint by 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 and saved the client €12 million. To minimise cost Arup made extensive use of its advanced analytical capabilities, also helping to model the likely performance of the tower in withstanding large earthquakes.

Architects Payette Associates Client Princeton University End year 2011 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, acoustics, facade engineering, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and telecommunications; lighting, material consulting, sustainability

Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Princeton (USA) A model for energy-efficient design, Frick Chemistry Laboratory is a new 24,600 m2 research and teaching facility and a key element of Princeton University’s natural sciences neighbourhood expansion. Arup’s sustainable strategies allowed the building to achieve a 30 % energy saving compared to a code-compliant typical facility. The building’s integrated mechanical systems allow the optimal transfer of cooled and heated air from offices through the atrium into the laboratories, reducing the amount of externally sourced conditioned air to meet the ventilation demands of the laboratories. All structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems developed with Building Information Modelling (BIM), enableing a holistic approach to design.

148

2010 – 2011

Greenhouse by Joost , Sydney (AUS) Greenhouse is the first in a series of sustainable restaurants that Arup has helped environmental-artist Joost Bakker to realise. The temporary restaurant was the pilot project as part of a world tour promoting a “back to basics” philosophy on sustainability and life-cycle considerations for buildings, business and lifestyle. Planned and constructed in less than 8 weeks, the restaurant was an exemplary model of self-sufficiency; from its roof garden filtration system, and straw insulation; to the conversion of cooking oil into bio-diesel for power supply. The project team has been recognised by the Australian Institute of Project Management, winning both Australian National and NSW Project Management awards.

Architects Arup with Joost Bakker Client Joost Bakker for the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority End year 2011 Arup scope Structural engineering, environmentally sustainable design, fire engineering and project management

Kingkey 100, Shenzhen (CN) At 441.8 m tall, Kingkey 100 is the tallest building in Shenzhen. The tower houses 100 storeys of mixed-use commercial, retail and hotel facilities. Given the slender nature of the building (up to a slenderness ratio of 9.5) Arup’s structural engineers designed a solution that combines three different kinds of structural systems to ensure lateral stability. To ensure Kingkey’s slender silhouette is resilient under the wind and seismic conditions of Shenzhen, an integrated design approach was adopted. A sophisticated environmental skin also allows the tower to maintain an optimum interior environment whilst minimising potential solar heat gain.

Architects Terry Farrell & Partners Client Kingkey Group End year 2011 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering; geotechnical, facade, fire and wind engineering from schematic to preliminary design; traffic engineering consultancy for the master planning stage

Mauritius Commercial Bank, Ebene (MU) Mauritius Commercial Bank’s new facility at St. Jean represents the first application of BREEAM principles in Mauritius – achieved through attention to orientation, shading, renewable energy and rainwater re-use. The carefully chosen building orientation ensures that the facades face due north and south with generous overhangs which virtually eliminate all direct solar gains. Energy consumption is minimised by making use of free cooling and drawing energy from photovoltaic cells covering a considerable 2724 m². Staff from Arup’s Mauritius, Botswana, South Africa and UK offices worked together to deliver the iconic building.

Architects Jean Francois Koenig Architect Client Mauritius Commercial Bank End year 2011 Arup scope project management and multidisciplinary engineering consultancy; providing civil, structural, facade, mechanical, electrical, public health, IT, acoustics, audiovisual and fire engineering services

Parkview Green FangCaoDi, Beijing (CN) Parkview Green is a LEED-CS registered mixed-use plaza with grade-A office space, a six-star hotel and retail facilities, encased in a glass and ETFE plastic glazed “envelope”. The envelope creates a microclimate with various zones that are relatively uniform and easily controlled, thanks to an Arup designed air “buffer zone”. Arup’s integrated energy strategy will keep the building’s energy bills to a minimum over its lifetime.

Architects Integrated Design Associates Client The Hong Kong Parkview Group End year 2011 Arup scope Structural engineering, building physics, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering; facade engineering, fire engineering, geotechnics and transport consultancy

Stanford Graduate School of Business, Palo Alto (USA) Existing facilities were replaced with eight new academic buildings, that form the new Knight Management Center campus, designed to house the school’s innovative MBA curriculum. Recognising the important role that business plays in the environment, the Graduate School of Business created a 15-person sustainability task force to establish goals that would guide the design of the new campus from the earliest stages. We helped lead the effort, creating a design with several sustainable features including daylight optimisation, photovoltaic panels to harvest solar energy, as well as grey and rainwater usage to reduce the need for potable water usage for sewer conveyance. Achieving LEED Platinum – the highest achievable environmental rating, the new facilities appropriately reflect the world leading reputation of Stanford.

Architects Boora Architects Client Stanford University End year 2011 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering; acoustics, lighting design, fire/life-safety consulting, civil engineering, and sustainability consulting

149

Catalogue of selected recent projects

Architects Nightingale Associates Client Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board (formerly known as Gwent NHS Trust) End year 2011 Arup scope Structural, civil, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering design; facilities management advice, specialist strategic advice for acoustics and fire

Ysybty Aneurin Bevan Hospital, Wales (GB) Arup provided a range of services for Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan Hospital, a new €75 million local general hospital sited on the former Corus Steelworks in Ebbw Vale in South Wales. It is the first publicly funded hospital in the UK providing all single rooms with en-suite facilities, reducing the spread of infection and improving the privacy and dignity of patients. The hospital forms an integral part of the delivery of a local and non-critical care strategy for Gwent. The site development target was a 40 % reduction in carbon emissions compared to 2006 Part L levels and achieved EPC “A” and NEAT “Excellent” ratings on completion. Aptly named, the hospital pays tribute to Aneurin Bevan, founder of the NHS.

Architects Zaha Hadid Architects Client City Life Arup design end date 2012 Arup scope Facade design

Torre Hadid Skyscraper, Milan (I) The Hadid Tower is part of the planned CityLife development in Milan comprising three skyscrapers. The main tower – Hadid Tower – flaunts a flowing, twisting form and double skin facade. Arup has developed the geometry definition, the building physics and solar studies, the design of the facade typologies and the maintenance strategy. Arup has thoroughly studied the 170 m building, designing the skin’s geometry to allow extensive use of cold-bent glass for the twisted facade (minimizing the hot-bent glass only in specific areas of extreme warp). This study effectively reduces costs and speeds up the production of units. The tower is due for completion in 2015.

Architects Ronald Lu & Partners Hong Kong Project Owner Hong Kong Construction Industry Council End year 2012 Arup scope Green building design, structural engineering, MEP, geotechnics, civil engineering, environmental consulting, traffic consulting and renewable technology

Construction Industry Council Zero Carbon Building, Hong Kong (HK) The Construction Industry Council’s (CIC) Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) is a pioneering project to showcase state-of-the-art zero carbon building technologies and raise community awareness of sustainable living. The building tests the potential of energy-saving passive architecture by using natural ventilation and daylight in a hot and humid environment. The building produces on-site renewable energy from a system combining biodiesel tri-generation – a first for Hong Kong – and photovoltaic panels. It is the first building in Hong Kong to achieve a carbon-neutral rating and actively feed electricity back to the grid – a process also intended to cover the embodied energy of its construction process and building materials of major structural elements. With a BEAM Plus Platinum rating, CIC’s Zero Carbon Building has achieved the highest possible rating for excellent building environmental performance.

Architects Charles Rose Architects Client Charles Rose Architects, for the owner Franklin Regional Transit Authority End year 2012 Arup scope Mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering; lighting design services

John W. Olver Transit Center, Massachusetts (USA) It is the first zero-net-energy transit centre in the United States, housing community space and offices for the Franklin Regional Transit Authority and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments. We implemented several cutting-edge, renewable energy technologies including: air-conditioning provided by an active-chilled beam system, a solar wall that preheats fresh air by as much as 15 °C during peak winter sun, second-stage preheating via a ground source heat pump, and daylight modelling used to determine optimal placement of windows, clerestory, and skylights. It also features freestanding photovoltaic panels capable of producing enough energy annually to offset any electrical energy consumed. The centre will also serve as a link to the Amtrak station with the future completion of the Knowledge Corridor Rail Project and is expected to be a catalyst for redevelopment and growth in the region.

Architects Cox Rayner Client The GPT Group End year 2012 Arup scope Structural, civil, fire and facade engineering

One one one Eagle Street, Brisbane (AUS) One one one Eagle Street is a 50-storey commercial office tower located in the heart of Brisbane’s bustling Riverside precinct. The project’s six-star Green Star rating is testament to the exemplary quality and sustainable design standards the building acheives. Working in partnership with Cox Rayner architects, Arup developed the tower’s unique design, the most striking aspect of which is the “figtree” pattern formed by inclined perimeter columns. The organic nature of the pattern not only results in a facade frame that has an impressive visual presence but also provides lateral stiffness to the tower and its eccentric core. One one one Eagle Street is Brisbane’s first commercial office tower to achieve the Property Council of Australia “premium” standard for worldwide best practice.

150

2011 – 2013

University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre, London (GB) The University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre is the first of its kind in the NHS and redefines the way patients are treated, using the best diagnostic and treatment techniques to improve survival rates. Every detail has been designed around the needs of individual patients with more focus on the best treatments, wellbeing, rehabilitation, and surviving cancer. It provides environmental as well as clinical excellence. By making efficient use of natural light, and using an innovative glazing system, the centre has met the newly announced NHS environmental targets eight years early, cutting carbon emissions by a third. Value engineering achieved savings of around €620,000 after innovations were made including the thermal de-rating of the fire escape staircases.

Architects Hopkins Architects Client UCL Hospitals End year 2012 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical, public health, acoustics and fire engineering; transport consulting, sustainability consulting, project management and specialist lighting design

Vattanac Capital, Phnom Penh (K) Located in the heart of Phnom Penh, Vattanac Capital is a 188 m tall, 39-storey, grade-A office development that will house Vattanac Capital’s banking headquarters. The building, which will be LEED-certified, is shaped like the mythical dragon, symbolising progress, health and prosperity. Working on a fast-track construction programme, the building topped out in May 2012.

Architects Terry Farrell & Partners Client Vattanac Properties End year 2012 Arup scope Construction management, IT and communication systems; security and risk, geotechnics, structural engineering; wind, facade and fire engineering

Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, Sydney (AUS) Arup is helping internationally acclaimed architect, Frank Gehry, achieve his vision for the University of Technology in Sydney – Gehry’s first Australian endeavour. Structural, civil and facade engineers are working together to ensure the building is an exemplary place to work and learn as well as being a building of acute architectural merit. Designed according to sustainability principles developed at the university, the unique design aims to achieve a minimum of a 5-Star Green Star rating. Arup has an established relationship with Gehry Partners having collaborated on the Maggie’s Centre in Dundee. Arup is also currently working with Gehry Partners on the Sønderborg Harbour Masterplan in Denmark.

Architects Gehry Partners Client University of Technology Sydney End year 2013 Arup scope Facades, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering

Leeds Arena (GB) The 12,500-seat venue, due to open in early 2013, will set a new standard for quality of visitor experience for family entertainment, concert and mixed-use arenas. Sound quality will be exceptional and every seat will face and have clear line of sight to the stage offering a more intimate experience than comparable venues. We have been at the heart of the project since its inception. As part of a collaborative team, we shaped the specification, finance and procurement strategy enabling the venue to be delivered despite the economic climate. It is expected to become the “venue of choice” for the North of England bringing economic growth to Leeds and the city region.

Architects Populous Client City of Leeds End year 2013 Arup scope Venue consultancy, specialist technical services including design and transport planning; multidisciplinary engineering design from detailed design to completion

Times Square, Ho Chi Minh City (VN) When completed in the fourth quarter of 2012, this mixed-use development will become the third tallest building Ho Chi Minh City and the fifth tallest building in Vietnam. It includes a 231room five-star hotel, 120 luxury services apartments, international grade-A office space and a five-level shopping centre at its base. During design, Arup introduced a transfer structure between the lower office/podium floors and the upper serviced apartments. This approach allowed the client sufficient flexibility during construction to respond to market demands for the accommodation layout, without changing the column grid in the floors below.

Architects Arup Client Times Square (Vietnam) Investment Joint Stock Company End year 2013 Arup scope Architectural, civil, structural, geotechnical engineering; MEP engineering, facade engineering and project management

151

Catalogue of selected recent projects

Architects Cox Architecture Client SA Department for Transport Energy & Infrastructure End year 2014 Arup scope Structural and civil consulting services

Adelaide Oval (AUS) The €361 million transformation of Adelaide Oval will propel the current facility into the league of world-class stadia. Our structural, civil, fire and facade specialists are ensuring the heritage and culture of the original ground is preserved, while enhancing atmosphere and spectator experience of one of the world’s most beautiful cricket grounds. The distinctive lightweight roof for each stand is designed to enhance the setting within Adelaide’s Park Lands and maintain key views towards the cathedral beyond the original scoreboard. Works will also include new and improved links and pedestrian connections to the surrounding entertainment and cultural precinct and provide a new playing field for both football and cricket.

Architects Daryl Jackson/Mc Connel Smith & Johnson/Fisher & Buttrose Joint Venture Client Queensland Health End year Ongoing until 2014 Arup scope Civil, structural, facade, geotechnical engineering; transport planning, rendered visualisation and risk management workshop

Cairns Base Hospital Redevelopment (AUS) Arup continues to help shape Cairns and its wider region of North Queensland through delivering the Cairns Base Hospital redevelopment. Providing a range of project management, engineering and specialist services Arup has been contributing to project since 1997. The current €358 million redevelopment will expand the range and capacity of hospital facilities, in turn improving the provision of health services in Cairns and Far North Queensland. Delivered in stages to minimise disruption, the works are due for completion in 2014.

Architects Wilkinson Eyre Architects Client Guangzhou City Construction & Development Group Guangzhou Yuexiu International Finance Center End year 2014 Arup scope Structural, MEP, fire, facade and wind engineering; transport and vertical transportation consulting

Guangzhou International Finance Center (CN) Guangzhou International Finance Center is a super skyscraper in Guangzhou. The 440 m-high development comprises office accommodation and 30 floors of hotel at the summit. It takes a triangular form and has doubly-curved elevations. A distinctive feature is the diagrid structure around its perimeter, vastly reducing the amount of steel required. Developing the 103storey building in the typhoon climate of China’s south coast posed great challenges to Arup’s design team. Extensive computer analysis was conducted to find the optimum geometry for the diagonals, as well as the floor layout, in relation to the curve of the building elevation and profile.

Architects Arup Associates Client Saudi Aramco End year 2014 Arup Associates Scope Architecture, sports venue and multidisciplinary design Arup scope Complete integrated multidisciplinary and specialist design of venues and site infrastructure

King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah (SA) The King Abdullah Sports City (KASC) project aspires to create inspirational, world-class sporting facilities for Saudi Arabia. At the center of the masterplan is the Kingdom’s first purpose-built, FIFA standard football venue. The integrated multidisciplinary design team has carefully choreographed the total spectator experience for the 60,000-seat national stadium. Exemplary sight-lines and as-close-as-possible proximity to the pitch creates an elegant, curvaceous form. Structure and architecture are completely integrated. Encasing the parametrically sculpted bowl is a ribbon of bracing and tie-down V-frames which express the structure and echo the mashrabiya screens of traditional Arabic and Islamic design. The diamond-patterned perimeter screen mediates the breezes and provides shade, enabling natural and comfortable ventilation.

Architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Client British Land End year 2014 Arup scope Structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering; lighting, archaeology, acoustics, access and inclusive design (DDA); security, wind engineering, IT and communications; sustainability, transportation

Leadenhall Building, London (GB) At 50 storeys and 224 m high, 122 Leadenhall stands out for its distinctive wedge-shape design. It forms part of a cluster of towers in central London alongside the Heron Tower, Swiss Re and the Pinnacle. The project features the innovative use of external steelwork for stability, in the form of a braced “megaframe” around the four sides of the office – a first for a building of this height. Structural optimisation techniques enabled quick and quantitative comparison of design options, resulting in a demonstrably efficient solution. The entire project structure including the megaframe node connections was modelled in 3D using Tekla software. Climate control is provided on a floor-by-floor basis for maximum tenant flexibility. The building is due for completion in 2014.

152

2014 – 2018

Perth Airport (AUS) As the gateway to Western Australia, Perth Airport is one of the state’s most important elements of public infrastructure and plays a significant role in much of the state’s economic, social and cultural activities. Perth Airport is currently undergoing its largest redevelopment in over 25 years, with €600 million being invested over three years to expand its facilities in order to transform the customer experience. Providing a range of design and engineering services, Arup are contributing towards the expansion of the surrounding infrastructure, masterplanning, the expansion of the international departures and arrivals facilities and the construction of a new domestic pier.

Architects Woods Bagot Client Perth Airport End year 2014 Arup scope Airport planning, logistics, passenger simulations, project leadership, acoustics, structural, civil, facade, blast and traffic engineering

NSP Arnhem Transfer Hall (NL) With ongoing involvement since the project’s inception, Arup has designed the two phases of the NSP Arnhem transfer hall in the Netherlands, the first phase – the bike parking basement and shopping area – has been constructed, the second is at the detailed engineering stage. Featuring a complex free-form double-curved concrete shell roof – designed by UNStudio – spanning various sub-buildings, the transfer hall presented a challenging brief. The Hall also serves as a junction for several different modes of public transport, creating additional complexity to the structure and project coordination. The design team relies on multidisciplinary virtual design capabilities developed in-house, an approach proving successful in the first phase making the building possible to design and build.

Architects UNStudio Client ProRail End year 2014 Arup scope Structural engineering input to UNStudio for the feasibility study; lead structural engineer and advisor to the delegated client ProRail until construction; lighting, virtual and computational design, software development

Grand Museum of Egypt, Cairo (EGY) Designed to provide an Egyptology centre of excellence for the next 100 years, the Grand Egyptian Museum will occupy a prestigious site near the pyramids of Giza. Described as the largest archaeological museum in the world, one of its most striking features will be an 800 m long translucent stone wall, a screen of open jointed stone panels hung in a cable net structure forming part of the envelope of the main building complex. The museum is scheduled to open in 2015.

Architects Heneghan Peng Architects Client Grand Museum of Egypt End year 2015 Arup scope Structural design plus specialist advice on geotechnics, facades, traffic and roads

Airut, Helsinki (FIN) The design of Helsinki’s first carbon-neutral district encourages residents to make more informed choices about energy, transport, food and consumer goods, with the goal of reducing energy demands in the district by more than 40 % compared with the Finnish average. We are pioneering a new model of urban design on this 22,000 m2 mixed-use project. The project enabled our client to chart an achievable and replicable course from the low-carbon norms of Finnish society to a fully decarbonised model. More than 15 % of the project’s electricity will be sourced from photovoltaic sources and heat from a biomass heat network. The seven-storey office is a pioneering all-timber building and the carbon impact of in-situ concrete will be cut by 20 % compared to conventional specifications.

Architects Sauerbruch & Hutton Architekten Client SRV, VVO, Sitra End year 2017 Arup scope Building structural and services design and associated building specialist services; sustainable technologies, carbon and sustainability accounting, food sustainable strategies

International Trade and Commerce Centre, Chongqing (CN) The International Trade and Commerce Centre is situated on the eastern part of Chongqing Tiandi (China). The mixed-use development houses three towers and a retail podium with grade-A offices, a five-star hotel and luxury apartments. On completion in 2018 the tallest tower will rise to 468 m, becoming the tallest building in West China. The towers’ architectural design is inspired by the shape of sails on traditional Chinese sailing boats, celebrating the strong navigation and trading history of Chongqing. Aiming for LEED CS Gold certification, Arup’s multidisciplinary design teams are working together to deliver a truly sustainable building with low operation energy consumption and low environmental impact.

Architects Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates Client Chongqing Shui On Tiandi Property Development End year 2018 Arup scope Structural engineering; geotechnical, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering; fire engineering; building physics and sustainability consulting; acoustic consulting and rail engineering

153

Authors

Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world’s most prominent projects in the built environment and across industry.

Guilio Antonutto-Foi

Francis Archer

Mike Beaven

Peter Bowtell

Mick Brundle

Stuart Bull

Mike Byrne

Tristram Carfrae

Chris Carroll

154

History will tell you that Ove Arup formed this firm in 1946 in London, put it on the map by 1976 with the completion of the Sydney Opera House and the establishment of offices on four continents. We now have 90 offices and 11,000 people. Our firm evolved from the structural engineering specialists that created the Penguin Pool at London Zoo (“Job No.1”), the complex geometry of the Sydney Opera House and the shell roof structures of the Brynmawr Rubber Factory. Our holistic viewpoint of design led us to include MEP disciplines and led to true multidisciplinary building design like the Centre Georges Pompidou, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank and more recently the Guangzhou International Finance Centre in China. In parallel we have used our design skills for infrastructure, to promote connectivity with major rail, road and bridge projects like the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (High Speed 1), the A30 in Montreal and Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong. The most recent evolution of our skills has been in consulting disciplines from technical specialisms like facades and geotechnics, to environmental and masterplanning, and management consultancy like resilience and risk or transactions advice. Thus we have transformed from our structural engineering beginnings and have grown to encompass all aspects of engineering and consulting in the built environment. We have really only covered part of what Arup is all about in the buildings orientation of this book. What facts and figures from history do not reveal is what has driven that success. A strong sense of shared purpose and values first articulated by Ove Arup in a speech from which we still draw inspiration today. A restless curiosity. Intellectual rigour. A belief in the transformative power of great design. The courage of our conviction that great design is sustainable design. A deep respect for communities and environments. And the mutual respect and tolerance necessary for excellence to triumph over conformity. Design and a fascination with its possibilities are at the heart of Arup. Our culture of free and independent thought allows us and our clients to explore those possibilities. The answers are often surprising and push accepted thinking. Design is, however, never an end in itself. It is always in the service of something more ambitious: a desire to make a meaningful and positive difference to the changing world in which our clients and their communities live. Imagination and ideas remain just that unless they are supported by a level of technical excellence that can deliver the new and the challenging. The broad skills you find at Arup allow us to deliver complex design with integrity and precision. We call this ability “total design”. We like to look at “the big picture” – bringing teams together from diverse disciplines, from a global network, to tackle tough issues collectively. This “joined-up” thinking is how we know, in good conscience, that we are able to produce the best possible, sustainable, result. You are as likely to find us applying those skills as advisor to the C40 (a group of 40 of the world’s largest cities committed to addressing climate change), to research and product development on electric vehicles as well as innovations such as our SoundLab. We have even designed our own software to push the boundaries of what’s possible – our programs are now used across 200 countries, by many of the world’s leading designers from the built environment. Our mission is “to help shape a better world”. That better world is a sustainable world. One where, beyond mitigating climate change and overuse of resources, we create structures, infrastructures, cities and economies that can grow and flourish sustainably. Arup is as much about engineering as about the individual engineers that shape the company and the projects. All project commentaries in this book have been written by Arup engineers who helped to design them. We introduce each of the authors not only by their name, qualification, office location and the year when they joined Arup but we also asked them one decisive question: “Which building or innovation do you wish you could have taken credit for – or wish you had invented – and why?” Here are the answers...

Authors Giulio Antonutto-Foi MSc Lighting Designer, Associate, London (GB), since 2003 “There are paintings, most by Munch, and music, all of Johann Sebastian Bach, that I wish I had created. To the point that when I was at school I used to copy Munch paintings and give them away to my friends. For the music is easier, you have a score and can follow it playing. I studied the piano. If I had to choose my favourite building, it would be one of Zaha Hadid’s early works, the Vitra fire station. This is because I always admired its elegant geometry and because I always had a weak spot for expressionism, cubism and constructivism. When I was a student at the architectural class in Padova, I often dreamt about being able to create something like it and I am sure that my homework showed how I was greatly influenced. Anyway, looking at lighting specifically, I think that the most powerful design I have seen in the recent times is the Olafur Eliasson’s Sun at the Tate Modern. That is something that I wish I had created now and that I profoundly admire.” Major projects: London Aquatics Centre, London (GB), Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects • Copenhagen Cityringen, Copenhagen (DK), Engineers: Arup • “Illuminate” Belfast, Crete, Copenhagen, Genoa, Klaipeda, Rotterdam • California Academy of Science, San Francisco (USA), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • Middle Eastern Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford (GB), Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects Francis Archer BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, CEng Structural engineer, Associate Director, London (GB), since 1996 “I wish I could take the credit for the Sagrada Familia design. The building form is a pure representation of a simple structural principal and yet results in a wonderfully complex and beautiful space.” Major projects:Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza (EGY), Architects: heneghan peng architects • Masterplanning of the Battersea Power Station Site, London (GB), Architects: Arup Advanced Geometry Unit • Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh (GB), Architects: Embt Architectes Associates • Arnhem Central Bus Terminal, Arnhem (NL), Architects: UNStudio • Spiral Project at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (GB), Architect: Daniel Libeskind Mike Beaven BSc(Hons), MCIBSE, MIMechE, CEng Building environmental engineer, Director, Arup Associates, London (GB), since 1984 “Virtual design in Building Information Modelling (BIM) – the most powerful collaboration platform yet created.” Major projects: Sky Studios, London (GB), Architects: Arup Associates • Citi Data Centre, Frankfurt (D), Architects: Arup Associates • Qatar Zero Carbon Stadium, Doha (QA), Architects: Arup Associates • Aurora Place, Sydney (AUS), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • Stratford City Sustainability Framework, London (GB), Architects: Arup Associates Peter Bowtell BEng (Hons) Structural engineer, Principal, Melbourne (AUS), since 1989 “The iPhone. It is a product which has reinvented communication and our way of keeping in touch – and I love the fact that the interface is designed around a human finger. Who remembers what a stylus is anyway!?” Major projects: Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Melbourne (AUS), Architects: Denton Corker Marshall • Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (SGP), Architects: Safdie Architects • Narbethong Community Centre, Narbethong (AUS), Architects: BVN Architecture • AAMI Park, Melbourne (AUS), Architects: Cox Architecture • Sculptur “The Travellers”, Melbourne (AUS), Artist: Nadim Karam Mick Brundle Dip. Arch RIBA, FRSA Architect, Lead Architect, London (GB), since 1975 “The innovation is the Polio Vaccine developed by Jonas Salk in 1952. In the early 1950s there was a global polio epidemic and it particularly effected children and adults where I lived; I was fortunate in being one of the first children to be immunized using this vaccine. The building I would most liked to have taken credit for is the building that bears his name, The

Authors

Salk institute in La Jolla California, by Louis Kahn, as within it are the integrated values of design I have tried to emulate through my career.”

pioneer in precast design which fully express the beauty of geometry of shell structures, but also the pioneer in conceiving new design technology.”

Major projects: CEGB headquarters, Bedminster Down Bristol (GB), Architects: Arup Associates • UBS Warburg headquarters, London (GB), Architects: Arup Associates • Eurostar Traveller Facilities at St Pancras Station, London (GB), Architects: Arup Associates • Plantation Place, London (GB), Architects: Arup Associates • Ropemaker Place, London (GB), Architects: Arup Associates

Major projects: Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (SGP), Architects: Safdie Architects • The Institute of Education Campus HK, Hong Kong (HK), Architects: P & T Architects & Engineers Ltd • Air Control Tower, Mumbai (IND), Architects: HOK International • Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, Macau (MAC), Architects: Aedas Architects • Sands Hotel Resort, Macau (MAC), Architects: HKS Inc

Stuart Bull CEng Structural/Civil engineer, Associate, Sydney (AUS), since 1990

Ed Clark MEng, CEng, MICE, MIStructE Structural engineer, Director, London (GB), since 1991

“The Sydney Opera House roof sails, as they are such an innovation of material, geometry and style which looks as modern today as it was revolutionary in 1960 during the design and construction. Any functional building that can be a seen a sculptural form as well as a piece of working infrastructure and is visited and revered by so many in the world is truly inspirational. “To me it is a great joy to know how much the building is loved, by Australians in general and by Sydneysiders in particular” Jørn Utzon

“I wish I’d designed the ‘The Nordic Pavilion’ at the Venice Biennale, Italy. Actually designed by Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn and structural engineer Arne Neegard in 1962. The building has a distilled elegance, a level of ambition and resolution that I can only hope to one day achieve in my work.”

Major projects: Sydney Opera House, Sydney (AUS), Architect: Jørn Utzon • Chinese National Aquatics Centre, Beijing (CN), Architects: PTW Architects, CSCEC + design • Hong Kong International Airport Terminal Building, Hong Kong (CN), Architects: Foster + Partners • Aldar headquarters, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Architects: MZ Associates • Paul Klee Zentrum, Bern (CH), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop Mike Byrne BSc(Eng), CEng, MIMechE, MCIBSE Mechanical engineer, Director, London, since 2008 “Southern Cross Station Melbourne is a wonderful example of contemporary station design and I hope that the newly refurbished King’s Cross station in London will achieve the same accolades.” Major projects: King’s Cross station, London (GB), Architects: John McAslan + Partners • Canary Wharf Crossrail Station, London (GB), Architects: Foster + Partners • China World Trade Center, Beijing (CN), Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill • Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London (GB), Architects: Dixon Jones in joint venture with Building Design Partnership • King’s Cross St Pancras London Underground, London (GB), Architects: Allies & Morrison Tristram Carfrae MA Structural engineer, Arup Fellow, London (GB), since 1981 “British Pavilion, Shanghai Expo, China. Simply the most beautiful space that I have ever been in.” Major projects: Chinese National Aquatics Centre, Beijing (CN), Architects: PTW Architects, CSCEC + design • 111 Eagle Street, Brisbane (AUS), Architects: Cox Rayner • AAMI Park, Melbourne (AUS), Architects: Cox Architecture • Helix Bridge, Singapore (SGP) • Kurilpa Bridge, Brisbane (AUS), Architects: Cox Rayner Chris Carroll BEng (Hons), MSc, DIC, CEng, MIStructE Structural engineer, Director, London (GB), since 1990 “I’m happy to simply take credit for my own projects. The person I most admire from the history of my profession though is Pier Luigi Nervi. He was a fantastic combination of; creativity, intelligence, technical ability, a visionary builder, entrepreneurial risk taker, and all round charismatic inspiration for my profession. His Pirelli Tower is a work of art.” Major projects: CCTV headquarters, Beijing (CN), Architects: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) • Marsyas Sculpture, Tate Modern, London (GB), Architect/Artist: Anish Kapoor • Seattle Library, Seattle (USA), Architects: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) / LMN • Rothschild Bank New Court headquarters, London (GB), Architects: OMA • Core Pacific Mall, Taipei (CN), Architects: Jerde Partnership Va-Chan Cheong BEng (Hons) Structural engineer, Director, Hong Kong (HK), since 1993 “Sydney Opera House is the project that I wish I could have involved. It would be a great pride for a structural engineer to take part in this world heritage masterpiece. It is not only the

Major projects: Victoria & Albert Museum Exhibition Road Extension, London (GB), Architects: Amanda Levete Architects • Serpentine Gallery Pavilions, London (GB), as a series between 2008 – 2011 • Parc 1, Seoul (ROK), Architects: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners • Selfridges, Birmingham (GB), Architects: Future Systems • The New Art Gallery, Walsall (GB), Architects: Caruso St John Emmanuelle Danisi Diplôme d’Ingénieur, MSc Mechanical engineer, Associate, London (GB), since 1993 “I would have loved to have worked on the Guggenheim Museum in New York. I went there in 1998 and was amazed by the scale of the spiral gallery, its elegance and simplicity. It made me feel happy to work in an industry that can produce public spaces which are unique, beautiful and sometimes controversial.” Major projects: London Aquatics Centre, London (GB), Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects • Pierres Vives, Montpellier (FR), Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects • Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St Louis (USA), Architect: Tadao Ando • Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland (CH), Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • Centre Pompidou-Metz (F), Architects: Shigeru Ban Architects, Jean de Gastines Architectes, Gumuchdjian Architects Philip Dilley BSc, ACGI, CEng, MIStructE, FICE Structural engineer, Chairman, Arup Group, London (GB), since 1976

Va-Chan Cheong

Ed Clark

Emanuelle Danisi

Philip Dilley

Hayley Gryc

“I have always admired the Great Court at the British Museum (a Foster design, engineered by Buro Happold.) It is the largest covered courtyard in Europe using the most advanced design techniques of the time to create an apparently simple and delightfully light solution.” Major projects: Carlsberg Brewery, Northampton (GB), Architects: Knud Munk • No1 Poultry, London (GB), Architect: James Stirling • Kansai International Airport Terminal, Osaka (J), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh (USA), Architects: Embt Architectes Associates • Spitalfields Development, London (GB)

Alistair Guthrie

Hayley Gryc MEng, BArch, CEng, MICE Structural engineer, Senior Engineer, London (GB), since 2004 “The light bulb as light is an important asset.” Major projects: Kindergarten School, Dwabor (GH), Engineers: Arup • Haiti Rasalie School (trustee for the charity Thinking Development) • Valletta City Gate, Valletta (M), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • Copper Box – Olympic Handball Arena, London (GB), Architects: Make Architects • Review of UNOPS teacher training centres, South Sudan (SUD) Alistair Guthrie BEng (Hons), MSc, CEng Mechanical engineer, Arup Fellow, London (GB), since 1979 “One of my favourite buildings is the Pantheon in Rome. It is a beautiful marble lined concrete dome constructed about 2000 years ago. What I admire is that it is fully lit by a single open oculus at the top of the dome. Also, the space inside remains cool throughout the Italian summer relying on the mass of the structure and ventilation through the single hole at the top.”

Carsten Hein

Mike King

Jan-Peter Koppitz

155

Authors

Major projects: Menil Collection, Houston (USA), Architect: Piano & Fitzgerald • Helicon, London (GB), Architect: Sheppard Robson • Eden Project, St Austell (GB), Architects: Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners • California Academy of Science, San Francisco (USA), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (USA), Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop Michael Kwok

Carsten Hein Dipl.-Ing. Structural engineer, Associate, Berlin (D), since 1996 “‘Virtual communication’ (VC, TC, filesharing) because it allows to communicate and manage knowledge around the world. Especially our timber network gains from collaboration across the firm with virtual meetings to discuss our projects, pulling together knowledge from Sydney or San Francisco for a job in Austria.”

Rory McGowan

Alisdair McGregor

Major projects: Land of ideas (GRP sculptures), Berlin (D), Designers: Scholz & Friends • Metropol Parasol, Seville (E), Architects: Jürgen Mayer H. • Amorepacific headquarters, Seoul (ROK) (180.000 m2 development) • Controll Towers, Frankfurt/Berlin (D) (glass design using new interlayer materials) • Life Cycle Towers (aiming for a 100 m high rise in full timber construction) Mike King BEng (Hons) Structural engineer, Senior Associate, Singapore (SGP), since 1995 “The ‘building’ which I wish I could take credit for is the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in the UK. It is an incredible combination of form and function resulting in a stunningly beautiful structure which ingeniously pivots about its horizontal axis to allow boats to pass beneath. Brilliant!”

Dervilla Mitchell

Major projects: King’s Cross station, London (GB), Architects: John McAslan + Partners • London Aquatics Centre, London (GB), Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects • Kroon Hall, Yale University, New Haven (USA), Architects: Hopkins Architects • City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester (GB), Architects: Arup Associates • Pearson International Airport, Toronto (CDN), Architects: Safdie Architects Jan-Peter Koppitz Dipl.-Ing., Eur Ing, FEANI Structural engineer, Associate, Madrid (E), since 2000

Gordon Mungall

Raj Patel

“The three simple machines as defined by Archimedes: the lever, pulley and screw. Such basic but powerful tools for changing the direction and magnitude of forces. The eight wonders of the ancient world were built using these and we still depend on them nowadays, be it tightening a steel bolt or opening a wine bottle.” Major projects: Metropol Parasol, Seville (E), Architect: Jürgen Mayer H. • Chesa Futura, St Moritz (CH), Architect: Foster + Partners • Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (CH), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • West Kowloon Cultural District Masterplan, Hong Kong (CN), Architects: Rocco Design Architects • Ballymun Sports & Leisure Centre, Dublin (IRL), Architects: Holohan Leisure Architecture Michael Kwok BSc Structural engineer, Director, Shanghai (CN), since 1986

Joop Paul

Dave Richards

Rudi Scheuermann

156

“I wish I could have been the inventor of television, who has brought so much joy and happiness into every household to each individual. Television also brings the world closer where people can visually see other parts of world and other cultures without the need of traveling. Television also transfers information and knowledge to each and every individual in an effective but inexpensive way. The impact of television to any individual goes from a small kid through to his/her whole life time. It is one of the most influential inventions of the 20th century.” Major projects: Chinese National Stadium, Beijing (CN), Architects: Herzog & de Meuron • Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing (CN), Architects: Foster + Partners • Hong Kong International Airport Terminal Building, Hong Kong (CN), Architects: Foster + Partners • Danish Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai (CN), Architects: BIG • Guangzhou International Finance Centre, Guangzhou (CN), Architect: Wilkinson Eyre Rory McGowan Technician Diploma, BEng Structural engineer, Director, Dublin (IRL), since 1986

“While working in Osaka on Kansai airport I was lucky enough to meet Susumu Shingu on a number of occasions and experience his 3D dynamic sculptures driven by natural forces in a variety of settings. They captivated me and filled me with ideas for solar driven pieces which we discussed together but I regret we did not follow through. His work did make it into the flow path of the open air-duct scoops of Kansai terminal though!” Major projects: Central Bank of Ireland, Dublin (IRL), Architects: Stephenson Gibney & Associates • Druk White Lotus School, Ladakh (IND), Architects: Arup Associates • Casa da Musica, Porto (P), Architects: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) • Kansai International Airport Terminal, Osaka (J), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • CCTV headquarters, Beijing (CN), Architects: OMA Alisdair McGregor BSc (Hons), PhD, MICE, Professional Engineer (California) Mechanical engineer, Arup Fellow, San Francisco (USA), since 1981 “I would have to nominate duct tape as one of the great inventions of the last century. It is a simple product that can be used for so many things.” Major projects: California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (USA), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • De Young Museum, San Francisco (USA), Architects: Herzog & de Meuron • Yang and Yamazaki Energy & Environment Building, Stanford (USA), Architects: BOORA Architects • Master Plan for UC, Merced (USA), Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle (USA), Architects: NBBJ Dervilla Mitchell BE, FREng, CEng, FIEI, MICE Structural engineer, Director, London (GB), since 1980 “The digital camera, I love how accessible it has made photography. No need to worry about the cost or waiting to see how your photographs turn out. It’s lovely to be able to both see and share instantly.” Major projects: Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport, London (GB), Architect: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners • Portcullis House, London (GB), Architects: Hopkins Architects • Goodwood Racecourse, Chichester (GB), Architects: Hopkins Architects • West Stand Lansdowne Road, Dublin (IRL), Architects: HOK Sport with Scott Tallon Walker • Pulkovo Airport, St Petersburg (RUS), Architects: Grimshaw Architects Gordon Mungall BSc, CEng, MICE Structural Engineer, Associate Director, Newcastle (GB), 1985 -1995 and from 1997 to date “The Lotus Type 49 grand prix car due to its purity of shape before aero dynamics and down force began to rule the motor racing world.” Major projects: London Aqautic Centre, London (GB), Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects • Kingsgate Retail Centre, Huddersfield (GB), Architect: Keppie • Manchester Aquatics Centre, Manchester (GB), Architects: Faulkner Brown • DRA Farnborough, Farnborough (GB), Architects: Shepherd Design and Build • Staiths at Tyne South Bank, Gateshead (GB), Architects: Ian Darby Partnership Raj Patel BEng (Hons), CEng, ISVR Chartered engineer, Acoustic, AV, Theatre Consultant, Principal, New York (USA), since 1993 “Radio. Profoundly changed the lives of perhaps every person on the planet as the first real-time global connector and distributor of information.” Major projects: Unicorn Children’s Theatre, London (GB)Architects: Keith Williams Architects • The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead (GB), Architects: Foster + Partners • Original Music Workshop, New York (USA), Architects: Bureau V • City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester (GB), Architects: Arup Associates • Lou Reed Metal Machine Trio – Creation of the Universe Joop Paul Dip.Arch, MSc, PhD, Eur Ing, MBA Structural engineer, Director, Amsterdam (NL), since 1995 “Introduction of near mass customisation to the joint design of the Canton Tower, which made the design flexible and feasible”

Authors

Major projects: Canton Tower, Guangdong (CN), Architects: Mark Hemel, Barbara Kuit • Amsterdam Public Library, Amsterdam (NL), Architect: Jo Coenen • Arnhem Central Bus Terminal, Arnhem (NL), Architects: UNStudio • Tokyo Millenium Tower, Tokyo (J), Architects: Foster + Partners

White Design Associates • Stadium seat concept • Bench F development

Dave Richards BSc (Hons), CEng, Professional Engineer (US) Mechanical engineer, Director, London (GB), since 1986

“Stansted airport – the engineering is completely integrated and allows the airport to be naturally lit. Keeping the M&E to vertical distribution only in such a large area and integrating it with the structural columns is an excellent idea and well executed in the detail.”

“I am constantly impressed by new things so I find this question very very hard. I am more designer than inventor so I will go for Brasilia. I love it because it’s buildings combine beauty and elegance with strong environmental design and it was born from strong political vision. And was founded, designed and built in three years.” Major projects: Kroon Hall, Yale University, New Haven (USA), Architects: Hopkins Architects • The Crystal, London (GB), Architects: Wilkinson Eyre Architects • Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas (USA), Architects: BNIM Architects • Fortbildungsakademie, Herne (D), Architects: Jourda et Perraudin, Hegger Hegger Schleiff • National Tennis Centre, London (GB), Architects: George Stowell Chartered Practice

Michael Stych BEng (Hons), MSt, CEng Mechanical engineer, Director, London (GB), since 1996

Major projects: 160 Tooley Street, London (GB), Architects: Allford Hall Monaghan Morris • London Aquatics Centre, London (GB), Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects • Falmouth Maritime Museum, Falmouth (GB), Architects: Long & Kentish Architects • Wellesley College Campus Centre, Wellesley (USA), Architects: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects • UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre, London (GB), Architects: Hopkins Architects

“The fusion reactor – sadly not in production yet, but perhaps I have a chance still.”

“I wish I had invented tensile structures and inflatables. Constructions like the Munich Olympic Stadium and more recently the Water Cube in Beijing are extremely innovative in the way structure and cladding inform the architecture and landscape. They leave a lasting impression for visitors due to their holistic approach which for me is unparalleled in other structures.”

Major projects: Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London (GB), Architects: Dixon & Jones • California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (USA), Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop • King’s Cross Station, London (GB), Architects: John McAslan + Partners • Portcullis House, London (GB), Architects: Hopkins Architects • Glyndebourne Opera House, Glyndebourne (GB), Architects: Hopkins Architects

Major projects: King’s Cross St Pancras London Underground, London (GB), Architects: Allies & Morrison • Metropol Parasol, Seville (E), Architects: Jürgen Mayer H. • Jewish Museum, Berlin (D), Architects: Studio Daniel Libeskind • Air Traffic Control Towers, Berlin and Frankfurt Airports • Jewish Museum Academy, Berlin (D), Architects: Studio Daniel Libeskind

Chris Twinn BSc (Hons), CEng, FCIBSE Hon, FRIBA Senior Sustainability Consultant, Arup Fellow, Shanghai and London (GB), since 1986

“Clichéd perhaps but I’d love to have designed the cycloid vaults and their daylight kickers at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. I’m awed whenever I visit by the silvery light from the concrete that seems to fill the galleries – all achieved by clever geometry from tiny strips of skylight.” Major projects: Menil Collection, Houston (USA), Architects: Piano & Fitzgerald • Lloyds Register of Shipping, London (GB), Architects: Richard Rogers Partnership • Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill (USA), Architects: Herzog & de Meuron • Rothko Chapel Refurbishment, Houston (USA), Architects: Mark Rothko, Philip Johnson • The Full Moon Theatre, Saint Bauzille de Putois (F), Designer: Peter Rice Stuart Smith BSc, MSc, DIC Structural engineer, Director, London (GB), since 1995 “It is amazing how the internet has changed the way we work and live, but I still see endless possibilities that will enable and develop our lives in the future. So I wouldn’t mind if I had invented it, but in any case I’m glad some else did!” Major projects: Complexo Cultural Luz, Sao Paulo (BR), Architects: Herzog & de Meuron • CCTV headquarters, Beijing (CN), Architects: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) • Miami Art Museum, Miami (USA), Architects: Herzog & de Meuron • 88 Wood Street, London (GB), Architects: Richard Rogers Partnership • Ballingdon Bridge, Ballingdon (GB), Architects: Brookes Stacey Randall

Stuart Smith

John Turzynski BSc (Hons), CEng Civil/Structural engineer, Director, London (GB), since 1977

Rudi Scheuermann Dipl.-Ing., M.Arch. Architect, Director, Berlin (D), since 2000

Andy Sedgwick BA, MA, CEng Electrical engineer, Arup Fellow, London (GB), since 1983

Andy Sedgwick

“Thermal mass as a heat recovery device – i.e. using dense material that absorbs excess heat from a room when it gets warm, stores it, and then releases it back into the room when it gets too cool – all without the complexity of mechanical, electrical systems or automatic controls. Nature got there first! Our challenge is to harness these types of natural effects to deliver sustainability that costs less than business-as-usual!” Major projects: BedZED, Beddington (GB), Architects: Bill Dunster Architects • Portcullis House, London (GB), Architects: Michael Hopkins & Partners • The Hive, Manchester (GB), Architects: 5plus Architects • Eastgate, Harare (ZW), Architects: Mick Pearce • San Francisco Federal Building, San Francisco (USA), Architects: Morphosis

Rebecca Stewart

Michael Stych

John Turzynski

Jan Wurm Dipl.-Ing., Dr.-Ing. (PhD) Architect, Associate Director, Berlin (D), since 2005 “Flower pots made of concrete, reinforced with iron mesh – a hybrid of two materials with great synergetic properties that changed the way we live, work and move along – the Salginatobel Bridge by Maillart is a great example. The next thing are composites grown by biological metabolisms.” Major projects: Restoration of historical buildings in Wales using lime products 1996 – 1998 • Self supporting glass dome for the Four Seasons Hotel, London (GB), 2008 • E²volution Timber Development Project, Kouvola (FIN), 2010 /11 • Timber-Copper Staircase, Mallorca (E), 2010 /2011 • The BIG-Project, Hamburg (D), 2009 – 2012

Chris Twinn

Jan Wurm

Rebecca Stewart BEng MA Product designer, Senior Designer, London (GB), since 2004 “The water transporter has transformed the way African villages bring water back to their homes. Not only can they take much larger quantities, but the aspect of rolling has become a game, and the guys get more involved too as seen as fun!” Major projects: Technik Floor System at Ropemaker Place, London (GB), Architects: Arup Associates • Pocket Habitat development • Dartington School, Totnes (GB), Architects:

157

Picture credits

Picture credits The authors and publishers would like to express their sincere gratitude to all those who have assisted in the production of this book, be it through providing photos or artwork or granting permission to reproduce their documents or providing other information. All the drawings were specially produced for this publication. Photographs not specifically credited are taken from the archives of architects, Arup or the magazine “DETAIL Review of Architecture”. Despite intensive endeavours, we were unable to establish copyright ownership in just a few cases; however, copyright is assured. Please notify us accordingly in such instances.

Arup today p. 6

Hufton + Crow/view/arturimages

Arup today – an interview with four Arup leaders 1 – 2 Thomas Graham/Arup 3 Michel Denancé/Artedia/arturimages 4 – 5 Thomas Graham/Arup 7 Christian Schittich, D – Munich 8 Hufton + Crow/view/arturimages 9 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich 11 Ian Lambot Studio, GB – Wiltshire 12 Thomas Graham/Arup

The power and the glory – strength and elegance in structure p. 14 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich CCTV headquarters in Beijing 1.6 Ben McMillan/www.benmcmillan.co.uk 1.7 – 9 Arup 1.10 Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), NL – Rotterdam 1.11–13 Arup 1.14 Nathan Willock/view/arturimages 1.15 Christian Schittich, D – Munich Metropol Parasol in Seville 2.2 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich 2.3 Fernando Alda, E – Sevilla 2.4 – 5 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich 2.6 MetsäWood, D – Bremen 2.7 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich 2.9 – 10 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich 2.13 MetsäWood, D – Bremen 2.14 –15 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich 2.18 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich Serpentine Gallery Pavilions in London 3.1 Arup 3.2c Christian Richters/view/arturimages 3.3a Thomas Graham/Arup 3.3b Arup 3.4a Arup 3.5 Iwan Baan, NL – Amsterdam 3.6 Nick Guttridge/view 3.7 Hufton + Crow, GB – London 3.8a Hufton + Crow/view/arturimages 3.8b Hufton + Crow, GB – London 3.8c Nick Guttridge/view/arturimages AAMI Park in Melbourne 4.1 Gollings Photography, AUS – St Kilda 4.7 – 9 Arup

Total architecture – complexity and specialist expertise p. 40 Ben McMillan/www.benmcmillan.co.uk King’s Cross station in London 5.1 John McAslan + Partners, GB – London 5.2 Hufton + Crow, GB – London 5.6 Hufton + Crow, GB – London 5.8 –10 Hufton + Crow, GB – London 5.11–12 John Sturrock, GB – London 5.14 Hufton + Crow, GB – London 5.16 –18 John McAslan + Partners, GB – London 5.20 Hufton + Crow, GB – London

6.6 6.8 6.10

Hufton + Crow, GB – London Arup Hufton + Crow, GB – London

The Water Cube – Chinese National Aquatics Centre 7.1 Christian Schittich, D – Munich 7.2 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich 7.4 Ben McMillan/www.benmcmillan.co.uk 7.6 – 7 Ben McMillan/www.benmcmillan.co.uk Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport in London 8.1 David Osborn, GB – London 8.4 Arup 8.6 – 6 David Osborn, GB – London 8.7 BAA Ltd, GB – London 8.8 David Osborn, GB – London 8.9 Arup 8.10 Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, GB – London

Paradise Regained – sustainable and environmental engineering p. 62 Christian Schittich, D-Munich The California Academy of Science in San Francisco 9.1 Tim Griffith, USA – San Francisco 9.3 Tim Griffith, USA – San Francisco 9.4 Cody Andresen/Arup 9.5 Renzo Piano Building Workshop, I – Genoa 9.7 Tim Griffith, USA – San Francisco Kroon Hall, Yale University in New Haven 10.1 –2 Arup 10.3 Morley von Sternberg, GB-London 10.6 – 7 Morley von Sternberg, GB-London Ropemaker Place in London 11.3 Peter Cook, GB – London 11.7 – 8 Peter Cook, GB – London 11.12 Christian Schittich, D – Munich The Bavarian Parliament in Munich 12.1 Christian Richters, D – Münster 12.4 – 5 Christian Richters, D – Münster 12.7 – 8 Christian Richters, D – Münster

Shaping the world – global reach and influence p. 80 Kingkay Studio, CN-Shanghai/www.kingkay.com Dwarbor Kindergarten in Ghana 13.3 Hayley Gryc /Arup 13.4 – 9 Tim White /Arup 13.10 Hayley Gryc /Arup 13.12 Joseph Stables /Arup 13.14 Tim White /Arup 13.17 Hayley Gryc /Arup Canton Tower in Guangzhou 14.1 Kenny Ip, GB – London 14.2 – 3 Arup 14.4 Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich 14.6 – 7 Arup 14.8 Zhou Ruogu Architecture Photography, CN-Beijing 14.10 –11 Zhou Ruogu Architecture Photography, CN-Beijing Danish Pavilion in Shanghai 15.2 Roland Halbe, D – Stuttgart 15.8 Iwan Baan, NL – Amsterdam 15.11 Iwan Baan, NL – Amsterdam 15.13 –15 Arup 15.16 Iwan Baan, NL – Amsterdam 15.17 Hanne Hvattun 15.18 –19 Leif Orkelbog-Andresen, NL – Aarhus Marina Bay Sands in Singapore 16.2 Timothy Hursley, USA – West Markham/Arkansas 16.6 Nigel Whale, GB –Tonbridge 16.8 Arup 16.9 –10 JFE / Yongnam JV 16.11 –12 Timothy Hursley, USA – West Markham/Arkansas 16.15 Timothy Hursley, USA – West Markham/Arkansas 16.16 MBS Visual Media

Pioneering passion – from personal inspiration to Arup culture p. 110 Hufton + Crow, GB-London

London Aquatics Centre 6.2 Hufton + Crow, GB – London 6.3 – 4 Arup

158

The art of Building Information Modelling 17.1 – 7 Arup

Picture credits

Acoustics and the Arup SoundLab 17.8 – 10 Arup

Arup SS Tokyo Photo Studio, JP – Tokyo

Lighting design optimisation 17.11 – 16 Arup

p. 145 from top to bottom Paul McMullin, GB – Aughton H.G. Esch,D – Bad Hennef Victor Sájara Arup William Wright Photography, USA – Seattle

The bio-responsive facade 17.17 Arup 17.18 Jan Wurm, D – Berlin 17.20 Jan Wurm, D – Berlin 17.21 SSC GmbH, D – Hamburg 17.22 Jan Wurm, D – Berlin Sustainable future – responsible designers 17.24 Hayley Gryc Sustainable future – sustainability goes mainstream 17.26 Raf Makda, GB-Croydon Working with Herzog & de Meuron 17.29 Herzog & de Meuron, CH-Basel 17.30 Herzog & de Meuron & Hayes Davidson 17.31 – 32 Herzog & de Meuron, CH-Basel Ventures in product commercialisation 17.33 Christian Richters, D-Münster 17.36 James Bartlett/Arup A passion for timber – developing the Life Cycle Tower 17.37a Hermann Kaufmann ZT GmbH, A-Schwarzach 17.37b Hermann Kaufmann ZT GmbH, A-Schwarzach 17.37c Darko Todorovic/ Cree GmbH, A-Bregenz 17.40 Cree GmbH, A–Dornbirn 17.42 Cree GmbH, A–Dornbirn 17.43 Arup Geometric architecture 17.46 Arup 17.47 heneghan peng architects, IRL-Dublin

Catalogue of selected recent projects p. 136

Frank Kaltenbach, D – Munich

p. 138 from top to bottom Nigel Young/Foster + Partners, GB – London Martine Hamilton Knight /www.builtvision.co.uk A. Rubio & Asociados, E – Málaga Arup Christian Richters, D – Münster p. 139 from top to bottom MPP image creation, GB – London Gollings Photography, AUS – St Kilda Dennis Gilbert, GB – London Roland Halbe, D – Stuttgart Allianz Arena München Stadion GmbH, D – Munich p. 140 from top to bottom Midmac-Six Construct, QA-Doha Peter Hyatt, AUS – Parkville K.L. Ng Photography unknown Midmac-Six Construct, QA-Doha p. 141 from top to bottom Arup Maconochie Photography, GB – London John Fass Redshift Photography, GB – Winslow Mike O’Dwyer Photography, GB – London p. 142 from top to bottom Patrick S. McCafferty/Arup Nigel Young/Foster + Partners, GB – London Arup Hiroyuki Hirai, JP – Tokyo Royal Ontario Museum, CDN – Toronto p. 143 from top to bottom Tim Griffith, USA – San Francisco GTAA, CDN – Toronto Arup Christian Richters, D – Münster Iwan Baan, NL – Amsterdam

p. 146 from top to bottom Ray Hole Architects, GB – London Peter Hyatt, AUS – Parkville Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Uluslararasi Havalimani Yatirum Yapim ve Isletme AS Samoo Architects & Engineers/Samsung Arup

Photos introducing main sections: p. 6

p. 14

p. 40

p. 62

p. 80

Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge (GB) 2010, Architect: Stanton Williams Metropol Parasol, Seville (E) 2011, Architects: J. Mayer H. Architekten The Water Cube – Chinese National Aquatics Centre, Beijing (CN) 2008, Architects: PTW Architects Ropemaker Place, London (GB) 2009, Architects: Arup Associates Danish Pavilion/Expo 2010, Shanghai (CN) 2010, Architects: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group Aquatics Centre, London (GB) 2011, Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects Centre Pompidou-Metz (F) 2010, Architects: Shigeru Ban Architects

p. 147 from top to bottom Frank Kaltenbach, D-Munich John Linden, Woodland Hills Ian Bruce Photography, GB – Stockport Hufton + Crow, GB – London Christian Richters, D-Münster

p. 110

p. 148 from top to bottom Daniel Imade Arup Associates Paul McMullin, GB – Aughton Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, GB – London Warren Jagger Photography, USA – Providence

Dust-jacket:

p. 149 from top to bottom Arup Jonathan Leijonhufvud Architectural Photography, CN – Beijing Arup Zhou Ruogu Architecture Photography, CN – Beijing Tim Griffith, USA – San Francisco

p. 136

Kings Cross station, London (GB) 2012, Architects: John McAslan + Partners Photograph: Hufton + Crow, GB – London

p. 150 from top to bottom Charlotte Wood Photography, GB – Shalbourne Zaha Hadid Architects, GB – London Arup Charles Rose Architects, USA – Somerville Arup p. 151 from top to bottom Anthony Weller/Archimage TFP Farrells, HK – Hong Kong Gehry Partners, USA – Los Angeles unknown Vo Thanh Duy p. 152 from top to bottom Stadium Management Authority, AUS – Adelaide Arup Kenny Ip, GB – London Arup Associates Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, GB – London p. 153 from top to bottom Woods Bagot, AUS-Adelaide Stefan Verkerk heneghan peng architects, IRL – Dublin Sauerbruch Hutton, D – Berlin Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, USA – New York

Authors p. 154 second from top p. 154 third from top p. 154 seventh from top p. 154 eighth from top p. 154 ninth from top p. 155 second from top p. 155 third from top p. 155 sixth from top p. 156 second from top p. 156 fourth from top p. 156 eighth from top p. 157 second from top p. 157 fourth from top p. 157 fifth from top

Daniel Imade /Arup Daniel Imade /Arup BEL 2, Arup Thomas Graham /Arup BEL C, Daniel Imade /Arup Thomas Graham /Arup Thomas Graham /Arup Studio No 1 Frank Palmer Robert Taylor, www.taylor-photo.co.uk BEL C, Daniel Imade /Arup BEL D, Daniel Imade /Arup BEL 6, Daniel Imade /Arup Daniel Imade /Arup

p. 144 from top to bottom Paul Raftery/view Christian Richters, D – Münster TVS International

159

The idea of “Total Architecture”, as described by Ove Arup in his vision of design, continues to serve as the maxim for the international multidisciplinary engineering consultancy Arup and its Building Engineering Department. Drawing on selected projects from recent years, this second volume in the DETAIL engineering series shows how future-oriented and sustainable civil engineering can be combined with this ideal of a holistic design process – always with the aim of achieving perfect unity of strength and elegance in every structure. The focus is placed on the different processes that have accompanied the presented construction projects. Connections are shown between the individual buildings, whose synergies are pursued in an exemplary fashion. The remarkable building projects reveal what continues to drive and inspire the engineers at Arup to this day: a passion for pioneering work.

DETAIL Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation GmbH & Co. KG, Munich www.detail.de