Projects + people
Architects Frank O. Gehry & Associates Client Consorcio Del Proyecto Guggenheim Bilbao Building type Museum Structural concept Modular lattice grid Completion 1997
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (E) Designed by Frank O. Gehry & Associates and one of the most visually unique buildings of the 20th century, the museum is a series of organically interconnected buildings featuring undulating walls and roofs. A large atrium provides a central focal point. Challenged to design a structural framework to accommodate the interplay of the compound curvilinear forms of the walls and roofs, SOM proposed an innovative, economical system in structural steel, allowing for prefabrication in a shop environment using computer-controlled techniques to achieve a high degree of accuracy for assembly in the field under tight tolerances. SOM structural engineers then created and developed a modular lattice steel grid system that could be adapted to the various curved surfaces of the undulating walls and roofs.
Client HKCEC, Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd. Building type Convention center Structural concept Long span steel roof trusses Completion 1997
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong (CN) Surrounded by Victoria Harbour on three sides, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre is in a highly visible location in the city. Built for ceremonies for the handover from British to Chinese rule on 30 June 1997, the centre was designed and constructed on a very tight schedule. The aluminium-clad roof structure is comprised of curved planes that overlap like wings and have been achieved by prefabricated, structural-steel trusses delivered by sea and lifted in place, creating a space 23 m high with an 80-m clear span. The primary trusses support a system of secondary trusses, stringers and galvanised steel roof decking. The interior reinforced concrete core walls that provide the lateral load-resisting system for the convention centre.
Client Korean Air Lines Building type Corporate headquarters and aircraft maintenance hanger Structural concept Trussed arches with balanced cantilever trusses Completion 1995
Korean Air Lines Operations Center, Seoul (ROK) The Operations Center for Korean Air Lines at Gimpo International Airport combines a dramatic clear-span hangar facility with perimeter office and operations facilities. The roof structure of the hangar bay spans 90 ≈ 180 m and can accommodate two wide-body aircraft or other combinations of smaller aircraft. In order to minimise overall building height while maintaining a clear span at the hangar doors, an innovative roof structural system was developed that essentially carries the weight of the entire roof on three columns. Tied arch trusses span from the corner columns at the hangar doors to a major column in the centre of the rear wall of the hangar bay. Intersecting rib trusses serve as balancing cantilevers on each side of the arch trusses. The graceful shape of the arch and rib trusses reflects an approximation of the moment diagrams under loading.
Client British Rail Property Board, Rosehaugh Stanhope Development PLC Building type Office tower on preconstructed raft structure over active railroad tracks Structural concept Fire-engineered exposed structural steel framing Completion 1993
1 Fleet Place, Ludgate Development, London (GB) The Ludgate Development is built over the Thameslink Railway in a densely populated area where the City of London adjoins the West End on a site dating to Roman times. 1 Fleet Place is framed in structural steel on a concrete raft above the active tracks, with the framing isolated for vibration control. Architecturally, the exterior exposes the structural-steel framing, recalling the Roman grid of this part of the City of London and SOM’s historical background as a partnership founded on Miesian principles of structural rationality. The structural steelwork is fire-engineered to enable the majority to remain unprotected and exposed. The structural skeleton of the building is further emphasised by the changing planes of the exter ior walls.
Client The Travelstead Group Building type Mixed-use tower Structural concept Megaframe exoskeleton Completion 1992
Hotel Arts, Barcelona (E) The Vila Olimpica master plan, designed for the regatta and sailing programs of the 1992 Summer Olympics, uses a network of civic spaces and commercial facilities to connect the City of Barcelona with the Mediterranean Sea. The 45-storey tower – the centrepiece of the development that includes hotel and residential floors – is constructed in structural steel with a distinctive X-braced exoskeleton in white that is structural and establishes the strong architectural character of the building. The window wall system is set back 1.50 m, thus satisfying fire engineering criteria while allowing the exoskeleton to be fully expressed. The exoskeleton is an efficient exterior braced tube designed to resist all lateral loads.
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