Structural System of

Gardens By The Bay

Singapore

Name: Geert Woestenburg

Student number: 4207432
Course: CIE5251 Structural Design, Special Structures
Date: 08-03-2018
Introduction
Nowadays the structural systems receives an
increasing degree of attention. With a good
design for the construction, a lot of costs can
be reduced due to minimize the materials use
and manufacturing costs and reduce the
ecological footprint of the structure. For this
aim the architect and the structural engineer
have to work together. The architect have to
understand that the structural mechanics of a
building depends on the geometry. An optimal
use of the geometry of the building is done
using grid shells. Grid shells are very attractive
for architects. The grid shell provide a free
form structure with unobstructed spaces and
the grid shell can made in very complex
shapes. With complex shapes a double curved
surface is meant. The Russian engineer
Vladimir Shukhov was the first engineer to
construct a double bended structure in 1897.
He constructed a double curved roof for a
pavilion for an exhibition in Russia. The
bending of the surface provides the structure
of extra stiffness. The right shape of the
building carry loads as efficient as possible.
Figure 1: First double curved grid shell constructed by
Vladimir Shuhkov (dpr-barcelona, 2013)
Grid shell
A grid shell can be compared to an shell
structure. The difference is that the grid shell is
built up out of continuous lattices. Through
these lattices the forces are directed to the
ground. In the grid shells the structure is
concentrated into individual linear elements
(James Norman Richardson, 2013). The
thickness of the structure of the grid shell is
small compared to its overall span. The open
spaces between the lattices can be filled in by
glass for example to create a weathertight
membrane.
According to a sufficient design and a clear
form finding geometry the thickness of a grid
shell structure can be very small compared to
its span. Due to the form finding structure the
construction will be only under compression.
The moment and shear forces are minimized in
the structure with this method. There are
different methods that can be used for form-
finding, one of them is the Dynamic Relaxation
method.
Different types of grid shell
There are different types of grid shells. The
majority of the grid shells are built out of
quadrilateral of triangular grids. The choice of
a grid pattern influences both fabrication and
structural behaviour (Fritzsche, 2013). There
are fundamental differences between these
different types of grids.
The number of beams and nodes changes
drastically when changing the type of grid. This
is because the pattern is very different. The
structural engineer also have to deal with the
span of the cladding.
In the following the different grids are
explained:
Quadrilateral grid
The quadrilateral grid consist rectangular
shapes. The disadvantage is that this grid is not
made out of form-retaining shapes. The
quadrangular pattern shifts easily. The
quadrangular grid shell relies on the bending
stiffness of the connections. The planes of the
grid are not necessarily planar. A specific curve
network on the surface guarantee meshing
with planar quadrilaterals (Mesnil, Douthe,
Baveral, & Léger, 2017).
Triangular grid
The triangular grid consist of only triangles.
The use of only triangles makes the grid very
strong because of the form-retaining structure
of the grid. The downside of the triangular grid
is a complex structure. The better structural
performance of this grid is at costs of an
increase of node valence. The planes of a
triangular grid is always planar, as long as the
legs of the grid are straight.
Figure 2: Different possible patterns of the grid
Hybrid grid
The hybrid grid consist of quadrangular shapes
combined with diagonal pre-stressed cables.
The pre-stressing of the cables provide
compression in the rigid rectangular shapes.
This compression in the lattices gives more
strength to the structure and with this
compression strength the grid shell can take
more load. Also a advantages is that the hybrid
grid is form-retaining.
So there is a trade-off between fabrications
constraints and design freedom.
Hippo House
Before looking to the complex structure of the
Gardens By The Bay, have a look to another
structure the Hippo House. The Hippo House is
constructed as a glass roof. This structure is
designed by Jörg Schlaich in 1956 (Schlaich &
Schober, 1997). The roof is made out of two
spherical domes with a smooth and continuous
transition. The grid shell is constructed with a
hybrid grid. This is the rectangular grid with the
diagonal cables in each square. The pretension
in the cable created a solid structure which can
resists asymmetrical loading and point loads.
The rectangular geometry of the grid is created
by sliding the parabola over the directrix as
showed in Figure 3. The surface of the grid
shell can be covered by an even mesh and flat
glass panels even though the surface is a
double curved shell.
The mechanics of these structure works as all
of the grid shells. The self-weight and the
dynamic loads will be transferred through the
surface of the shell due to the double
curvature. The pre-stresses gives the structure
more strength and stiffness. The stability and
the rigidity of the shell is contained out of the
form retaining mesh pattern. Resulting all in a
very light structure.
Figure 3: The geometrical basis of the glass roof
(Schlaich & Schober, 1997)
Gardens By The Bay
The Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest are
two domes at the Gardens By The Bay at
Singapore. These structures are designed by
Wilkinson Eyre and the structural engineer was
AtelierOne. The two domes are two cooled
conservatories to show different flowers and
plants from different climates.
The structure of these domes a combine
system, there is the glass grid shell and the
white arches around the shell. The arches
support the quadrilateral grid shell. The arches
are separated from the grid shell and attached
by slender hangers. The separation is
introduced to improve the light transmission of
the envelope. (atelier one)
The result is a very light grid shell structure.
Figure 4: Picture of the domes at Gardens By The Bay
(Agarwal, 2012)
Structural geometry
A geometry for the two grid shells was defined
Dr. Chriss Williams, professor at the Universtiy
of Bath (Ali, 2013). The structural geometry of
the two domes are different because of
architectural needs. The form of the grid shells
is developed with the followings steps:
1. In the xy-plane was drawn a smooth
curve consisting two equal ellipses
joined together. The xy-plane is tilted
as shown in Figure 5. This angle of
tilting is different for the Flower Dome
and the Cloud Forest Dome.
 2. This 2D geometry was then rotated on
an angle of rotation in the z-axis place
to form a 3D elliptical geometry.
3. The geometry is extracted from the
elliptical was cut in an angled plane.
This is shown as the blue part of the
shape in Figure 5
The Cloud Forest Dome a different geometry
because of the next step. The steps mentioned
as above are the same.
4. The form for the Cloud Forest Dome
was stretched in negative direction
and deformed. This step is shown in
Figure 6.
Figure 5: Geometrical basis of the two domes (Ali, 2013)
Figure 6: Step 4 for the Cloud Forest Dome (Ali, 2013)
Figure 7: Schematic drawing for the forces through the
membrane of the grid shell
The geometry rationalisation was necessary so
the supply chain can follow the information
provided, this was one of the biggest
challenge.
Structural Mechanics
The structural mechanics of this construction
depends on the geometry. The cross section of
the glass shell in the direction of the arches
around the structure is a ellipse. The ellipse
can be compared to a parabola since only the
top of the ellipse is used. The parabola is a
good shape to bear symmetrical loads. The
loads can be transferred through the
membrane. Now in the flower dome and the
cloud forest dome the parabola is tilted.
Therefore the membrane can’t depends on the
symmetrical load bearing. As shown in
the yellow forces in the tilted have to be load
bear by the white arches. The curvature is too
less to bear the dead load of the façade itself.
The white arches support the façade to stay in
place to bear the compressive load through
the membrane of the grid shell. This is why the
structural engineers introduces the white
arches.
The stability of the structure is provide by the The stretching of the structure for the cloud
grid shell. The blue coloured ‘corner’ of the forest dome creates more variety in the glass
shell, also pronounce as the apex, shown in plates. The glass plates are more a trapezoid.
Figure 8 acts like an arch. The grid in the apex
The curve throughout the façade is continuous
has an hybrid pattern to provide stiffness in
and does not give a feeling of being formed by
the direction perpendicular to the arches. The
planar quads (Ali, 2013). This is an advantage
apex of the hyperbolic surface was attached to
for the costs. The curved panels are more
the arches and tensioned. This provides
expansive compared to the flat surfaces of
effectively pre-stressing of the arches to form
glass.
a rigid boundary. The arches provide the
stability and stiffness of the grid shell in the
direction of the arches shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Computer drawing of the design of the Flower

dome (Ali, 2013)

Figure 9: The variety of the shapes of the glass surfaces in

Cladding of the surface
After the geometry of the structure was
achieved the surface was determined. The
surface was divided in a polygon mesh because
of the radial and circumferential patterns. The
division in the mesh gives the rationalisation.
Figure 9 gives an idea how the glass plates are
unitized for the complex grid shell. This was
the optimized way to provide the others in the
supply chain the information of the shapes of
the glass plates.
two directions (Ali, 2013)
Further Research
For further research about this subject, the
plan is to look what changing the grid shell can
do for the arches around the grid shell. For
example what is the result when you change
the size of the grid shell or you change the
pattern of the grid shell.
The surface of the gird shell will be created
with the application grasshopper. With this
algorithm the structure can be analysed and
look wat changes of the parameters give.
The next step is with Karamba. Karamba is a
structural engineering tool and can be used to
analyse the structure with changing the
parameters (Karamba 3D, sd).
Mesnil, R., Douthe, C., Baveral, O., & Léger, B.
(2017). Linear buckling of
quadrangular and kagome gridshells: A
comparative assassment. Engineering
Structures, 337-348.

Schlaich, J., & Schober, H. (1997). Glass Roof

References for the Hippo House at the Berlin Zoo.
Agarwal, A. (2012). Fine Art America. Retrieved Structural Engineering International,
from Domes in Gardens By The Bay: 252-254.
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/d
omes-inside-the-gardens-by-the-bay-
in-singapore-ashish-agarwal.html

Ali, H. (2013). Rationalisation of freeform glass

facades from concept to construction.
Bath: Univeristy of Bath.

dpr-barcelona. (2013, april 16). Vladimir

Shukhov [Photo]. Retrieved from
Arkinet blog:
https://arkinetblog.wordpress.com/20
10/04/16/vladimir-shukhov/

Fritzsche, J. (2013). Gridshell Efficiency

Optimization . Eindhoven: Technische
Universiteit Eindhoven.

James Norman Richardson, S. A. (2013).

Coupled form-finding and grid
optimization approach for single layer
grid shells. Engineering Structures,
230-239.

Karamba 3D. (n.d.). Retrieved from Karamba

Parametric Design:
https://www.karamba3d.com/