ALLIED SEMINAR LECTURE- 4

Complex Architecture and Engineering Construction- Mr. Nabin Roy

Varun Vashi, 38
Dushyant Wagh, 40
Aditya Samant, 41
Class Summary

Topography Form
Complex
Form
Structures-
WHY
An COMPLEX CHALLENGES
FORMS ARE FACED BY
Architect’s NECESSARY ARCHITECTS
Perspective ?

ion
Fu

ial
Gr
nc

ter
bit

av
tio

Ma
Am

ity
n

Where to
Look:
- Continuous
Experimentation What can be Done: Way Forward:
in Nature - Musculoskeletal understanding of natural -Keep Eyes Open
objects -Question the given in Nature
-Very Large
Scale -Take it Beyond
-Explore Forms and Extreme Performances
 CASE STUDY
CCTV Headquarters-
OMA
Site Analysis
CCTV tower was planned to stand on the 3rd Ring
Road in Beijing, China, on a 10 hectare site in the
new Central Business District.
The CCTV Tower is at the center of A Media Park. A
Media Park forms a landscape of public
entertainment, outdoor filming areas and
production studios as an extension of the central
green axis of the CBD. The China Central Television new
headquarters building is located in the
Central Business District, north of
The CCTV Headquarters have been designed with Guang Hua Road and south of Chao
grey glass to blend into the context of China. Yang Road.
However, this building does not take its surrounding
urban fabric into consideration, thus only responding
to context in a geographical sense.
 Fact File
Architects OMA The CCTV headquarters aims at an alternative
to the exhausted typology of the skyscraper.
CCTV's loop poses a truly three-dimensional
Location China, experience, culminating in a 75-metre
cantilever.
Beijing.
CCTV's form facilitates the combination of the
entire process of TV-making in a loop of
interconnected activities. Two towers rise from a
Project Year 2012
common production studio platform, the Plinth.
Each tower has a different character: Tower 1
serves as editing area and offices, and the
Area 473000.0 sqm
lower Tower 2 is dedicated to news
broadcasting. They are joined by a
cantilevering bridge for administration, the
Floors 54 + 4
Overhang.
basements
Design Strategy
From the outside, the
structure seems to put more
focus on the removed void,
rather than the built form
that has been left behind.
The unique form of the
CCTV Headquarters is due
to the form and location of
the void.
Design Issues:
Instability due form;
The building form;
the continuous loop, sloping
tower and cantilever
overhang add the
complexity of structure;
Instability due to weight;
dead load caused by steel
structure
A pyramid is one of the
most stable forms derived,
since the load transfer
happens from the tip to
the base of the pyramid,
equally from all sides.
The architects have taken
this stable form of a
pyramid and fragmented
and removed parts of this
pyramid to create the form
of the structure.
The form devised is a
stable lightweight solution
to the otherwise bulky
pyramid formation.
Accommodates all major functions of media
at a national scale within a single shape and
a single loop of interconnected activities.

The 10,000-square metre main lobby, in Tower

1, is an atrium stretching three floors
underground, and three floors up. It has a
direct connection with Beijing's subway
network, and will be the arrival and departure
hub for the 10,000 workers inside CCTV
headquarters. Connected to the lobby, 12
studios (the largest is 2,000 square metres)
perform the main function of the building: TV
making.
Programmatic Allocation

Cores Visitors Circulation Lobbies Parking

Structural Design
The diagram on the right shows that the major force
distribution in CCTV structure the "overhang" required
stronger support from the edge of inclined towers. Besides
that, the "Legs" of the towers needs stronger structure to
ensure the structure to be stand. So, Arup designed a web
of triangulated steel tube- diagrid that form as diamond.
The denser area receives greater stress, looser and more
open in areas requiring less support.

Structure:

● The weight of the floor plates is taken by structural cores

● The forces at the skin are distributed along diagrid skeleton.
● The positioning of the columns and diagonal tubes on the exoskeleton
reflects the distribution of forces in the surface skin of the building
● Forms irregular pattern on the façade
● Uses about 20% less steel compared to a single tower of similar area
● For better appearance exoskeleton under a curtain wall layer
 Breakdown of Vertical
Structural Member
Types

In Internal Structural
system, used different
types of columns are
also used to reach their
maximum carrying
capacity.
Structural Systems

A diagrid
‘exoskeleton’ system
was adopted on the
external faces of the
building to give a
tube structure that
resists gravity and
other lateral forces.
The positioning of the
columns and
diagonal tubes
reflects the distribution
of forces in the
surface skin of the
building.
 Diagrid Framing System

Advantages of the diagrid structural system;

● Structurally very stable

● Less material required (-20% reduction in steel as opposed to typical
moment frame method)
● Aesthetically Pleasing — Blends in together with façade
● Floor plan becomes open and free — more internal space
● Most forms can be created with a triangulated form — architectural
freedom
Main Steel Structure with Vertical
Cladding Column
Reinforcement Outer Steel Structure with
Glazing
Reinforcement as the First
Layer

Floor
Slab
Diagrid

Perimeter Beam
Additional Orthogonal
Orthogonal Steel Structure
Steel Structure
 In external structural system uses diagrid (continuous tube system). Diagrid Steel Frame was used as
triangular structure with diagonal support beams. Irregular geometry of steel structure facade gives it
stability to cope with different load conditions.The columns of the diagrid have the same exposed width,
but the depth varies according to the load, while the diagonals are all 1m × 60cm plate girders, with only
the steel thickness varying. A butterfly plate links perimeter columns, braces and beams. The irregular
geometry of steel structure facade gives it stability to cope with different load conditions.

Material: The self-supporting hybrid facade structure features high performance glass panels with a sun
shading of 70 percent open ceramic frit, creating the soft silver-grey color that gives the building a
surprisingly subtle presence in the Beijing skyline.

Structure: The innovative structure of the building is the result of long term collaboration between
European and Chinese engineers to achieve new possibilities for the high-rise. The forces at work within
the structure are rendered visible on the façade: a web of triangulated steel tubes - diagrids - that,
instead of forming a regular pattern of diamonds, become dense in areas of greater stress, looser and
more open in areas requiring less support. The façade itself becomes a visual manifestation of the
building's structure.

External Primary Facade

 1. (a) Internal columns (b) Internal columns
2 . The foundation system.
starting from pile cap level. supported on transfer 3. GSRaft model of the piled foundation.
structures .

Substructure and Foundations

The main Towers stand on piled raft foundations. The piles are typically 1.2m in diameter, and about 52m long. Given the magnitude and
distribution of the forces to be transferred to the ground, the raft is up to 7.5m thick in places and extends beyond the footprint of the Towers
to act as a toe, distributing forces more favourably into the ground.
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 is allowed in the piles.
Limited tensions in some piles are only permitted in major seismic events. For the Base plus three - storey basement, a traditional raft
foundation is used, with tension piles between column locations to resist uplift from water pressure acting on the deep basement. 15-20m
long, 600mm diameter tension piles will be arranged under the raft with additional 1.2m diameter piles under secondary cores and columns
supporting large transfer trusses from the studio areas (Fig 2).
Construction Process

The building’s unique form necessitated careful consideration of the construction method throughout the design process. Both the
method and sequencing of the works affect the permanent distribution of dead load through the continuous tube. To allow the
contractor some flexibility in method and programme, analyses were performed, using staged construction and loading to build up the
final dead load incrementally.
Construction Process

c)Due to shifting floor plates, crane must be

a)Cranes erected (in lift shafts) at b)As building height increases,
relocated horizontally so as to reach extremity
ground level cranes progressively lifted by jacks.
of building.

d)First crane used to e)First crane used to reassemble f)Both cranes resume work.
dismantle second crane. second crane in new position.
The two Towers are connected which puts the highest stresses into the Overhang structure since it acts as a prop between the Towers,
large stresses are present in the Towers since they carry more of the load in bending as cantilever.
The timing of the connection between the Towers was also important, so as to minimize the relative movement between them from
thermal and wind effects. It was also important to minimize future thermal movements between the Towers that could put large stresses
into the Overhang where it is restrained by the Towers .
Building Foundation Raft
 Floor Plan Transition

CCTV
Plan CCTV
Ground Plan
Floor Floor slabs become Floor15/
smaller as you go higher Floor14
Shifting floor plates aid
the tilting exterior
structure.

CCTV
CCTV
Plan
Plan
Floor25/
75 m Floor41
Floor22
Cantilever
Sections

Away from the

tower, for the
9-storey Base and the
3- storey basement
under the rest of the
site, a traditional raft
foundation is used

4 Floor
Basement
18M Height
 Void becomes the major
element drawing attention to
the structure.
More emphasis on the void
rather than the built form
Skin/Facade Layers

Detail drawings of the CCTV Headquarters "Diagrid" cladding

Partial section through the CCTV Headquarters curtain wall.
system.