MEGA - Architecture Report - TU Delft 2019

LOI 130 AR0026 MEGA // 2019 // Akash Changlani // 4813715 AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 1

Date:

July 2019

Course:

AR0026 MEGA

Track:

MSc. Building Technology

Author:

Akash Changlani (4813715)

Report: Architecture

Team: Akash Changlani Architect Aviva Opsomer Climate Designer Marija Jasine Facade Designer

Tim Van Driel Structural Designer Jelle Emmen Structural Designer

Nicolas Mariller Computational Designer

Jesse Jongenotter Computational Designer

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 2

Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 04 2.0 Design 08 3.0 Floor Plans 22 4.0 Details 29 5.0 Physical Model

32

6.0 3D Views 38 7.0 Reflection 43 8.0 Appendix 46 i. ii. iii. iv. v.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

Computation Design Climate Design Facade Design Structure Design Workflow

LOI 130 I 3

1.0 Introduction

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 4

Image Source: http://ec.europa.eu/oib/loi130-competition/competition_en.htm

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 5

Brief

The project for MEGA 2019 is based on an interdisciplinary architectural competition - “Real Estate complex for the European Commission in Brussels- Project Loi 130”, which is organised by the European Comission. The requirement of the project is to redevelop the site into an efficient building complex for the European commission.

The site is located on the Rue de la Loi, inside “European Quarter” of Brussels.

The mixed use complex should provide office space for employees, conference facilities, two childcare centres, the commission’s visitor centre, retail facilities, a car park and a new entrance to the Maelbeek subway station.

Objective

The main objective for course of MEGA is to integrate various fields of expertise as a team, involved in the same design process of such a complex project with a High-Rise buildings and to apply integrating knowlege as a collaborative approach.

Program

Site Area : Total Floor Area :

24,000 m2 190,000 m2

Offices : 152,000 m2 (80% of total Floor Space) - Office Space 89,000 m2

- Conference Facilities

Housing :

25,500 m2 (15% of total Floor Space)

- Short stay : - 3/4 Rooms: - 5 Room: - Pent House:

Childcare Centre : Retail Facilities : Subway Station : Visitor’s Centre : General Services :

Rules

High Rise (Tall) : High Rise (Short) : Low Rises : Mid Rises :

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

63,000 m2

45% (50m2/Unit) 35% (100m2/Unit) 15% (120m2/Unit) 5% (250m2/Unit)

2,000 m2 gross (Two Units) 3,000 m2 gross(On Plinth) 500 m2 gross 2,000 m2 gross 2,000 m2 gross

165 mts.

114 mts.

24-32 mts.

40-55 mts.

Figure: Site location of the project in Brussels.

Source: MEGA 2019 Brochure

LOI 130 I 6

SWOT Analysis Strength

Weakness

Opportunities

Natural

The topography of site is in slope difference of +12mts going from West to East end.

Currently, there is no vegetation or green space available on site.

Open green space development.

Easy water flow due to slope on site.

Flood prone Area.

Cultural

The site is under the zone of EU Commission territory. It has strong surrounding with population.

It doesn’t camouflage with old Brussel’s style of architecture.

Space for more and more people to bring them together and make the site more functional.

Isolation of community from EU employees.

Experencial

Strong identity and huge scale for the complex.

In connection with main road network, more traffic expected.

To create open and integrated experience to people.

Traffic noise and pollution all around.

Contextual

Strong surrounding landmarks all around the site.

Retain one heritage building over the same plot with new design language.

To create a connection with these landmarks.

The change of design language for the complex compared to existing impression of surroundings.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

Threat

LOI 130 I 7

2.0 Design

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 8

Goals

After understanding the urban context, site condition and project’s requirements; several goals were listed before starting designing. The goals were common from getting into discussion with whole team and agreeing on the same points.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 9

Connections Considering the goals that we had to achieve for our design, the connections were considered in two different aspects, one was the connection of site program with its surrounding context.

Second was to create interactive connection within the site amongs different program with each other to gain more interactive activities.

On studying the surrounding context, the program for the project were distributed around the site considering the best connection to its surroundings.

Residential Connection: - with residential zone around the site - with nearby parks - with plazas and retails - with square Marie-Louise waterbody Office Connections: - with office zone around the site - with parks, plazas and retails

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 10

Process Sketches

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 11

Process Models

Several options for massing was tried by whole team and physical mass model was prepared to study massing with its context. The first massing ideas were done through a series of physical models, one of which was further elaborated and built in 3D. The types of several options are shown below.

Option-01

Option-02

Option-03

Option-04

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 12

Views of towers from Option-01 from streets adjecent to site. Option-01 was chosen by team to develop it in further design.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 13

Impression

As the High-rises towers are going to be the tallest tower in Brussels, we wanted to make it more identical to the city and give an iconic impression to the city. Hence, we began imagining set of two (tall and short) towers from a distance of one kilometre by keeping (1) two towers apart on two different ends of site and (2) two towers adjacent to each other. Making an illustration of these two options, shown below, we can see keeping two towers adjacent to each other makes tower more iconic.

(1)

(2)

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 14

Design Development

Keeping two towers apart from each other on East and West ends of the site.

Getting two towers adjacent to each other to make two towers collectively as an iconic structure for the city.

Setting different orientation for both towers to reduce wind effect on structure of tower.

Adding a long strip of plinth in front of both the towers to avoid wind tunnel effect for pedestrian level.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 15

Final Massing The final massing was developed around the tower and front plinth considering all the aspects from wind, sun and accesibility to human. The faces of massing are champhered in accordance with gaining more sun light more efficiently to each face, getting more and clear visual connections to surrounding.

The benefits through sculpting masses are: (1) Section View:

Figure: The chamfered roof opens up the view to sky and it allows feel of openess within narrow street.

(2) Plan view:

Figure: The chamfered walls in plan opens up more space for circulation and makes it less busy.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 16

Program The distribution of program is kept more interactive to people by making connections between them.

Office area is on both the towers and plinth below towers. The top floors on towers is open for public for the view of the city. Retails are on ground floor with maximum frontage. Entrance to subway station is on main road which is in direct connection to plazas, park, and retails. Visitor’s centre is on west end. Housing are on three different locations. One is in direct connection to park and water body in urban context, Second is elevated higher than average height of surrounding buildings in context, to give a view to horizon. Third, has a direct connection to the offices.

The top floor of plinth at front has a green terrace roof which is accessible to public. All slopes on roof are in ratio of 1:18/20 which is suitable for easy walk.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 17

Master-Layout The ground floor level is majority kept accessible to public which includes programs like retails, subways, restaurants, open plazas and open park. The idea was to create a journey for people on ground floor. The journey was created by connecting open plazas with narrow street connections, taking the impression of European street character of narrow passage to open plazas.

Plaza 1 connects offices and retails, Plaza 2 connects housing and retails, and somehow retails connects office to housing.

Hence, plazas and retail serves as intermediate connection between various programs to make the complex more interactive to public.

All service cores like lifts and staircases are kept at a distance of 25-35 mts of distance, easily accessible from any point during fire escape.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 18

Height Relation (Elevation View)

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 19

Features Plaza and Route Connection

Wind Flow

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 20

Vegetation and Water flow

PV Distribution

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 21

3.0 Floor Plans

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 22

Offices

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 23

Assembly Sequence of Tower

1. First of all, the frame structure will be made ready with all columns and beams according to grid with main centeral core as main support structure.

Also Floor slab will be installed

2. On the existing grid structure, facade components will be installed on structure elements present on periphery. The periphery columns are made stronger considering loads from facade.

3. All the required services into the floor (floor heating pipes) and services under ceiling (AC ducts, fire extinguisher, electricity) will be installed.

4. Distribution of partition and arrangement of furniture will be done according to the office’s requirement. The easy accessibility to core for fire escape will be taken into consideration while planning.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 24

Flexible Floor Planning (Office Layout)

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 25

Housing

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 26

Floor Plans (Housing Layout) The stretegic planning for housing was to provide cross ventilation throughout the house, each house gets both facing open towards north and south face. All the living room is made possible to be on south face for better comfort in climate of brussels. With this, the circulation passage to enter house was reduced from each floor to one in two/three floors. This made 12% of more floor area for private houses instead of wasting it on a passage.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 27

Flexible Floor Planning (Housing Layout)

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 28

4.0 Details

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 29

High Rises

Detail view showing all integrated system from structure, climate and facade for high-rise typology.

Steel column and beam connection

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

Concrete casting of Floor and columns

Installation of facade existing structure

on

Installing Floor heating

All service ducts are covered under ceiling

LOI 130 I 30

Low/Mid Rises

Detail view showing all integrated system from structure, climate and facade for low/mid-rise typology.

Steel n CLT structural member

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

Installing CLT floor system

Installing Facade on existing structure system

Installing Floor heating

All service ducts are covered under ceiling

LOI 130 I 31

5.0 Physical Model (Part Model)

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 32

Elevation View from Front side

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

Sectional view from back side

LOI 130 I 33

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 34

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 35

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 36

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 37

6.0 3D Views

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 38

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 39

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 40

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 41

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 42

7.0 Reflection

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 43

The main goal of the course MEGA was to work in team with different discipline, and to deal with a huge scale project together. Main ideal was to integrate different expertise into one design process, knowing connections between those fields and getting to learn to coordinate different expertise.

We were introduced with the topic, rules and regulations on the very first day. As the site was in Brussels, we got one lecture giving some knowledge about the context around the given site which became very useful to know the surrounding before designing. Following to it, there were several lecture series covering all the required information for the project of MEGA from each disciplines with various experienced speakers. Collectively from all those lectures, it became very easy to choose a discipline of your interest by helping us knowing big pictures from each disciplines about how far one can go, what can be done and what all things are possible.

At the beginning, the whole team was involved in the process of deciding goals that we should achieve in our final design. Some of the common goals like flexibility and sustainability were focused into each discipline which was reflected in our final presentation. Working as a team was one of the most important thing throughout the process. It is very crucial to match relative details or data from two different disciplines, and for that its important that whole team meet regularly and sit together to work. Until Mid-terms, we did brain storms on mass and form development and fixing program and circulation. Finalising all these parameters before and making no further major changes after mid-terms helped us saving much of the time and we utilised the time in detailing out the design, resolving floor plans and services in more efficient way.

As an Architect, it was very crucial for me to be on time to deliver drawings to the team. It was very necessary to have some knowledge from all other disciplines for two reasons, to integrate their ideas, work and research into design process and make it functional on a building scale, and to somehow take best out of all disciplines by asking them to analyse some particular ideas and design which were from the design point of view. All this became possible by getting myself into regular team discussion, as well as going to each different disciplines personally and listening to them to get more efficient result into the design. I made myself present in some of the discussions from the consultants from other discipline

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 44

The experience of working with all these different discipline made me understood the importance of their roles in making a project more efficient via its functionality as well as its workability. To get a sustainable result, it is very important that a good research from all these disciplines comes in a place and a good team work can help integrate all these ideas on one design with Architect.

The consults for Architecture were the least amongst all other disciplines, only 4-consult from a 10 week course. No consult for Architecture before Conceptual pin-up. And the scale of the project was too huge (almost three times of that from previous year) to completely detailing it out compared to the duration of the course. It became too exhausting for an Architect to finish it at least two weeks earlier so that the drawings can be passed through the rest of the team to do their part. At a point the team was juggling with the situation but somehow showing some team spirit, we managed to make it the best of what we can do.

MEGA was collectively a good experience of work itself (huge scale) and work environment (various disciplines). MEGA for me was one of the best course until today, where you work as a team of people from diverse culture, each one have their own and different role, working on a same goal to achieve one result.

Akash

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 45

8.0 Appendix

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 46

i. Computation Position of the Tower Goal

After having determined the general position of the towers in phase 0, this analysis aims at refining it. Given the impact of the tower position, it is important for this analysis to integrate the entire team in the decision process.

Parameters

First, the architect wanted to see explore different variations of the same tower concept. The first parameter is thus the tower type (Figure 21, right).

Secondly, the orientation of each tower is of interest (Figure 21, left).

Finally, the distance separating the two towers will be explored (Figure 21, center).

Objectives

First, in order to minimize the impact of our project on the existing neighborhood, we looked at the area of shadow cast by the towers (Figure 22, top).

Secondly, to maximize the sun hitting the towers we calculated the radiation energy on each tower (Figure 22, center). The application of this maximization is two-folds. Firstly, the radiation is closely linked to the daylight. Increasing it will therefore increase the level of comfort inside the tower and reduce lightning consumption. Secondly, together with the façade and the climate designers we had the idea of using shading with incorporated pv cells on the towers. Maximizing the radiation on it will therefore maximize the energy it produces.

Result

Once every team member had rated its preferred options, we commonly looked at the selected ones and chose the one integrating everyone’s demand.

Luckily, even though we graded independently, there was an option which was ranked highly among all disciplines.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 47

Direct Sunlight into Plazas Goal

One of the main goals of our project is to create interaction between our building and its surroundings. This is partly done by the presence of two public plazas (in blue in Figure 16) which will be surrounded by cafes and retail. However, due to the high density required, we noticed that the plazas had very little sun during the day. In order to remediate this misfit between climate comfort and architectural requirements, I decided to look for what part of the building were blocking the sun.

Analysis First, the southern block is split into tiny voxels (Figure 16, left). Then, using ladybug’s sunlight analysis, every point with less than three hours of sun every day is isolated. The next step identifies the voxels standing between the dark points and the sun (Figure 16, center). Finally, the script deletes these conflicting elements (Figure 16, right) and measures the sun performance again.

Result

The analysis gives the outline of the ideal building to have at least 3 hours of sun per day (Figure 16 middle). This shape was then showed to the architect so he could change his design in a way that integrates climate considerations.

Unfortunately, because we were relatively low on square meters, the changes were not as important as the analysis suggested. Nevertheless, by adding stepped terraces and making the cantilever slanted, it allowed for a gain of 0.5 hours for the west plaza and 0.2 on the east one (Figure 16 bottom).

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 48

Solar Potential for PV Goal

To reduce the environmental impact of our building, we decided to cover some facades with photovoltaic panels. However, we did not, for architectural reasons, want to cover the whole plot with PV. To find the right equilibrium, and to use solar panels only on the most efficient spots, we needed a map showing the solar potential for the plot.

Analysis

Using ladybug radiation analysis, it is possible to draw a map of the radiation hitting each faรงade (Figure 17). To make the visualization easier and to facilitate the calculation of the energy that could be produced from one face, a small script was developed. Using this script with internalized data, the climate designer could choose which faรงade to study. It would be immediately be highlighted in blue and a text will inform on the average solar power on the faรงade (Figure 18).

Result

his analysis, although very simple, turned out to be very useful. It was used as a base for communication between the faรงade designer and the climate designer. Indeed, having a view of the plot with its hot spots was helpful to decide which should have solar panels. This resulted in a plan for the solar panels and a major energy consumption reduction (Figure 20).

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 49

Park Analysis Goal

In our project goals, we mentioned the connection with the existing green spaces. An instrument to that link is the creation of a park in the eastern part of the plot. The goal of this analysis is to make this park comfortable while increasing its biodiversity. To do so, we used trees to shade part of the park.

By changing their position, I minimized the area of the park with too much (more than 9 h) or too little (less than 2h) sun exposure. In parallel, I tried to divide the remaining area in medium (2 to 5h) and high (5 to 9 h) exposure as equally as possible so that there is room for different types of plants. Indeed, different types of plant have different light requirements (Figure 25).

Parameters

Together with the climate consultant, we decided on three types of trees, thus defining their radiuses and height. Moreover, the position of each tree was varied during the optimization.

Result

This analysis allowed for a great reduction of the areas with too much sun while aiming for a good repartition between area with high sun and low sun (Figure 31). The outputs of this analysis are the chosen position of the trees (Figure 30 left) and the corresponding sun hours (Figure 30 center). However, to make the results more comprehensive, I redraw the sun hours graph in a map showing the zones where which plants can be planted (Figure 30 right).

In black are the area where the isn’t enough sun. In dark green are the areas with low sun whereas light green represents the high sun. White areas are zones where there is too much sun for most plants.

Another goal of this analysis was to gain some practice on the evolutionary algorithm with a relatively light analysis. Indeed, the façade analysis which follows was much more consuming computationally and practicing on this analysis helped me understand the mechanism of the algorithm.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 50

ii. Climate Vertical circulation

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 51

Fire safety Design (Based on Senses)

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 52

Biodiversity Planning

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 53

iii. Facade Facade Logic

The site, program, and massing choices introduced challenges for the facade design. These challenges were the starting point to create our facade logic.

On the lower levels, issues with privacy are to be addressed. Here the main challenges were introduced by both the massing decisions and the site. As a planning strategy, the lower and mid-rise volumes are to be occupied by housing and child care facilities. In addition, creating public plazas on the ground levels of our complex was a major point. The issue of privacy also extends to the choice of openness and the integration of public.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

The aim of this chart was to explore different design options. For that, each of the issues were presented with multiple probable solutions. For example, the issue of privacy could be dealt with in several ways on the facade level. We could choose a closed facade which blocks any visual connection, the other extreme could be complete openness and transparency. Creating a facade pattern that goes from one extreme to the other according to the different privacy levels needed is another option. Greenery could also be a solution, as it filters the views. The same logic is applied to the rest of the issues, and some solutions are common. For example the greenery, as mentioned before, could be used for privacy purposes, but it could also be used for both the issues of pollution and acoustics.

LOI 130 I 54

Facade Elaboration

Facade Impression

After the various design explorations, the facade design was to be elaborated. The final design logic of the 6th option shown previously, was a main guideline in the process. Other aspects such as program distribution and climate were also main points that helped refine the design.

The following diagram shows the elaborated facade logic based on the design explorer, architectural expression, functional distribution, context, andclimaticfactors, alongwiththeintegrationofpreliminary structural decisions.

The retail is glazed foropenness and transparency. The volumes facing the south have a double green facade for shading and acoustics. The housing facades are of wood, following their sustainable structural design.

While the towers are glazed for transparency with appropriate shading. PV panels are to be integrated on roofs and chosen facades.

Towers: the facade of the towers should express transparency, especially towards the top as it blends with the sky. To achieve that glazed curtain wall system is used. To ensure shading, horizontal louvers envelope the tower on south and south-east facades.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

Offices: offices located on the busy street also face the south. The double facade with balconies ensure shading and act as an acoustic barrier. The greenery is to reduce pollution and allow for biodiversity.

Housing: the structure of the mid-rise is made of wood, being a sustainable material it is also used for the facade. Protruding windows have multiple purposes, on the south for shading, on the north for allowing east or west sunlight, and on lower levels for privacy.

LOI 130 I 55

Towers

Housing

As for the glazed part of the panel, 3 types are proposed, the distribution of which is shown on the different elevations of the tower. The proposed glazing is full height to ensure better daylight quality and maximize views.

Starting the glazing from floor level is beneficial for visual comfort in a high-rise as it does not limit one’s view to the sky which might be often overcast.

All of the types have ventilation louvers on the lower part which are automatically operated for smoke ventilation in case of fire. The upper part of the glazing changes according to type.

The apartment configuration was considered an opportunity to create a playful facade in contrast to the grid. Since each apartment occupies 2 floors, that means that each has 2 openings on a given facade. One of these is the living room and the other is a bedroom, either of which can benefit from a balcony. This allows for a shifting pattern of balconies and windows.

The adjacent diagrams show a partial elevation of the south facing housing volume. Here we can see the evident contrast between the repetitive grid created by the housing units and its playful envelope.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 56

Details

Detail of Facade on Retails

Wall section of Facade on Towers

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

Detailof Facade on Towers

Wall section of Facade on Retails

LOI 130 I 57

Tolarences and Movements Tolerances are crucial for the facade installation and after as the facade reacts to several forces including foundation settling and wind loads. For the curtain wall system, the tolerances for manufacturing and thermal expansions in the unitized panels are accounted for by using the rubber gaskets.

The chosen fixing system of the panels to the concrete structure ensures enough tolerances for the panel’s installation and further movement due to forces.

The system is composed of a cast in channel, a bracket and a hook.

This system allows for movements in 3 different dimensions. The cast in channel allows movements in the x-direction, the bracket allows movement in y-direction, while the facade hook allows for z-direction movement. Such systems are produced by Halfen and are widely used for high-rise buildings. The system is illustrated in the adjacent diagrams.

For the mid-rise curtain wall similar connections are used. Furthermore, for the connection of the channels holding the louvers of the high-rise and the greenery mesh of the mid-rise, a similar logic is adopted in the details, where the bolted joints allow movements.

Maintenance

Different maintenance methods are proposed for the tower facade.

The panels behind the louvers are accessible through the maintenance walkways, the lower part of the tower can be reached by cranes from the plazas when needed, while the upper part of the tower can be maintained by the help of a crane installed on the roof. Self-cleaning glass can be used on the facade to reduce the times of manual cleaning.

The low-rise can be easily reached from street level. As for the mid- rise maintenance walkways are also provided which enables easy cleaning of the facade and the regular maintenance of the greenery. The housing is provided with balconies, which gives access to the facade from each apartment. The facades can also be reached from the ground floor and accessible roofs when needed

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 58

iv. Structure High Rises

The towers offer a less flexible structural approach because of the enormous force magnitude. Connections regarding the construction are made more rigid and permanent and are not easily replaceable. The great local stresses (tension and compression) and the stability system of the LOI130 force the connections to be made out of a combination of materials, namely; steel and concrete. Nevertheless, the floor system is designed to minimise the slab height and thus increasing the architectural floor-to-floor height. Figure show the integration of different system with the certain volume demanding structural members.

The floor system that was chosen is a steel-concrete composite floor. The reasons for this are its light weight, low construction depth and relatively low environmental impact. The light-weight property of composite floors decreases the size of the columns, and the low construction depth increases the architectural floor-to-floor height, making all floors suitable to be offices, dwellings, etc.

Some beams in the composite floors are castellated, which is done for two reasons. One is that they are secondary load-bearing elements, and thus do not need as much stiffness. The second reason is that some services, such as piping for sprinklers, can be run through the hexagonal openings in the castellated beams.

The columns are steel HD-profiles to reduce environmental impact versus concrete columns. However, for fire protection they are still cast in concrete. In terms of construction order, the column is placed first and the beams are bolted onto them. Then, the concrete is poured around the columns and the steel sheeting for the floors is placed, propped at mid-span. The concrete compression layer is then poured and when that hardens, the props are removed. After that the finishing such as lowered ceilings and floor toppings can be applied.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 59

Low/Mid Rises The structure of the low- and mid-rise is made out of a hybrid of glu am, steel, cross- aminated- timber (CLT) and reinforced concrete.

To design a stable and sufficient system the structure needs to comply to the NEN code, be fireproof , feasible and be adaptable to future function changes.

Because the lower parts of the complex require a more flexible floorp an a core-, shear- and rigid frame system is used. This system allows to create a flexible and open grid-structured floors. The structure mostly contains out of columns, beams and stiff floor panels, but to stabilise the building a couple of elevators shafts and stairs are p aced next to each other to form a structural core scattered around the plot, and shear walls are p aced where necessary.

The main structure element arrangement is based on a grid of 7.2 meters by 9 meters to increase architectural freedom and minimising construction dimensions. As seen in figure # the architectural p an does not always follow the grid. For example in the case of a central corridor. A division of 7.2m, namely 3.6m, is used. The façade creates off-grid situations as well. These are corrected on two different ways, depending on the grid to façade distance [...]. The alternatives are based on the maximum cantilever distance for the reinforced s ab (based on equation a-b, appendix 1); <0.9m; Reinforced concrete cantilever (see detail 4/5) >1m; Additional column to support floor s ab (figure #) The ‘’cantilever’’ is one of the two enormous overhanging structures of the LOI130, making them quite impressive.

During the first couple of weeks of the full as a frameless façade design phase this meant that the structure would be a full cantilever without any structural columns. This however, showed to be impossible with the other architectural requirements.

The urban area below the ‘’cantilever’’ still needed to be as open as possible. Therefore, a grid-skipping column structure has been used, as seen in figure. The ‘’cantilever’’ columns carry two times the grid width instead of the normal one width. Additionally, the central grid column as seen in the 3 dimensional figure, is s anted towards a joint support point.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 60

v. Workflow Plan With the diversification of analyses came new software. This required a clear workflow to know how information circulates in the project. After discussing their needs with the other group members, we came to this model (Figure 9). At first, we had planned a complete integration of all disciplines inside the rhino model.

However, since most structural calculations were made first on simple models, and the architect preferred working with AutoCAD, we used only the massing as core model. To minimize the risks of developing in parallel, we established a high level of communication. The rhino model for the massing will be constantly updated and will be the source of truth and steppingstone for other analyses. From there, using grasshopper, climate and structural exploration will be made.

These are realized using the plugins Karamba for structure and ladybug and honeybee for climate. Then, either from grasshopper or directly from Rhino, the model will be exported toward more specific software. In parallel, the architectural and faรงade design are developed first in AutoCAD then in Revit. On top of that, we decided to fix a structural grid and floor system early in the project so to avoid potential conflicts down the road.

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 61

Achievement :

AR0026 MEGA I 2019

Award for “Most Innovative Fire Safety Design”

LOI 130 I 62

AR0026 MEGA // 2019 // Akash Changlani // 4813715 AR0026 MEGA I 2019

LOI 130 I 63