INSIDE/OUT ISSUE 64
WINTER
NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 2017
Wings over Washington: Soar Above the Evergreen State on a Scenic—Virtual—Journey Located over Miner’s Landing on Seattle’s Pier 57, the new “flying theater” ride was created to attract tourists from across the country and world. the loads while remaining very rigid to prevent feedback to the sensitive ride controllers. The ride machinery weighs 136,000 pounds and is paired with a 70,000-pound, top-tobottom, side-to-side, 180-degree screen. (This weight is the equivalent of about 50 Ford F-150 trucks.) BergerABAM’s design solution was to provide a heavy concrete foundation tied into the pier to support the machinery and screen. The weight of the foundation tied into the pier provided the mass needed to prevent movement during the short-term dynamic loads from the ride. Grand opening of the state-of-the-art aerial adventure that takes you above many scenic Washington sites.
The grand opening of Wings over Washington on 25 August 2016 at Pier 57 revealed a third-generation state-of-the-art improvement over Disney’s “Soarin’ over California” ride. On this scenic journey, visitors can experience the scents, mists, movements, and sounds of flying over a multitude of Washington State’s most beautiful land- and seascapes. However, there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the new Wings over Washington ride on Seattle’s Pier 57. Supporting the Loads The Pier 57 Corporation—the owners—needed to provide a solid base so that the ride could work its magic. The ride machinery is very heavy and it moves dynamically during the experience creating high loads on the foundation. Because of this, a very strong base was needed to support
To construct this foundation, a hole was cut in the pier deck, removing old timber piles, and replacing them with steel piles to support the 495,000-pound concrete slab, 136,000-pound ride machinery, and 70,000-pound screen. The finished foundation included the concrete slab, eight 24-inch-diameter steel piles, and four 16-inch-diameter piles. Installing the Ride The best way to install the ride’s equipment and screen inside the building was to remove the roof over half the width of the building. A large crane on a barge lowered the ride equipment and screen through a hole that had only a few inches of clearance on either side. What’s more, this construction and careful placement had to be done in the dead of night to avoid disturbing the businesses and traffic in and around Pier 57. One wrong move of the crane (continued on page 2)
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could cause damage to the building, the pier, or the ride. Consistent, careful construction observation ensured that installation occurred safely. The Wings over Washington ride is a seamless creation of art, technology, and engineering that can “fly” visitors over such beautiful Washington sights as the Tieton River, the San Juan Islands, through a balloon ride along the Walla Walla valley, and even above a University of Washington football game. For more information about Seattle’s new waterfront attraction, see the KING 5 video at the following link: http://www.king5.com/entertainment/television/programs/ evening/soar-over-washington-video/308330163.
Contributors to the Wings over Washington project include the following. • • • • •
Dynamic Attractions - Flying theater design Super 78 Studios - Video and theming Phoenix Rising - Screen design and fabrication Garner Holt - Animatronics Electrosonic - Audiovisual design and integration
• Jackson Main - Architecture
Explosives Handling Wharf is as Good as Gold Winner of the Society of American Military Engineers Project of Excellence Gold Award. On 14 October 2016, the Society of American Military Engineers awarded BergerABAM’s P-990 Explosives Handling Wharf 2 (EHW-2) project with its Project of Excellence Gold Award in the Large Business Category. This extremely complex facility had to accommodate such design challenges as proximity to another existing facility, the necessity of developing a design solution for varying levels of mudline, a seismically active zone, the structural interactions of the wharf and wharf cover, and two very large bridge cranes that had to remain safe during and after an earthquake, among other design factors. The highly complex design of EHW-2 incorporated a number of innovative design elements to ensure the facility is cost-effective, functionally efficient, and environmentally responsible. BergerABAM’s team approach to this challenging project design promoted a cooperative, solution-oriented atmosphere that developed and continued throughout the project, allowing for a rigorous, yet collegial, process for this accelerated design.
State Route 520 Garners Another Award
Each gold winner receives this rotating trophy with firm name permanently engraved.
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The Design Build Institute of America recently awarded the State Route 520 (SR 520) Floating Bridge and Landings project a National Award of Merit in Transportation (other than Aviation). This award, among 10 categories, showcases design-build best practices and the achievements of the teams behind the projects. The SR 520 Bridge, otherwise known as the longest floating bridge in the world, is a main east-west thoroughfare in the Puget Sound region.
Inside/Out Newsletter
A New “Angle” on Traffic Congestion: The Angle Lake Link Light Rail Station is Up and Running This new link light rail station offers congestion-free trips for commuters. When the region’s newest link light rail station opened in SeaTac, Washington, on 24 September 2016, the community was invited to celebrate with a chance to ride on the first departing trip from the station. Located at the intersection of South 200th Street and 28th Avenue South, the Sound Transit Angle Lake Station has a 1.6-mile-long elevated guideway that travels north, providing congestionfree rides to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, the Rainier Valley, downtown Seattle, and the University of Washington. BergerABAM was the lead designer for the parking garage that is part of the station and supported the design team with architecture, civil engineering, structural engineering, landscape architecture services, and sustainability consulting and construction support. The public plaza, on the third level of the garage, includes a passenger drop-off area, paratransit loading areas, and a covered walkway from the garage to the station. The plaza uniquely forms a physical and visual connection between the project elements and includes several displays of Northwest-inspired artwork. Ornately designed seat walls, pathways, paving, and planting beds features help to engage transit users as they move through the space, creating quiet places for social interaction while waiting for a transit connection. The layout and design of the plaza is even large enough to accommodate community events, such as festivals, farmers’ markets, art exhibits, and other outdoor public gatherings. The design and location of major project elements maximize function, sustainability, and aesthetics while providing efficient use of space. The plaza design was also developed to maximize the integration of public art. Artist Jill Anholt’s sculpture, titled “Immerse”, hangs elegantly in the plaza’s grand staircase. It appears to be suspended weightlessly as light passes through its three delicate arcs and filters into the parking area below. Arching steel tubes, connected by naturally-shaped steel plate ribs painted a translucent semi-gloss
The 1,050-stall parking garage connects to the train platform via a pedestrian walkway.
white were used to achieve the appearance of weightlessness. The sculpture also serves as an anchor between the plaza pathway area between the parking garage and the light rail station. Its three arcs that cascade through the open space of the stairwell establish a dialogue with artist Laura Haddad’s artwork, titled “Cloud”, which is featured on the station’s platform. The parking facility is a seven-story, cast-in-place and post-tensioned concrete structure with a striking exterior façade that uses custom blue aluminum profile. Five levels of the garage are constructed above ground and two levels are partially below ground, taking advantage of the sloping site topography. The parking structure is accessible from four different street locations at the three lower levels. It has 2,500 square feet of retail space at ground level and a 35,000-square-foot site to the west to support future transit-oriented development. The station also has secure storage for bicycles in lockers and racks and charging stations for electric vehicles. The new station and parking structure will make travel easier for people who live, work, and visit areas south of the airport.
Editors/Contributors Nora Bretaña Karen Harbaugh Lauren Hurst Jana Roy Diann Scherer Renée Stiehl Dee Young Design and Production Renée Stiehl To update your contact information, please e-mail newsletter@abam.com
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Wharves Designed in Record Time Despite stringent client requirements, a remote project location with heavy rainfall and high seismic activity, BergerABAM successfully completed this project early. Located off the remote, seismically active Pacific coast of Colombia, the Sociedad Puerto Industrial Aguadulce S.A. (SPIA) container terminal project and the Boscoal bulk-handling terminal project presented BergerABAM with a unique opportunity to design two state-of-the art wharf structures on a difficult site. This project implemented a common precast-heavy wharf structure design despite the varied usage of the two wharves and stringent operational requirements. The simultaneously constructed, fast-tracked projects are located on the Aguadulce peninsula off the Port of Buenaventura in Colombia. BergerABAM tracked these projects right from their inception from the mid-2000s when the terminals were first conceived. In late 2014, the Colombian-French consortium of Soletanche Bachy Cimas, Soletanche The SPIA container wharf and Boscoal bulk-handling wharf. Bachy International, and Constructora Conconcreto (SBCC) were awarded the projects based on BergerABAM’s bid support designs and, therefore, contracted with BergerABAM to provide value engineering design and construction support services, thus, bringing to fruition many years of dedicated pursuit. The SPIA container wharf is a T-headed structure composed of a 600-meter-long (1,970 feet) quay connected to the peninsula with a 160-meter-long (525 feet) access trestle and a 25-meter-long (82 feet) platform. The wharf is designed to accommodate several super post-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes and very large container ships. The Boscoal bulk-handling wharf is an inverted L-shaped structure west of the SPIA quay and includes a 250-meter-long (820 feet) quay connected to a 186-meter-long (610 feet) access trestle and a 47-meter-long (154 feet) platform. It has multiple conveyor belts serving coal exports and grain imports and is capable of berthing Handymax bulk vessels, which are smaller compared with the super ships and designed to easily accommodate varying cargos. BergerABAM’s deck design for the two wharves not only maximized the use of precast concrete to eliminate complicated formwork, reduced in-situ concreting, and provided superior durability but also satisfied state-of-the-art seismic design guidelines. The precast wharf deck design was made compatible with the contractor’s “top-down” construction system adopted to install the piles and deck and featured the use of an innovative precast concrete pile plug/pile cap unit connecting the steel pipe piles to the deck, which helped expedite construction significantly, given the large number of piles in the wharves. Deck design and fabrication was completed during the time preordered piles forming the substructure of the two wharves were being installed; this allowed the deck elements to be installed soon after pile installation in order to meet the tight construction schedule. The SPIA wharf was constructed in the record time of 12 months, whereas construction for the Boscoal wharf— less than half the length of the SPIA wharf—took 9 months. BergerABAM’s wharf designs not only satisfied the owner’s design criteria but helped the contractor meet the tight construction schedule by implementing its preferred means and methods.
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Another perspective of the SPIA container wharf and Boscoal bulk-handling terminal.
Inside/Out Newsletter
New Faces at BergerABAM We are pleased to announce the recent addition of the following new staff members.
Joseph Gallagher
Joseph Gallagher has joined the Vancouver office. He is an environmental scientist who has performed and managed environmental site assessments throughout the Pacific Northwest since 2010. In addition, Joseph has experience coordinating and managing air, soil, and groundwater exploration and cleanup projects at a variety of residential, commercial, and industrial properties.
Christopher Walcott
Christopher Walcott has rejoined the firm as a project manager for the Public Works and Transportation Department in the Seattle office. He has 30 years experience working on all aspects of transportation projects from planning studies through construction.
Susann Babaei
Susann Babaei joins the Public Works and Transportation Department with six years of experience as a transportation engineer. She has worked on a wide variety of roadway projects ranging in scope and size from pedestrian and intersection improvements for municipalities to large interstate design projects.
Ryan Bell
Ryan Bell, a civil and structural engineer, joins the Waterfront Department with over 14 years of experience in the analysis, design, inspection, and detailing of bridges, retaining walls, box culverts, transportation structures, and waterfront facilities. He is a commercial diving supervisor certified by the Association of Diving Contractors International.
Huy Le Huy Le joins the Seattle office as an engineer for the Public Works and Transportation Department. He brings experience in roadway corridor design and modeling, storm sewer utility relocation design, and building structure survey and assessments.
Nicholas Gailushas
Nicholas Gailushas has joined the Waterfront Department. He provided structural engineering consultation services on a variety of public and private projects throughout the Pacific Northwest during his 10 years in the industry.
Allison Kinney
Allison Kinney, brings four years of experience in environmental and geological science to her position as environmental scientist at the firm’s Vancouver office. She has had training in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Wetland Delineation plus professional experience in ecological monitoring and restoration. Allison has an understanding of the balance between social and economic development gains, as well as the function, utility, and necessity of maintaining diverse ecosystems.
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