format STRUCTURE|DESIGN|GEOMETRY|RESEARCH www.formatengineers.com
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Contents About us Selected Projects UAF Braga 20 Farringdon Street Noahs Prism PLANTA Milan Expo Tyven Fjellhytte Oxford Brookes Rain Pavilion KREOD Burning Man 2015 Horticultural Spa Arborescence Archilace Bamiyan Cultural Centre Shanghai Waterfront ONGreening Three Quays St Mathew Academy Longwell Green Leisure Centre Arts Alliance Royal Terrace Gardens footbridge Belvedere Trada Pavilion Selected Research Planar panelisation Void distribution in relation to scalar fields Form finding and structure optimisation
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About Us
Format came into being in 2014. The founders have a background in structural engineering, architecture, mathematics, geometry and coding both in practice and in academia. Our experience has been gained on projects as diverse as art installations in New York to a museum in Spain via temporary pavilions in London and Milan. We are an Engineering studio that believes that structural design can go beyond the narrow confines of convention and is a natural starting point for collaboration in data driven design, product design, art, architecture and science.
We also believe that Structural design should be a logical and intellectually rigorous exercise in the manipulation of form and of material; hence our name ‘Format’. It should also be a discipline informed by academic research and by the application of digital technology. We want to develop and apply computational tools to evolve practical solutions for the built environment. Our designs are not abstract they are real. This reality means we are as interested in the process of production as we are generation.
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Selected Projects
The following projects are a small selection of the buildings, art installations and product designs we have fortunate to work on as Format and prior to that for Whitbybird/Ramboll UK. We do not believe our work can be categorised by scale or by location. Our experience encompasses commercial buildings in London to sculptural installations in New York via schools and cultural buildings. It cannot be defined by material. We have worked in carbon fibre, plastic polymers and perspex as well as the traditional pallet of concrete, steel and timber. Our projects do however share a common thread of critical enquiry, creative thought, an appreciation of the practical application of
digital technology and are influenced by our academic research and by our teaching. We do not limit ourselves to traditional Structural Engineering. As you will see from our work our experience encompasses art, architecture, product design and data modelling . We strongly believe that great design is the distillation of a number of different influences which when brought to bear on a problem lead to a successful outcome. By immersing ourselves in different fields and different environments our work is enriched.
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UAF Braga
The Urban Algae Folly (UAF) now at home in the central plaza of Braga, north western Portugal is an example of how research into free sources of air cleansing and efficient solar shading is also manifest as a striking art form. The structure is made up of thin, folded steel plates which have been assembled in a triangulated pattern, some of which are empty and some hold ETFE (Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) water filled cushions. The water is home to living micro-algae cultures, in this instance Spirulina, which oxygenate the air and very efficiently absorb carbon dioxide. On a sunny day the algae grow quickly and provide effective and very targeted natural shading.
Working with Architects EcoLogic Studio, we were able to very quickly bring the structure into a parametric 3d model and tune the thickness of the steel plate to a bare minimum and intelligently moderate the amount of material that could be removed. The art was completed on time with a great reaction in the Portuguese national press. Client: EcoLogic Studio
 Value: Confidential Architect: EcoLogic Studio
 Location: Braga, Portugal
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20 Farringdon Street
Working with developers HB Reavis and consultants Aecom we have an on-going role providing expert structural engineering advice and guidance on the value engineering and refinement of 20 Farringdon Street, a 11 storey new build office development in central London.We were appointed at RIBA Stage 3 to critique the design, develop a construction methodology (including detailed discussions with specialist contractors), help define the procurement process and to assemble the structural engineering tender packages. Our work helped to resolve the complex logistical issues of a tight site located
between busy Farringdon Street and close neighbouring buildings, a UKPN power station and a Network Rail tunnel. We suggested a number of alternative forms of construction to make frame erection simpler and quicker as well as guidance on design issues such as waterproofing and basement construction which added real value and reduced risk. Client: HB Reavis/Aecom Value: Confidential
 Architect: Denton Corker Marshall Location: London, United Kingdom
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Noahs Prism
Noahs Prism is a cable net structure clad in a prismatic film built in the grounds of Sigmund Freud's old house in Primrose Hill, North London. We collaborated with Artists Loop.ph in the concept design, form finding and structural design of the 25m by 25m tent structure. This exploited the Kangaroo2 plug-in for Rhino/ Grasshopper to mimic structural properties and behaviour after having first developed a minimum energy surface. We believe this was a first for obtaining structural forces and deflections directly from a Kangaroo2 model. The tent is supported by 4 very slim internal steel columns
and a number of strategically placed steel tubes around the perimeter of the garden. Client: Loop.pH
 Value: Confidential Artist: Loop.pH
 Location: London
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PLANTA Art Museum
Planta is a working art museum, education centre and performance venue. Primarily a home for the personal art collection of the Sorigue Foundation it is much more than that. It is a building literally of its place with the materials used in its construction dug from the ground which houses the structure and built by the local people who operate the quarry on the site. As a response to the extreme landscape loads on the building and to compliment the environmental design the frame is a reinforced concrete double storey structure, approximately 200m in length and 70m in width which is to be partially buried underground.
Overlooking a live quarry, concrete production yard and olive farm, the alternatively soaring then intimate internal spatial qualities arose from an intensive process of debate and investigation. The exposed concrete finishes reflect that attention to detail with the profile of the reinforced waffle slabs in the ceiling being reflected in the form and appearance of the 75m long glazed facade. Client: FUNDACIÓ SORIGUÉ Value: Confidential Architect: DOMAIN/Kaan Architecten Location: Lleida, Spain
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There are many other technical challenges inherent in the building structure including wide open and column free gallery spaces that allow a flexible display of art but which also have to support extremely heavy soil loads at roof level, often several metres in depth. A deep exposed concrete waffle slab was adopted as the solution to spanning the clear distance
across the galleries. This also housed the lighting and deadened any harsh sound reflection. We suggested ways in which the pitch or depth of the waffle slab could automatically vary within set parameters, matching the stress in the slab due to the applied roof. This would reduce the volume of concrete needed in the development to a minimum. The waffle motif was extended to the
structure of the only glazed facade of the building, a long gallery which also provided a visual orientation within the maze of the internal structure and framed stunning views to the quarry beyond. The floors and walls of the galleries were required to have sufficient strength to support art loadings to international gallery standard. A reinforced concrete
undercroft supports the floors and provides space for the services and spreads the load of the building, avoiding deep foundations. As the building was predominately exposed concrete throughout careful benchmarking and specification was paramount. Format provided early conceptual design of the structure as well as on-going expert advice.
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Vanke Pavilion, Milan Expo
The twisting form of the pavilion for Chinese property developers Vanke at Milan Expo 2015 set a number of complex challenges to structural practicality and facade geometry which were solved with some creative thought, in-house coding and complex parametric modelling. Even though no part of the building geometry was the same the structure itself needed to be simple and rational to limit cost and on-site complexity. The building was clad in ceramic tiles all of which would be different in size if a conventional discretation of the surface had been followed. Working with Architects Studio Daniel Libeskind we changed the pattern from that of thousands of different tiles to less
than a dozen saving a huge cost as well as simplifying their backing structure. Inspired by traditional boat building we also proposed a conceptually simple ‘slicing’ of the building and then fabricating the resulting primary structure of steel ribs from low tech flat steel plate elements. The resulting internal space is a dramatic column free area for the display of Chinese cultural heritage. Client: Studio Daniel Libeskind Value: Confidential Architect: Studio Daniel Libeskind Location: Milan, Italy
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The Architect’s original tiling pattern would have resulted in thousands of ceramic tiles of different size and shape; the resulting complexity and lack of repetition could have led to high costs and a much longer erection time. Working in the Rhino/ Grasshopper/Plankton environment and using our in-house research into mesh generation we were able to simplify the tile backing
structure to simple flat timber panels which then allowed a certain flexibility of setting out on site. We developed inhouse code to analyse the double curved surface and then set out the same size tile in as many locations as possible by subtly varying the overlap between tiles rather than the shape itself The code and 3d model was shared with
the Architect and local engineering team. The main structural elements of the pavilion were rationalised as a series of two dimensional slices through the 3d model which were then fabricated from structural steel plate elements. These were then used in a series of long span portalised frames reminiscent of the ribs and spars
in traditional boat building. We were therefore able to deliver the Architects aspiration of a column free ground floor exhibition space. The seemingly complex twisting members disguise an inherent simplicity which was proven in the construction. The frame was built to budget and without difficulty ahead of the neighbouring Expo buildings.
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Tyven Fjellhytte
Together with Norwegian Architects SPINN Arkitekter we have been asked by client Hammerfest go Omegn Turlaf in far northern Norway above the arctic circle to design two huts on opposing mountain peaks. The structures will be a refuge for weary hikers and a summer tourist destination. The structure will be fabricated from solid timber panels on a computer controlled 5 axis router and held together with hardwood dowel connections to make little or no environmental impact on the site and to allow the building to be transported to site and built as simply and quickly as possible. The pattern of the simple flat solid timber elements is created using the tangent
planar intersection (TPI) panelisation technique we pioneered on the Trada pavilion in 2012. This allows six sided flat panels to follow a double curved surface and keeps the number of expensive connections to a minimum. The shape of the structure was deliberately chosen to try and funnel snow away from the entrance and to maximise structural efficiency. The first mountain hut will be finished in Autumn 2015 Client: Hammerfest go Omegn Turlaf
 Value: Confidential Architect: SPINN Arkitekter
 Location: Hammerfest, Norway
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Oxford Brookes Rain Pavilion
The Rain Pavilion was designed by the staff and students of Oxford Brookes University as an urban retreat and a place to positively embrace the effects of rain and wind. It is composed of 16 galvanised steel tree structures ranging in height from 4.5 to 6.5m which are clustered around a sculptured timber landscape which holds captured pools of water. The towering but delicate appearance of the installation was achieved by the use of very narrow 88mm diameter stems and 5mm folded steel plate canopies punctured with holes automatically distributed in accordance with the levels of stress in the structure. This gives a natural feel to the piece and enables light to filter through the
structure bathing the seating areas with a natural feeling contrast of light and shade. The complex form required extensive wind modelling and an equally comprehensive structural analysis within a generative 3d model. This was allied with our in-house code for the self organisation of voids and their subsequent redistribution in relation to scalar fields. Client: Oxford Brookes University Value: £125,000 Architect: Oxford Brookes School of Architecture Location: Oxford
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At each stage of the design process different modelling and analysis techniques were used to exploit the form and to optimise the structure. The considerable challenges to structural analysis posed by the slenderness of the structure and its dynamic behaviour under wind were resolved by combining Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with a generative design
environment, Grasshopper. Conceptual design introduced the ideas of tubular stems and folded steel canopies, both of which are perforated by circular holes arranged to allow the interplay of light and water through the structure. The voids were generated using a self-organising process. Repelling nodes were influenced by each other and a scalar field representing the
stress within the petals under the worst loading. For accuracy the structural model required a clean mesh before analysis. The Grasshopper plug-ins Mesh Machine and Plankton were combined to produce a mesh that could include the voids in both the stems and the petals. This approach to design merged the aesthetic and structural character of the installation and gave sense to
the final hole distribution. Different patterns were then applied to the structure within a parametric modelling environment. Nielsen, T.H.; et al, 2014: Populating surfaces with holes using particle repulsion based on scalar fields. In: Thompson, E.M. (ed.): Fusion - Proceedings of the 32nd eCAADe Conference Volume 1, 10-12 September 2014, pp 537-545.
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KREOD
The KREOD pavilions were first erected on the London Greenwich Olympic site in 2012. The three timber gridshell structures embody an imaginative structural response to a very particular set of challenges, the success of which was recognised with the Institute of Structural Engineers small project of the year award for 2013. The Architect’s requirement was for a temporary exhibition or function space that could be erected and demounted mostly by hand and by untrained staff. The quality of finish should echo that of handmade furniture and most importantly it had to be low cost and quick to erect. The continuously changing double curved form of the enclosure meant that in
theory every nodal connection would be different. A conventional bolted solution would therefore have cost hundreds of pounds per fixing. Our suggestion of a ‘reciprocal’ jointed timber grid shell required only simple through bolts which equated to a fraction of the normal cost allowance. It also allowed the structure to be built from simple and light flat timber elements. Client: KREOD Value: Confidential Architect: KREOD Architecture Location: Greenwich, London
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The structure used Kebony timber throughout, a sustainable alternative to tropical hardwood. As this material had not previously been used in a structural context we carried out extensive load testing of the material and the connections at the University of Cambridge. As well as providing conventional Structural Engineering services of analysis and member design we
used our own research into the structural optimisation of form via Dynamic Relaxation with variable masses and surface geometry decomposition using lines of principle curvature to generate a more efficient shell form and pattern of members. This would have the advantage of reducing the amount of material needed and to simplify the connections further.
Communication between Architect and Engineer was via a single generative 3D model. The timber was fabricated using CNC routing straight from that model allowing a highly accurate fit between members and simple erection on site. Three pavilions were completed with a PVC membrane tensioned against the inside of the timber shell and are supported by a structural steel
frame on roller bearings which allow each of the three to be moved in a different configuration depending on the end use. The innovative reciprocal shell won a 2013 IStructE award. the structure was also recognised with a Surface Design award in 2013, shortlisted in the BCI awards and finalist in the World Architecture News facade of the year 2013.
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Burning Man 2015
The Bismuth Bivouac structure at Burning Man 2015 continues our long-standing relationship with the University of Westminster School of Architecture and their mission to push boundaries in the practical application of digital design. The installation takes the form of a timber hypercube made up of parallel lapped plain sawn timbers. Out of the hypercube grow extrusions that mimic the shapes taken by the crystal growth of Bismuth (Bi). The simple shape belies some complex engineering and creative thought in how to achieve seamless lapped connections throughout the structure and to give it enough
strength to resit 72mph winds and the weight of a hundred Burners climbing on it. The cantilevering bismuth growths were a particular challenge because of the limited connection area. We provided full structural engineering services to the staff and students working in a collaboration Rhino/Grasshopper and Karamba digital environment. Client: Westminster School of Architecture Value: £15,000 Architect: Westminster School of Architecture Location: Nevada, United States
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Horticultural Spa
Our latest work with artists Loop.pH is a temporary installation providing an unique immersive experience. Sited within the Nine Elms regeneration area on the south bank of the River Thames the Apothecary Experience is a restorative public space that reinvigorates the River Walk pathway inviting people into a magical tea ceremony and horticultural spa. Once inside the tea house your tea is served through clouds of fragrant mist consumed through breathing. It will be a new social space for the people of Nine Elms that creates a viewing platform to admire the river view.
We gave structural input on the CNC plywood timber lattice, the PVC pneumatic membrane structure and its ballast. Collaborating in a generative 3d environment, working in a single model with the artists, we were able to refine the design and give advice as to its stability within a very short time scale. The Tea House was in place for two weeks as part of the Nine Elms festival and London Festival of Architecture. Client: Loop.pH
 Value: Confidential Architect: Loop.pH
 Location: Nine Elms, London
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Arborescence
Following the success of the Archilace structure built in Letchworth, UK, artists Loop.pH proposed a more ambitious development for a light festival in Amsterdam, namely a cantilevering set of interdependent arch like surfaces which seem to ‘grow’ out of a canal. This is known as Arborescence. The resulting organic shape was a huge challenge to structural engineering. The sheer number of members, in excess of 55,000, pushed computational analysis to its limit. We were able to build on the lessons learnt at Letchworth to analyse the thousands of interwoven 1.5mm diameter rings of glass fibre
rods and to set out the interwoven glass fibre reinforcement to the best effect. Our role also extended to conceptual design and advice on a oil drum, timber, ratchet strap and scaffolding floating deck for the structure.
Client: Loop.pH Value: Confidential Artist: Loop.pH Location: Amsterdam
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The structural analysis of the interwoven mesh of glass fibre polymer rings proved to be a huge challenge to computational design.We pushed the capabilities of the Karamba plug-in for Grasshopper/Rhino to its limit in determining the level of stress in the members and their propensity for local buckling and plastic deformation. We were able to work closely with Artists
Loop.pH via the free exchange of 3d models. We also helped the artists develop code for the simplification of the reinforcement weaving within the the surface mesh. The computer based conceptual design was supported by physical model testing of the Archilace principle, first used in the Letchworth installation.
The concept for the art installation was for it to appear to grow out the canal itself without obvious support. To facilitate this we designed a partly submerged but floating deck constructed from empty oil drums, scaffold and nylon ratchet straps. Our design advice extended to outline buoyancy calculations and determining the degree to which the drums should
be filled to give an appearance of the structure emerging from the water.Videos of the making of Arborescence and the final installation can be seen here: Arborescence footage https:// vimeo.com/113924447 The Making of https://vimeo.com/ 113924446
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Archilace
The Letchworth Archilace structure by artists Loop.pH takes the form of a 4.3m tall by 5.5m wide arched tunnel formed of interwoven or 'laced' glass fibre reinforced polymer rings. The structure is then reinforced with straight lengths of carbon fibre/polymer rods which are bent and held within the plane of the mesh. There are no screwed or bolted mechanical fixings holding the rings together. The overall stability of the structure is provided purely by the constraint provided by adjacent hoops, the in-plane stiffness of arch and by ballast within its feet. We carried out physical testing of a number of test weaves to record the structural performance and then a highly involved
structural analysis which pushed the capabilities of the Rhino/Grasshopper/Karamba environment to the limit. The pattern of carbon fibre reinforcement was generated by in-house scripting in the Grasshopper environment. The structure was transformed by imaginative lighting and provided a stunning backdrop to the 2014 Fire Festival in the Garden City. Client: Loop.pH Value: Confidential Artist: Loop.pH Location: Letchworth Garden City
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Bamiyan Cultural Centre
In collaboration with Architects Architensions of New York and Environmental Engineers Transolar our submission for the UNESCO sponsored competition to design a new cultural and learning centre in the war torn Afghan province of Bamiyan was an exercise in the economic but creative use of the natural resources and building techniques prevalent in the area. The structure was based upon the motif of a repeating half barrel vault which can be either self supporting to create a cantilevering canopy, touching to form an internal space or in a back to back configuration. The construction itself is intended to be an efficient composite of concrete and locally produced masonry where
the lightly reinforced low volume concrete backing works in tension and the facing masonry in compression via masonry shear keys between the two materials. By careful positioning of the different volumes within the building the amount of excavation into the natural ridge overlooking a site of outstanding natural beauty could be limited helping to make the building as sustainable as possible. Client: UNESCO Value: Confidential
 Architect: Architensions, New York Location: Bamiyan, Afghanistan
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Shanghai Waterfront
We worked with OMA Architects on the competition winning scheme for an exhibition centre at the historic Shanghai shipyard. The Lujiazui Waterfront project, alongside the Huangpu River, makes use of an existing shipyard berth in conjunction with a 3500m2 elevated open plan box and sloping walkway to allow the flexible display of art and multimedia. The building is intended to be an open air theatre and a backdrop for public gathering. The structure is a cantilevering steel framed box, which is accessed by a single feature lift and a long raking stair and entrance ramp. After many different iterations and working closely
with OMA the final chosen solution was a combination of a full height structural steel torsion box spanning between lift and stairs which in turn helps support facade trusses and composite floor beams. The final structure is a striking demonstration of creative engineering as well as the power of computational design to create solutions which transcend traditional engineering typologies. Client: LuJiaZui Central Financial District (Phase II) Development Corporation. Value: Confidential Architect: OMA Location: Shanghai, China
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OnGreening Pavilion
OnGreening are new and revolutionary online information resource for sustainable building. In 2013 they commissioned the RCD team at Ramboll to design a pavilion for their corporate launch at the EcoBuild exhibition in London. The central funnel and lattice shell form was inspired by the RCD team’s previous experiments in practical grid shell construction and digital fabrication. The double curved surface was automatically generated by in-house dynamic relaxation techniques using the boundary conditions of the trade stand and the height of the venue. Thin (6mm) plywood structural elements or ‘active bending’ members due to
their prestressed form, were then generated from geodesic lines seeded from selected points on the surface which then wrap around the shell. These were restrained by secondary timbers of equally thin timber. As well as design and full structural analysis our role also encompassed advice on digital fabrication and practical assistance on site. Client: OnGreening Value: Confidential Designers: OnGreening/RCD Location: EcoBuild, London
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OnGreening pavilion - structure aligned along geodesic lines
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The OnGreening pavilion is the culmination of a number of grid shell structures designed and built by the Format team. It’s form was directly inspired by that of a triaxial weave shell built by the team in 2013 whilst at RCD. In-house code and academic research into efficient form generation via dynamic relaxation with variable masses was used to create the double
curved shell which in theory was then the optimum response to a uniform applied gravity load. The pattern of structure was created first as primary ‘active bending’ plywood lathe members along geodesic lines on the surface of the shell then secondary members were created in the same way but in an opposing direction to restrain the primaries. Even with members a mere 6mm thick the
resulting resulting structure was incredibly stiff and a testament to engineering ingenuity and the efficiency of the modelling process. Our recent experience of digital fabrication techniques was crucial in setting out the cutting and drilling patterns for the timber elements and making sure they were built in the right
order. With structures in the public arena we are conscious that they must perform in the real world of accidental impact and breakage. We therefore carried out a great deal of numerical modelling of different damage scenarios to ensure the stability of the structure. Our work on the OnGreening pavilion was presented in a paper to the AAG 2014 conference in London.
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01 FACT
“Our code on the Vanke Expo building reduced the number of different sized ceramic tiles from thousands to ten, making the facade simpler and cheaper without compromising the Architecture�
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Three Quays
Three Quays is a £100m ultra high quality residential and serviced apartment development on the banks of the River Thames in a prominent and complex site next to the Tower of London. With over 4000 years of London occupation the foundation scheme had to be carefully planned to allow construction to proceed around the archaeology. The sequence of basement demolition and then re-construction immediately next to the Thames River wall was a particular challenge, made greater by the requirement to design the basement for ship impact. Our scheme for the 11 storey high frame was a thin post-tensioned concrete flat slab that facilitated a rapid programme and low cost whilst giving a high
degree of acoustic separation between flats and a flexible distribution of services. In order to free up space at ground floor reinforced transfer beams and walking columns were introduced. Their impact on the usable space was mitigated by a creative and stringent appraisal of the structure. Three Quays was a project completed whilst at Ramboll UK. Client: Cheval Group Value: £100m Architect: 3D Reid Location: London
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With layers of history, close neighbours and many underground obstructions central London sites often prove to be challenging. The Three Quays site proved to be particularly so. Its location next to the Tower of London and hard up to the Thames wall meant thousands of years of London history were likely to be found under the building. From the outset we led negotiations with
the city authorities to agree a foundation scheme that allowed flexibility of construction but limited impact on the archaeology and a long drawn out programme of excavation. We were also active in agreeing a strategy for the retention of the river wall and the construction of the basement behind it, taking into account potential ship impact loads. Our experience of large scale
commercial development was crucial in settling upon a shallow flat slab reinforced concrete frame that was posttensioned to avoid energy and time inefficient reinforcement and to maximise the available storey heights. Because of the need to shift internal columns in ground floor retail areas we specified efficient and unobtrusive transfer systems
which remain hidden and do not impact on the commercial space. The balconies of the structure were a particular engineering challenge. They were designed to be extremely shallow in oder to allow a deep build up of insulation without steps in finishes. The structural system proved to be a success with the frame construction proceeding extremely smoothly.
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St Mathew Academy
Built on the complex site of an existing school a primary goal was to keep that facility open during the construction of a new all-through academy in Blackheath, south east London and to avoid unnecessary disruption to the community. When the works were complete, the old school was demolished to make room for a new sports field. The structure is composed of two normally reinforced exposed concrete wings,two and three storeys high respectively. The form and massing of the building was carefully planned to maximise energy conservation. The different wings of the building are linked by an enclosed long span steel bridge and a triple height assembly hall which acts as the focal point of
the building and the heart of the community. The hall included a long span structural steel roof and tall glazed facade together with an internal link bridge, the shallow deck of which required extensive structural analysis. The building structure was completed with external lightweight steel solar shading, canopies and open courtyards. Client: Department for Education and Skills Value: £25m Architects: Architecture plb Location: London
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Longwell Green Leisure centre
Longwell Green Leisure centre is a six lane 25m long swimming pool, family pool and fitness centre located on the outskirts of Bristol, south west England. Sustainable materials were used throughout the building with the structural frame comprising prefabricated timber cassettes for the walls and Glulam timber and plywood panels for a long span roof over the main pool. Extensive use of natural daylight and a low level continuous glazed window allows a strong visual connection with the surrounding landscape towards Bath. The long span roof was a particular challenge. In order to keep the depth as slim as possible and to speed erection on site the structural elements were prefabricated
as 2.4m wide panels from a ply timber and Glulam timber composite where the lower plywood panels act as tension elements within the overall system, the Glulam members in compression. This approach also limited the volume of material used in the building frame. Extensive research into the behaviour of stainless steel fixings in a swimming pool environment was part of our role on the project. Completed whilst at Whitbybird/ Ramboll UK. Client: South Gloucestershire Council Value: £5.3m Architect: FCB Studios Location: Bristol
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Arts Alliance
The brief from the client, Arts Alliance, was for a mobile performance venue capable of hosting an audience of 4000 people plus artists and back of house functions, that could travel the world with minimum of impact on the tenvironment, to be low cost and which could be erected in less than two weeks. The internal theatre space was to be free of structure .The large scale required to accommodate the brief (90m by 40m on plan) and the long internal spans arising from the column free space led to the adoption of a ‘bicycle wheel’ roof of cables tensioned against an outer stiff compression ring. The outer ring and its supports are constructed from off the shelf stage set
components enabling quick and easy erection by teams of stage riggers. The entire structure was encased in an inflatable PVC envelope which allowed it to pack down into a incredibly small volume. We were able to model the surface of the envelope and set out the hexagons such that the dimensions of the inflatable tubes were repeated was much as possible. The building was awarded a World Architecture Festival prize in 2009. Client: Arts Alliance Value: £3.5m Architect: Various Architects
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RTG Footbridge
Whilst at Ramboll we were the lead designers responsible for architectural and detailed structural design for the ambitious three-year, £1.6 million Royal Terrace Garden project - a new 300m long elevated walkway incorporating a viewing platform, public art and pedestrian bridge on the cliff face in Torquay, south west England. Our brief was to reinstate safe access from the sea front to the cliff top via a pedestrian bridge and walkway which was to cantilever from the side of the steep cliff face spanning deep undulations and rock falls. The design called for careful consideration of how to best to specify a prefabricated walkway structure and foundations that could be safely
built on such an unusual site a well as the creative structural engineering of a 30m spanning pedestrian footbridge made from a thin deck of structural steel and pre-cast concrete. Our role included the 3d modelling and visualisation of the bridge as well as the development of bespoke computer code to simplify the hugely detailed and unwieldy laser data cloud survey of the cliff into a form which could be used in a BIM model. Client: Torbay Council Value: £1.6m Designers: Ginko Projects/Mark Luck Location: Torquay, Devon
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02 FACT
“Creative engineering reduced the material cost of the KREOD Pavilion timber connections from hundreds of pounds per node to £1.44 each, making the project financially viable”
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Belvedere Sculpture
How to make a flat arch of 80 thin carbon fibre rods stand up against a high New York wind loads? How to accurately predict the shape of the rods as they are forced into shape and held in ‘active bending’? We worked with London based artists Loop.pH to meet these challenges and help realise the centre piece Belvedere Vodka sponsored arch at the World Aids day festival in New York’s Meatpacking District. The solution was to rely upon our expertise in generative modelling and automatic structural form finding to morph the flat arch into an inherently more stable twisted shape when held together with CNC milled perspex
ribs and to use the Kangaroo plug-in for Rhino/ Grasshopper to model the deflected form to a high accuracy. Working to a very tight deadline we were able to prove the stability of the structure to the satisfaction of the city authorities and gave practical assistance in its erection. Client: Loop.pH Value: Confidential Artist: Loop.pH Location: New York, United States
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Thousands of translucent plastic balls are threaded over carbon fibre rods, which when lit, combine to make the twin tree logo of Belvedere Vodka. Under the high temporary wind loads demanded by the New York authorities the structure may have deflected hugely if a conventional approach to engineering had been followed. CFD (computational fluid
dynamics) modelling of the wind flow around and between the arches was carried out by Ramboll Denmark’s specialist wind team which proved the actual loads would have been less than code theory. This coupled with the addition of perspex stiffeners and manipulating the form of the arch from a flat surface to a three dimensional twisted form ensured its stability within a
weighted base of CNC cut timber. We spent a great deal of time working with the local authorities to give them confidence in the design approach. The individual carbon fibre rods were accurately modelled within the Kangaroo environment in Rhino/Grasshopper in order to determine their exact form when bent into place. The data was used to set out the
holes within the perspex ribs and timber base. In practice the system worked beautifully. The structure was built without complications within a very tight timescale and performed as predicted on the night. The structure was a backdrop for US TV covering the event and it was admired by thousands of people packing into the public square for a live set by DJ’s Coolio.
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Trada Pavilion
The TRADA pavilion was commissioned as a showcase for the beauty and versatility of timber and as a functioning trade fair stand at the 2012 Timber Exposition. It takes the form of a double curved thin shell structure where the shape and the decomposition of the surface into panels was generated using our in-house research into automatic optimisation of shell forms and planar mesh generation. The latter panelisation technique had never before been applied to a structure. Its stability relied upon a reciprocal hinged joint, which had little or no history within the context of solid thin shells. In addition to
these technical challenges the pavilion had to be built within a strict timescale and within a limited budget. We believe it met that criteria with an appearance which is functionally simple, appropriate and beautiful. The Trada pavilion was completed whilst at Ramboll. Client: Trada
 Value: Confidential Designers: Ramboll Computational Design
 Location: Coventry & London
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Trada Pavilion - panel nesting and CNC cutting patterns
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The form was generated using a particle-spring system that utilised the statically determinate nature of a hexagonal mesh along with dynamic masses to find a stable compressive shell structure. To then break the surface into panels we turned to the process used by Cutler and Whiting in ‘Constrained Planar Re-meshing for Architecture’. We believe this is the largest
structure to date that uses the method and goes beyond thinking about only planar quads for doubly curved surface discretisation. Having a 3valency (3 incident edges per node) mesh is also much more stable than a quad or triangular mesh and requires fewer mechanical fixings. The shell was realised by using Rhino + Grasshopper together with our own
code to set out the elements in space and to automatically generate the CNC routing patterns for the birch ply structural elements. We believe that the TRADA pavilion points the way in the creative use of simple materials to maximise their potential and how a non-linear free form shape can be integrated within a production process. It also demonstrates that beautiful
architecture can be built with limited tools, people, funds and time. The surface decomposition technology can be applied to larger scale structures and facades. The pavilion was subsequently erected a number times at different exhibitions and trade shows in the UK. Its life will be extended as a research structure at the University of Nottingham.
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Selected Research
We are an Engineering studio that strongly believes that Structural Design can go beyond the narrow confines of convention and is a natural starting point for collaboration between data driven design, product design, art, architecture and science. To inform that dialogue research, both in-house and in academia is crucial. By devoting time to pure research and making this an indivisible part of our ethos we are able to create solutions which could not have been realised before and which are more sustainable, cost effective and quicker to build.
We want to be at the forefront of the science and application of computational design but also to acknowledge the fundamental contributions made by other researchers and the design community as a whole. We are strong believers in the power of collaboration and of free expression of ideas and techniques. Hence much of what we do has been and will remain to be, open source and publicly available. We have published several architecture geometry and optimisation and maintain academia via teaching and
papers in the fields of engineering strong links to academic study.
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Planar panelisation An important area of our research has been into breaking down complex surfaces into simple planar panels. These are then simple to fabricate from cheap materials without recourse to
expensive double curved glass or costly bespoke fixings for example. By moving away from the conventional triangulation of double curved surfaces to a discretation into panels with a greater number of edges the number of connections can be reduced. A practical illustration is the Trada pavilion where we applied the work of Cutler and Whiting in their paper
‘Constrained Planar Re-meshing for Architecture to generate a tangent planar intersection (TPI) mesh and from that a network of flat six sided panels. This halved the number of connections. Other techniques include simulated electrical repulsion to equalise panel size and the determination of principle curvature lines to set out simple orthogonal members on a complex
curved form.Paper: Melville, S,. Harding, J., Lewis, H., TRADA Pavilion - Searching for Innovation and Elegance in Complex Forms Supported by Physical and Software Prototyping, Prototyping Architecture: The Conference Papers, Building Centre Trust, London, ISBN 10 – 0-901919-17-9, 2013
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Void distribution in relation to scalar fields A scalar field can represent a number of different states such
as contours of stress within a solid body, a map of solar gain on a building facade or even a photographic image with no intrinsic technical qualities. Through our work on the Oxford Brookes Rain Pavilion we have developed an approach to mapping a physical object or pattern onto the scalar field which has a potentially wide application to
Engineering and Architectural Design. In the context of the Rain Pavilion this was a distribution of circular holes cut into the steel plate canopies and tubular stems set out in relation to the level of stress in that element, expressed as a colour map determined by finite element analysis. Effectively, this equates to removing material from where it is least needed and
hence reduces the volume of structure required. This technique was described in the following paper: Nielsen, T., Melville, S., Sproat, I., (in press). Populating surfaces with holes using particle repulsion based on scalar fields. In: Proceedings of the CAADe conference 2014,
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Form finding and structure optimisation Within the field of computational design we have been researching different structural form finding and member optimisation
techniques for several years and have successfully applied them to a number of real structures. Our dynamic relaxation with variable mass work on the OnGreening pavilion will be published by Springer Verlag in September 2014 as part of the AAG (Advances in Architectural Geometry) proceedings. The Trada pavilion used a similar technique
as have a number of other unpublished schemes. This research has the potential to generate extremely efficient shell and membrane forms. We have also been active in applying the transformative potential of genetic algorithms and topology optimisation to structures. Huge potential savings in steel weight, concrete
volume etc can be made if a conventional engineering typology is allowed to regenerate or reform following the laws of natural selection or programmed to move from areas of high low stress to high. Parts of the structure could be removed automatically if they contribute little to a load-bearing system. Oxford Brookes Rain Pavilion is an example of this approach.
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