World

Pleasing plants and people

Gardens by the Bay conservatories, Marina Bay, Singapore

With a brief driven by the statement the plants are your client , the structural challenge for Atelier One director, Neil Thomas and his team was to engineer a controlled habitat comfortable not just for people, but many and varied horticultural species. In keeping with the recreating nature principle behind the project, its elements have been interleaved to generate an enhanced ecosystem for the site. The conservatories and gardens are designed to be symbiotic through the cyclical interaction of energy, water and nutrients. Since opening on 29 June the development has attracted an array of accolades, most notably the World Building of the Year 2012 presented at the World Architecture Festival, Singapore Structural Steel Society Structural Steel Excellence Awards 2012 and Institute of Structural Engineers, Singapore Awards for 2012. At its heart creating cool conservatory environments quite alien to Singapores tropical climate represented tricky technical challenges. Covering an area in excess of 16,000 square metres, the conservatories are among the largest climate-controlled glasshouses in the world. The Flower Dome provides 10,100sqm under glass and the Cloud Forest 6,300sqm, both clear spans. The structure was developed in conjunction with Wilkinson Eyre and in its final form combines two different structural systems a gridshell and stiffened arches. We needed to allow as much light into the conservatories as was possible to achieve maximum plant growth, Mr Thomas said. With the efficient use of the structural forms with the properties of the steel it was possible to achieve significant reduction of weight. Both Singapore biomes have a composite structure comprising a gridshell working in tandem with a superstructure of radially arranged steel ribs.

Mr Thomas said the gridshell draws from the basic structural principle known as geometric (shape) stiffness borrowed from seashells in which the form carries the load. For us, this seemed the obvious structural solution for the forms we were trying to create, with their double curvature and large spans. By reducing the shell of the conservatories to a light structural mesh or grid, obstruction to sunlight is reduced as very little structure is actually required, he said. By then evolving the profile of the structural members, it was possible to introduce even more daylight into the building. The Flower Dome gridshell is 130 metres across with a very thin surface and although capable of carrying its self-weight, would buckle in high winds. Once again, nature provided a solution. Large shells often have stiffening ribs and so these were added in the form of arches which were eventually pulled away from the gridshell surface to reduce the light silhouette, he said. These ribs not only address the lateral loads to the gridshell but also provide the conservatories with their distinctive organic appearance. The steel ribs of the superstructure house a fabric sunshading system which helps prevent the buildings from overheating in periods of direct sunlight. The ribs linked by steel struts to the gridshell below were subject to an in-depth geometric study to establish a cross-sectional form that would emphasise their lightness as well as minimising obstruction to daylight. This section tapers along the length of each rib in relation to the loads placed upon it. As they meet the ground, the ribs are based in concrete shoes and are painted off-white to reflect light and heat and reduce their thermal expansion, Mr Thomas said.

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steel Australia March 2013

Along the waterfront edge of the Flower Dome, the ribs separate from the gridshell beneath due to the inward tilt of this northern faade to frame a spectacular arcade along the waterfront. Constructed from steel, the grid members also have a triangular section with the narrowest edge facing downwards, allowing the glazing units to be fixed from above. To counter the effects of small misalignments between the uniform members as they follow the curved surface along each arc of the grid, a solid steel trapezoidal node piece was introduced with a slightly larger profile than the grid members. In addition to taking out the twisting effect of successive minor misalignments it also provided the necessary fabrication tolerances. The extensive use of steelwork to support such damp and humid environments as the two self-contained conservatories presented a number of corrosion protection challenges. Pooling was always a concern and special attention was addressed to this issue during the tender process and the supervision of the works during fabrication and onsite, Mr Thomas said. The level of corrosion protection was specified in accordance with the Eurocode BS EN ISO 12944, C4 for almost all steelwork.

Project Team Architects: Wilkinson Eyre + Grant Associates M&E Engineers: Atelier Ten & CPG Corporation Main Contractors: Who Hup (Cooled Conservatories) Steel Contractors: Yongnam Engineering & Construction Local Engineering Support: Meinhardt (Infrastructure)

Photos: Craig Sheppard

Gardens by the Bay Ecosystem

steel Australia March 2013

Courtesy Grant Associates

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