ARTICLE ANALYSIS 2: The Wave, Broadbeach, Queensland

The Wave is a building rightly named as its the balconies string around the structure in an ovoid shape, creating an extraordinary profile.

Located in the Broadbeach CBD in Queensland, it is the site of this Multiplex building which makes the construction process all the more fascinating. The 37 level building is located on a site only 3,400 metres squared. In addition to this, the small site is on the edge of a busy three street intersection. This indicated special circumstances would need to be taken to ensure the building process did not disrupt everyday city life. For example, during construction the upstairs site office overhung the footpath, and left only a 3m clearance for construction work. Furthermore, concrete trucks had to attach to a mobile pump and extremely large loads had to be installed in the early hours of the morning. Despite this, The Wave is a successful combination of concrete slab flooring and post-tensioned transfer slab floors, precast balconies, and reinforced columns and walls with a central lift core. The building comprises of 29 residential, 1 retail, 2 commercial, 3 basement and a top club floor, took two years from Feb 2005 to Feb 2007 to build, and is valued at $80.8 million.

UPDATE!

Check out the new videos I added showing a concrete pour and tilit-up concrete panel construction. They're almost as good as being on site! Faster anyway....

ARTICILE ANALYSIS 1: Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre

I came across an article on the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre whilst browsing among BlueScope Steel’s many intriguing case studies. However I was attracted to this review particularly due to the image included of the complex structural frame. Designed by Perth’s The Cox Group, the building was constructed by Multiplex using approximately 500 tonnes of steel (provided of course, by BlueScope). The entire building is 267m long and 66m wide, comprising a floor space of around 16,600 square metres. Thus, the long spanning roof that covers a 250m radius, and additionally takes on an undulating profile, proved a major consideration in the construction process.

Initially 280 tonnes of high tensile steel in the form of five pairs of trusses were used to support the structure. These trusses were designed with a three-dimensional form in order to shape the roof, which was constructed out of the familiar Lysaght Klip-Lok roofing, due to its strength, durability and accessibility in long lengths. The roof material also had to cope with carrying water at each of the crests, which was solved by concealed fixings in the profile, reducing the potential for leakage. Due to site restrictions, the material was unable to be roll formed on site, and was therefore made simultaneously to ensure uniformity, and provided over the duration of a year. Furthermore, the 16,600 square meters of floor space was divided up into six pavilions. These were supported by 6m spanning zed section purlins at 1.2 centres. That’s another 125 tonnes of pure purlins…. Whoa!

SITE VISIT 3: Settlement Road

My tirp on the way to uni ensures I pass a few commerical construction sites, and this Settlement Rd site is one of them. Andy and I stopped off to grab some photos on a particularly useful day, as the workers were placing up tilt-up concrete panels. It was amazing to see the crane lift them and how these massive structures were put into place. It was also good to see some portal framed structures and skeletons, and also the discovery of the use of Bondek on concrete flooring systems.We got a good look at the panel from being lifted up right to it being place into position, which turned out to be very interesting to see first hand.
We found it interesting to see the mechanisms used to hold up the tilit-up panles once they were erected, which i never new were used to assist in the final stages of the process.

It was good to get a really clear vPortal Frame Construction.
Inside one of the building being built. Notice the Bondek on the roof!

SITE VISIT 2: Corner of Mackillop and Settlement

This image shows an outlook of the site. The footing system for the strucutre is developing, and its progress will be documented as the process develops in later posts.

More reinforcing can be seen on the top of this cement structure which acts as a retaining wall on the Mackillop Street site.
It was interesting to see the typer of steel reinforcement applied to these columns, which is shown in the image protrucing out the top of the column.

I also found it interesting to observe this building's approach to installing some services, with these pipes being placed right at the edge of the site.