by Jacqueline Pezzillo Assoc. AIA LEED AP
Event: Thinking Outside The Box — Tapered, Tilted, Twisted Towers
Location: Center for Architecture, 03.19.09
Speakers: David Scott, PE, Hon. AIA — Chairman, Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat & Principal, Arup
Organizers: Center for Architecture
Sponsors: Underwriters: The Center for Architecture Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Patron: Con Edison; Lead Sponsors: Arup; Buro Happold; Material ConneXion; Thornton Tomasetti; Supporters: The American Council of Engineering Companies; Josef Gartner USA/Permasteelisa Group; Weidlinger Associates; Friend: Grimshaw.
Strata Tower in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Asymptote: Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture
“In terms of towers, the world has changed,” stated David Scott, PE, Hon. AIA, a principal at Arup. “Architects and engineers can now design almost anything –[but] should we?” Scott presented the firm’s latest engineering feats during a discussion of non-traditional towers that continue to dot global skylines.
Utilizing tools ranging from folded paper study models to parametric modeling, Arup is responsible for engineering complex structures such as Asymptote’s Strata Tower in Abu Dhabi and Moshe Safdie and Associates’ Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Scott discussed these projects among others designed by HOK, KPF, Studio Daniel Libeskind, and Pelli Clarke Pelli to explain how conventional tower standards are modified to create untraditional forms. The complexities of Arup’s towers often mask a fairly simple structural model. Revealing the mystery behind daunting engineering, Scott explained that it is due to repetitive structural systems and central cores, which also can be found in the simplest towers. It is this suspicious truth that Scott communicates to clients to alleviate their budget-conscious fears.
A contemporary trend — tapered, tilted, twisted towers — and the structural gymnastics employed to build them, are accomplished with sparse precedent. With each commission Arup builds upon previous exercises to inform the development of the next iconic tower.
Jacqueline Pezzillo, LEED AP, is the communications manager at Davis Brody Bond Aedas and a regular contributor to e-Oculus.