Proceedings of the IASS Symposium 2018

Creativity in Structural Design

July 16-20, 2018, MIT, Boston, USA
Caitlin Mueller, Sigrid Adriaenssens (eds.)

Clubhouse at Great Northern Golf Course

Mikkel FRANDSEN, Kristian FLYVHOLM

Soren Jensen Consulting Engineers

70 Aaboulevarden, 8000 Aarhus C
mf@sj.dk, krf@sj.dk

Abstract
Great Northern Golf Courses clubhouse is a modern building with elegant and unique structures.
The clubhouse consists of two separate buildings connected by a foyer which is elevated on a small
plateau overlooking the golf course. The elegant timber roof structure floats on cantilevered steel
columns protruding from the natural stone wall.
The roof structure is a special structure inspired by folding a piece of paper – not into long rectangular
planes, but instead into triangular planes. Visually the roof structure is split into two layers which sit one
on top of each other. The bottom layer is the primary load carrying structure made of laminated timber
frames, and the top layer is a cladding layer with wooden tiles on timber purlins that extend beyond the
bottom layer.

Within each triangular frame is a fan of laminated timber members that appear to grow out from the
point where the frame is supported by a column. The fan within the triangular frame has two purposes
– the first is to support the top frame in its own plane, and the second is to stiffen the triangular frame
perpendicular to its plane.
The shear connections between each frame and the support connection at the columns are hidden away
within the cavity between the laminated timber to give the impression of lightness. Joints between the
triangular frame and the fan beams within, are made using traditional Nordic carpentry techniques.
Keywords: Timber roof, Roof structure, Unique structure, Elegant design, Light structure, Origami shape, Folded shape,
Complex geometry, Floating roof, Architectural engineering, Slim design, Optimized design.

Copyright © 2018 by Mikkel FRANDSEN and Kristian FLYVHOLM

Published by the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) with permission.
 Proceedings of the IASS Symposium 2018
Creativity in Structural Design

1. Introduction
This paper will provide some general knowledge and guidelines of how to design a folded roof structure,
and which challenges there might be, depending on the design choices. The case study, from where the
general knowledge is derived, is a triangular folded timber structure with elegant and visible details.
This paper is focusing on the structural part of the folded roof structure. However, the cover part of the
folded roof and the connections is just as challenging and interesting as the structural part, but those
items have been left out due to the page limitation.

2. Shape
The overall architectural concept was to create a unique, thin and light roof structure with an open
volume inside the building envelope. The shape should reflect the somewhat hilly terrain and float on
top of the massive natural stone walls.
Different curved and parabolic shapes were examined, but the client was concerned that the shape would
be too extravagant or bear semblance to the domes in churches and cathedrals. The work continued with
traditional rectangular folded roof structures, but the shape did not offer the intended open volume inside
the building and had a too strong semblance to industrial halls.
The solution was a unique roof structure folded into triangles instead of rectangles, which offered the
intended open volume without any tension rods – see figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 Form finding

The shape could quite easily be explained by folding a piece of paper. The simplicity combined with the
spaciousness beneath the roof was obvious to everyone involved. It was furthermore possible to apply
different heights and distances between the basepoint to reflect the variation in the landscape into the
shape of the roof.
It is forgiving to fold a flat piece of paper into a folded roof structure with different angles and spans –
see figure 2.2. It becomes much more challenging when the flat paper starts to gain thickness from the
loadbearing structure, insulation and roof cover. The ultra-thin structure has suddenly become massive
and clumsy.

Figure 2.2 Folding a piece of paper

The real challenge is to transform a thick and complex structures into a thin and simple structure - not
the other way around. The transformation is, however, never a trivial task and often one that demands
several geometrical choices.

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Creativity in Structural Design

The roof was split into layers – a load bearing structure below, an intermediate layer with purlins and
insulation, and a roof cover above. The roof cover was extended out beyond the load bearing structure,
with cantilevering purlins underneath to support the cover.
This segregation of layers creates a shadow effect and combined with an ultra-thin cover makes the roof
appear much thinner than it is, as shown on figure 2.3 below.

Figure 2.3 Illusion of thickness

The folds in the load bearing structure is governed by the bottom face of the structure, as these lines are
visible from the underside of the structure, and the folds in the cover is governed by top face of the cover.
This causes the ridge folds to diverge from each other and the valley gutter folds to be parallel to each
other as shown in figure 2.4 below. Different angles of two joining folds will also cause the top face and
the bottom face of the layer to be displaced by each other, which is showed in figure 2.4.

Displacement
Top face
Cover
Bottom face

Valley gutter folds Bearing structure

Distance varies

Figure 2.4 Diverging folds

The distance between the loadbearing structure and the cover will therefore vary throughout the entire
surface, which demands a special focus on the build-up system and insulation. It might also be necessary
to have different angles between the cover and the loadbearing structure to even out the varying distance.
The above-mentioned displacements, build-up distances and angles are derived from the necessary
thickness of the layers, insulation and the size of the cantilevering part of the roof. It is advisable to use
parametric tools like Rhino and Grasshopper to quantify these variables. The workflow is described in
the next section.

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Creativity in Structural Design

3. Workflow
In a design phase, you must make a lot of decisions, but in the early stage you don’t always have enough
knowledge to choose the optimal solution. A proper parametric design workflow could help to gain vital
knowledge by making a lot of very fast iterations at the early stages. Consequences as a result of change
in the design are shown almost real time, and there is no delay in answering your client or other
stakeholders.

Figure 3.1 Rhino/Grasshopper model

3.1. Workflow
As a part of the early design several “rules” were applied. These “rules” were transformed to a script in
a parametric environment using Rhino and Grasshopper. In this environment the complex geometry of
the roof structure was created. This made it possible to make real time changes to the geometry with just
a change of a simple number slider.

3.1.1. Rhino/Grasshopper
In the same script, several analyses were done which made it easy to review consequences in statics,
materials, shading, indoor climate etc. The parametric model made it easy to create an endless number
of variations to the design. A selected range of design variations were pinned out and some were printed
into physical models. In addition to the physical models, the form finding process took place in a Rhino
/Grasshopper /Karamba /ladybug (parametric design tools) environment and was transformed into a
Revit model. As a part of the workflow it was essential to ensure a fast interoperability between
parametric design tools used in the Rhino/grasshopper environment and the Revit platform. In this case,
we used a script in dynamo (plug in for Revit) to convert models generated in the early stage/concept
phase into the more common Revit workflow.

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Creativity in Structural Design

3.1.2. Collaboration in Revit

Architects, Engineers and contractors were, in this case, collaborating within the Revit universe. This
is a known platform for engineers, architects and contractors and a normal environment in terms of
communication. But it is also a technical environment, which demands a certain knowledge within the
area of building information module (BIM) to understand the models and output (blueprint, technical
drawings, 3D-models).

Figure 3.2. Interoperability between Rhino/Grasshopper and Revit/Dynamo

3.2. Communication with the client

A smooth collaboration between all the designers can be ensured by the above-mentioned design tools,
but a very vital link will still be missing. Communicating the design to the client is very important and
must be considered carefully. Clients are not always experienced in reading and understanding complex
building drawings.
In this case study a chosen number of design options were converted to a Virtual Reality environment.
This offered the client a perfect opportunity to comment on the design, while virtually walking around
in the building before it was build. With the parametric model at hand, the process of changing and
reanalysing the design was easily done, and a new Virtual Reality model could be shown to the client.

3.3. Communication with the contractor

The tendering process is often a short time frame, which can result in excessively high or low prices
depending on the contractor’s ability to read a complex geometry from a 2D drawing. In either case, it
does not benefit anyone involved.
In this case study the full 3D model was converted to a Virtual Reality environment. This offered the
contractors an opportunity to ask question regarding the design before handing in their price.

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4. Design

4.1. Structural system

There are two layers in the roof construction – the structural part and the cover. Each fold of the structural
part (in the following called trusses) consists of a triangular laminated timber frame with a fan of smaller
laminated timber beams inside the frame. On top of the frame and the fan beams is an LVL shear panel,
which works in composite with the frame and the fan beams. The fan of laminated timber beams spread
out from the bearing point at the column and stretch up to the upper part of the frame as shown in figure
4.2 below.
The cover is supported by a build-up system with battens and purlins
cantilevering out to support the eaves. The build-up system is fixed and
anchored with long screws through a high performing insulation layer to
the structural part (note: special attention to waterproof around fasteners
is necessary).
The trusses are primarily affected by loads in their own plane. Out of plane
loads are transferred by bending of the fan beams to the top and bottom
part of the truss. From here the loads are transferred to the adjacent truss
as forces acting parallel to the adjacent truss’ plane. This way of
transferring loads between the folds in the roof structure, causes the
majority of the loads to be carried by forces parallel to the truss’ plane,
Figure 4.1 In-plane forces
which is optimal for the truss.
Each truss spans across the building and is supported by a column in one end, and a load transferring
connector in the other end. This means that each fold in the roof is dependent on the adjacent fold. In
this case study, a column was necessary at the gable to support the last fold in the roof. An alternative
solution could be to tie back the top frame to the neighbouring ridge.
Simplified statically system of a truss

Top frame
Fan beam Load transferring connector

LVL panel

End frame Bottom frame

Figure 4.2 Structural system of a truss

The fan beams are arranged so their centrelines intersect above the columns, thus giving an optimal load
transfer with a minimum of bending moments. The angle between the fan beams is chosen in accordance
with the utilization of the fan beams and possibility of load transfer points to the neighbouring truss.

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4.2. Angle choices and impact

While designing a folded roof structure, the choice of angle has a great impact on the structural system,
such as dimensions, joints within the truss itself, connectors between the trusses, tension rods between
basepoints, etc. See also section 2.
I.e.: A steep angle of a folded roof structure might look ideal structurally. However, as the length of the
fan beams increase, they might not be able to take any axial load, due to a higher slenderness ratio. The
bottom frame will also increase in size to allow some overlap with the LVL panel above, and increase
the overall weight of the truss, which is a geometric defined condition.
I.e.: A flat angle of a folded roof structure will increase the bending moment in the fan beams from the
out of plane loads. The in-plane forces transferred from the adjacent folds will also increase dramatically
and result in high horizontal forces at the supports. A too flat angle might result in forces which are
impossible to handle in any practical way.
Based on the case study, angles between 20° and 60° are recommended for practical design of the trusses,
connectors and horizontal tension bars.

4.3. Deformations
A numerous amount of serviceability limit state designs are often necessary for structures with a large
span. The magnitude and direction of the deflection in the roof structure has a great impact on any
elements in contact with the roof structure. I this case study, glass façade and the glass walls inside the
building.
The global stiffness of the roof structure is naturally large because of the form and structure of the
triangular trusses. It has proven challenging to find a useful stiffness model to base the deflection design
on – a lower bound solution was therefore chosen to design the structure against excessive deformation.
The external forces such as snow, wind and dead load will not significantly affect the deformation
globally due to the high stiffness in the truss’ own plane; but they might affect the deformation locally
for out of plane loads.
However, in this case study where timber structures were used, it is not only exterior forces that may
cause deflections in the roof structure. Moisture content in the timber will cause the roof structure to
either shrink or swell depending on the change in moisture content. Major deflections in the roof
structure will occur, as part of the roof structure is outside the building envelope (although covered), this
will cause the ridge of the folds to rise. The deflection due to moisture content change is global and must
be added to the calculated local deflections from external forces. Hidden telescopic connections were
necessary in the case study at the glass façade and the inner glass walls.

Ridge

Basepoint

Figure 4.3 Deformation due to moisture content change

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Creativity in Structural Design

4.4. Stability
A folded roof structure is not automatically a stiff diaphragm and will fold together or twist like a
harmonica when affected by horizontal loads.

Figure 4.4 Harmonica effect of a folded roof

Connecting the basepoints (supports) in the longitude direction is necessary to make the folded roof
structure work as a stiff diaphragm, which can be done in several ways – slim tension rods were used in
this case study. Besides the natural tension that occurs from the weight of the roof structure, the tension
rods were tensioned even further, as post-tension has the advantage that even a slim tension rod can
transfer a compression force equal to the tension. The roof is then capable of transferring horizontal
loads to the stabilizing system, which in the case study is cantilevering steel columns.
If the post-tension forces cannot be withheld by stabilizing members, ballast must be added to the roof
structure to ensure sufficient tension in the tension rods to counter out the horizontal forces. This is
easier to obtained with a flat angle of the roof structure than a steep angle (supplement to section 4.2).

5. Summary
A triangular folded roof structure creates a spacious volume within the building, and a shape that appears
elegant and simple. The geometric conditions are however hard to comprehend without a 3D model or
muck-up to guide the design process.
It is advisable to use parametric designtools to assist the designers, as multiple design loops are often
necessary to reach an interdisciplinary coordinated result. Virtual Reality can be an important part of the
graphical communication with the client, as not all clients are experienced in understanding a 2D
drawing – especially when it concerns a complex geometry.
The triangular shape is structurally an optimal shape, given that the loads can be transferred and work
as in-plane forces in the trusses and the basepoints are connected to prevent the roof from folding like a
harmonica. The angle of the roof should be somewhere between 20° and 60° to assure a practical and
attainable design.