CTBUH Journal

International Journal on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

Tall buildings: design, construction, and operation | 2017 Issue II

Case Study: South Beach Towers, Singapore

Bioclimatic Comfort Design for High-Rises

Supertall Elevator Maintenance

River Beech Tower: A Tall Timber Experiment

Talking Tall: Modular High-Rise

In Numbers: Tall Timber – A Global Audit

This Issue

Editor
Daniel Safarik, CTBUH
dsafarik@ctbuh.org
Associate Editors
Steven Henry, CTBUH
Antony Wood, CTBUH/IIT/Tongji University
Design & Layout
Tansri Muliani
Board of Trustees
Chairman: David Malott, Kohn Pedersen Fox, USA
Vice-Chairman: Timothy Johnson, NBBJ, USA
Executive Director: Antony Wood, CTBUH / Illinois Institute
of Technology, USA / Tongji University, China
Treasurer: Steve Watts, Alinea Consulting LLP, UK
Secretary: Tim Neal, Arcadis, UK
Trustee: Mounib Hammoud, Jeddah Economic Company,
Saudi Arabia
Trustee: Dennis Poon, Thornton Tomasetti, USA
Trustee: Abrar Sheriff, Turner Construction, USA
Trustee: Kam-Chuen (Vincent) Tse, WSP | Parsons
Brinckerhoff, Hong Kong
CTBUH Expert Peer Review Committee
All papers published in the CTBUH Journal are peer-
reviewed by an international panel of multi-disciplinary
experts from within the CTBUH membership. For more on
this panel, see www.ctbuh.org/PeerReview.
Published by
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
© CTBUH 2017
ISSN: 1946-1186
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
104 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 620
Chicago, IL 60603, USA
+1 (312) 283-5599
info@ctbuh.org
www.ctbuh.org
www.skyscrapercenter.com
Copyright
© 2017 Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
Image Copyright
CTBUH Journal has endeavored to determine the
copyright holders of all images. Those uncredited have
been sourced from listed authors or from within CTBUH.
Print
This Journal is printed by The Mail House, Chicago.
Indexing
The articles in the CTBUH Journal are indexed in the
following databases:
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
EBSCO
JSTOR
SCOPUS
Front cover: South Beach Towers, Singapore.
Back cover: Under the canopy at the base of the towers.
© Nigel Young/Foster+Partners
In the world of
information technology,
“Moore’s Law” states
that computer
processing capability
doubles roughly every
18 months. Choose any
of the disciplines that comprise the tall building
industry, and it’s fair to conclude we have
nothing like a “Moore’s Law.” Progress is difficult
to measure, and it moves in fits and starts.
As our Talking Tall interview (see page 50) points
out, one constituent discipline, construction,
has some of the lowest levels of IT investment
of any industry, even as it makes strides in area
such as volumetric modular assembly.
And yet, the design end of the technology
spectrum continues to dazzle. To create the
spectacular two-tower South Beach project,
the subject of this issue’s Case Study (see page
12), 3D design and building information
modeling (BIM) technology were essential.
Interestingly, one of the major goals was
ultimately to soften the technology’s edges, to
generate a project that is both environmentally
and culturally sensitive, emphasizing outdoor
comfort, historical preservation and abundant
natural ventilation. The research paper A
Bioclimatic Design Toolkit for High-Rise Buildings
(see page 20) pursues the theme in more
technical detail, showing how design-tool
integration can help mitigate tall buildings’
persistent negative environmental effects on
the outdoor environment.
In Debating Tall (see page 5), there is an object
lesson in the pitfalls of embracing advanced
concepts before their long-term performance
implications are understood. The
environmental performance of Chicago’s
Thompson Center has degraded so
substantially that there is serious talk of
demolishing and replacing it with a more
contemporary – and much taller – high-rise.
New fabrication techniques and climate
change concerns have accelerated
development of an “old” technology – timber
– to become a viable candidate for supporting
skyscrapers, a relatively young typology. The
growth of this green technology is chronicled
in Tall Buildings in Numbers (see page 47) and in
the research paper River Beech Tower: A Tall
Timber Experiment (see page 40). In this
context, technology is moving faster than the
ability of fire and seismic codes to keep up
with it.
There are, of course, hazards in taking
quantum leaps forward. The research paper
Elevator Maintenance Considerations for
Supertall Buildings (see page 28) cautions
against pushing for ever-greater heights
without a significant and detailed
conversation happening between all
stakeholders regarding vertical transportation,
lest elevator cores compromise overall
building performance. Similarly, Ask a CTBUH
Expert (see page 54) advocates having a more
detailed conversation about subsurface
conditions and developing strategies for
mitigating building settlement, well before
detailed design begins.
While not as splashy as the latest virtual-reality
technology, one of the biggest keys to
success for today’s multi-party design teams
comes from integration software. While
designers have a widening array of
sophisticated design software, getting these
platforms to communicate with each other
effectively is another matter. The research
paper Closing Gaps in Commercial Software to
Solve Structural Engineering Issues (see page 34)
illustrates how design firms have closed the
gaps in commercial software through their
own development work.
If there is any kind of “law” or maxim that can
be derived from this, it is that dialogue and
communication between tall-building
stakeholders – humans – is as important as
ever, even as technology becomes more
pervasive. There is no substitute for clear-eyed
conversation as projects move from design, to
execution and operation. Technology will be
key to this, but it will not replace the value of a
continuing conversation among people who
care about the future of the urban habitat.
That conversation is never complete.
All the best,
Daniel Safarik, CTBUH Editor

2 || This
ThisIssue
Issue CTBUH
CTBUHJournal
Journal || 2017 Issue II
Inside

News and Events Features 20 MEP

A Bioclimatic Comfort Design Toolkit potential urban heat island effects. The computational power to execute the

For High-Rise Buildings

“
redevelopment of the Millbank Tower will be simulations and subsequently read out and
The team’s goal

02 This Issue 47 Tall Buildings in Numbers

presented as a second case study of how the understand the results.

Abstract
toolkit has been used to determine
pedestrian wind comfort levels around the The author’s team, consisting of AKT II, was to develop a
Building in an ever more urbanized world, with high-rise buildings increasing in complex and its influence on the design. A
third test case shows how the toolkit
together with Tyréns UK and Gas Dynamics,
took on the challenge to inform and shape
novel digital design
both height and number, makes it essential to ensure we create comfortable urban
architectural design by using the urban toolkit that could
Daniel Safarik, Tall Timber: A Global Audit
determined load patterns on the façade of
spaces, as the urban microclimate in and around towers is affected dramatically.
the South Bank Tower and established a microclimate as a design input. In order to do
This paper proposes a new method of computational design that creates a
continuous workflow, one that synthesizes the interaction of dynamic structural
direct link to the dynamic structural analysis this, the researchers needed to gain an simulate and assess
software. The toolkit allows the design understanding of the full aspects and
Jeroen Janssen behavior, climate, and thermal comfort directly into the digital design process. The engineer to utilize these advanced influences that go into modeling and the external thermal

Journal Editor
Author
author’s team has developed a custom software interface that connects different computational tools to inform the design in simulating the microclimate. The objective,
comfort of pedestrians

”
aspects of the design (geometry, BIM, structural analysis, and computational fluid the earliest stages of the process and then, was to find bioclimatic design solutions

in an urban space.
Jeroen Janssen, Associate therefore enable a new generation of and develop a toolbox of repeatable methods
AKT II Ltd. dynamics) in one workflow, allowing different members of the design team to
100 St. John Street high-rise buildings in the megacities of the for designing with them. These methods
London EC1M 4EH interact simultaneously and inform the design in real time. future. would then be assessed and compared

50 Talking Tall:
United Kingdom
t: +44 20 7250 7777 Keywords: MEP Engineering, Thermal Comfort, Environmental Engineering, Computational through classified and well-known comfort thermal environment and is assessed by
e: jeroen.janssen@akt-uk.com criteria in order to make a valuable subjective evaluation.” Standards for internal
www.Akt-uk.com Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
Design Challenges contribution to the early design phases. thermal comfort are well defined within local
Jeroen Janssen Introduction to assess and decide if the design is building regulations (ASHRAE 2013).
Jeroen Janssen is an associate within p.art®, the successful for the intended use of a space. Current design practice shows a myriad of Currently, there is a fragmented array of tools Maintaining this standard of thermal comfort

04 CTBUH Latest Roger Krulak, Full Stack

Parametric Applied Research Team at AKT II, a
structural engineering consultancy based in London.
He is responsible for the Bioclimatic Design Services
the firm is offering to architects and developers.
He and the team developed an in-house custom
digital toolkit to enhance the workflow of these
numerical simulations, working in close collaboration
The essence of architectural design comes
down to the question of providing shelter
and well-being for the occupants of a space.
It follows that we should be able to ask
ourselves the simple question of whether we
The efficacy of the toolkit developed by the
author’s team can be shown through the
example of three real-world projects in
London (see Figures 1, 2, and 3). An initial
ways to deal with the problems ahead.
Where some designers use rules of thumb
and define the impacts of the built
environment to the microclimate in a very
generic way, others might use sophisticated
and a patchwork of software on the market
that serves to answer questions regarding
climatic comfort. Many of these work in
isolation on one aspect, be it solar radiation,
wind flow, or humidity. Other climatic inputs,
for occupants of spaces is one of the
important goals for design engineers.
Internal thermal comfort is a well-established
field of practice for the services engineer. The

Modular
with architects and engineers. Janssen received an

Antony Wood,
MSc degree in Architecture and Engineering from
Eindhoven University of Technology and holds an
MArch from the Architectural Association School of
Architecture in London.
are comfortable in a space, whether it is
inside or outside. But the answers to this
seemingly simple question are difficult to
quantify. We need tools and measurements
speculative test case around the Centre Point
Tower will illustrate the use of an hour-by-
hour thermal simulation and show how this
can be utilized to assess and mitigate
digital tools to model and simulate the
environment in great detail. In basic
conditions, these rules of thumb might be
sufficient and serve the design quite well.
However, urban environments are becoming
and the summary results of their interaction,
are not intrinsically taken into account.
Furthermore, most of these tools are geared
to the internal comfort of built spaces,
whereas the aim of this research is to develop
team’s goal was to develop a novel digital
design toolkit that could simulate and assess
the external thermal comfort of pedestrians in
an urban space. This toolkit would allow
creating a well-informed design for the

Executive Director Modular High-Rise: The Next

ever more complex, influencing the effects
of natural forces on buildings, and amplifying
buildings’ effects on their surroundings. The
current language of architectural design is
taking on more complex shapes, while at the
the potential for influencing pedestrian
comfort in the external urban realm.
In order to accurately model the full range of
urban climatic response, the team felt the
microclimate of external spaces in complex
climatic conditions. With this toolkit, the role
that the proposed geometry and material
properties will play to influence the perceived
comfort of a space can easily be assessed.

Chapter
same time public awareness of the
environment is growing together with the
desire (and increasingly the ability) to control
or change it. These rules of thumb might
need to combine these aspects together into
one comprehensive toolkit, which not only Within the research community, there is
allows for a full year-round simulation, but also strong interest in the quality of open urban
provides an efficient link to the urban spaces and a continuing search for methods

05 Debating Tall:
then prove not elaborate enough, and
therefore a detailed simulation is required.
Modeling and simulating climatic
phenomena, and subsequently wind or
geometry and a user-friendly interface. to design with climatic effects. A number of
research projects have been undertaken to
determine comfort indices to meaningfully
What is Comfort? assess and compare external spaces. One of
the most extensive works of research

Replace the Thompson 54 Ask a CTBUH Expert:

thermal comfort assessments, is still
considered state-of-the-art technology that
can only be dealt with by a specific field of
experts within practice and academia. These
models are not only highly complex and
Before continuing to the technical aspects of
the simulation, the design space needed to be
defined. What do we mean by pedestrian
thermal and wind comfort?
evaluates people in an urban space in any
climatic region according to its Actual
Sensation Vote (ASV) (Nikolopoulou, Lykoudis
& Kikira 2004). The ASV finds an empirical
comfort assessment of a space, corrected for

Center? How to Resolve the

extremely time-consuming to set up, but are Thermal comfort is described as “the condition different climatic zones, largely based on field
Figure 1. Centre Point Tower, London. Figure 2. Millbank Tower, London. Figure 3. South Bank Tower, London. © John Parkin also data-hungry, requiring extensive of mind that expresses satisfaction with the surveys with nearly 10,000 interviews across
© (cc-by-sa) Paul Farmer. Source: Millbank Tower Proposal.

20 | MEP CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II MEP | 21

Emerging Challenges of Tall

06 Global News Building Foundations?

28
Highlights from the CTBUH Ahmad Rahimian
Global News archive Vertical Transportation

Elevator Maintenance Considerations queuing and overcrowding at the local hub or architects, developers, and various design To further understand the necessity of a

For Supertall Buildings station platform. This can be an unpleasant

and chaotic passenger experience. Likewise,
in an elevator lobby, when one of the
Abstract elevators breaks down, or if elevators are
The type and quality of elevator maintenance should be considered at the design mis-timed due to poor design, queuing and
stage to ensure the longevity and reliability of the elevators proposed. The overcrowding happen quickly (see Figure 2).
Practitioners already accept that if careful
implications of getting this wrong will have a disproportionately adverse effect on
consultants, it is apparent that discussion of
elevator maintenance is often limited to
passing comments in early meetings. The
good supertall building elevator
maintenance strategy, it is important to
understand how it differs from maintenance
author’s research with developers indicates this in a more typical building.
group of people believes it is the responsibility
of the elevator consultant and the elevator
specialist to ensure that a robust elevator What is Supertall Elevator Maintenance?

Case Study CTBUH

design consideration is not given to the maintenance strategy is considered at the
the functioning of supertall buildings (compared to those of a lesser height). This elevator core design, this would be disastrous design stage. A developer is interested in the Elevator maintenance is the process of
paper addresses how that risk can be minimized. The long-term reliability of for a supertall building, as it is virtually capital sum and the return on investment, with ensuring that the elevator is preserved to last
Rony Eappen vertical transportation has an impact on design and building users, and early impossible to retroactively fix any potential minimum impact to the core. An architect is in line with the Original Equipment
awareness of this in the design process can greatly assist the operation of a tall shortcomings. But there should also be equal like a director of a film, who does not need to Manufacturer’s (OEM’s) recommendation,
Author
building throughout its lifecycle. emphasis on maintenance in the early design know every detail of special equipment, but typically 20–25 years, and to ensure that high
Rony Eappen, Vertical Transportation Engineer stage of a supertall building, with input from does need to be aware of how to bring these standards of safety are maintained for both
D2E International VT Consultants Ltd.
7 Denbigh Mews Keywords: Vertical Transportation, Building Management, Virtual Reality all relevant specialist stakeholders. An different elements together and coordinate the users and the maintenance team.
London SW1V 2HQ optimized maintenance strategy needs to be them, to ensure that an efficient core is the
United Kingdom
t: +44 207 233 9355 Introduction Traditionally, the travel range of elevators, incorporated into the elevator design strategy, result. Thus, the elevator consultant and In a typical multi-story building, the standard
e: rony.eappen@d2e.com and the necessity to include several shafts to as the impact of getting the strategy wrong elevator specialist are typically the parties who maintenance regime would feature an

12 South Beach Towers, 55 CTBUH on the Road

www.d2e.com
Rony Eappen
Rony joined D2E in 2010. For the first five years at
D2E, Rony was involved in account management
for several prestigious tall buildings in London,
At present, there are 1,184 buildings over 200 house elevators serving several functions will cause an adverse effect in the operation of consider the elevator maintenance strategy. assigned technician covering the route and
meters tall around the world. Of these, 114 (local, express, hotel, residence, office, etc.), the supertall building at a later stage. It should However, in the author’s research, these call-out schedule. However, in a supertall
are 300 meters or higher, classified as have been among the primary limiters of be noted that component quality is also a key stakeholders have admitted there is little building, the requirement is complex, as the
“supertalls.” Additionally, there are 327 height. In reaction to this demand, elevator factor in poor elevator design and future discussion and sharing of information at the technology involved is more advanced.

Singapore
namely Heron Tower, 20 Fenchurch Street (the supertall buildings either under construction manufacturers have developed products maintainability; however, for the sake of design stage of the process. For more than a Double-deck elevators, two independent

CTBUH events around the world

Walkie Talkie building), and 122 Leadenhall Street
(the Cheesegrater). During this time, he has gained
valuable experience on building operations and
their interaction with elevators and escalators. He
has carried this into his role within the design team,
where he can identify potential operational issues
during the feasibility of new building developments.
or proposed for construction in the next six
years (CTBUH Skyscraper Center 2017 – see
Figure 1). The race to build tall is continuing,
and, as the technology for building tall
improves, design teams will likely try to go
that travel faster, use fewer or lighter
materials, manage journeys more efficiently,
and are proportionally more power-efficient
than in the past. Despite the obvious
improvements, the introduction of these
brevity, this article does not elaborate on the
subject, as it is worthy of its own separate
analysis.
decade, elevator manufacturers have invested elevators operating in a single shaft, complex
their research and development budgets dispatching techniques, high-speed motor
mainly in the development of faster elevators,
the use of lighter materials to travel higher, and
on specialized dispatching algorithms that

Roland Schnizer, Irene Gallou,

At D2E, Rony’s experience lies within high-rise
building maintenance and post-construction
mobilization of major projects.
even higher. technologies nevertheless poses several Background speed lobby-to-destination travel times.
questions regarding the approach to the However, these technology advancements are
after-care of the installed product. The key stakeholders who have direct influence based on an ideal scenario with 100% elevator
over the elevator design at an early stage are the availability. If elevator availability drops, these

Adam Davis, Chia Wah Kam & 55 Diary

Namely, how does one undertake the
maintenance of these super high-tech
elevators? Does the local maintenance
provider have the relevant technical skills to
efficiently maintain the elevator in a supertall
developer, the architects, the elevator technologies become ineffective, thus
consultant, and the elevator manufacturers (see emphasizing the need to maintain the elevator
Figure 3). From observing discussions between system with a robust maintenance strategy.

Ho Weng Hin Upcoming tall building events

building? Does the local supply chain have
sufficient spare parts if there are only a limited
number of supertall buildings in the region
that utilize or share similar elevator
technology? What is the replacement or
modernization strategy at the end of the
elevator’s serviceable life? It is an interesting
fact that, apart from the World Trade Center in
2001, no building over 200 meters has ever
been demolished (CTBUH Skyscraper Center

56 Reviews
2017). The cost of getting an elevator design
wrong could be catastrophic.

Let us consider a scenario: If a train line has a

breakdown, inevitably there will be people

Research Review of new books in the

Figure 1. CTBUH’s classification of supertall and megatall buildings. Source: CTBUH Figure 2. Elevator lobby overcrowding. © Ian Smith Figure 3. Stakeholders of a supertall building.

28 | Vertical Transportation CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Vertical Transportation | 29

CTBUH Library
20 A Bioclimatic Comfort
Design Toolkit for High-Rise
Buildings
57 Comments
Feedback 40 Architecture/Design

River Beech Tower: A Tall Timber Experiment 200 GPa, concrete at 25–44 GPa, and timber

Jeroen Janssen
at 7–17 GPa (see Figure 3). Using this data,
Abstract
Authors the team developed several strategies to
The Chicago River Beech Tower is a collaborative research effort with the goal of guide the design when using mass timber.
Jeff Sanner, Project Architect
Todd Snapp, Design Principal identifying challenges and opportunities associated with designing increasingly

58 Meet the CTBUH

Perkins+Will
410 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1600 tall mass timber structures. This paper represents the team’s findings to date on Proportion the tower footprint to make a
Chicago, IL 60611, United States
these topics, their implications for tall building design, and suggests possible timber superstructure feasible.
t: +1 312 755 0770
The design of River Beech Tower
e: todd.snapp@perkinswill.com pathways that may inform and engage the design community. A key objective of
www.perkinswill.com interconnects two separate towers, with
the project is to explore new design potential with timber buildings, rather than each tower having a narrow profile. This
Alejandro Fernandez, Structural Engineer

Philip Vivian, Bates Smart

substituting timber in the familiar forms of conventional construction in steel and

28 Elevator Maintenance
David Weihing, Principal/Office Director slenderness is ideal for residential planning,
Thornton Tomasetti
330 N. Wabash Avenue, Suite 1500
concrete. Refer also to Tall Buildings in Number on page 48. but too narrow for each tower to be stable
Chicago, IL 60611, United States when subjected to lateral loading.
t: +1 312 596 2000 Keywords: Timber, Construction, Low Carbon, Code Compliance, Prefabrication
e: dweihing@thorntontomasetti.com Separating the two towers on each side of a
www.thorntontomasetti.com Introduction construction along the Chicago River multi-story atrium creates a wider combined

Considerations for Supertall

Rob Foster, Research Associate (see Figure 2). The 80-story program of the footprint and increases stability by
Michael Ramage, Director While the reasons for considering mass tower forces the design team to consider performing as a single, larger superstructure.
Centre for Natural Material Innovation,
University of Cambridge timber will vary by project, client, and region, many of the issues typical to designing tall The two individual towers are structurally
1 Scroope Terrace the building industry is experiencing an buildings, while staying within the connected across the atrium using glued
Cambridge CB2 1PX, United Kingdom

58 CTBUH Organizational
t: +44 1223 760 121 increase in the use of mass timber products established 70- to-80-story height range for laminated timber (GLT) cross-bracing (see

Buildings
e: mhr29@cam.ac.uk for tall buildings. In 2008 there was one mass tall residential towers in Chicago. Figures 4 and 5). This connection couples the Figure 1. River Beech Tower, Chicago. © Perkins+Will
www.natmat.group.cam.ac.uk
timber building over eight stories tall; by structure together to act as one, maximizing
Jeff Sanner is an architect and building performance
2014, a survey of tall wood buildings the superstructure’s performance and
leader at Perkins+Will. Jeff’s focus is the relationship identified nearly 30 buildings over eight Design Strategies minimizing member stresses.

Member Listing
between building design and resource conservation,
delivering innovative concepts based on shared
stories that were either complete, under

Rony Eappen
targets, research and analysis. His current work construction, or in late-phase design The overarching goal of this study is to Maximize the participation of all vertical
explores net-positive energy, net-positive water, and
experimental building materials.
(Perkins+Will 2014). identify areas of mass timber research that members of the tower’s lateral system.
could help advance the use of timber in tall River Beech Tower’s lateral system connects
Todd Snapp brings versatile expertise and dynamic
knowledge as a practice leader and design principal
This research began with acknowledging building structures. Approaching this from a all the vertical structural members together.
at Perkins+Will. His work spans from mixed-use how wood behaves as a material. Its practitioner’s perspective, the team placed Cross-laminated timber (CLT) shear walls, GLT
master planning of high-rise residential and office
developments to cultural and higher education
properties were compared to steel and focus on developing an all-timber bracing, and laminated veneer lumber (LVL)
facilities. Todd was recently selected as one of Fifty concrete in terms of structural behavior, fire superstructure and allowed the planning diagrids effectively engage the vertical
Under Fifty: Innovators of the 21st Century.
resistance, construction methods, and architecture to adapt in response. Using elements for resisting the tower’s lateral
Alejandro Fernandez is a structural engineer in environmental impact, and architectural a residential floor plate as a planning loads, making full use of gravity-carrying
Thornton Tomasetti’s Chicago office. Alejandro brings
expression. This fundamental framework, the team set out to examine how members (see Figure 6).

34 Closing Gaps in Commercial

a holistic approach to the design of tall buildings with
master’s degrees in both architecture and engineering understanding was then applied to the design professionals could use current
from the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Ecole
Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris.
challenge of designing a building with real timber technology to make the design of a σ
world design constraints. tall timber tower feasible.
Dave Weihing is a principal and office director in
Thornton Tomasetti’s Chicago office. He has over
GPa

20 years of experience in the development and Designed by the Chicago offices of The material properties of mass timber drive

Software to Solve Structural

management of structural design. In 2010, he was Figure 2. The proposed tower in context of its site at the southwest edge of the Chicago Loop CBD. © Perkins+Will
= 200

named one of ENR Midwest’s “Top 20 under 40”

Perkins+Will and Thornton Tomasetti in the design of a tall tower in unique ways.
professionals. Dave has worked on projects in six collaboration with researchers at the Timber’s elastic stiffness and material density
ESTEEL

continents including tall and long-span structures.

University of Cambridge’s Centre for Natural vary notably from those of structural steel
Pa
Material Innovation, the River Beech Tower and reinforced concrete. Both natural and 4G

“
Robert Foster is a researcher at the University of
-4
25
Cambridge. His current research explores the potential
follows the program of an 80-story, engineered timber have lower strength than
Establishing timber as ‘non-combustible’ is
Engineering Issues
of engineered timber as a material for tall building =
design. He holds an MEng in Civil & Architectural 244-meter-tall timber residential tower steel and concrete, with steel supporting up RE
TE

Engineering and a PhD in structural engineering.
Michael Ramage leads the Centre for Natural Material
Innovation at University of Cambridge. He is also
a senior lecturer in the Dept. of Architecture and a
founding partner of Light Earth Designs. His current
GPa
a challenge. A wood sample would need to be
NC
situated along the South Branch of the to 460 MPa (fy), concrete up to 95 MPa (f’c), E CO 17
Chicago River (see Figure 1). Exposed mass and timber around 25 MPa (Axial ADS); new = 7-
E LVL
timber would offer a unique experience
within the residential market by connecting
engineered hybrid materials record higher
strengths. However, it is the softer elastic
genetically modified, treated, or engineered as

Alfonso Oliva, Richard B. a composite material to pass the ASTM E136

research focuses on creating better housing in the
occupants with natural materials. The stiffness that will most directly influence the

”
developing world and improved engineered timber
program includes 300 units, a development design of tall towers, which must resist large ε
test for combustibility.
and bamboo through natural material innovation.
density in keeping with current lateral loads. In this case, steel comes in at Figure 3. Relative elasticity of steel, concrete, and LVL
timber. © Thornton Tomasetti

Garlock, Nidhi Sekhar & Mia

40 | Architecture/Design CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Architecture/Design | 41

Tsiamis

“ The volumetric modular process is designed for

40 River Beech Tower: A Tall
Timber Experiment

dense urban areas. The fact is that there are more and
Jeff Sanner, Todd Snapp,
Alejandro Fernandez, David

more dense, urban areas around the world, where you

Weihing, Rob Foster &
Michael Ramage

want to control waste, minimize interruptions, and do

as much off-site work as possible.
” Krulak, page 50

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Inside | 3

CTBUH Latest

Costa Rica
I have just returned
from a fantastic few
days in Costa Rica,
including a rich,
half-day seminar
program organized by the CTBUH Costa Rica
Chapter, a CTBUH Board of Trustees meeting,
and an inauguration of a CTBUH signboard at
the current tallest building in San Jose, the
101.3-meter tall Torre Paseo Colon 2.
All this activity was spurred by a decision
taken six months ago to hold the first of our
twice-annual Trustee meetings in this Central
American country – the first in the region to
Several activities, including a CTBUH signboard
inauguration at the tallest building in San Jose, took
place around the CTBUH Board of Trustees’ recent
meeting and visit in Costa Rica.
formalize into a CTBUH Chapter. The nine
trustees meet physically twice a year, with the
second meeting of the year coinciding with
the annual conference. This first meeting of
the year has traditionally taken place in
Chicago but, with the Trustees based in cities
as diverse as London, Hong Kong, Jeddah,
Chicago, and New York, the decision was
taken to use this gathering to support one of
the CTBUH operations around the world, and
act as a catalyst for activity there.
That certainly happened this year, with the
Costa Rica Chapter organizing a whole host of
strongly-supported and attended events. The
Vice President of Costa Rica, Mrs. Ana Helena
Chacón Echeverría, attended the chapter
event, and the presence of the entire Board of
Trustees galvanized a valuable discussion on
where Costa Rica – a relative newcomer in the
urban density field – should take its city
development in the future. The chapter event
concluded with a multi-disciplinary panel
discussion, including Mounib Hammoud, the
CEO of Jeddah Economic Company, which is
building the world’s next tallest building in
Saudi Arabia, representing the owner-
developer community; Abrar Sheriff, CEO of
Turner International, representing the
construction field; Tim Johnson, Design
Partner, NBBJ representing architecture; and
Dennis Poon, Vice President of Thornton
Tomasetti representing structural engineering
(each of these is a CTBUH Trustee, by the way).
This lively panel discussion was a very fitting
end to a vibrant half-day program.
I returned to Chicago happy that the
objectives of the visit had been achieved, and
with my mind racing as to where next year’s
Trustee event could be. I would encourage
any CTBUH Leaders reading this to contact
me if they would like to host next year’s event
similarly! In the meantime, and keeping on
the international travel front (for all those not
already “down under” of course), plans for this
year’s Australia Conference are going
fantastically, so if you have not already
registered to attend, please visit
www. ctbuh2017.com. The core program will
occur in Sydney, with optional follow-on
programs in Melbourne and Brisbane.
All the best,
Antony Wood, CTBUH Executive Director

Recent New Organizational Members

We would like to welcome the following new organizational members who joined during February–March 2017

Supporting Contributor Participant

Green Towers Sustainable

Dassault Systemes, Paris
Contributor
Aliaxis, Brussels
LCI Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney
AvLaw Pty Ltd, Sydney
China Architecture Design &
Research Group (CADI), Beijing
Archipelago Architects, Brisbane
High-rises GmbH, Frankfurt
Gdalia Olitsky Engineering Ltd., Syntegrate, Hong Kong
Jerusalem
Academic Institute
Grocon, Melbourne Axel Glass, San Jose
Mulvey & Banani International,
Toronto Penn State University,
Pennsylvania
Bogle Architects, London
Plus Architecture NZ ,
Raftery CRE, LLC, Seattle Christchurch University of Melbourne,
Cadmakers Inc., Vancouver
Melbourne

Ronesans Holding, Istanbul PTW Architects, Sydney

Ecosystem Architecture, Sydney
EFT-CRAFT Company, Hong Kong Western Sydney University,
Sydney

Studco Australia Pty. Ltd., EFC Engineering Consulting, Rafael de La-Hoz Arquitectos,
FM Global, Massachussets Australia Shanghai Madrid
Supporting Contributors are those who contribute $10,000; Patrons: $6,000; Donors: $3,000; Contributors: $1,500; Participants: $750; Academic & Media Institutes: $500.

4 | CTBUH Latest CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

Debating Tall
Replace the Thompson Center?
Chicago’s drum-shaped, 17-story James R. Thompson Center, with its soaring atrium and extensive glazing, has been
criticized for poor temperature control and spatial inefficiency, and maintenance has been deferred. The State of Illinois
has proposed selling the building to a private developer to make up budget shortfalls. Plans for a 518-meter
replacement tower have been floated. The question is, “Should the James R. Thompson Center be demolished and
replaced?”
NO
Helmut Jahn, Founder, JAHN,
Architect for the original project
The original vision of Governor Jim
Thompson and our firm was to make the
building, which opened in 1984, a symbol
for the openness and transparency of the
state government, and an active urban
center in the city. Subsequent administra-
tions have not maintained the building, and
its retail lacks style and attraction.
The best way to save the building, and to
improve it, is to re-purpose it. This requires
upgrades to the retail and food service,
marketing the large floor plates to
innovative tech companies, and adding
parking. For the unused FAR, adding
24-hour uses, such as a hotel, apartments or
condominiums, would enliven the building
with around-the-clock activity.
We further advocate maximizing the
floor-area ratio (FAR). In the current
building, there is approximately 148,643
square meters of unused FAR that can be
utilized for further development of the site.
The southeast corner is the best location for
new development, as it would mean
minimal impact to the building’s significant
spaces and primary building services.
This would consist of a new tower, with a
footprint of approximately 1,208 square
meters to be developed on the southeast
corner, with hotel uses on the lower floors
and residential uses on the upper floors.
The ground floor would incorporate the
hotel entrance, and the residential lobby
would be located along LaSalle Street. The
remainder of the ground-floor spaces
would have retail uses. Level 2 would
contain the hotel lobby and food and
beverage uses. Meeting facilities would be
incorporated on levels 3 and 4. The
remainder of the existing building would
be utilized as office space.
To enhance public space, the ground floor
would be opened up at the plaza entrance
and at the LaSalle and Lake Street
entrances. This, of course would mean that
the usable spaces fronting the atrium
corridors would need to be fully glazed.
Through vents in the atrium skylight,
natural convection would temper this
space and promote 24-hour use.
Architectural history is full of examples
where such re-purposing has brought new
life to structures like this. The only way the
building can not only survive, but become
a landmark for the 21st century, is if some
changes are made.
YES
Mir Ali, Professor Emeritus of Architecture,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Home Insurance Building in Chicago,
built in 1884, known as the first metal
framed skyscraper of the world, was
demolished in 1931. The Singer Building in
New York, built in 1908, the tallest building
of the world for some time, was demolished
in 1968. There are other noteworthy
buildings that have suffered or are waiting
for the same fate in the United States and
elsewhere for various reasons.
A case in point is the Thompson Center in
Chicago. Despite its iconic form and
post-modern style, its mammoth atrium has
experienced acoustic and climate control
problems. Some of these functional
problems were resolved earlier, but the
building has become a source of recurrent
maintenance and excessive expenses. Now,
the State of Illinois is considering to sell it, to
partly mitigate its budget deficit. Jahn has
advocated an idea of preserving the
Thompson Center with some modifications
and the building of a 110-story tower on the
site. Certainly, the proposal is a viable option,
and warrants consideration.
A preferable option, however, is to demolish
the existing building and use the entire site,
freed from congestion, to construct a
supertall building, as this would represent
the site’s maximal use. The great transit-
oriented location in Chicago’s downtown
Loop, a hub of activity, is ideal for such a
building. It can have a large open area
around it that can be used for a public space,
and an attractive plaza at the ground plane
that responds to the busy street life. A
state-of-the-art skyscraper will be amenable
to design flexibility and the application of
technological innovations and energy-saving
advances that did not exist in 1984, leading
to its superior performance. It could
effectively respond to the place and its
context, regenerate the neighborhood, and
import another spectacular skyscraper to
Chicago, as its tallest.
Global News
Americas
A city not previously known for its
skyscrapers, Quito has been making
headlines, following the ongoing
construction of an improved transportation
network and subway system that is
facilitating transit-oriented development in
the Ecuadorean capital. YOO Quito, a
residential and hotel development designed
in-part by Arquitectonica, is an early result of
that infrastructure investment. The proposed
project is part of a larger master plan aimed
at densifying the city. The recently
completed Gaia Building is another addition
to the Quito skyline. The 15,000-square-
meter mixed-use tower features retail, office,
and residential programming at a prime
location near a major intersection and a
67-hectare public park.
In the United States, famously car-centric Los
Angeles is in the midst of its own
development boom, also driven in-part by
major regional infrastructure projects and
transit-oriented development. Many of the
newly proposed projects are located in the
fast-densifying South Park neighborhood in
downtown LA. There, Gensler has been
tapped to design two unique projects at
1300 and 1600 Figueroa Street. The former
is a 1,024-room, 53-story hotel that will rise
adjacent to the Los Angeles Convention
Center, while the latter is a 52-story dual
residential/hotel tower featuring a divided
Gaia Building, Quito. © Sebastián Crespo
6 | Global News
Visit the daily-updated online resource for all the latest news on tall buildings, urban development,
and sustainable construction from around the world at: http://news.ctbuh.org
1300 South Figueroa, Los Angeles. © Gensler
core design and vegetated exteriors. Both are
in an early proposal stage, with no specific
timetable for development.
Meanwhile, an initial impact study has been
released for the 6th & Alameda complex,
located just west of downtown. The US$2
billion development would rise from a
six-hectare site and feature two 58-story
towers. The multi-phase project is envisioned
to be built over a long timeline, with a final
completion date currently set in 2035.
50 West, New York. © Qualls Benson
In New York, construction recently wrapped
up on 50 West, designed by JAHN. With a
certificate of occupancy from the city,
residents are expected to begin moving in to
the 237-meter luxury high-rise despite on
going work on the tower’s upper floors, a
typical arrangement for high-rise buildings.
The Financial District building also features a
630-square-meter privately owned public
space with an art gallery and café.
In Midtown, KPF’s One Vanderbilt took a
major step forward with the successful
completion of its foundation pour. The
427-meter supertall located adjacent to
Grand Central Terminal has witnessed a
number of preconstruction setbacks, so the
concrete foundation pour represents a
significant milestone in its development.
As crews were pouring concrete at One
Vanderbilt, counterparts in Chicago were
doing much the same work at Vista Tower
by Studio Gang Architects, which completed
its foundation pour on the same day. The
monumental day-long effort required 3,000
cubic meters of concrete brought to the site
in 400-plus truckloads. As the tallest building
currently under construction in Chicago, the
tower has garnered plenty of attention from
the city’s skyscraper-watchers, who were
on-site to document the milestone.
Meanwhile, a proposed tower in Detroit is
poised to become the tallest building in the
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
 THEY SAID

“ Livability is about building communities

and encouraging interaction among people. You
have to create places that bring people together
as a community. Public spaces and placemaking
become critical if a city is to be livable. At a
project level, creative design can encourage
interaction and the building of bonds between
neighbors.
”
Dr. Cheong Koon Hean, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore’s Housing &
Development Board, the 2016 recipient of the CTBUH Lynn Beedle Award
in her interview with Urban Land, February 2017.

Vista Tower, Chicago – under construction. © Shawn Ursini

city. Known as Hudson’s Tower for the
former department store on its site, the
project represents a major investment for the
once-bankrupt city. It is hoped that it will
spur further development in the Motor City,
and with a groundbreaking set for December
2017, developers are wasting no time
advancing the project.
Asia and Oceania
Construction is also progressing on the
SOHO Li Ze Tower by Zaha Hadid Architects,
located southwest of the city center in yet
another growing business district.
Construction of the 207-meter building has
reached floor 20, slightly less than half its
46-story height. Topping out is expected in
September 2017. Notably, the tower will
feature a 190-meter central atrium rising
nearly the full height of the structure.
While the relentless pace of construction
continues in Beijing, several second- and
third-tier Chinese cities are in the spotlight
for notable skyscraper proposals. In
Zhengzhou, a five-tower mixed-use complex
has been proposed. The Cradle Towers are
designed with a nod to the city’s ancient
history as a cradle of civilization, while
looking ahead to its high-tech future.
Featuring office, residential, and hotel

Major construction updates dominated news

in Beijing. The Chinese capital has several
significant projects underway, including its
future tallest building, China Zun Tower.
Recent photography highlighted
construction on the KPF-designed tower,
which is expected to complete in 2018. The
tower will be the new centerpiece of the
Beijing Central Business District, the city’s
fast-expanding financial hub.

Directly adjacent to China Zun lies the

Samsung China Headquarters by SMDP,
which is also under construction and
recently topped out at 260 meters. Cladding
has begun to rise up the exterior of the
building, while the contours of the building’s
cube-shaped sky lounge are coming into
view. Final completion of this project is also
expected in 2018.

China Zun Tower, Beijing. SOHO Li Ze Tower, Beijing. Render by MIR,

© Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates © Zaha Hadid Architects.

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Global News | 7

Cradle Towers, Zhengzhou. © Tonkin Liu
programming, the five towers of varying
height will form a ring around a central,
landscaped green space.
And in Nanjing, the “vertical forest” typology
is coming to China. Rising from a shared
podium, the Nanjing Towers complex will
feature extensive vegetation on its exterior,
including 1,100 trees from 23 local species
and 2,500 additional shrubs and plants. In
total, the towers could provide up to 60
kilograms of oxygen every day, while
absorbing large quantities of carbon dioxide
from the pollution-choked city.
5 King, Brisbane. © Bates Smart
8 | Global News
Nanjing Towers, Nanjing. © Stefano Boeri Architetti
Meanwhile, in Brisbane, a development
application has been submitted for twin
vegetated high-rises at 25 Ferry Street on
Kangaroo Point. Although the greenery will
not be so extensive as to justify being called a
“vertical forest,” the design is meant to be
climate-responsive, incorporating natural
ventilation and subtropical planting in order
to achieve passive heating and cooling.
Also in Brisbane, Bates Smart has designed a
proposed 52-meter timber tower, known as 5
King. If completed as planned, it would be the
tallest engineered-timber building in Australia.
One Queensbridge, Melbourne. © Floodslicer
25 Ferry Street, Brisbane. © A+ Design Group
The tall timber typology has been gaining
steam for several years (see Tall Buildings in
Numbers, page 47), and, as will be seen, the
growing competition to build the “world’s
tallest” has a number of entrants.
Another height superlative is set to be broken
in Melbourne, as the Victorian government
has approved plans for the city’s future tallest
building, One Queensbridge by UK-based
WilkinsonEyre. Notably, the tower’s plot ratio is
57:1, which is more than double the
maximum plot ratio of 24:1 set under the city’s
interim planning controls in 2015.
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

Mjøstårnet, Brumunddal. © Voll Arkitekter AS
Europe
As in Australia, tall timber is going up across
Europe, where the majority of timber towers
are located or proposed. In Brumunddal,
Norway, a contractor was selected to build
Mjøstårnet, which at 80 meters would be
the tallest timber building in the world, if
built today. Although still in the proposal
stage, it joins a handful of European wood
towers in the development pipeline.
Both timber and traditional high-rise
buildings alike are becoming increasingly
REDI Complex, Helsinki – under construction. © SRV Group
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
Nicolinehus, Aarhus. © AART Architect
common across Scandinavia. In Aarhus,
Denmark’s second city, a terraced, mixed-use
complex known as Nicolinehus has been
designed for the newly developed port
district. The design is meant to be a hybrid of
terraced landscapes and traditional
residential blocks, while material choices,
such as textured red bricks, are meant to
draw on the city’s vernacular design history.
As construction work continues on the REDI
complex, Finland’s largest urban renewal
project, apartment sales have begun for
Majakka, the tallest building in the eight-
tower Helsinki development. Currently,
around 90% of the tower’s 282 apartments
have been reserved well ahead of the
project’s expected 2019 completion date.
Überseequartier Süd, Hamburg. © Unibail-Rodamco
On a similar scale, a contractor has been
named to build the Überseequartier Süd
complex in Hamburg, the centerpiece of the
larger HafenCity redevelopment project.
Comprising 14 buildings in all, the US$1
billion “Southern Überseequartier” will
feature 400 apartments and 800 hotel rooms,
along with leisure and retail amenities, a
cruise terminal, and a light-rail station.
Although not quite as big as the
Überseequartier Süd or Redi complexes, the
Peninsula Place development on Greenwich
Peninsula in London is one of the largest
projects in the UK capital. Recently launched,
the US$1.26 billion, three-tower development
will feature diverse programming and a
24-meter-high winter garden. It is being built
by a Hong Kong-based developer.
Global News | 9
Peninsula Place, London. © Courtesy of Knight Dragon The Leadenhall Building, London. © LeeMawdsley

The flow of Chinese capital investment into
London continues with news that a Chinese
firm has purchased The Leadenhall
Building, which was completed in 2014 by
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. The
building’s original developers will continue
as owners, pending approval of the sale by
the Chinese firm’s shareholders.
In Manchester, local footballers turned
developers have been battling uphill to see
the St. Michael’s Towers complex built in the
historic city center. The Make-designed
towers were submitted for planning with
revisions incorporating public consultations;
however, they have since been withdrawn
after significant pushback from heritage
preservationists who fear their impact on the
city.
While heritage protection remains a constant
challenge to developers in the United
Kingdom, projects in Turkey typically face
fewer limitations. As a result, new
construction is often preceded by the
demolition of historic structures and
neighborhoods. It was with that in mind that
the designers of G Tower, now under-
construction on the European side of
Istanbul, sought to draw inspiration from the
traditional Istanbul neighborhood. The
resulting ground floor design embraces a
“mini-village” with shops, squares, alleys,
restaurants, and gardens.
Middle East and Africa
A similar design approach is being taken in
Mecca, where Foster + Partners is designing
a hotel that reinterprets the traditional dense
building cluster found in Arab architecture
into a contemporary vernacular. The hotel is
designed to address the accommodation
shortage in the city as the number of
pilgrims during the Hajj continues to grow.

THEY SAID

“ Like anything that moves human bodies through space,

elevators are a fundamentally dramatic technology. As the
technology evolves further, it will be important to keep considering
the human experience of traveling in a metal box. If our own
comfort and spatial logic isn’t emphasized enough, it could be that
we won’t like the next generation of elevators very much.
”
Kyle Chayka in his article “The Rise of the Multi: A New Breed of Elevators Will Alter the Urban Skyscape
as We Know It,” Breakground Magazine, March 15, 2017.
G Tower, Istanbul. © Sotiris Tsoulos Architect and
RMJM Istanbul

10 | Global News CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

 Subscribe to the CTBUH RSS News Feed,
visit the Global News Archive
at: http://news.ctbuh.org

Elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, OMA THEY SAID

has completed the Qatar Foundation

Headquarters in Doha. The exterior of the
building is dominated by precast white
concrete cladding punctured by gridded
windows. In a nod to the foundation’s (and
country’s) history, the gridded windows form
“
I have a lovely painting in my office [in Beetham Tower] of
[Manchester] in the 18th century. It was a city of towers – but they
were mill chimneys. When that changed, there were gaps, which
generally became car parks. We want to fill those gaps and

”
the image of a Sidra tree, a national symbol,
intensify the city, not spread it out.
on one side of the building.

In Dubai, fallout from a major high-rise fire at
The Address Downtown hotel at the end of
2015 continues to impact the building
industry. The UAE recently issued new fire
safety regulations that seek to mitigate
damage by targeting the flammable exterior
cladding that has been identified as the
culprit in several blazes. New regulations
stipulate specific procedures for cladding
installation and maintenance, and levy heavy
penalties for failure to comply.
From a financial standpoint, the developer
behind The Address announced that it has
agreed to the largest-ever insurance claim in
the region. The US$332 million insurance
claim means that the developer avoids
significant monetary losses from the fire. The
hotel itself is expected to reopen midway
through 2017.
Ian Simpson, the architect of Beetham Tower, in an interview on living in in the building. From “The
Building Creaks and Sways’: Life in a Skyscraper,” The Guardian, February 4, 2017.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the Beirut Terraces
tower is nearing completion. The building
features distinctive perforated slabs and
layered overhangs, which will eventually be
covered in plants and other vegetation to
create a “hanging gardens” effect. The
high-end residential address features 129
apartments that range in size from
210-square-meter one-bedroom units to
1,050-square-meter penthouses with
450-square-meter terraces.
Finally, in Cape Town, a construction date has
been set for the city’s future tallest building.
Set to begin in April 2017, construction on
Zero2ONE will take approximately 30 months.
The 43-story residential tower features 624
apartments, over 60% of which have already
been sold. Amenities will include a
360-degree viewing deck and restaurant on
the building’s top floor.
Cape Town’s iconic waterfront grain silo, built
in 1924, was once the city’s tallest structure.
Today, it has been re-purposed into a hotel
and art museum. Now known simply as The
Silo, the hotel is located in the former grain
elevator, occupying the top six floors of the
structure. Recently opened to guests, it
features oversized, convex faceted windows
that illuminate the building exterior at night.
Beyond these additions, the majority of the
exterior remains unchanged from its
industrial days. Construction continues on
the art museum portion of the structure. 
For all the latest news on tall buildings,
urban development, and sustainable
construction from around the world, go to:
http://news.ctbuh.org

The Address Downtown, Dubai, scheduled to be The Silo, Cape Town. © The Silo Hotel and The Royal Portfolio
reopened mid-2017. © Novel Tjahjadi

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Global News | 11

South Beach Towers, Singapore

Canting Towers and a Cooling Canopy

Abstract
Authors
Roland Schnizer, Partner
After more than 100 years, an area of Singapore formerly off-limits to the public
Irene Gallou, Partner has been transformed into a new mixed-use development that combines two
Adam Davis, Associate Partner
Foster + Partners landmark towers, historic preservation of colonial military buildings, and a flowing
Riverside, 22 Hester Road
London SW11 4AN, United Kingdom canopy at the ground level. The result, called South Beach, is an integrated and
t: +44 20 7738 0455, f: +44 20 7738 1107
e: info@fosterandpartners.com
vibrant space in central Singapore, maximizing the critical assets of innovative
www.fosterandpartners.com design, warm weather, connectivity, and history. Highlighting three key aspects of
Chia Wah Kam, Director the project, this case study unpacks the design team’s integrated approach,
Arup
10 Hoe Chiang Road, 26-01 Keppel Towers illustrating the complexity of the design process, and exemplifying how a tall
Singapore 089315
t: +65 6411 2500
building may make a positive contribution to its surrounding urban realm.
e: singapore@arup.com
www.arup.com Keywords: Redevelopment, Sky Garden, Vertical Urbanism, Parametric Design
Ho Weng Hin, Partner & Director
Studio Lapis Introduction connecting the towers, retail areas, and the
7 Keppel Rd #03-01, Tanjong Pagar Complex
Singapore 089053 MRT station, and is protected by a large
t: +65 6222 9640 The South Beach development covers an innovative canopy, which shelters the
e: mail@studiolapis.sg
www.studiolapis.sg entire city block between the Marina and light-filled public spaces beneath from the
Civic District in the heart of downtown extremes of the tropical climate (see Figure 1).
Roland Schnizer is a partner at Foster + Partners, Singapore. Combining new construction
responsible for a number of the practice’s projects in
Asia. In 2005, he oversaw the design and construction
with the restoration of existing buildings, the From the outset, the design team’s vision
of the award-winning Troika residential development new mixed-use, energy efficient urban included the public spaces as well – the
in Kuala Lumpur. His recent projects include the
300-meter-tall IB Tower, Kuala Lumpur and South
quarter brings together places to live and undulating canopy covering the green spine
Beach, Singapore. work with shops, cafes, restaurants, a hotel, forms a key part of the sustainability strategy
Irene Gallou is a joint head of the Specialist Modelling
and public spaces. for South Beach. Due to its tropical climate,
Group at Fosterr + Partners. Her role involves assessing the use of outdoor spaces in Singapore is
the impact of buildings and public spaces on the
environment, leading on-site research and analysis, as
Rising up towards the north and south of the limited to certain times of day. The creation of
well as working closely with design teams to integrate site are two inclined towers – 35 and 45 the green spine and the canopy was an
environmental research at all stages in the design
process. She has been involved in a wide range of
stories respectively – the South Tower is attempt to introduce a new kind of public
projects, including the Masdar master plan in Abu divided between a hotel and apartments, space that would provide a comfortable
Dhabi.
while the North Tower contains offices. A microclimate even during the hottest hours of
Adam Davis is a design systems analyst at Foster wide landscaped pedestrian avenue – a the day.
+ Partners. His research includes work in design
optimization, machine perception, data science, and
green spine – weaves through the site,
ubiquitous sensing via the Internet of Things. Adam
has written bespoke software to analyze complex
issues in tall building design. He has also undertaken
complex parametric BIM for projects such as Queen
Alia International Airport, Amman, Jordan, and the
Mobility Pavilion for the UAE World Expo 2020.

Chia Wah Kam is a senior leader of Arup’s Singapore

buildings structures team. He has over 40 years’
experience in structural engineering, covering both
the building and infrastructure sectors. His expertise
is in the areas of project and contract administration
& management and structural design (particularly
multi-story buildings with deep reinforced-concrete
basements), structural steelwork, and prefab systems.
Wah Kam was Arup’s Project Director on South Beach.

Ho Weng Hin is partner and conservation specialist

of Studio Lapis. He holds a postgraduate degree
in heritage conservation from the University of
Genoa, Italy. Weng Hin has been involved in major
conservation projects in Singapore and the region,
such as the restoration of Cathedral of Good Shepherd,
the adaptive reuse of the former Beach Road Camp
and Britannia Club, the former Capitol Theatre, and the
former Burma Railways HQ in Yangon, Myanmar.

Figure 1. The innovative canopy shades the walkways and public spaces below.

12 | South Beach Towers, Singapore CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

The two towers are also defined by an
environmental screen that rises out of the
canopy to mitigate the harsh Singaporean
sun. These eastern and western façades
contain cascading sky gardens and
balconies, while the north and south façades
provide solar shading from oblique sun
angles (see Figure 2).

The structural approach complemented and

augmented the environmental features of
the project, with the design team using
parametric modeling to integrate all design
aspects. This was particularly pertinent in the
design of the canopy, where changes in the
structural system impacted the
environmental performance of the structure
and vice versa. What followed was an
iterative process of design, in which a single
parametric model was fed with multi-layered
information to simulate the performance of
the canopy and refine the form of its
components. In addition, the two towers
– with inclined columns in opposing
directions – also presented a significant
structural challenge.

South Beach is significant in urban terms as

well, with the restoration of four historic
buildings on the site forming an integral part
of the mixed-use development. As a former
military site, the entire city block was largely
inaccessible to the public until
redevelopment began in 2007. As such, one
of the key success stories of the project is the
transformation of this site into a public
space, with a ground plane that is now
entirely open, accessible and largely
Figure 2. South Beach Towers, Singapore – rising up from the green spine.
pedestrianized. For the first time since 1907,
the links between the historic district and the

“
Marina Bay area have been re-established,
revitalizing an important connection in the
city that had been lost over time.
Rather than attempting to achieve integration
through a totalizing approach to parametric
Environmental Design Strategy modeling on a single software platform, the
South Beach’s design aimed for the highest project exposed different interfaces and outputs
environmental rating – BCA Green Mark Plati-
num – for both residential and commercial
based on the team members involved and their
components by introducing holistic immediate goals: visualization, physical

”
approaches to environmental design. The
modeling, and construction documentation.
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II South Beach Towers, Singapore | 13
 sustainability criteria driving the project were
developed in three discrete strategic tiers: pas-
sive, active, and power generating.

Passive sustainable strategies were

implemented in order to maximize the
building’s conservation of energy. This
strategy integrated analysis of daylight,
surface temperature, thermal comfort, rain
protection, and air velocity to all the major
public areas to inform an optimized solution.
Form, massing, orientation, shading, and
vegetation were then designed to correspond
to the data provided for every stage of this
analysis-driven investigation. Additionally, a
series of structural studies for the canopy were
undertaken, aiming to investigate ways of
reducing the weight of the structure, directly
reducing embodied energy.

Active sustainable strategies were developed

Figure 3. The louvers help protect the interiors Figure 4. The shingle glazing on the north/south façades. to manage internal sources of energy
from solar gain while maintaining views out. efficiently. Lighting, waste treatment, and
thermal comfort of residences were optimized
to meet the local sustainability criteria. Rain
water collected from the canopy roof is stored
Level 35–37
Offices
in a collection tank before being redistributed
4.2 m Floor to Floor to several water features across the public
space, as well as being used for irrigation.
Level 34 Level 33–45
Sky Garden Residential
3.6 m Floor to Floor
Power generation strategies further improve
the environmental performance of the design,
Level 32 Sky Garden
Level 22–33
Residential
supplying clean energy for the daily
Offices
4.2 m Floor to Floor 10.8 m Floor to Floor
operations of the building’s facilities.
Accordingly, a sufficient portion of the design
Level 23–31
Level 21
Residential is covered by photovoltaic and solar thermal
3.6 m Floor to Floor
Sky Garden
10.7 m Floor to Floor
tubes to meet energy-generation goals. The
Level 22 Sky Garden parts of the canopy that should receive such
Residential
10.8 m Floor to Floor elements were identified by solar radiation
Level 12–20 Level 19–21
Offices Boutique Hotel analysis, thus enabling the replacement of the
4.2 m Floor to Floor Level 18 Sky Garden 3.6 m Floor to Floor
Hotel necessary panels locally, without distracting
10.8 m Floor to Floor
from the continuity of the overall roof
Level 11
Sky Garden geometry.
11.4 m Floor to Floor

Level 3–17
Level 2–10 Luxury Hotel
Offices
4.2 m Floor to Floor
3.6 m Floor to Floor The Two Towers

Located towards the northern and southern

edges of the site, the two towers within the
South Beach development make a distinctive
addition to the Singaporean skyline. Each of
the façades has been articulated differently in
Figure 5. The north tower contains multi-tenant Figure 6. The south tower contains a hotel and residences. response to its orientation and the use of
office space. © Foster + Partners. © Foster + Partners.
0 10 20 30 40 50
Foster + P artners
14 | South Beach Towers, Singapore CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
internal spaces it encloses. The eastern and
western façades feature an external screen
with a louver system that provides horizontal
shading while maintaining sight lines; while
the north and south façades have alternating
upward and downward-facing glazing
panels that create a shingle pattern (see
Figures 3 and 4). The upward-facing glazing
reflects the sunlight by day, and the
Figure 7. The open-air sky gardens at intermediate levels take full advantage of Singapore’s balmy climate.
downward-facing glazing reflects the city by
night, creating a dynamic composition in the and places to host special events for office The Canopy – Design Predictions and
heart of the city. workers (see Figure 5). Closing the Loop

The two towers also comprise a series of
vertical sky gardens, planters, and balconies
that help protect the building from the sun
and filter sunlight to reduce glare. These sky
gardens improve the microclimate by
enhancing natural air movement, while also
minimizing energy consumption by
optimizing heat exchange. They are irrigated
using stored rainwater, and their ceilings –
along with some other internal partitions
within the towers – are made with local
bamboo, a highly sustainable product. Apart
from the benefits for the building and the
internal spaces, these vertical gardens also
continue the “city in a garden” ideal for
Singapore and boost the aesthetic appeal of
the building.
The north tower is a multi-tenant office
building, currently occupied by international
companies such as Facebook, Instagram,
Expedia, Sanofi, and Lego, among many
others. Sky gardens, located at levels 11, 21,
and 34, break up the building’s façade and
also serve as communal break-out spaces
The south tower consists of a hotel topped
by residential units on the upper floors (see
Figure 6). It also has several sky gardens,
located on levels 18, 22, and 32, with the
former serving hotel guests and the other
two meant exclusively for tower residents
(see Figure 7). The 654-room hotel also
features triple-volume sky terraces on levels
6, 9, 12, and 15, which are surrounded by
clusters of hotel rooms. Above, there are 190
residential units, which include a mixture of
two-, three- and four-bedroom units along
with penthouses with private roof gardens.
The south tower also features a split core, i.e.,
the lifts serving the hotel and residences
travel through different vertical shafts,
enabling the residential units to be naturally
ventilated through an air-well located above
the hotel lift shaft. This has ensured that all
units can meet or exceed the natural
ventilation targets required to achieve Green
Mark Platinum rating.
The design of the canopy is the central focus
of the project’s sustainable approach. Its
form was driven by solar and wind studies
and is orientated to protect the avenue and
retail areas from direct sun and rain, while
allowing daylight to filter through to the
space below. The structure is made up of
ribbons of steel and aluminum louvers,
which flex above the primary circulation
routes and public spaces and dip near the
edges to meet the existing buildings along
Beach Road. The entrance to the canopy rises
up to form an arc, which acts as a wind
scoop, drawing the prevailing breezes
through the space and promoting natural
ventilation (see Figure 8).
The use of solar panels and optimally angled
louvers means that natural sunlight at once
can be harnessed to offset energy demand
and be deflected to reduce heat gain.
Average shading with the canopy is 57%,
compared to 4.7% without. This rainproof
“umbrella” also channels breezes,
encouraging ventilation flow, presenting no

“ The south tower features a split

core. The lifts serving the hotel and
residences travel through different
vertical shafts, enabling the
residential units to be naturally
ventilated through an air-well
Figure 8. The canopy draws prevailing breezes while filtering out the harsh summer
sun. © Foster + Partners.

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

located above the hotel lift shaft.
”
South Beach Towers, Singapore | 15
Figure 9. Microclimatic studies undertaken post-occupation. © Arup
need to install air-conditioning for visitor
comfort. Rainwater, too, collects at the lower
points of the canopy, which serve as reservoirs
that recycle water and irrigate the
development’s lush greenery.
To achieve this, Foster + Partners and Arup
embarked on an iterative design process,
which identified comfort requirements before
balancing the climatic elements. There were a
number of predictions about the performance
of the canopy that were made during the
design process. These predictions were tested
after the building was occupied to verify their
validity.
It is relatively easy to analyze the performance
of a building based on feedback from Building
Management Systems, measuring the
consumption of electricity and water, and
other such data. However, this does not hold
true for outdoor spaces, such as the green
spine under the canopy at South Beach. The
canopy was designed to create an outdoor
space that was comfortable to use
throughout the year by moderating five
separate elements – air movement, light
levels, radiant temperature, and felt
temperature. The designers and engineers
had made several predictions through
simulations during the design stage, which
needed to be validated by measurements on
the ground after the building had been built
to “close the loop” between design-stage
predictions and delivered performance.
The open spaces under the canopy of South
Beach were investigated by a team of
16 | South Beach Towers, Singapore
architects and environmental scientists using
specialized thermal imaging equipment and
microclimatic weather stations. The on-site
studies focused on the relations between the
tropical urban microclimatic variables and
thermal comfort criteria that were established
for comparing the simulation results with
on-site measurements (see Figure 9).
These field studies showed that the “felt
temperature” under the canopy at South
Beach was up to 13°C lower than other
canopied spaces in Singapore, and up to 17°C
lower than unsheltered spaces in the city. The
ground surface temperatures also varied
drastically from 55°C on the streets to 30°C at
South Beach.
The main reason for the success of the canopy
in keeping cool is that the solar gains
associated with the daylight levels under the
canopy are kept low. During design, the team
evaluated the thermal gains and illumination
from direct solar radiation, and from diffuse
sources such as the sky dome and adjacent
reflective surfaces, including the ground itself.
It is important to consider aperture size of the
louvers as a function of light transmission and
its resultant thermal impacts under the
canopy. Improperly designed apertures can
result in overheating of the spaces under the
canopy, visual discomfort from glare and
unwanted deterioration and fading of
furnishings and other materials.
One additional reason for the success of the
canopy was also that it did not inhibit air
movement to a great extent – the team
measured a wind speed of 1.5 m/s in an
unsheltered space, while beneath the
canopy wind speed was on average 1.5 m/s.
In the end, the difference between the
design predictions and the actual readings
on-site was very minimal – a testament to
the rigorous analysis and modeling carried
out as part of the design process.
Parametric Modeling
The design of the canopy was refined in
response to a variety of environmental and
structural factors that were mediated
through a multifunctional parametric model.
The use of parametric design on this project
was far more sophisticated than normal, so
much so that the in-house Applied Research
and Development team at Foster + Partners
had to write its own software. The innovative
digital design platform used to develop the
canopy model integrated the work of the
design team and consultants into a seamless
and responsive workflow. This enabled the
development of a shared model capable of
providing a full range of drawings and data
– from design intent to information sheets
for detailed design documentation.
In the canopy design, the environmental
strategies are closely related to the geometry
of the roof. Structural beams define the
massing form and orientation of the canopy
as well as the green spine along the main
public space. Columns and drainage panels
are situated to satisfy structural constraints
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

Figure 10. The canopy components. From top: glass louver
infill, glass ribbon infill, louver structure, louver cladding,
structural ribbons, and y-columns. © Foster + Partners
and efficient water collection for each
ribbon. Finally, louver panels are distributed
to perform particular functions locally (see
Figure 10).
However, unlike the hierarchical order of the
environmental strategies, the digital model
of canopy elements establishes many
bi-directional relationships. When the
structural system or drainage strategy
changed, this alteration was reflected in
updated canopy geometry and the location
and types of louvers. Conversely, when
louver properties changed due to structural
or performance reasons, the beam depth
was changed reciprocally. These
interdependent relationships required
significant changes even for relatively minor
updates. The challenge in designing the
South Beach canopy involved orchestrating
this multi-layered information while
maintaining the flexibility of design.
Rather than attempting to achieve
integration through a totalizing approach to
parametric modeling on a single software
platform, the project exposed different
interfaces and outputs based on the team
members involved and their immediate
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
Levels 11 and 12 multi-
strand tendons to be
stressed in stages
Figure 11. Staged post-tensioning. © Arup
goals: visualization, physical modeling, and
construction documentation. The beams
supporting the canopy and the louvers, which
provide much of the structure’s environmental
mediation strategy, each exploited unique
strategies for responding to the data provided
by performance simulation. Thus, all aspects
of the canopy were capable of rapid update
cycles, while allowing the model to retain
implicit connections with the initial principles
from which it was derived. The solutions were
tested by a series of analyses that monitored
and informed the performance of the
canopy’s design at regular intervals during the
project’s development.
Building Structure
Soaring above – the two towers
South Beach features two technically
challenging high-rise buildings with inclined
columns tilting outwards at lower floors and
back inwards at the higher floors. The resultant
forces of these perimeter column inclinations
under gravity forces are resolved into vertical
as well as significant horizontal forces.
Unlike most high-rise towers, the inclined
columns on one half of each tower create
large horizontal forces due to gravity loads
alone. This is in addition to the horizontal
forces that are derived from wind or notional
loads. To overcome this, the engineers
designed the slabs at critical floors to transfer
these forces to the core by staged post-
tensioning (see Figure 11). As the forces in
post-tensioning are very high, the tendons
were cast within a thick concrete slab. The
horizontal transfer tendons were planned for
the sky garden levels where there was large
headroom, allowing for structural slabs to be
up to 600 millimeters thick without affecting
the architectural intent.
The core walls, which range from 700
millimeters thick at the base to 400
millimeters at the top, are designed to resist
these transferred horizontal forces. The
basement slabs also act as rigid horizontal
diaphragms to transfer these forces to the
rigid diaphragm walls, which are partially
offset by the lateral earth pressures. This is
unlike a conventional high-rise building, in
which the core is treated as a cantilever shaft
encastred solely to the pile cap.
Just passing through – the canopy
The intent for the canopy was to achieve a
lightweight, single-layer structural system,
rather than a truss structure, ultimately taking
the form of six-meter-wide ribbons running in
the east–west direction. The primary ribbon
beams are a pair of fabricated steel hollow
sections, with secondary members bracing
the beams, resulting in a Vierendeel truss
system. These ribbons support the aluminum
and glass louver infill panels, which were
distributed according to functional
requirements beneath. Certain canopy areas
employ solid louvers or louvers with shaded-
glass infill panels to protect a dry route
beneath, while other areas are configured to
enhance cross-ventilation by employing a
series of overlapping but open louvers.
Structural beams linking the ribbons are
hidden within the louvers. A combination of
these louver beams and arching ribbons
achieves various pitch heights, giving the
canopy much more rigidity vertically and
South Beach Towers, Singapore | 17
 Structural louver
Ribbon bays at 6 m
spacing

Columns 12 m
spacing Y-shaped column

Figure 12. The beams of the canopy form a Vierendeel truss system. © Arup Figure 13. Louvers vary in opacity and orientation to aid ventilation, drainage, and shade. © Arup

laterally than can be visually perceived (see
Figure 12). Rainwater down-pipes are
optimized and hidden within arching
ribbons and Y-columns.
A full-service 3D BIM model was developed
to coordinate all services that are hidden
within the louvers and ribbons (see Figure
13). The openings and stiffener plates in the
ribbons for these services were optimized
with this visual tool. Abortive work resulting
from the clash of services with structural
elements or architectural louvers were hence
eliminated before fabrication.
Urban Context and Conservation
The site overlooks the Padang (formerly the
Padang Cricket Ground), home to many of
Singapore’s leading institutions and landmarks,
including the National Gallery of Singapore,
The Old and New Supreme Court, St Andrew’s
Cathedral, Victoria Theatre, The Esplanade, and
the famed Raffles Hotel (see Figure 14).
South Beach sensitively addresses the
adjacent Raffles Hotel by carefully restoring
the four former military buildings along
Beach Road and interspersing them with
conserved mature trees. The towers are then
set back from Beach Road, with only the
recessed upper levels visible above.
Designed to be a natural extension of the
adjacent historic district, the key old
buildings on-site were also used to define
the pedestrian routes through the
development. The presence of the historic
buildings, together with the overarching
canopy, give the entire development a
distinctly low-rise pedestrian character.
There are four conservation buildings along
Beach Road – Blocks 1, 9 (also known as the

The canopy’s undulating form introduces

structural complexities due to the varying
stress levels along the span of the canopy. To
address this, the design team included
welded box sections side-by-side, allowing
for the two adjacent ribbons to follow the
different arch forms, while maintaining the
rigidity. All plates of the boxes are of the
same thickness, with varying depths to
match the different stress levels, allowing for
quick material procurement and easy
fabrication. As opposed to using a series of
off-the-shelf rectangular hollow sections, the
bespoke wave-like ribbons allow for sections
to be larger in size where forces are higher
and smaller in size where forces are lower.
This is represented by the tapering profile of
the cantilever section.

Figure 14. Historic buildings along Beach Road, including the NCO Club in the corner and the Raffles Hotel across
the street.

18 | South Beach Towers, Singapore CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

Figure 15. The canopy forms part of the integrative tissue between the old military buildings and the new towers.
Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (SSVF)
Drill Hall), and 14 of the former Beach Road
Camp, together with the neighboring
Singapore Armed Forces Non-Commissioned
Officer (SAF NCO) Club. These buildings
straddle the pre- and post-WWII eras,
embodying varied forms, technology,
materials, and climatic design responses to
the tropical context. They are synonymous
with Singapore’s nation-building and
defense history, being a Remembrance Day
memorial site for Volunteer Corps veterans,
as well as the birthplace of the SAF. The
group also carries conservation significance
as the first Modernist buildings to be
gazetted for conservation in Singapore, in
2002. The Urban Redevelopment Authority
(URA) technical conditions required that
these structures be sensitively restored and
adapted for new use, as an integral part of
the new mixed development.
From an urban conservation viewpoint, the
transformation of a former high-security and
publicly inaccessible military site into a
commercial mixed-use development
presents both great opportunities as well as
challenges. A key conservation priority was
the preservation of the street frontage of
Beach Road, long characterized by the
low-rise forms and heterogeneous façade
designs of the four historic buildings. Their
fine urban grain in turn informed the
massing design of the new podium blocks
behind, successfully integrating the new
urban form of the development with the
character and scale of the surrounding
neighborhood across the street. The
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
introduction of a sinuous microclimatic
canopy that runs the entire length of the site
also helped to mediate the stark contrast of
scale between the heritage structures and the
new-built towers (see Figure 15).
Conclusion
The South Beach project represents a critical
opportunity to realize a highly functional
mixed-use development that meets
contemporary standards of environmental
performance and preserves important
historical buildings. Its intensively modeled
design process resulted in an addition to the
neighborhood that fits well into Singapore’s
emerging high-rise vernacular and actually
improves the thermal dynamics of its site. In
this way, it embodies the “vertical city in a
garden” concept that distinguishes Singapore.
ƒƒ Some extracts relating to the conservation
aspects of the project within this article first
appeared in an essay by Ho Weng Hin
published in The Singapore Architect
Journal, October 2016.
ƒƒ Portions of this paper about the
environmental strategy and parametric
design were previously published in the
Conference Proceedings of Acadia 2011:
Integration through Computation, edited
by Jason S. Johnson, Branko Kolarevic, Vera
Parlac, and Joshua M. Taron. 
Unless otherwise noted, all photography credits
in this paper are to Nigel Young / Foster +
Partners.
Project Data
Completion Date: November 2015
Height: 218 meters
Stories: South Tower: 45; North Tower: 35
Total Area: 153,067 square meters
Use: South Tower: Residential/Hotel; North
Tower: Office
Owner: South Beach Consortium
Developers: City Developments Limited; IOI
Group; South Beach Consortium
Architects: Foster + Partners (design); Aedas
(architect of record)
Structural Engineer: Arup (design)
MEP Engineer: Parsons Brinckerhoff
Consultants Private Limited (design)
Main Contractor: Hyundai Engineering &
Construction
Other CTBUH Member Consultants: Arup
(façade, geotechnical, sustainability); BMT
Fluid Mechanics Ltd. (wind); Davis Langdon
(quantity surveyor)
Other CTBUH Member Suppliers: Hilti AG
(cladding); KONE (elevator)
South Beach Towers, Singapore | 19
MEP

A Bioclimatic Comfort Design Toolkit

For High-Rise Buildings
Abstract
Building in an ever more urbanized world, with high-rise buildings increasing in
both height and number, makes it essential to ensure we create comfortable urban
spaces, as the urban microclimate in and around towers is affected dramatically.
This paper proposes a new method of computational design that creates a
continuous workflow, one that synthesizes the interaction of dynamic structural
Jeroen Janssen behavior, climate, and thermal comfort directly into the digital design process. The
author’s team has developed a custom software interface that connects different
Author
Jeroen Janssen, Associate
aspects of the design (geometry, BIM, structural analysis, and computational fluid
AKT II Ltd. dynamics) in one workflow, allowing different members of the design team to
100 St. John Street
London EC1M 4EH interact simultaneously and inform the design in real time.
United Kingdom
t: +44 20 7250 7777 Keywords: MEP Engineering, Thermal Comfort, Environmental Engineering, C
e: jeroen.janssen@akt-uk.com
www.Akt-uk.com

Jeroen Janssen Introduction to assess and decide if the design is

Jeroen Janssen is an associate within p.art®, the
Parametric Applied Research Team at AKT II, a
structural engineering consultancy based in London.
He is responsible for the Bioclimatic Design Services
the firm is offering to architects and developers.
He and the team developed an in-house custom
digital toolkit to enhance the workflow of these
numerical simulations, working in close collaboration
with architects and engineers. Janssen received an
MSc degree in Architecture and Engineering from
Eindhoven University of Technology and holds an
MArch from the Architectural Association School of
Architecture in London.
The essence of architectural design comes
down to the question of providing shelter
and well-being for the occupants of a space.
It follows that we should be able to ask
ourselves the simple question of whether we
are comfortable in a space, whether it is
inside or outside. But the answers to this
seemingly simple question are difficult to
quantify. We need tools and measurements
successful for the intended use of a space.
The efficacy of the toolkit developed by the
author’s team can be shown through the
example of three real-world projects in
London (see Figures 1, 2, and 3). An initial
speculative test case around the Centre Point
Tower will illustrate the use of an hour-by-
hour thermal simulation and show how this
can be utilized to assess and mitigate

Figure 1. Centre Point Tower, London. Figure 2. Millbank Tower, London. Figure 3. South Bank Tower, London. © John Parkin
© (cc-by-sa) Paul Farmer. Source: Millbank Tower Proposal.

20 | MEP CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

potential urban heat island effects. The
redevelopment of the Millbank Tower will be
presented as a second case study of how the
toolkit has been used to determine
pedestrian wind comfort levels around the
complex and its influence on the design. A
third test case shows how the toolkit
determined load patterns on the façade of
the South Bank Tower and established a
direct link to the dynamic structural analysis
software. The toolkit allows the design
engineer to utilize these advanced
computational tools to inform the design in
the earliest stages of the process and
therefore enable a new generation of
high-rise buildings in the megacities of the
future.
Design Challenges
Current design practice shows a myriad of
ways to deal with the problems ahead.
Where some designers use rules of thumb
and define the impacts of the built
environment to the microclimate in a very
generic way, others might use sophisticated
digital tools to model and simulate the
environment in great detail. In basic
conditions, these rules of thumb might be
sufficient and serve the design quite well.
However, urban environments are becoming
ever more complex, influencing the effects
of natural forces on buildings, and amplifying
buildings’ effects on their surroundings. The
current language of architectural design is
taking on more complex shapes, while at the
same time public awareness of the
environment is growing together with the
desire (and increasingly the ability) to control
or change it. These rules of thumb might
then prove not elaborate enough, and
therefore a detailed simulation is required.
Modeling and simulating climatic
phenomena, and subsequently wind or
thermal comfort assessments, is still
considered state-of-the-art technology that
can only be dealt with by a specific field of
experts within practice and academia. These
models are not only highly complex and
extremely time-consuming to set up, but are
also data-hungry, requiring extensive
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
computational power to execute the
simulations and subsequently read out and
understand the results.
The author’s team, consisting of AKT II,
together with Tyréns UK and Gas Dynamics,
took on the challenge to inform and shape
architectural design by using the urban
microclimate as a design input. In order to do
this, the researchers needed to gain an
understanding of the full aspects and
influences that go into modeling and
simulating the microclimate. The objective,
then, was to find bioclimatic design solutions
and develop a toolbox of repeatable methods
for designing with them. These methods
would then be assessed and compared
through classified and well-known comfort
criteria in order to make a valuable
contribution to the early design phases.
Currently, there is a fragmented array of tools
and a patchwork of software on the market
that serves to answer questions regarding
climatic comfort. Many of these work in
isolation on one aspect, be it solar radiation,
wind flow, or humidity. Other climatic inputs,
and the summary results of their interaction,
are not intrinsically taken into account.
Furthermore, most of these tools are geared
to the internal comfort of built spaces,
whereas the aim of this research is to develop
the potential for influencing pedestrian
comfort in the external urban realm.
In order to accurately model the full range of
urban climatic response, the team felt the
need to combine these aspects together into
one comprehensive toolkit, which not only
allows for a full year-round simulation, but also
provides an efficient link to the urban
geometry and a user-friendly interface.
What is Comfort?
Before continuing to the technical aspects of
the simulation, the design space needed to be
defined. What do we mean by pedestrian
thermal and wind comfort?
Thermal comfort is described as “the condition
of mind that expresses satisfaction with the
“
The team’s goal
was to develop a
novel digital design
toolkit that could
simulate and assess
the external thermal
comfort of pedestrians
”
in an urban space.
thermal environment and is assessed by
subjective evaluation.” Standards for internal
thermal comfort are well defined within local
building regulations (ASHRAE 2013).
Maintaining this standard of thermal comfort
for occupants of spaces is one of the
important goals for design engineers.
Internal thermal comfort is a well-established
field of practice for the services engineer. The
team’s goal was to develop a novel digital
design toolkit that could simulate and assess
the external thermal comfort of pedestrians in
an urban space. This toolkit would allow
creating a well-informed design for the
microclimate of external spaces in complex
climatic conditions. With this toolkit, the role
that the proposed geometry and material
properties will play to influence the perceived
comfort of a space can easily be assessed.
Within the research community, there is
strong interest in the quality of open urban
spaces and a continuing search for methods
to design with climatic effects. A number of
research projects have been undertaken to
determine comfort indices to meaningfully
assess and compare external spaces. One of
the most extensive works of research
evaluates people in an urban space in any
climatic region according to its Actual
Sensation Vote (ASV) (Nikolopoulou, Lykoudis
& Kikira 2004). The ASV finds an empirical
comfort assessment of a space, corrected for
different climatic zones, largely based on field
surveys with nearly 10,000 interviews across
MEP | 21

convection
evaporation
Metereological
clothin
input
Physiological model
air temperature
(Ta)
radiation
(Trr)
humidity
(rH, pa)
short-wave
radiation
wind
(va)
long-wave
radiation
Figure 4. The Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) Equivalent Temperature identifies comfort in an urban space via a relative temperature scale.
Europe. Other models, such as the Predicted
Mean Vote (PMV), form a mathematical view
on thermal comfort and were originally
developed for internal thermal comfort
problems; however, their use nowadays is
being extended for external applications
(Fanger 1970).
This team decided to implement the
Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI)
within the Bioclimatic Design Toolkit (Bröde
et al. 2009). The research establishing this
index was initiated to fill the gap in available
assessments in order to produce a
satisfactory result, considering thermal-
physiology and heat-exchange theory. The
index is specifically geared towards thermal
comfort in the urban space. The research set
out to define a model of thermo-
physiological significance in the whole range
of heat exchange conditions of existing
thermal environments, which would be valid
in all climates, seasons, and scales, as well as
be useful for key applications in human
biometeorology. The project was funded
under EU Cooperation in Science and
“
What happens when the dynamic behavior
between structure and wind start to influence
each other, and therefore determine the
structural properties of a supertall building?
22 | MEP
Actual condition
the dynamic model response
humidity, wind &
Tcore
1-dim representation of
radiation
Tskin
Sweat
g
reference
Exposure time
Reference condition
Activity: walking 4 km/h (135 W/m2)
Climate:
Tr = Ta x va,10m = 0.5 m/s
rH = 50% (Ta < 29ºC)
pa = 2 kPa (Ta > 29ºC)
Technology (COST) Action 730, and built up
over several years of research by a number of
highly respected research institutes across
Europe. The methods were verified and
validated using 65 independent
experiments, revealing good agreement with
measured data for regulatory responses.
The UTCI Index adopts the Fiala body model,
which is a complex multi-node model that
accurately simulates phenomena of human
heat transfer inside the body and at its
surface, taking into account the anatomical,
thermal, and physiological properties of the
human body (Fiala et al. 2011). Heat losses
from different body parts to the environment
are modeled in detail, considering the
inhomogeneous distribution of temperature
and thermoregulatory responses over the
body surface. Within the model, people’s
clothing behavior was considered based on
the air temperature, in a non-linear way.
The atmospheric variables determining the
complex heat exchange conditions are air
temperature, wind velocity, water vapor
”
UTCI Equivalent
Temperature (ºC)
extreme heat stress
50
very strong heat stress
40
strong heat stress
30 moderate heat stress
20 no thermal stress
offset
10
slight cold stress
Ta UTCI 0
air temperature (ºC) moderate cold stress
-10
-20 strong cold stress
-30
very strong cold stress
-40
extreme cold stress
-50
pressure, short-wave (solar) radiation, and
long-wave (infrared) radiant fluxes emitted
by the surroundings, including the sky. All
these inputs are taken into account in
determining the UTCI Index (see Figure 4).
While the UTCI is a very powerful and
comprehensive comfort index, often there is
still the need to look at some climatic
phenomena in isolation. This is specifically
the case for the wind environment around a
site, and when pedestrian wind comfort is
considered an issue. With a Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation, we can
evaluate the wind regime around a
development in a numerical wind tunnel.
When the full spectrum of wind directions is
being evaluated, the results can be related
statistically to the probability of occurrence
of wind blowing from a certain direction
with a certain velocity. Typically, measured
data of a 30- to 50-year period would be
used and compiled to a model year (Troen &
Petersen 1989). This can then be expressed
into a comfort value, relating both wind
speed and gustiness to the proposed
activities of a space. On the whole, they are
based on threshold exceedence criteria, i.e.,
“if a mean hourly wind speed of 5 m/s is
exceeded for more than 5% of the year, the
space will be unsuitable for sitting.” This
team often used the widely known and
respected Lawson comfort criteria,
considered best practice guidance and
widely used in the established field of wind
research within the United Kingdom; or the
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
Dutch wind nuisance criteria, which is a
codified method in the Dutch building
regulations (see Figure 5) (Blocken, Janssen &
van Hoof 2012; Lawson 2001; NEN 2006).
Bioclimatic Design Toolkit
Having established the requirements for a
comprehensive assessment of the thermal
comfort of an urban space, the radiant
effects due to the climatic inputs need to be
modeled and simulated, together with the
effect of materials and geometry and
subsequently the simulation results
connected to the intended use of a space.
An hour-by-hour simulation needs to be
built to assess air temperature, solar
radiation, relative humidity, wind direction
and velocity, and their effects on latent heat
and surface temperatures (see Figure 6).
Bioclimatic Design Toolkit starts by reading
the climatic inputs from an external weather
file, which is generally derived from 30 to 50
years of measured data compiled into a
typical ”model year,” with data for every hour
in the year. The geometric properties are
modeled in the 3D CAD environment and
material properties are assigned. Façades are
automatically subdivided into small, discrete
elements in order to capture all variations
over the geometry. This modeling and set-up
happens within McNeel’s Rhinoceros
software, directly linked into the toolkit. This
allows for efficient handling of models,
control over the simulation and the ability to
quickly assess multiple options early in the
design phase. When all these climatic effects
are simulated by the toolkit engine, the
results can then be visualized directly into
the 3D CAD environment and thus fully
embedded within the design models of the
wider design team. Following the physical
simulation of thermal effects on the façades,
the urban domain can then be interrogated
for the climate indices mentioned above, by
means of cutting a horizontal plane and
visualizing the thermal comfort for every
point on this plane.
The simulation of the toolkit starts by
establishing three initial sets of data that will
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
be used during the hour-by-hour thermal originally built in the 1960s and is currently
simulation. The first one is a shadow map for under redevelopment, including a redesign of
the full geometry under investigation for the public spaces surrounding the complex.
every hour of the year (see Figure 7). The The team used this well-known urban
second data set is the shape factor, which environment as a test case during the
entails the geometric relationship or ratio of development of the toolkit and as a validation
how much each panel “sees” of all the other to check the accuracy of the calculations.
panels, and is used for the long-wave
panel-to-panel reflections during the After establishing the global inputs into the
subsequent simulation. The final data set to toolkit, the hour-by-hour simulation
compute before starting the simulation is commenced for the full year. For every data
the sky-view factor, which determines how point on the façade of the Centre Point tower
much of the sky is visible for every data point and all its direct surroundings, a full implicit
on the façade. energy balance was calculated, taking into
account all the energy exchanges due to
direct and indirect solar radiation, long-wave
Thermal Comfort at Centre Point Tower radiation from the sky, heating or cooling by
convection, long-wave radiation reflected by
For the area around the Centre Point Tower the surrounding geometry, and finally the
in London, a speculative test case was built conduction through the surfaces. This resulted
to assess the thermal comfort of the new in a surface temperature for every data point
public spaces in front of the tower. The on the façades for every hour of the year. The
tower, an iconic London landmark, was surface temperatures from the current
P Activity
(UTHR > 5 m/sin % Grade
hours per year) Traversing Strolling Sitting
<2.5 A Good Good Good
2.5–5.0 B Good Good Moderate
5.0–10 C Good Moderate Poor
10–20 D Moderate Poor Poor
>20 E Poor Poor Poor
Figure 5. The Dutch wind nuisance criteria according to NEN 8100:2006 connects the probability of wind speeds
occurring with the intended use of a space.
Diffuse short-wave
radiation
Long-wave radiation
from the sky
Convection Direct short-wave
radiation
Long-wave
emission
Conduction Panel to panel
long-wave Short-wave
shading
Figure 6. Overview of the full energy balance that needs to be calculated, for every hour of the year, for every data
point within the urban domain.
MEP | 23
 time-step were then used as an initial visualized on horizontal planes, showing not
condition for the next hourly time-step for only the behavior of the wind around the
the next energy-balance calculation (see buildings at a specific height, but also as
Figure 8). streamlines showing a detailed path of wind
velocity and direction around the corners of
In order to then visualize the thermal the buildings (see Figure 10). Typically, when
comfort of a space, a horizontal analysis assessing pedestrian comfort, these
plane at 1.5 meters above grade was simulations would be run with a logarithmic
generated, cutting through the urban atmospheric boundary layer input of wind
domain. For every sample point on that equivalent to a constant velocity of 10 m/s at
plane, the UTCI Equivalent Temperature was 10 meters’ altitude, corrected for the local
computed, dependent on the distance and terrain roughness and elevation (Norris &
influence of the latent heat in the geometry Richards 2010).
and the climatic inputs of the environment.
This index was then plotted via a color This informs the design team about the
Figure 7. Shadow map for the area around Centre Point
Tower on April 29,1:00 p.m.
gradient, visualizing how successfully the specific behavior of the wind around the
space performs (see Figure 9). The UTCI urban development for every direction,
Equivalent Temperature shows a relative which can then be statistically related back
temperature, normalized for a typical body, to the wind rose, and the probability of wind
a reference activity, and a reference climate. blowing from a certain direction, with a
With these results in hand, different urban certain speed, at this specific location. These
interventions and configurations can be statistical probability factors can be read
meaningfully compared, and the shape of from measured datasets from a nearby
the building can be optimized. airport over a period of 30 to 50 years and
accurately transposed to the terrain
roughness and elevation of the site under
Pedestrian Wind Comfort Assessment investigation. These probabilities can then be
For the Millbank Tower related to the intended use of a space and
put into a range of categories according to
Besides the full thermal radiation modeling the appropriate year-round comfort criteria,
as shown above, the toolkit can also such as the Lawson Comfort Criteria or the
investigate levels of pedestrian wind Dutch Wind Nuisance Criteria (see Figure 11).
Figure 8. Simulated surface temperatures as a result comfort in isolation around new and
of the full thermal energy balance simulation on the existing developments. For the The results can be used to inform the
Centre Point Tower façades and surroundings on April redevelopment of the massing of the development, allowing
29,1:00 p.m.
UTCI Equivalent
Temperature (ºC)
Millbank Tower, the team comfort levels to be assessed, compared,
compared the pedestrian and improved. In the case of the Millbank
extreme
50 heat stress
wind comfort for the Tower, closing the roof on the courtyard area
very strong
40 heat stress existing situation of the improved the comfort levels at the street
strong
heat stress tower and its adjacent level in front of the development
30 moderate
heat stress
buildings against that of dramatically. Multiple further iterations can
20
no thermal stress the proposed be easily assessed due to the digital
10
architectural design. In character of the simulations.
slight
cold stress
order to assess the
0
moderate
year-round comfort levels,
-10
cold stress
the wind flow can be Applying the Toolkit to Optimize
strong
assessed by means of a The Structure of South Bank Tower
-20 cold stress
CFD simulation for all 12
-30
very strong directions at 30º intervals, A third case study shows the potential of the
cold stress
-40
covering the full range of toolkit for its application in structural
extreme wind directions. Results of optimization of high-rise buildings, and how
-50 cold stress
the individual directional this has been applied during the design for
Figure 9. Simulated UTCI Equivalent Temperature on a horizontal plane at 1.5 m simulations can be the redevelopment of the South Bank Tower.
above grade for the area around Centre Point Tower on April 29, 1:00 p.m.

24 | MEP CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

The existing South Bank Tower, built in the
early 1970s, consisted of 31 floors. The initial
architectural design for the redevelopment
allowed for six new floors to be added to the
existing tower. Building regulations for the
effects of wind loading on structures often
look at generic cubic or cylindrical building
forms. Therefore, these codes often prove to
be too conservative. The expressive shape of
the architectural proposal for the South Bank
Tower led the design team to determine the
structural wind loading early on in the
design phase with the aid of a CFD
simulation with the Bioclimatic Design
Toolkit workflow (see Figure 12).

From the results of the simulations, pressure

values on the façades were extracted,
examined and filtered, and directly linked
into the structural analysis models, via a Figure 10. Results of the CFD simulation visualizing wind velocities on a horizontal plane at 1.5 m above grade for the
30° heading (NNE) for the Millbank Tower in London.
seamless workflow of in-house-developed
interoperable digital tools. While reviewing
the results of the structural analysis, the
required allowance for wind loading was
going down to almost half of the
requirements imposed by the codified
method. This then, in turn, unlocked a further
five new floors to be added, bringing the
total number of new floors on top of the
existing building to 11. Planning permission
was granted and construction finished at the
end of 2016.

Validation

In order to use the toolkit with confidence, it

was essential during the development
process to validate all the aspects of the
Figure 11. Year-round pedestrian wind comfort visualization on a horizontal plane at 1.5 m above grade, according to
toolkit. The toolkit is a collection of small Dutch Wind Nuisance Criteria, for the Millbank Tower.
pieces of validated third-party research and
tools, such as the UTCI Equivalent

“ Typically, when assessing pedestrian

Temperature or the OpenFOAM CFD
framework, which is then combined with a
custom in-house-built workflow that
prepares all the inputs, runs the simulations
comfort, these simulations would be run with a
in the background, and visualizes the results
within the 3D CAD environment. Extensive
logarithmic atmospheric boundary layer input
research and corroboration with measured of wind, equivalent to a constant velocity of 10
data was performed while developing the
custom algorithms that would act on the m/s at 10 meters’ altitude, corrected for the
local terrain roughness and elevation.
”
hour-by-hour thermal energy exchange
model (Lindberg, Holmer & Thorsson 2008).

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II MEP | 25


Figure 12. Results of the CFD simulation visualizing façade pressure values on the South Bank Tower.
The inputs for the CFD simulations are set up
to conform to the best-practice guidelines
set out by Franke, the Architectural Institute
of Japan, and others (Blocken, Janssen & van
Hoof 2012; Blocken 2015; Franke et al. 2010;
Tominaga et al. 2008). Additionally, the team
had access to several reports of physical
wind tunnel tests performed during the
design of high-rise buildings in London. A
number of these models were simulated
within the workflow of the toolkit and
showed an excellent agreement with the
physical results.
Next Steps
The toolkit is part of ongoing research and is
constantly being expanded and improved in
usability. Looking at the near future, specular
reflections will be the first new factor
included, allowing the modeled material
properties to include highly reflective
surfaces, as well as enabling glare studies.
Another field of research would be to
expand the toolkit in conduction through 3D
geometry, including lateral relations. This
would enable detailed models of thermal
bridges in window frames and façades.
26 | MEP
A further big potential lies in the continuous
development towards structural applications
for the aero-elastic behavior of high-rise
buildings. What happens when the dynamic
behavior between structure and wind start to
influence each other and therefore determine
the structural properties of a supertall
building? It is reasonable to conclude that the
toolkit will have many applications beyond its
initial design purpose. 
Unless otherwise noted, all image credits in this
paper are to the author.
References
American Society of Heating Ventilating and
Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). 2013. ASHRAE
Standard 55 – Thermal Environmental Conditions for
Human Occupancy. Atlanta: ASHRAE.
BLOCKEN, B. 2015. “Computational Fluid Dynamics for
Urban Physics: Importance, Scales, Possibilities, Limitations
and 10 Tips and Tricks Towards Accurate and Reliable
Simulations.” Building and Environment 91: 219–45.
BLOCKEN, B.; JANSSEN, W. D. & VAN HOOFF, T. 2012. “CFD
Simulation for Pedestrian Wind Comfort and Wind Safety in
Urban Areas: General Decision Framework and Case Study
for the Eindhoven University Campus.” Environmental
Modelling & Software 30: 15–34.
Bröde, p.; Fiala, d.; Blazejczyk, k.; epstein, y.;
Holmér, i.; Jendritzky, g.; Kampmann, b. et al. 2009.
“Calculating UTCI Equivalent Temperature.” Paper
presented at the 13th International Conference on
Environmental Ergonomics, Boston, MA, August 2–7, 2009.
FANGER, P. 1970. Thermal Comfort: Analysis and
Applications in Environmental Engineering. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Fiala, D.; Havenith, G.; Bröde, P.; Kampmann, B. &
JendritzkY, G. 2011. “UTCI-Fiala Multi-Node Model of
Human Heat Transfer and Temperature Regulation.”
International Journal of Biometeorology Special Issue:
1–13.
FRANKE, J.; HELLSTEN, a.; SCHLÜNZEN, h. & CARISSIMO, b.
2010. “The Best Practice Guideline for the CFD Simulation
of Flows in the Urban Environment: An Outcome of COST
732.” Paper presented at the Fifth International
Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE
2010), Chapel Hill, NC, May 23–27, 2010.
LAWSON, T. 2001. Building Aerodynamics. London:
Imperial College Press.
Lindberg, f. Holmer, B. & Thorsson, s. 2008. “SOLWEIG
1.0 – Modelling Spatial Variations of 3D Radiant Fluxes and
Mean Radiant Temperature in Complex Urban Settings.”
International Journal of Biometeorology 52(7): 697–713.
NEN. 2006. NEN 8100: 2006 – Wind Comfort and Wind
Danger in the Built Environment. Delft: NEN.
Nikolopoulou, M.; Lykoudis, S. & Kikira, M. 2004.
“Thermal Comfort Models for Open Urban Spaces.” In
RUROS – Rediscovering the Urban Realm and Open
Spaces, edited by Marialena Nikolopoulou: 2–6. Athens:
Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES).
NORRIS, S. E. & RICHARDS, P. J. 2010. “Appropriate
Boundary Conditions for Computational Wind
Engineering Models Revisited.” Paper presented at the
Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind
Engineering (CWE 2010), Chapel Hill, NC, May 23–27,
2010.
Tominagaa, Y.; Mochida, A.; Yoshie, r.; Kataoka, H.;
Nozu, t.; Yoshikawa, M. & Shirasawa, T. 2008. “AIJ
Guidelines for Practical Applications of CFD to Pedestrian
Wind Environment around Buildings.” Journal for Wind
Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 96(10–11):
1749–61.
TROEN, I. & PETERSEN, E. L. 1989. European Wind Atlas.
Roskilde: Risø National Laboratory.
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
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Vertical Transportation
Elevator Maintenance Considerations
For Supertall Buildings
Rony Eappen
Author
Rony Eappen, Vertical Transportation Engineer
D2E International VT Consultants Ltd.
7 Denbigh Mews
London SW1V 2HQ
United Kingdom
t: +44 207 233 9355
e: rony.eappen@d2e.com
www.d2e.com
Rony Eappen
Rony joined D2E in 2010. For the first five years at
D2E, Rony was involved in account management
for several prestigious tall buildings in London,
namely Heron Tower, 20 Fenchurch Street (the
Walkie Talkie building), and 122 Leadenhall Street
(the Cheesegrater). During this time, he has gained
valuable experience on building operations and
their interaction with elevators and escalators. He
has carried this into his role within the design team,
where he can identify potential operational issues
during the feasibility of new building developments.
At D2E, Rony’s experience lies within high-rise
building maintenance and post-construction
mobilization of major projects.
Figure 1. CTBUH’s classification of supertall and megatall buildings. Source: CTBUH
28 | Vertical Transportation
Abstract
The type and quality of elevator maintenance should be considered at the design
stage to ensure the longevity and reliability of the elevators proposed. The
implications of getting this wrong will have a disproportionately adverse effect on
the functioning of supertall buildings (compared to those of a lesser height). This
paper addresses how that risk can be minimized. The long-term reliability of
vertical transportation has an impact on design and building users, and early
awareness of this in the design process can greatly assist the operation of a tall
building throughout its lifecycle.
Keywords: Vertical Transportation, Building Management, Virtual Reality
Introduction Traditionally, the travel range of elevators,
and the necessity to include several shafts to
At present, there are 1,184 buildings over 200 house elevators serving several functions
meters tall around the world. Of these, 114 (local, express, hotel, residence, office, etc.),
are 300 meters or higher, classified as have been among the primary limiters of
“supertalls.” Additionally, there are 327 height. In reaction to this demand, elevator
supertall buildings either under construction manufacturers have developed products
or proposed for construction in the next six that travel faster, use fewer or lighter
years (CTBUH Skyscraper Center 2017 – see materials, manage journeys more efficiently,
Figure 1). The race to build tall is continuing, and are proportionally more power-efficient
and, as the technology for building tall than in the past. Despite the obvious
improves, design teams will likely try to go improvements, the introduction of these
even higher. technologies nevertheless poses several
questions regarding the approach to the
after-care of the installed product.
Namely, how does one undertake the
maintenance of these super high-tech
elevators? Does the local maintenance
provider have the relevant technical skills to
efficiently maintain the elevator in a supertall
building? Does the local supply chain have
sufficient spare parts if there are only a limited
number of supertall buildings in the region
that utilize or share similar elevator
technology? What is the replacement or
modernization strategy at the end of the
elevator’s serviceable life? It is an interesting
fact that, apart from the World Trade Center in
2001, no building over 200 meters has ever
been demolished (CTBUH Skyscraper Center
2017). The cost of getting an elevator design
wrong could be catastrophic.
Let us consider a scenario: If a train line has a
breakdown, inevitably there will be people
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
queuing and overcrowding at the local hub or
station platform. This can be an unpleasant
and chaotic passenger experience. Likewise,
in an elevator lobby, when one of the
elevators breaks down, or if elevators are
mis-timed due to poor design, queuing and
overcrowding happen quickly (see Figure 2).
Practitioners already accept that if careful
design consideration is not given to the
elevator core design, this would be disastrous
for a supertall building, as it is virtually
impossible to retroactively fix any potential
shortcomings. But there should also be equal
emphasis on maintenance in the early design
stage of a supertall building, with input from
all relevant specialist stakeholders. An
optimized maintenance strategy needs to be
incorporated into the elevator design strategy,
as the impact of getting the strategy wrong
will cause an adverse effect in the operation of
the supertall building at a later stage. It should
be noted that component quality is also a key
factor in poor elevator design and future
maintainability; however, for the sake of
brevity, this article does not elaborate on the
subject, as it is worthy of its own separate
analysis.
Background
The key stakeholders who have direct influence
over the elevator design at an early stage are the
developer, the architects, the elevator
consultant, and the elevator manufacturers (see
Figure 3). From observing discussions between
Figure 2. Elevator lobby overcrowding. © Ian Smith
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
architects, developers, and various design
consultants, it is apparent that discussion of
elevator maintenance is often limited to
passing comments in early meetings. The
author’s research with developers indicates this
group of people believes it is the responsibility
of the elevator consultant and the elevator
specialist to ensure that a robust elevator
maintenance strategy is considered at the
design stage. A developer is interested in the
capital sum and the return on investment, with
minimum impact to the core. An architect is
like a director of a film, who does not need to
know every detail of special equipment, but
does need to be aware of how to bring these
different elements together and coordinate
them, to ensure that an efficient core is the
result. Thus, the elevator consultant and
elevator specialist are typically the parties who
consider the elevator maintenance strategy.
However, in the author’s research, these
stakeholders have admitted there is little
discussion and sharing of information at the
design stage of the process. For more than a
decade, elevator manufacturers have invested
their research and development budgets
mainly in the development of faster elevators,
the use of lighter materials to travel higher, and
on specialized dispatching algorithms that
speed lobby-to-destination travel times.
However, these technology advancements are
based on an ideal scenario with 100% elevator
availability. If elevator availability drops, these
technologies become ineffective, thus
emphasizing the need to maintain the elevator
system with a robust maintenance strategy.
To further understand the necessity of a
good supertall building elevator
maintenance strategy, it is important to
understand how it differs from maintenance
in a more typical building.
What is Supertall Elevator Maintenance?
Elevator maintenance is the process of
ensuring that the elevator is preserved to last
in line with the Original Equipment
Manufacturer’s (OEM’s) recommendation,
typically 20–25 years, and to ensure that high
standards of safety are maintained for both
the users and the maintenance team.
In a typical multi-story building, the standard
maintenance regime would feature an
assigned technician covering the route and
call-out schedule. However, in a supertall
building, the requirement is complex, as the
technology involved is more advanced.
Double-deck elevators, two independent
elevators operating in a single shaft, complex
dispatching techniques, high-speed motor
Figure 3. Stakeholders of a supertall building.
Vertical Transportation | 29
machinery, complex drive systems, security
barriers, and customer interaction systems like
touch screens are now common features in
supertalls. Consequently, an elevator
technician who is well-versed in mechanical
and electrical skills must also master various
other fields (e.g., networks, IT, and software/
programming skills) to ensure the elevator
system is maintained to a high standard.
Typically, in a supertall building, resident
engineers are employed as the building
manager feels comfortable knowing that an
elevator technician is on-site. However, it is
worth asking, does the elevator engineer have
the right skills or qualifications to maintain the
equipment? Is one engineer sufficient or are
two or three required to maintain the
equipment to a standard expected in a
high-profile tall or supertall building?
Maintenance Issues of Supertalls
Beneficial use and fit-out
Once an elevator package is procured, the
elevator technology is used during the
construction phase to aid the construction
program under beneficial use. However,
under typical tight construction timescales,
it is not a given that sufficient allowance has
been made for elevator maintenance. If
maintenance is prevented from occurring, it
affects the equipment’s longevity, and
unplanned elevator stoppages will affect
both the construction and fit-out program.
Thus, one of the by-products of insufficient
“ With the introduction of cloud
technology and external data storage, some
office occupiers no longer require extensive
cabinet storage space or even bulky server
rooms, creating ever more space for
occupiers themselves. This puts pressure
on an elevator system that may have been
designed for lower capacities.
30 | Vertical Transportation
maintenance is reduced equipment
life-span (see Figure 4).
In shorter multi-story buildings, alternative
lifting arrangements can be considered, such
as an external hoist or a large crane; however,
it is impractical to consider these lifting
arrangements in a supertall building,
especially if it involves re-routing traffic or
closing a major street for a long period of
time. Therefore, it is crucial to keep the
elevator running reliably and efficiently to
meet the desired building performance.
Post-installation maintenance regime
In a traditional design-and-build contract,
the design team completes the design and
the main contractor procures the materials
and completes the build. Thereafter, the
client may appoint a facilities management
team to manage the building and procure
the hard services, e.g., elevator maintenance.
In a supertall building, if this procurement
strategy is followed, the building manager
appoints the maintenance provider directly.
However, for the OEM to achieve the
maintenance standard and meet the
performance criteria, an elevator may be
required to be taken out of service for a full
day, which in turn means that during the
normal operation of the building throughout
the year, one elevator may be out of service
on any given day. This has multiplying effects
with height. In a double-deck scenario, the
result is two cabins out of service; in a shared
elevator shaft, it is typically four double-deck
” Figure 4. Disjoint between design team and elevator maintenance
operation leading to earlier-than-anticipated repairs and outages.
elevators. If, in a group of three, the middle
elevator in a shaft requires maintenance,
then it is six elevators out of service in a
group. Can a supertall building cope with six
cabins out of service? In some major
buildings, out-of-hours maintenance can be
considered, but in certain regions this can be
cost-prohibitive. This highlights a gap
between the design team’s conception of
the project and the building’s actual
operation (see Figure 4).
Plant replacement
Part of the maintenance strategy is to look at
elevator plant replacement/modernization
or, to include a broader spectrum, other
building machinery replacement. Once a
supertall building is built, it is impractical to
consider replacing heavy machinery with a
crane or external hoist; therefore, the internal
service elevator plays a critical role. However,
if elevator cabins of sufficient size or load are
not specified to match the heaviest
equipment in the building, how can plant
equipment be replaced at the end of its
design life? This challenge is further
exacerbated when sufficient routes for
transportation are not mapped in the
building design for both ingress and egress
of bespoke heavy-duty machinery.
Change of use (e.g., tenant change, hotel
operator change)
A tall building is required to be flexible in
terms of its mix of uses. This means that the
elevator system may undergo some change
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
 place around the maintenance routines
and the timescales required to complete
each maintenance module. Have these
modules and their impacts been reflected
in the proposed operational plan of the
building? These upfront studies will help
the building facilities team mitigate the
risk and prepare for any elevator
downtime (see Figure 6).

ƒƒ In a supertall building, does the

operations manual reflect the actual
project design criteria? In addition, does
it consider the technical qualifications
required to maintain the equipment? Has
sufficient thought been given to the
strategic sourcing of spare parts to
support the elevators’ operation for
20–25 years?

ƒƒ In most supertall buildings, a resident

Figure 5. Population demand changes from 2005 to 2014
according to the British Council on Offices.
of use during its lifecycle. In a supertall
building, flexibility is demanded in a
fast-changing commercial, residential, and
retail setting, in which space is at a
premium. For instance, with the
introduction of cloud technology and
external data storage, some office occupiers
no longer require extensive cabinet storage
space or even bulky server rooms, creating
ever more space for occupiers themselves.
This puts pressure on an elevator system
that may have been designed for lower
capacities. The population density
requirement in the British Council for
Offices’ Guide to Specifications provides a
good indication of the effect that a change
in office population density would have on
elevator systems. These changes are based
on the research undertaken by the BCO
over the years (BCO 2014) and requirements
sourced by the author from a representative
range of letting agencies and office tenants
(see Figure 5).
Figure 6. Typical tall and supertall building
maintenance routine plans.
How can post-construction elevator
maintenance issues be proactively
managed?
In most cases, post-construction elevator
maintenance issues can be minimized by
the design team asking the right questions
during the procurement of the elevator
system. The following areas need to be
considered:
ƒƒ During the elevator performance design,
what level of redundancy has been
considered in the elevator traffic studies?
Has the overall traffic impact of an elevator
being taken out of service from the group
been assessed? Without prior planning at
the design stage, the redundancy factor
when elevators are being maintained will
adversely affect the traffic handling of
building’s population.
ƒƒ Before an elevator is procured from a
manufacturer, key discussions should take
technician is considered on a full-time
basis. Has the elevator specialist allowed
sufficient work time to ensure their
specialist equipment is maintained, or will
they react to breakdowns based on a
call-out from the building management
team? Has sufficient thought been given
to the capabilities of the local elevator
maintenance provider to maintain their
equipment, which is designed specifically
for supertall buildings? Research indicates
that 8 out of 10 of the technologies
involved in future megatall buildings (600
meters or higher) will be based on
technology advancements above and
beyond those deployed in supertalls. In
other words, megatall buildings will
contain unique advancements which have
expressly enabled the construction of the
megatall building (Berg 2012). Apart from
China, USA, South Korea, and UAE, the
average number of buildings over 200
meters is less than 20 across each
megacity (Safarik et al. 2016). The question
becomes, has sufficient research, and
development, and training of future
technicians been considered, and have
skilled practitioners been distributed
across the globe? Or is it likely that only a
handful of technicians have the skills to
look after these elevator installations?
What impact does this have on the

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Vertical Transportation | 31


Figure 7. Elevator shaft division screen. Source: Remdale UK
operation of a supertall building in a
smaller or more-remote city, and how,
then, will the elevator maintenance be
undertaken?
ƒƒ Another area of consideration is the
impact of shared elevator shafts and how
maintenance is performed on them. In
most supertall buildings, it is not
cost-effective to provide a shaft division
screen or to build an independent shaft
for each elevator due to the time,
material, and cost involved. If they are
included in the design, these are often
value-engineered out during a later part
of the procurement stage. The question
in this scenario is, has the elevator
manufacturer allowed for this in its
maintenance routine and mitigated the
impact? It is most certainly unsafe for a
technician to be in an elevator shaft
without division screens, due to the
movement of high-speed elevators in the
adjacent shafts (see Figure 7). In most
cases, the elevator technician may need
to switch off adjacent elevators and,
therefore, potentially impact the building
operation. This would apply not only
during planned maintenance windows,
but also when undertaking investigative
work, call-outs, or minor repairs.
32 | Vertical Transportation
How can future technologies and strategies
assist effective elevator maintenance?
In recent years, the elevator industry has
taken a quantum leap in the use of
technology from other industries. These
technologies are now the backbone of future
maintenance strategies. Some of these
technologies include:
ƒƒ Cloud computing and the Internet of Things
(IOT)
Almost all elevator systems can send
massive amounts of data from their control
systems to a server for data analysis. This
information is now heavily relied upon to
review routine maintenance schedules and
to adjust plans accordingly. For example,
deterioration signals from the elevator rope
can now be shared in a technical hub in the
building and, from this, a rope-replacement
program can be proactively planned before
any negative impact is seen in the
performance of the elevator system.
Similarly, with IOT, each component in an
elevator system can continuously send data
and thus allow the maintenance technician
to support the building operation
proactively and efficiently.
ƒƒ Remote monitoring, virtual reality (VR), and
remote intervention
Although remote monitoring has been a
part of the elevator industry for the last 20
years, only recently has this technology
advanced significantly. With the help of VR
and remote technology, a maintenance
technician is no longer required to visually
inspect an elevator shaft at each floor.
Instead, the technician can now monitor
critical parameters based on data points or
sensors located in each elevator
component to ensure it is operating as
designed. The ability to keep an elevator in
service can save thousands of technician-
hours and reduce impacts on the
operational performance. In addition,
through the combination of remote
monitoring and VR, the technician can
now anticipate which component has
worn out or is approaching the end of its
design life, and can proactively replace it
before any unplanned stoppages occur,
maximizing uptime and maintaining
building performance.
ƒƒ When considering a maintenance supplier,
creating definite measurable key
performance indicators (KPIs) and
reporting tools tailored to the building
operation is important. Some KPIs in the
elevator industry include:
a. Availability
b. Response time
c. Mean time between failures
d. Number of breakdowns
e. First-time fix rate
Table 1 illustrates example performance
KPIs for tall buildings specified by the
elevator maintenance supplier.
ƒƒ When procuring a specialist elevator
manufacturer for the project, an
assessment of the advisability of a
long-term maintenance contract
between the OEM and the client should
take place. This assessment can help the
elevator supplier plan its maintenance
regime well in advance, offer its resource
allocation, provide technological
innovation, and supply critical spare parts
to support the client’s long-term strategy
for the building. The disadvantage of a
long-term maintenance contract is the
risk of being subjected to poor customer
service and the inability of the elevator
maintenance provider to deliver the
performance required. However, this can
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
 be mitigated by including a non-
performance clause, with its own set of
KPIs, to speed remediation.
What is the impact of getting the
maintenance strategy wrong?
There are both direct and indirect impacts
of incorrect elevator maintenance
strategy:
ƒƒ Increased running costs
•• In most scenarios, if alternative solutions
need to be considered (such as
out-of-hours maintenance) the service
charges will increase, and in some cases
can be triple the normal charge for
standard working hours.
•• The operational success of the building
is impacted, which can lead to reduced
rental income, inflexibility to
accommodate changes of program,
and poor return on initial investment.
ƒƒ Excessive capital costs
•• Premature plant replacement takes
place before the end of the elevator’s
useful design life.
•• Ultimately, the building risks slipping
from Class A to Class B status, attracting
less desirable tenants at progressively
lower rental rates.
Conclusion and Future Research
Elevator maintenance is a critical “hard
service” in a tall building, as an elevator
creates the first impression of the quality of
the building. In an age of mixed-use supertall
buildings, the demand on these elevator
systems is far greater than in previous eras, as
there is no longer a distinguishable “peak”
and “off-peak period” in which to perform
fixes. Rather, it is expected that the elevators
will be in full-time operation, seven days a
week. This new age of operating dynamics
has an adverse effect on the longevity of
elevator components, which require closer
attention to ensure that the client’s initial
investment in the elevator system lasts for
the expected OEM-guaranteed design life.
With technology advancements in IOT, VR,
and remote monitoring, future maintenance
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
BELOW 5 5–10
PERFORMANCE KPIs FOR TALL BUILDING ELEVATORS 10+ YEARS
YEARS YEARS
Availability of elevator during normal service 99.5% 99% 98%
Number of breakdowns – except misuse (per year) 4 5 6
Response time 1 hour 1 hour 1 hour
Mean time between failures (days) 90 72 60
First time fix rate 80% 75% 70%
Table 1. Performance KPIs for elevators in tall buildings.
can now be analyzed by specialists wherever Acknowledgements
they are located in the world and is not
necessarily dependent on trained local D2E has received valuable information
personnel. As information is continuously through interviews and surveys. We would
collated, further technology improvements therefore like to take this opportunity to thank
and advancements will be seen in the next the following companies for their advice,
two to five years in the field of elevator opinion, and for sharing their knowledge:
maintenance. Using this information, it is
critical that contract terms, key performance Canary Wharf Group
measurements and maintenance regimes are Fletcher Priest Architects
well understood, developed, and introduced Hines Interests Limited Partnership
into the design stage of a supertall building in Hitachi Ltd
order to ensure the formulation of a robust Land Securities
plan that considers any future impact on the Make Architects
building’s operation. Mitsubishi Electric
OTIS
Further research and case studies are Rafael Viñoly Architects
recommended to be undertaken in the field Schindler
of elevator maintenance, using real-world thyssenkrupp
examples of how some of the world’s supertall
buildings have adjusted maintenance
strategies to adapt to non-designed, present References
conditions. This will require more transparency BERG, Nate. 2012. “Is There a Limit to How Tall Buildings Can
into building operations and more Get?” Accessed February 2017. http://www.citylab.com/
design/2012/08/there-limit-how-tall-buildings-can-
information sharing than is typically seen get/2963/.
today. Yet doing so would provide a valuable
service, resolving the disconnect between the BRITISH COUNCIL FOR OFFICES (BCO). 2014. BCO Guide to
Specification. London: BCO.
design and operational/maintenance phases
of supertall buildings. If elevator maintenance CTBUH. 2017. CTBUH Skyscraper Center. Accessed February
is unaddressed, it will continue to be a 2017. http://skyscrapercenter.com.
problem, and the gap will remain.  Safarik, D.; Ursini, S. & Wood, A. “Megacities: Setting the
Scene.” CTBUH Journal 2016 Issue IV: 30–39.
Unless otherwise noted, all image credits in this
paper are to D2E International VT Consultants.
Vertical Transportation | 33
IT/Computer Science/Software

Closing Gaps in Commercial Software

To Solve Structural Engineering Issues
Abstract
The ability of architectural graphical software to generate infinitely complex
geometrical solutions for building design calls for an equally concerted effort to
provide rational structural solutions. This paper presents the example of the design
of a tower located in a dense urban environment to show how the evolution of
modeling technologies is changing best practices in high-rise design. By engaging
Alfonso Oliva Richard B. Garlock in the demonstrated workflow, designers and engineers can better respond to the
needs of their clients and project sites, using research and development geared
towards bridging the gap between incompatible software platforms and
shortening the time between architectural vision and structural reality.
Keywords: BIM, Design Process, Integrated Design, Parametric Design, Structural Engineering,
Virtual Reality

Nidhi Sekhar Mia Tsiamis Introduction Although the details of the design are not
the focus of this paper, three design
Authors As technology advances in both design components are listed below to
Alfonso Oliva, Director and construction, so has our ability to introduce the reader to the concepts of
Richard B. Garlock, Partner
Nidhi Sekhar, Computational Designer
build more monumental and algorithmic-driven design and the
Mia Tsiamis, BIM Specialist unconventional structures. The necessity for and utility of an
Leslie E. Robertson Associates
40 Wall Street, 23rd Floor
realization of such structures interoperability platform.
New York, NY 10005, United States necessitates a more modern,
t: +1 212 750 9000
e: alfonso@alfonso-oliva.com;
technological approach to the design A parametric design is a design
richard.garlock@lera.com; nidhi.sekhar@lera.com; and coordination process. directed by an algorithm. The main
mia.tsiamis@lera.com
www.lera.com
advantage of this approach is that the
In the following pages, we will present a user can build a dynamic 3D model, as
Alfonso Oliva is the Director of LERA+, LERA’s in-house case study of the design of a 130-story opposed to the typical ,static 3D
computational research arm. Through LERA+, he
tower in Southeast Asia, heretofore model. A dynamic model is capable of
collaborates with design teams on a variety of complex
projects and provides instructional seminars to other referred to as “the Tower,” whose main reacting to certain inputs in real time.
firms. As a structural engineer, he has led the structural
structure is composed of steel-framed A 3D model created through the
design of sculptural art installations, sports arenas, and
supertall towers. floors supported by a central concrete algorithmic approach is controlled by
core and composite perimeter columns input parameters that allow for
Richard B. Garlock has over 20 years of experience
designing efficient structural solutions to facilitate (eight megacolumns and eight real-time changes to its geometry.
architectural visions. His expertise ranges from
secondary columns). The building’s
university lab buildings to high-rise towers. Garlock
was the Project Director for 4 World Trade Center, façade tapers at various degrees In the specific case of the Tower, a
he was also a member of the WTC Recovery team
depending on the plan location and study conducted on the column/
following 9/11. In addition, Garlock has worked on a
number of supertall mixed-use projects internationally, elevation, and the columns, in turn, façade interaction of the structure
including the BDNI Center in Indonesia.
slope in parallel (see Figure 1) required the development of an
Nidhi Sekhar focuses her efforts on developing and ad-hoc algorithm to optimize column
optimizing software that solves problems arising from
An algorithm-driven design approach, locations based on the building
the structural design workflow, for which she creates
complex parametric models and simulations and paired with a custom-developed façade’s slope rate. This algorithmic
devises solutions for automating various parts of the
interoperability platform, allowed for approach, implemented throughout
design process. She is the cocreator of Cuttlefish, an
interoperability platform developed by LERA+. the rapid adjustment of complex the course of the project, proved
geometries in the structural models useful for design and coordination
Mia Tsiamis is a BIM Specialist at LERA. Having first
joined LERA on a temporary basis to lead a research and gave the architectural team the purposes amongst the multiple
collaboration on architectural origami with Sapienza
latitude to macro- and micro-adjust the disciplines of the design team.
University, Mia Tsiamis rejoined LERA in 2016 and
focuses on interoperability and various research geometry as needed.
endeavors.
Figure 1. “The Tower,” a confidential project in Southeast Asia, is the
example subject.

34 | IT/Computer Science/Software CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

 Truss 4
Truss 3
Truss 2
Truss 1
Figure 2. Outriggers optimization study.
Three different algorithms were developed
to optimize the number and location of
outriggers, their height, and their relative
position in the building. This was achieved by
linking the parametric definition to a Finite
Element Analysis (FEA) software to measure
the contribution of the above-mentioned
elements in reducing lateral displacements
of the Tower. This was studied at different
stages of the project. For the algorithm to
study approximately 10,000 unique
configurations, the run time was about three
minutes in each case.
Figure 2 shows screen captures of a typical
iteration of the optimization algorithm at an
early stage of design.
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
“ By reading the data stored in
the cloud, the interoperability
platform creates a corresponding
set of points in the software and
generates frames, rigid links,
surfaces, and/or volumes based on
those points and their associated
information.
The complexity of
”
ƒƒ Rhino 3D is a freeform software modeler
the crown structure that allows the user to accurately create
of the Tower designs for a variety of purposes, such as
necessitated engineering, drafting, analysis, and
numerous detailed rendering.
geometrical and ƒƒ Grasshopper, a plugin for Rhino, is widely
analytical studies used by architects, engineers, product
across different designers, and other industry professionals
software platforms. to define parametric control over models.
The interoperability The plugin also enables design
platform used in the exploration by giving the user a graphical
design workflow, interface with which to develop
described in more generative design.
depth in subsequent ƒƒ Autodesk Revit is a BIM modeling tool
sections of this widely used in the architectural,
paper, allowed for engineering, and construction industry for
the transfer of documentation and coordination
geometrical and analytical information purposes.
between these platforms. As was the case for ƒƒ Dynamo, a plugin for Revit, enables
the sloping columns, the crown model was parametric control through its graphical
driven by an algorithmic definition in order to interface.
quickly readapt to architectural changes. ƒƒ SAP2000 and ETABS are FEA software
Leveraging the power of algorithms and used by engineers to study the effect of
computation helped to streamline the overall loads on structures.
process, as well as to aid exploration of ƒƒ Cuttlefish is a custom-developed
different design options, all within a short interoperability platform – composed of
period of time (see Figure 3). a Grasshopper and Dynamo component
and a standalone desktop application –
Although the workflow presented herein was that links all of the above-mentioned
customized for this particular project, the software and directs the exchange of
fundamental framework can be extracted and both geometrical and analytical data
applied to any high-rise design. The workflow between them.
incorporated several tools commonly used in
architecture and engineering offices today.
IT/Computer Science/Software | 35
“ Once the model was discretized
[decomposed] in Grasshopper, relevant data
about the Tower’s structure, such as the
location in space of frames, slabs, and walls,
as well as floor heights and section properties,
was extracted using the Cuttlefish-
Grasshopper component, a custom algorithm
written in C#.
Anchoring the Design Workflow
” segments and floors into smaller three- or
Via Interoperability
The key to the success of the workflow
implemented for the design of the Tower
was the use of the interoperability platform,
Cuttlefish, a tool developed with the goal of
enabling designers and engineers to quickly
translate models from one software
environment to another. Using Cuttlefish, the
geometry from Rhino 3D and Grasshopper
could be translated into other software
environments, such as CSI SAP and ETABS,
and to Autodesk Revit through Dynamo,
thus eliminating the task of having to redraw
each model in each distinct environment.
The conversion process can be summarized
in three steps:
Step 1: Discretization of the model
The process began once the Rhino model of
the Tower was sent by the architects. The first
step was to discretize the model – in other
words, to break it down into smaller,
digestible components – using Grasshopper,
a process that involves building parametric
definitions and developing algorithms that
recreate the model accurately in a non-
native environment (see Figure 4).
The purpose of the discretization was to
make the structure easier to analyze
computationally by dividing it into simpler
components. The simplification process was
different for each geometrical element.
Frames were broken down into straight-line
36 | IT/Computer Science/Software
four-sided surfaces. Moreover, for the sake of
the analytical model, floors were split further
based on the intersections of frames and
walls, and non-planar surfaces were simplified
by converting them into meshes.
Step 2: Cuttlefish-Grasshopper component
Once the model was discretized
Figure 3. Geometric model of building crown.
[decomposed] in Grasshopper, relevant data
about the Tower’s structure, such as the
location in space of frames, slabs, and walls, as
well as floor heights and section properties,
was extracted using the Cuttlefish-
Grasshopper component, a custom algorithm
written in C#.
The component collects the above-mentioned
data from the discretized model and stores it in
a Structured Query Language (SQL) database
located on a cloud server (Amazon Web
Services in this specific case) in such a way that
the information is easily retrievable and can
thus be used to rebuild the model in a different
software environment.
SQL is used for the creation and querying of
databases. The SQL database consists of a set
of tables that store information from different
sets of geometry: a table for frames, a table
for areas, and so forth. Each table is further
subdivided into fields that store geometric
information from the model, as well as
unique information about the model
location, version number, author, and date
and time it was created. Figure 4. The Tower model created by Rhino (upper) then
broken down to components using Grasshopper (lower).
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
 CLOUD DATABASE
In the example of the Tower model, the data
collected from Grasshopper was saved as a set
of points, which represented the endpoints for
SAP 2000
frames and rigid links, as well as vertices for
surfaces and volumes of the geometry.

The other advantage of storing such

information on an online SQL database is the
ability for multiple users to access the resulting ETABS
translated models remotely and simultaneously.

Step 3: Standalone desktop application

After the SQL database was created, the
Cuttlefish standalone desktop application was
used to read the data stored in the cloud
database and translate it to other software via
their built-in application program interfaces
(API). In a basic sense, an API is a set of
instructions on how to interface with a certain
software program. Interacting with the
respective APIs of Revit/Dynamo and SAP2000/
ETABS, the standalone application produces
compatible models that can be moved fluidly
between environments. By reading the data
stored in the cloud, the interoperability
platform creates a corresponding set of points
in the software and generates frames, rigid
links, surfaces, and/or volumes based on those
points and their associated information. Figure
5 illustrates how the source model of the Tower
in Rhino was converted into both geometrical
(Revit) and analytical (ETABS) models.
Beyond the conversion of data across
platforms, the interoperability platform also
offered an automated way to track model
versions based on models built using the
Cuttlefish Grasshopper component. The
model version data is stored in a different
table of the same SQL database, along with
information about the users and time of the
build. This also means that all of the models
translated using the platform were backed
up to the cloud and made available at any
time, giving users the ability to switch
between different versions of the project
without having to continuously save local
copies, thus freeing up local drive space. The
platform, therefore, served as both a version
control and backup tool.
This Cuttlefish feature becomes key when
used in coordination with other disciplines. As
RHINO 3D + CUTTLEFISH SPREADSHEET
GRASSHOPPER DATABASE
Figure 5. Diagram showing relationship between design platforms.
CUTTLEFISH
RHINO 3D + GRASSHOPPER
Figure 6. Example of multiple model creation with Cuttlefish.
access can be allowed and restricted at any
time, the project could be shared, in part or
in whole, with people outside of the team or
company, without the need to share any file.
The only requirement is the installation of
the Cuttlefish application.
All of this was executed through a common
user interface (see Figure 6). The overall flow
of exchanges, from initial architectural model
to translated structural/BIM models, is
summarized by the diagram in Figure 7.
Using a Cloud-Based Database
To Generate Analytical Models
Analytical models of the Tower generated
with Cuttlefish for CSI SAP2000 and CSI
REVIT/DYNAMO
REVIT/DYNAMO
ETABS
ETABS were used to perform structural
analysis for the Tower and specific building
components. The entire building structure
was analyzed in CSI ETABS, while local
studies on the crown were conducted in CSI
SAP2000. CSI ETABS was used primarily to
conduct analysis for gravity and lateral loads.
The images in Figure 8 depict iterations of
the Tower and crown models, respectively.
Apart from the difficulties inherent in
building such complex models into FEA
software with a high level of accuracy, the
even greater challenge was to be able to
react quickly to changes made by the
architect. This is where the parametric
modeling environment, combined with the
ad-hoc platform used to transfer
geometrical information across software,

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II IT/Computer Science/Software | 37

Figure 7. Cuttlefish user interface.
enabled the design team to react to project
changes with great agility.
A further advantage of utilizing an
interoperability-based design workflow was
the use of a native set of in-house design
spreadsheets. Results from the structural
analysis of the Tower, stored in the cloud
database, were output upon request via the
Cuttlefish user interface. With multiple users
able to work on the same set of analytical
data simultaneously, the possibility of
introducing errors was decreased, and
productivity was increased. In this instance,
reading data from the cloud was reported by
users to be considerably faster than
extracting results from an FEA model.
“
Goals for development include making the
interoperability platform smarter by enabling
automatic updates of models across different
software environments, so that whenever
changes are made in one environment, the
models in other environments are able to
instantly absorb and react to the changes.
38 | IT/Computer Science/Software
Figure 8. Building and crown analytical models.
Documenting the Tower in Revit
Using an Algorithmic Approach
In order to document the design of the
Tower, a Revit model was prepared and used
to create drawings. The process of
generating the Revit model was integrated
into the workflow by creating a link between
the architectural Rhino model, the structural
analysis model, and Revit. This was done
using Cuttlefish and Dynamo for Revit.
In order to translate the geometry from the
Rhino model into Revit, the architectural
volume was divided horizontally according
to story height and vertically according to a
column grid. At each level, the volume
”
cross-section was intersected with column
centerlines to retrieve a set of points. Each
column was defined as a line connecting a
point on a given level to the associated
point on the next level above. Slabs were
designated as surface elements. The point
coordinate data, as well as the column
connectivity and surface data, was
extracted from the Rhino model and stored
in tables in the cloud.
The custom Dynamo Cuttlefish component
read the point coordinate data and element
connectivity from the cloud and translated it
into Revit. Using the stored geometric data,
the node generated a model of the structural
system in Revit. The partial view in Figure 9
highlights the columns and belt truss
systems. Once the structure had been
analyzed in ETABS and the element section
sizes had been calculated, the next step in
the workflow was to assign section
properties to the line elements and slab
properties to the floor surfaces in Revit.
The resulting analysis and design yielded
three types of columns: megacolumns,
middle columns, and interior columns. The
megacolumns have a non-standard
cross-section, and this section tapers along
the height of the structure. Using
Grasshopper, points were generated at every
floor level, representing the vertices of the
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
megacolumn section perimeter. Working
points were stored in the cloud and then
translated into Revit through Dynamo. The
Dynamo component used these points to
draw a polycurve at each floor level, which
was then lofted between adjacent floor
levels to create a solid element representing
each column. These solid elements were
then imported into the Revit model. For all
other columns and slabs, the Dynamo
definition was used to assign standard
section sizes and slab thicknesses according
to the output from the analysis models,
using standard Revit families (groups of
elements sharing common properties).
Conclusion and Further Development
The speed and efficiency with which the
design of the Tower was developed and
optimized could not have been achieved
without the use of an interoperability-based
design workflow.
At the base, the parametric definition in
Grasshopper created at the beginning of the
process allowed the design team to
dynamically react to architectural changes.
Similarly, the flexibility of the Dynamo
Figure 9. Dynamo definition and Revit model.
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
definition enabled the Revit model to be coordination and analysis. The immersive
easily updated when any changes were experience that VR offers holds powerful
made to the global geometry or structural implications for the future of design,
section assignments. allowing the user to experience a model at
real scale and to document, coordinate, and
The ease with which the geometry and make changes in real time. Used in tandem
structural element designations could be with an interoperability platform, designers
transferred between Rhino, SAP2000, ETABS, could achieve a greater level of efficiency
and Revit made it possible to readily and seamlessness than ever before. 
perform iterations of the structural design
and to evaluate alternatives, all while Unless otherwise noted, all image credits in this
developing documentation models in paper are to Leslie E. Robertson Associates
parallel for communicating the design to all (LERA).
parties in the design team.
Many aspects of the workflow can still be
further developed and improved. Goals for
development include making the
interoperability platform smarter by enabling
automatic updates of models across different
software environments, so that whenever
changes are made in one environment, the
models in other environments are able to
instantly absorb and react to the changes.
The suite of compatible software can also be
expanded in order to make the workflow
even more effective. The addition of
compatibility with virtual reality (VR) tools
can be incorporated to aid in design
IT/Computer Science/Software | 39
Architecture/Design

River Beech Tower: A Tall Timber Experiment

Abstract
Authors
The Chicago River Beech Tower is a collaborative research effort with the goal of
Jeff Sanner, Project Architect
Todd Snapp, Design Principal identifying challenges and opportunities associated with designing increasingly
Perkins+Will
410 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1600 tall mass timber structures. This paper represents the team’s findings to date on
Chicago, IL 60611, United States
t: +1 312 755 0770
these topics, their implications for tall building design, and suggests possible
e: todd.snapp@perkinswill.com pathways that may inform and engage the design community. A key objective of
www.perkinswill.com
the project is to explore new design potential with timber buildings, rather than
Alejandro Fernandez, Structural Engineer
David Weihing, Principal/Office Director substituting timber in the familiar forms of conventional construction in steel and
Thornton Tomasetti
330 N. Wabash Avenue, Suite 1500
concrete. Refer also to Tall Buildings in Numbers on page 47.
Chicago, IL 60611, United States
t: +1 312 596 2000 Keywords: Timber, Construction, Low Carbon, Code Compliance, Prefabrication
e: dweihing@thorntontomasetti.com
www.thorntontomasetti.com Introduction construction along the Chicago River
Rob Foster, Research Associate (see Figure 2). The 80-story program of the
Michael Ramage, Director While the reasons for considering mass tower forces the design team to consider
Centre for Natural Material Innovation,
University of Cambridge timber will vary by project, client, and region, many of the issues typical to designing tall
1 Scroope Terrace the building industry is experiencing an buildings, while staying within the
Cambridge CB2 1PX, United Kingdom
t: +44 1223 760 121 increase in the use of mass timber products established 70- to-80-story height range for
e: mhr29@cam.ac.uk for tall buildings. In 2008 there was one mass tall residential towers in Chicago.
www.natmat.group.cam.ac.uk
timber building over eight stories tall; by
Jeff Sanner is an architect and building performance
2014, a survey of tall wood buildings
leader at Perkins+Will. Jeff’s focus is the relationship identified nearly 30 buildings over eight Design Strategies
between building design and resource conservation,
delivering innovative concepts based on shared
stories that were either complete, under
targets, research and analysis. His current work construction, or in late-phase design The overarching goal of this study is to
explores net-positive energy, net-positive water, and
experimental building materials.
(Perkins+Will 2014). identify areas of mass timber research that
could help advance the use of timber in tall
Todd Snapp brings versatile expertise and dynamic
knowledge as a practice leader and design principal
This research began with acknowledging building structures. Approaching this from a
at Perkins+Will. His work spans from mixed-use how wood behaves as a material. Its practitioner’s perspective, the team placed
master planning of high-rise residential and office
developments to cultural and higher education
properties were compared to steel and focus on developing an all-timber
facilities. Todd was recently selected as one of Fifty concrete in terms of structural behavior, fire superstructure and allowed the planning
Under Fifty: Innovators of the 21st Century.
resistance, construction methods, and architecture to adapt in response. Using
Alejandro Fernandez is a structural engineer in environmental impact, and architectural a residential floor plate as a planning
Thornton Tomasetti’s Chicago office. Alejandro brings
a holistic approach to the design of tall buildings with
expression. This fundamental framework, the team set out to examine how
master’s degrees in both architecture and engineering understanding was then applied to the design professionals could use current
from the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Ecole
Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris.
challenge of designing a building with real timber technology to make the design of a
world design constraints. tall timber tower feasible.
Dave Weihing is a principal and office director in
Thornton Tomasetti’s Chicago office. He has over
20 years of experience in the development and Designed by the Chicago offices of The material properties of mass timber drive
management of structural design. In 2010, he was
named one of ENR Midwest’s “Top 20 under 40”
Perkins+Will and Thornton Tomasetti in the design of a tall tower in unique ways.
professionals. Dave has worked on projects in six collaboration with researchers at the Timber’s elastic stiffness and material density
continents including tall and long-span structures.
University of Cambridge’s Centre for Natural vary notably from those of structural steel
Robert Foster is a researcher at the University of Material Innovation, the River Beech Tower and reinforced concrete. Both natural and
Cambridge. His current research explores the potential
of engineered timber as a material for tall building
follows the program of an 80-story, engineered timber have lower strength than
design. He holds an MEng in Civil & Architectural 244-meter-tall timber residential tower steel and concrete, with steel supporting up
Engineering and a PhD in structural engineering.
situated along the South Branch of the to 460 MPa (fy), concrete up to 95 MPa (f’c),
Michael Ramage leads the Centre for Natural Material Chicago River (see Figure 1). Exposed mass and timber around 25 MPa (Axial ADS); new
Innovation at University of Cambridge. He is also
a senior lecturer in the Dept. of Architecture and a
timber would offer a unique experience engineered hybrid materials record higher
founding partner of Light Earth Designs. His current within the residential market by connecting strengths. However, it is the softer elastic
research focuses on creating better housing in the
developing world and improved engineered timber
occupants with natural materials. The stiffness that will most directly influence the
and bamboo through natural material innovation. program includes 300 units, a development design of tall towers, which must resist large
density in keeping with current lateral loads. In this case, steel comes in at

40 | Architecture/Design CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

200 GPa, concrete at 25–44 GPa, and timber
at 7–17 GPa (see Figure 3). Using this data,
the team developed several strategies to
guide the design when using mass timber.

Proportion the tower footprint to make a

timber superstructure feasible.
The design of River Beech Tower
interconnects two separate towers, with
each tower having a narrow profile. This
slenderness is ideal for residential planning,
but too narrow for each tower to be stable
when subjected to lateral loading.
Separating the two towers on each side of a
multi-story atrium creates a wider combined
footprint and increases stability by
performing as a single, larger superstructure.
The two individual towers are structurally
connected across the atrium using glued
laminated timber (GLT) cross-bracing (see
Figures 4 and 5). This connection couples the Figure 1. River Beech Tower, Chicago. © Perkins+Will
structure together to act as one, maximizing
the superstructure’s performance and
minimizing member stresses.

Maximize the participation of all vertical

members of the tower’s lateral system.
River Beech Tower’s lateral system connects
all the vertical structural members together.
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) shear walls, GLT
bracing, and laminated veneer lumber (LVL)
diagrids effectively engage the vertical
elements for resisting the tower’s lateral
loads, making full use of gravity-carrying
members (see Figure 6).

σ
GPa

Figure 2. The proposed tower in context of its site at the southwest edge of the Chicago Loop CBD. © Perkins+Will
= 200
EEL
EST

GPa

“
- 44
25
CR
ET
E
= Establishing timber as ‘non-combustible’ is
Pa
a challenge. A wood sample would need to be
N
E CO
-17G
=7
E LVL
genetically modified, treated, or engineered as
a composite material to pass the ASTM E136

”
ε
Figure 3. Relative elasticity of steel, concrete, and LVL test for combustibility.
timber. © Thornton Tomasetti

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Architecture/Design | 41

 EMBRACING
EMBRACING TIMBER
TIMBER STRENGTH
STRENGTH IN HIGH
IN HIGH RISERISE CONSTR
CONSTRUCT
DIAG
AND A

CROSS BRACING
CROSS ENGAGING
BRACING ENGAGING
WHOLE STRUCTURE
WHOLE STRUCTURE

SOFTSOFT
MATERIAL STIFFNESS
MATERIAL STIFFNESS
BALANCED BY MATERIAL
BALANCED BY MATERIAL
CONCENTRATION AT THE OUTSIDE
CONCENTRATION AT THE OUTSIDE

Figure 4, Atrium cross-bracing is key to both the stability and the architectural Figure 5. Cross bracing is used to engage the entire structure (left). Reduced material stiffness
expression of the design. © Perkins+Will is balanced by material concentration on outer edges (right). © Thornton Tomasetti

Arrange the timber material in plan for The atrium brace beams are constructed of GLT multiple layers of lumber boards rotated 90
maximum effectiveness. to achieve the 18.3-meter-span design. While in degrees and glued together, have been
Timber supports are located along the floor the façade, the aim is to minimize the size of investigated. The core walls take advantage of
plate edges where the material is most the beams to limit the impact on views and the two-way behavior of the CLT, while the
effective. This balances the loading among the light, in the atriums, the objective is to express floor slabs could potentially make use of CLT
supports, improving the consistency of vertical the connection between the buildings. or NLT (see Figure 7). However, the design
member sizes and helping to equalize member goal of avoiding intermediate columns and
stresses. Balancing of these member stresses Use CLT for walls and Nail Laminated Timber the structural strategy of concentrating the
(NLT) for slabs.
helps reduce the risk of differential shortening load in the façades most strongly suggests the
across the vertical load-carrying members of Mass timber panels are used for both the core use of NLT slabs, since they are more efficient
the superstructure. walls and the floor slabs. Both NLT, made of for one-way behavior. With spans nearing the
ING TIMBER STRENGTH IN HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION
pieces of dimensional lumber stacked and limits of current technology, these slabs
Use the material in its most naturally tied together withTOnails, and CLT, consisting of require further research.ACTIVATES TIMBER
NG TIMBER
MBRACING STRENGTH
TIMBER
effective
IN HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION
way. STRENGTH IN HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION
DIAGRID PROVIDE FENESTRATION TRIANGULATION
AND AVOID LOCALIZED BEAM/COLUMN AXIAL STIFFNESS MAXIMIZING THE
EMBRACING TIMBER
Based on STRENGTH
their specific IN HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION
demands, structural MOMENT CONNECTIONS SYSTEM EFFICIENCY
DIAGRID TO PROVIDE
DIAGRID FENESTRATION
TO PROVIDE FENESTRATION TRIANGULATION
TRIANGULATION ACTIVATES TIMBER
ACTIVATES TIMBER
ACING ENGAGING
components are matched to the mass timber AND
AND AVOID AVOID LOCALIZED
LOCALIZED BEAM/COLUMN
BEAM/COLUMN AXIAL
AXIAL STIFFNESS MAXIMIZING
STIFFNESS MAXIMIZING THE
THE
LE STRUCTURE DIAGRID TO PROVIDE FENESTRATION TRIANGULATION ACTIVATES TIMBER
product that is best suited to the job. This MOMENT MOMENT CONNECTIONS
CONNECTIONS
AND AVOID LOCALIZED BEAM/COLUMN SYSTEM
SYSTEM EFFICIENCY
EFFICIENCY
AXIAL STIFFNESS MAXIMIZING THE
CROSS
ING BRACING
ENGAGING ENGAGING
includes GLT, CLT, and LVL. MOMENT CONNECTIONS SYSTEM EFFICIENCY
WHOLE
STRUCTURE
CROSS STRUCTURE
BRACING ENGAGING SOFT MATERIAL STIFFNESS
WHOLE STRUCTURE
River Beech Tower uses a signature LVL diagrid
BALANCED BY MATERIAL
CONCENTRATION
on the wider tower façadesSOFT AT best
to make THE OUTSIDE
MATERIAL use
STIFFNESS
SOFT MATERIAL STIFFNESS
BALANCED BY MATERIAL
of timber’s strongBALANCED
compression
SOFTload-carrying
MATERIAL
BY MATERIAL STIFFNESS
CONCENTRATION
BALANCED ATMATERIAL
BY THE OUTSIDE
capacity. TheCONCENTRATION
LVL diagrid creates
ATa THE
network of
OUTSIDE
many members, emulating CONCENTRATION AT THE OUTSIDE
the performance
of a largely perforated solid wall at the façades
of each tower. This unique structural system
echoes the performance of perimeter tube
towers, but without having to overcome the
limitations of timber moment connections.
LVL, being axially strong, is an ideal
engineered timber diagrid member. The
dimensions of the LVL diagrid reflect the
magnitude of the loads, typically thin at the
upper floors and expanding in thickness to Figure 6, The diagrid maximizes openings for daylight and views while avoiding localized beam-to-column moment
connections. Triangulation activates timber’s axial stiffness, maximizing the system’s efficiency and creating a rigid
the base of the tower. truss, instead of a more flexible frame. © Thornton Tomasetti

42 | Architecture/Design CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

Expect to use more material with timber than if
using steel or concrete.
River Beech Tower’s structure greatly benefits
from good proportioning, but an increase in
material volume was anticipated as the design
developed. More timber material volume is
needed than if using steel or concrete, reflecting
the uniqueness of timber. The LVL diagrids allow
additional timber material to be well-distributed
across the network of diagrid members, rather
than requiring localized columns of special size.
Prefabrication can leverage the adjacent
Chicago River for large off-site assembly and
shipment to the site.
The tower structure is modular, making the most
of repetitive connections between system
components. The LVL diagrids will be connected
using repetitive prefabricated steel or concrete
nodes. The CLT floors connect in the factory to a
horizontal member of the LVL diagrids. Along the
outer façades, vertical CLT shear wall panels join
to the diagrid at specific nodes. At the inner
edges of the shear walls, GLT bracing connects at
the intersection of vertical and horizontal
boundary elements, which helps transition the
concentrated bracing force gradually into the
shear wall system.
Prefabrication plays a major role in the benefit of
mass timber construction. Lightweight panels,
the use of CNC milling, and integrated
fabrication create major potential to reduce
construction schedules. River Beech takes
advantage of a site on the Chicago River,
allowing for the delivery of large modules to the
site by barge. Duplex units, envisioned as
two-story modules, are sized to weigh within the
capacity that a typical crane can pick up off a
barge and set into place on the tower. As
two-story units are stacked into six-story blocks,
they are bound together by the atrium trusses to
maintain stiffness (see Figures 8 and 9). The
modules are designed as standardized elements
in two configurations, one with a void to
accommodate the shear wall and core elements,
and the other without (see Figure 10).
Analysis
The timber superstructure performs in a similar
way to residential towers of similar heights and
size constructed using concrete or steel. The
tower was structurally analyzed, from which a
number of observations can be made:

C
A D

Figure 7. Exploded axonometric section of tower floor plates showing mass-timber products used in their optimal configuration.
The result is a composite mass timber structural system. © Thornton Tomasetti
Figure 8. River Beech Tower – section.
Laminated veneer lumber honeycomb diagrid (A). Glue-laminated timber atrium cross bracing (B). Cross-laminated timber planks for
© Perkins+Will
shear core (C). Cross-laminated timber or nail-laminated timber planks for floor slabs (D).

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Architecture/Design | 43

 ƒƒ The interconnection of the structure
using cross-bracing, shear walls, and
diagrids successfully activates the
vertical members for resisting lateral
loads.
ƒƒ Under gravity load, there is good
load balance across the diagrid
system.
ƒƒ The towers coupled together with
cross-bracing show good lateral load
distribution across the system.
ƒƒ The diagrid network is highly
engaged for load resistance, without
dependence on moment
connections (see Figure 11).
ƒƒ Timber material proportions are
larger than if using steel or concrete.
However, because of the above
3m design strategies, the added timber
material is minimized.
3m
This research supports the feasibility of
9m using timber as a tower’s primary
superstructure material. In addition, it
Figure 9. The9braced
m area between the two towers required
for stiffness is activated as an atrium amenity space. Exposed
has also successfully identified
PREFAB MODULE - TYPICAL
wood surfaces emphasize mass timber’s expressive potential. next-step topics of research for
© Perkins+Will advancing the use of timber in tall
building structures incorporate:
ƒƒ Wind engineering to assess unique
3m
responses of a tower with low-mass
density and low-dynamic periods.
3m ƒƒ Further develop connection details in
the diagrid, sheer walls, and atrium
9m braces.
9m ƒƒ Establish vibration control criteria for
PREFAB MODULE - SHEAR CLT floor planks.
ƒƒ Conduct performance testing for
rationalization of seismic loading
3m (Note: this study used Chicago
Building Code wind loading for lateral
3m system development).
ƒƒ Coordinate fire engineering solutions
9m
and structural design.
9m ƒƒ Research material modifications that
may improve member stiffness
PREFAB MODULE - TYPICAL
Figure 10. The tower is designed to be constructed out of two including genetic improvements and
prefabricated module types: one with shear cores (top) and hybrid composites with steel and
one without (bottom). © Thornton Tomasetti
carbon fiber.
3m Each module would be glazed with
unitized curtain walls to the extent
possible. Pieces between modules
3m
44 | Architecture/Design 9m
9m
NG
would be glazed in the field (see Figure 12).
Fireproofing between floor panel and curtain
wall follows a conventional two-hour
UL-rated solution.
The skin of the atrium façades is a
lightweight Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene
(ETFE) system (see Figure 13). In all tower
areas, the timber is protected within the
exterior skin. On balconies, where sealant
can be easily accessed for maintenance, the
timber is exposed to the elements.
Life Safety and Building Code
Construction of an 80-story timber tower is
not currently permissible by major building
codes. Chicago Building Code prohibits
wood construction within the city’s
downtown area, referred to as the Central
Business District. Looking to the 2012 edition
of the International Building Code, heavy
timber or Type IV construction is limited to
five stories. The team considered three
scenarios that may allow the material to
achieve the height and area needed to make
a high-rise tower feasible.
The first possibility is to meet the
requirements for IBC Type 1A construction.
To do this, the structure must be protected
and non-combustible. Timber meets
protected criteria by virtue of charring, and
standard charring rates and fire resistance is
now noted in IBC. However, establishing
timber as “non-combustible” is a greater
challenge. A wood sample would need to be
genetically modified, treated, or engineered
as a composite material to pass the ASTM
E136 test for combustibility.
A second option is to encapsulate the
timber in fire-resistant material to achieve a
fire rating. This is the method used for Brock
Commons dormitory at University of British
Columbia, one of the world’s tallest timber
buildings. According to the project’s
architect, “Since the mass wood structure is
significantly higher than the six stories
currently permitted by the code for wood
buildings, the project required a Site
Specific Regulation (SSR) from the British
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
 Columbia Building Safety & Standards produced and in terms of this integrated

Branch. The SSR process included peer
reviews involving panels of leading
structural engineers, fire safety experts,
scientists, authorities, and firefighters”
(Acton Ostry Architects 2016).
The third, most likely scenario for wide
adoption is the evolution of building codes
to recognize multiple categories of height
and area within the heavy timber category.
The International Code Council has created
the Ad Hoc Committee on Tall Wood
Buildings to “explore the building science of
tall wood buildings with the scope being to
“
model of research-led design. It is critical to
look deeper into mass timber than its carbon The LVL diagrids
entraining properties.
allow additional
It is incumbent on our industry to understand
the life cycle process of a material from
timber material to be
farming, harvesting, manufacturing,
fabrication, construction, and ultimately reuse
well-distributed
at the end of its usable life as a building across the network of
material. A further objective of this study is to
work with industry partners to design habitats diagrid members,
for growing renewable timber, working with
members of the US Forest Service and other rather than requiring
land-management authorities to understand
localized columns of

”
investigate the feasibility of and take action the capacity of the land over time.
on developing code changes for tall wood
buildings” (ICC 2017). The group is looking to Furthermore, the increased value of timber
special size.
introduce expanded sections of the code for that is expected to result from its use as an
IBC 2018 and 2021. engineered construction product is likely to
confer increased value on well-managed North America, however, is that the
forestry. This is less critical in Europe and North development of new, large-scale and
Environmental Considerations America, where there is a long tradition of large-volume markets for timber will have a
responsible forest management – but in profound positive effect on areas where forest
Environmental, social, and economic many parts of the developing world, this may cover is expanding due to the relative decline
sustainability is fundamental to every stage be a key driver towards better long-term in the use of trees for paper pulp. These stands
of this project – both in terms of the designs forestry practice. What is critical in Europe and of managed forest can now go toward higher
Tension Compr. #Elem % value-chain use in urban construction. A
[kN] [kN]
CLUSTER 1 - NO TENSION - DIRECT BEARING 0 Tension
4662 Compr. 54%
3584 #Elem %
[kN] [kN]
CLUSTER 2 - SOME TENSION - BOLTS / DIRECT BEARING Tension
1351 Compr.
1683 #Elem
25% %
CLUSTER 1 - NO TENSION - DIRECT BEARING 50 0
[kN] 4662
[kN] 3584 54%
CLUSTER 3 - HIGH TENSION
CLUSTER
CLUSTER 1--INCREASED
2 - SOME TENSION BOLTS
NO TENSION --DIRECT / DIRECT 200
BOLTSBEARING BEARING 1451
050 1286
1351
4662 19%
35841683 54% 25%
CLUSTER 4 - VERY HIGH
CLUSTER TENSION
CLUSTER
3 - HIGH -
2 - SOME POST TENSIONING
TENSION
TENSION - BOLTS / DIRECT
- INCREASED 509
BEARING
BOLTS 1516
50200 871451
1351 1.3%
16831286 25% 19%
CLUSTER 3 - HIGH TENSION - INCREASED BOLTS 200 1451 1286 MAX TENSION FORCES IN DIAGRID MEMBERS
CLUSTER 4 - VERY HIGH TENSION - POST TENSIONING 509 1516 87 19% 1.3%
600
CLUSTER 4 - VERY HIGH TENSION - POST TENSIONING 509 1516 87 1.3% MAX TENSION FORCES IN DIAGRID MEMBERS
600 MAX TENSION FORCES IN DIAGRID MEMBERS
600

500

500 500

400
Force [kips]

400 400
Force [kips]

Force [kips]

CLUSTER 4
CLUSTER 4

300
300
300

200 200
200

100 100
CLUSTER 2
CLUSTER 3

CLUSTER 2
CLUSTER 3

100
CLUSTER 2
CLUSTER 3

CLUSTER 1
CLUSTER 1
0
0 0 1000 2000 CLUSTER
3000 1 4000 5000 6000 7000
0 1000 2000 Element4000
3000 Number 5000 6000 7000
0
0 Element
1000 Number
2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
Figure 11. Measurements of structural stresses of several connection systems. © Thornton Tomasetti Element Number

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Architecture/Design | 45


“
The two individual towers are structurally
connected across the atrium using glued
laminated timber (GLT) cross-bracing. This
connection couples the structure together to
act as one, maximizing the superstructure’s
performance and minimizing member
stresses.
”
relevant trend in relation to economic and
environmental sustainability in densely
urbanized areas is the demolition of buildings
long before the end of their design lives. This
suggests that renewable, perhaps cyclic,
materials such as timber are particularly well
suited to use in the modern built
environment.
Conclusion
This study only begins to address the
substantial questions surrounding the design
and construction of very tall mass timber
Figure 12. Duplex module connection configuration.
© Perkins+Will
46 | Architecture/Design
buildings. The team continues to develop
the next steps of the study. Through a
partnership with Jensen Hughes, a more
thorough understanding of fire analysis is
being developed, culminating in full-size
mockups that will be fire-tested in laboratory
conditions. Full-scale mockups are currently
under design through a partnership with
Autodesk’s BUILD Space and Pollmeier, a
European LVL manufacturer. The research has
also made headway with the City of Chicago
Permit Office, which has approved the
construction of a single tower module,
perhaps becoming the first permanent
wood structure in the city’s downtown area
Figure 13. Sky gardens would be enclosed in lightweight ETFE. © Perkins+Will
in over a century. By continuing to provide
provocative, thoughtful solutions, our
industry will advance the potential that
these materials have to offer. 
Funding Acknowledgement
Funding for this research is in part provided by
the Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC) under grant EP/
M01679X/1.
References
Acton Ostry Architects. 2016. Brock Commons
Phase 1: University of British Columbia. Vancouver: Acton
Ostry Architects Inc.
International Code Council (ICC). 2017. “ICC Ad Hoc
Committee on Tall Wood Buildings.” Accessed February
2017. http://www.iccsafe.org/codes-tech-support/cs/
icc-ad-hoc-committee-on-tall-wood-buildings/.
Perkins +Will. 2014. Summary Report: Survey of
International Tall Wood Buildings with Appendices.
Vancouver: Forestry Innovation Investment (FII) and
Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC).
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
Tall Buildings in Numbers

Tall Timber: A Global Audit (also see next page)

In the past few years, the tall building industry has become increasingly interested in the use of timber as a major structural
element in skyscrapers. This has resulted in a now-worldwide wave of research, built projects, and ever more daring speculative
proposals using “mass timber” – engineered wood products that are just as robust as their concrete and steel counterparts. This
study examines recently completed and under construction timber structure buildings as well as a wave of new proposals.*
Timber Towers Built, Under Construction or Proposed**
Buildings in bold are featured in the map on page 48.
Completion
Building City Country Floors Construction System*** Status
Date
Baobab Paris France 35 Hybrid Timber & Steel Proposed
Abebe Court Tower Lagos Nigeria 26 Hybrid Timber & Steel Proposed
HoHo Vienna Austria 24 Hybrid Timber & Concrete Under Construction 2017
HAUT Amsterdam Netherlands 22 All Timber Proposed 2019
Barentshus Kirkenes Norway 20 Hybrid Timber & Steel Proposed
Doorman Rotterdam Netherlands 20 Hybrid Timber & Steel Proposed
Terrace House Vancouver Canada 19 Hybrid Timber & Concrete Proposed
Mjøstårnet Brumunddal Norway 18 All Timber Proposed 2018
Silva Bordeaux France 18 Uknown Proposed 2020
TallWood House at Brock Commons Vancouver Canada 18 Hybrid Timber & Concrete Topped Out 2017
The Hyperion Bordeaux France 18 Uknown Proposed 2019
Canopia Bordeaux France 17 All Timber Proposed
55 Southbank Boulevard Melbourne Australia 16 Hybrid Timber & Concrete Proposed 2020
Kulturhus Skellefteå Skellefteă Sweden 16 Hybrid Timber & Steel Proposed 2019
The Treet Bergen Norway 14 All Timber Completed 2015
Origine Quebec Canada 13 All Timber Under Construction 2017
Framework Portland United States 12 Hybrid Wood & Steel Under Construction 2017
5 King Brisbane Australia 10 All Timber Proposed 2018
Banyan Wharf London United Kingdom 10 All Timber Completed 2015
Forte Tower Melbourne Australia 10 All Timber Completed 2013
Lagerhuset Eslov Sweden 10 All Timber Completed 2008
Trafalgar Place London United Kingdom 10 All Timber Completed 2015
Wenlock Cross / The Cube London United Kingdom 10 Hybrid Timber & Steel Completed 2015
Cenni di Cambiamento Milan Italy 9 All Timber Completed 2013
Dalston Lane London United Kingdom 9 All Timber Under Construction 2017
Ilôt Bois et Biosourcé Strasbourg France 9 Uknown Proposed
Moholt 50/50 Trondheim Norway 9 All Timber Completed 2016
Ternes Villiers Paris France 9 All Timber Proposed
Arbora Montreal Canada 8 All Timber Completed 2016
Bridport House London United Kingdom 8 All Timber Completed 2014
Carbon 12 Building Portland United States 8 All Timber Proposed
Holz8 (H8) Bad Aibling Germany 8 All Timber Completed 2011
Life Cycle Tower (LCT ) One Dornbirn Austria 8 Hybrid Timber & Concrete Completed 2012
Limnologen Växjö Sweden 8 Hybrid Timber & Concrete Completed 2009
Pentagon II Oslo Norway 8 Unknown Completed 2013
Puukuokka Jyvaskyla Finland 8 All Timber Completed 2015
St. Diè-des-Vosges St. Diè des Vosges France 8 All Timber Completed 2014
Stadthaus London United Kingdom 8 All Timber Completed 2009
Strand Parken Stockholm Sweden 8 All Timber Completed 2014
E3 Berlin Berlin Germany 7 Hybrid Timber & Steel Completed 2008
Kingsgate House London United Kingdom 7 All Timber Completed 2014
Maison de l'Inde Paris France 7 Hybrid Timber & Concrete Completed 2013
Panorama Giustinelli Trieste Italy 7 Uknown Completed 2013
Sanctuary Yoker United Kingdom 7 All Timber Under Construction 2017
T3 Building Minneapolis United States 7 All Timber Completed 2016
Tamedia Zurich Switzerland 7 All Timber Completed 2013
UEA (University East Anglia) Blackdale Student Residence Norwich United Kingdom 7 All Timber Completed 2016
Wagramerstrasse Vienna Austria 7 Hybrid Timber & Concrete Completed 2013
Wood Innovation Design Centre Prince George Canada 7 All Timber Completed 2014
* For the purposes of this study, only timber buildings using “mass timber” technologies are included. Conventional “stick-framed” construction can rise as high as six stories in some countries, so only buildings over
seven stories are included.
**A building is considered to be “Proposed” (i.e., a real proposal) when it fulfills all of the following criteria: 1) Has a specific site with ownership interests within the building development team; 2) Has a full
professional design team progressing the design beyond the conceptual stage; 3) Has obtained, or is in the process of obtaining, formal planning consent/legal permission for construction; 4) Has a full intention to
progress the building to construction and completion. Only buildings that have been announced publicly (and the source is credible) by the client and fulfill all the above criteria are included in the CTBUH “proposed”
building listings. There are many theoretical/concept/study designs for timber buildings, but such “Vision” projects are not included in the table above as it would be impossible to find and track them all. However, a
selection of Vision projects are profiled in the orange bar at the bottom of pages 48–49.
***For the purpose of clarity, structural types are simplified here to indicate the primary structural system only, e.g., core, floor beams or horizontal trusses, and vertical columns. In reality, most “mass timber” buildings
use some combination of timber, steel and concrete. “All Timber” generally means the core and the horizontal and vertical structure are all timber.

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Tall Building in Numbers | 47

Tall Buildings in Numbers
Tall Timber: A Global Audit
This map highlights several examples of tall timber buildings currently built,
under constructon, or proposed around the world (see page 47 for table).
18
FLOORS
TallWood House at Brock
Commons
Status: Architecturally Topped Out
Location: Vancouver
Due to be the largest mass-timber
building in the world at opening.
19
FLOORS
Terrace House
Status: Proposed
Location: Vancouver
This residential tower will be
a hybrid timber-concrete-
steel structure, using locally-
sourced wood.
Key
Completed
Under Construction
Proposed
VISIONS
48 | Tall Building in Numbers
8
FLOORS
Stadthaus
Status: Completed, 2009
Location: London
The first high-density housing
building to be built from
pre-fabricated cross-laminated
timber panels.
13
35
FLOORS
Origine
Status: Under Construction
Location: Quebec
Set to become the new tallest FLOORS
all-timber building in North
America in Fall 2017.
Baobab
Status: Proposed
Location: Paris
12
The wood used in this building
sequesters 3,700 metric tons of
CO2, equal to operating 2,207
FLOORS
cars for a year.
Framework
Status: Under Construction
Location: Portland
Framework uses an unusual “Low
Damage” post-tensioning system
in its cross-laminated timber
(CLT) shear walls, to counter
seismic activity.
River Beech Tower, Chicago Oakwood Tower, London
This concept tower uses an At 80 stories and 300 meters,
innovative system of diagrids this building would be London’s
and prefabricated to gain height second-tallest building if it were
(see page 40 for more details). actually built today.
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
14
FLOORS
The Treet
Status: Completed, 2015
Location: Bergen
The current tallest timber
building in the world,
Treet stacks CLT modules
on every 4th floor, which
is a concrete slab.
24
FLOORS
8
FLOORS
Life Cycle Tower
(LCT) One
Status: Completed, 2012
Location: Dornbirn
This experimental building
had a fire-safety strategy
so robust, sprinklers were
26
deemed unnecessary.
FLOORS
Tratoppen, Stockholm
The wood panels cladding
this envisioned building
would be shaped as the
number of each floor.
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
16 Kulturhus Skellefteå
18
Status: Proposed
Location: Skellefteă
FLOORS
The first floor of the museum
portion of the complex will express FLOORS
KULTURHUSET
its timber structure dramatically
with wooden steps and wide-
spanning, column-free spaces.
Mjøstårnet
Status: Proposed
Location: Brumunddal
The top seven floorplates
will be cast concrete, to give
extra stability to an almost
22
100% wood structure.
FLOORS
HAUT
Status: Proposed
Location: Amsterdam
The project will store 3 million kg
of carbon in its cross-laminated
HoHo pieces and is planned to achieve
Status: Under Construction BREEAM Outstanding rating.
10
Location: Vienna
Currently under construction,
this mixed-use tower is set to
become the world’s next tallest FLOORS
timber building.
5 King
Status: Proposed
Location: Brisbane
The designers of
this building chose
engineered timber to
deliver a contemporary,
healthful office interior.
10
FLOORS
Abebe Court Tower
Status: Proposed Fortè Tower
Location: Lagos Status: Completed, 2013
Location: Melbourne
The first major tall timber
building proposed for Africa, Australia’s first mass-
this project would support timber high-rise was the
live plants on several open-air world’s tallest when
skygarden levels. completed in 2013.
HSB 2023 - Vasterbroplan,
SOM Timber Tower, Chicago
Stockholm
This building reimagines
This 34-floor project would use
the 40-story concrete Plaza
pillars and beams constructed of
on Dewitt in wood.
solid and cross-laminated timber.
Tall Building in Numbers | 49
Talking Tall: Roger Krulak

Modular High-Rise: The Next Chapter

Roger Krulak
Interviewee
Roger Krulak, CEO and Founder
Full Stack Modular
63 Flushing Ave, Unit 293
Brooklyn, NY 11205
United States
t: +1 718 489 9525
email: info@fullstackmodular.com
www.fullstackmodular.com
Roger Krulak
Full Stack Modular’s CEO and founder, Roger Krulak,
was formerly Senior Vice President of Modular
Construction at Forest City Ratner Companies
(FCRC), where he was a leading member of the
team that built the modular business supporting
foundation of FCRC’s flagship project, 461 Dean
Street, the tallest volumetric modular building in
the world. An internationally recognized expert in
modular construction and innovation, Roger Krulak
was the recipient of the 2014 Popular Mechanics
“Breakthrough Award” for his work on the creation of
the high-rise modular process, has been appointed
to the Building Innovation Panel for Singapore, and
regularly speaks all over the world.
In 2016, 461 Dean Street, the world’s tallest volumetric modular building, was
completed in New York City (see Figure 1). As few such projects had ever been
attempted, let alone in a construction market with New York’s constraints, the
project’s developer, Forest City, and contractor, Skanska, formed a joint modular
manufacturing venture to assure the predictable delivery of the 930 modular units
that make up the building. Full Stack Modular is a new company that has taken
the assets and lessons from that project and plans to scale it up into a global
business. Full Stack’s CEO, Roger Krulak, outlined his plans in an interview with
CTBUH Editor Daniel Safarik.
What has held the industry back from fully Thanks to the insurance companies, they
embracing modular? have made it so that no one wants to bridge
There are two major answers. One is a the information gaps from one silo to the
technology answer. There are two problems other, because no one wants to be
with construction technology. One is that responsible. I mean, look at the sinking
we’re at the bottom of the barrel of 50 [Millennium] tower in San Francisco – who
industries, spending like 2–3% of gross wants liability for that? It’s a huge problem.
revenue on IT. It’s a ridiculous number. What
that means is, technology advances in The way the industry has tried to address it is
relation to construction have been really through processes like Integrated Project
slow. That is a major driver, because, in order Delivery (IPD), which is really fascinating
to be a manufacturer of a reliable product, theoretically. But at the end of the day,
you need to have a process by which you somebody has to own the model. One entity
build that product. And then you need to has to put all the pieces together, in the
have something that drives that process. drawings, before you build it in the factory or
on-site.
If you are making pencils, that’s not a hard
thing to do. But if you are making buildings Historically, the means and methods of the
with 12 trades, it’s a whole different ball processes are decided by the trades that get
game. The convergence of that process is the contracts. Apart from the structure,

“
complicated. literally, the trades usually end up doing
There is no whatever they want so long as it meets the
The technology has almost caught up. Using performance specifications of the designer.
question that there will an integrated model from a manufacturing Then, they take the end product back to

be demand for this

perspective, or AutoCAD and its respective whoever owns the model, and then they
plug-ins and pieces and CATiA from the fight about all the clashes that resulted

type of technology in building design world, you can create a

federated process that allows you to
the near future. In the manufacture things in one place and install
them in another place.
next five years, China
The other reason is that the way that our
needs to build 44 industry is organized currently is broken.
because everyone was still designing in their
own bubble.
The reason modular has not happened is not
because it is illogical, but because the
requirement to get it done is to change the
way you do business. The way we do

million apartments for

There are basically three siloes in any business is to flip everything on its head.
construction project. There is development We’re the design-builders of the building. We

the elderly. That’s and financing in one silo. There is

architecture, engineering, and design in
can work with an architect or we can provide
our own architecture. We are really agnostic
manufacturing another silo. And then there is construction about that. We can work with contractors big

”
management in the third silo. or small. What we offer to the developer, our
nirvana! customer, is one turnkey solution. You give

50 | Talking Tall: Roger Krulak CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

us the program, the requirements, and we’ll he is a real innovator, a disruptor, who is desk with the 500 other things that were on
fit it into land that you have. We will do it in a trying to think out of the box – they use a his desk. I heard nothing about it.
way that you think is appropriately marketed ridiculous amount of labor on-site. That
to the customer, and we take it from there. In works in China. And to some extent, it would And then, I was on vacation and I got an
our factory we do labor and materials, be hard for us to do what we do if Broad e-mail at 3:00 a.m. It was from Bruce. He said,
electrical, mechanical, and structural. We Group had not put forth their idea first. “Look at this video! How did they do a hotel in
assemble it, bolt it up together, and connect 15 days?” It was of course the famous Broad
all the systems, and we’re done. When I started this thing eight years ago, Group video of T-30. I said, “If you’re willing to
and we did our first R&D project, we get 15 cranes and 300 laborers, we can build
To me, the innovation of volumetric modular produced a 600-page book, in which we in 15 days too, as long as you are willing to
construction is that we are changing the talked about what we thought about the also spend about a year and a half
process by which you create buildings. potential of volumetric modular, the systems manufacturing.” But that video is really what
of analysis we used, etc. I gave this to Bruce kicked off the whole initiative of building 461
We research and report on new method- Ratner at Forest City, and he put it on his Dean Street.
ologies all the time, and it’s pretty rare that
someone can make a claim that their
methodology is that innovative. The
fundamental process of construction
remains the same.
Here’s my favorite story. Josef Shafran, my
great-grandfather, was a carpenter. He was
born in Russia, he moved to Detroit, and had
a very successful career in carpentry. My
grandfather was a carpenter, ran a lumber
yard, became an executive. If you took my
great-grandfather Josef and put him on a
construction site today, he would be
ridiculously comfortable. Nothing would
surprise him. He would not know how to use
a cell phone, computer, car, or ride on an
airplane. But on a construction site, he would
be completely comfortable. That is sad.

The conditions you have described

certainly apply in the United States, and
the genesis of your solution and your
company had a lot to do with the
peculiarities of the New York labor market.
There are other prefabrication-oriented
builders out there with similar goals of
efficiency and predictability, such as the
Broad Group of China. Do you think Full
Stack is a US-centric model, and/or can this
be exported?
Full Stack is finishing, to the largest extent
possible, as much of the work as we can in
the factory, so that the work on-site is de
minimus – 15–20%, closer to 20% when you
include the foundation.

So that is very different from what Broad

Group does. Even though the chairman
[Zhang Yue] is a charming man – and I think Figure 1. 461 Dean Street, New York. © SHoP Architects

CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II Talking Tall: Roger Krulak | 51

For dense urban areas in most of the world, it
is quite complicated to do large-volume
projects in crowded areas. It doesn’t matter if
it’s the Philippines, New York, or Singapore.
By the way, Singapore is very focused on
modular construction, and they are having
some success. The Crowne Plaza Hotel
extension in the airport is done that way (see
Figure 2). There are four projects going on at
the Singapore University of Technology and
Design, and there is a building under
planning that is supposed to be 40 stories.
This model has been successful for some
time. Forest City, in the 1970s, was one of the
four participants in a US Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) program called
Operation Breakthrough. It was a project to
build affordable housing for the elderly, as an
offshoot of Section VIII. They built 35,000
modular concrete units. The buildings are
still around today. But there were two major
flaws. One was that they did not handle the
end-to-end process. To be fair on that point,
there was no technology at the time that
would have made that easy. The other
problem was, they had one customer. They
were completely exposed to the economy.
And when it got killed in 1972, they didn’t
have anyone else to sell to.
When I was working at Forest City, the
philosophy began to evolve to be, “you don’t
want just one customer or one typology.” You
want to have hotels, dormitories, factories,
residential buildings. All of these have
different economic cycles.
Do you think global economic cycles today
support widespread use of modular
high-rise technology?
There is no question that there will be demand
for this type of technology in the near future.
In the next five years, China needs to build 44
million apartments for the elderly. That’s
manufacturing nirvana! They’re doing it in
Australia, albeit with different methodologies.
We’re looking at a hotel project in St. Thomas.
In areas of labor or material scarcity, this is a
godsend. I’m going to Austria, the United
Kingdom, Thailand, and around the world this
year. To me, it’s a global phenomenon and a
globally applicable model.
52 | Talking Tall: Roger Krulak
Figure 2. Crowne Plaza Hotel Changi extension, Singapore. Source: Dragages
The process is designed for dense urban areas.
The fact that there are more and more dense
urban areas around the world, where you
want to control waste, minimize interruptions,
and do as much off-site work as possible,
suggests a wide market. One reason, as in
New York, could be that labor is expensive
because of unionization. But in Singapore, the
problem is that they have no skilled labor.
They import marginally skilled labor to do the
work there. But if you can get a factory going
that has predictable production capacity, you
don’t need skilled tradesmen to build a quality
product. You just have to have a good QA/QC
system, and you have to bifurcate and
decouple processes so you can have a quality
product over and over again.
The 461 Dean Street project is notable for
being the world’s tallest volumetric modular
building. Do you have plans to go taller,? Are
there practical thresholds to how high you
can go with your model?
There is a threshold. There is nothing about
our system and process that flies in the face of
conventional engineering. Meaning that, with
a double-loaded-corridor building, 45 stories
is about the limit, beyond which extraordinary
structural enhancements would be required.
Once you jump that line, you are doing
serious work to resist moment connection
issues, wind, seismic, and snow loads. That
does not change with our model. Beyond 45
stories it is probably not very efficient.
In a tower configuration, if you have, say, a
22-meter-square plan, where the brace-
framed structure would be as long as it is
deep, you can easily go to 65 stories. But
beyond 200 meters, the impact of the
structure on the design, independent of
anything else, is height squared times the
per-floor cost of anything below that point.
Modular has been used for some time,
mostly to build compartmentalized,
residential, hotel, or medical buildings.
How effective is the volumetric modular
approach for open-floor-plate designs,
such as office buildings?
The unitary value of a multifamily building
makes a modular building of this type quite
attractive. When you start to lose that
advantage of things that can be easily
transported or lifted by a crane, then the
value of it goes down. In our process, the
more work you shift to the site, the less value
there is. That’s not the case with everything
– for instance the Broad Group has their
sub-assemblies that create speed of
assembly, and that’s the value.
What’s next for Full Stack?
I get emails from Africa every week, saying,
“can you come open a factory here?” I’m not
ready to do that yet. But I can see a time
when we have developed a system in order
to create buildings the way I talk about,
where we can provide all of that design,
software, and manufacturing support, so
that you can build anywhere in the world.
Manufacturing is not complicated – setting it
up is. The reason we are called Full Stack is
that we are ultimately going to be process-
technology, lean-manufacturing, lean
management-oriented, so that we can teach
others how to do this. 
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
Attention All
Students & Academics!

CTBUH is Offering $60,000

in Funding and Prizes
Through Three Research
and Academic Programs

• Research Seed Funding: $20,000 award

Deadline: May 31, 2017
ctbuh.org/ResearchSeedFunding

• Student Research Project Funding: $20,000 award

Deadline: June 30, 2017
ctbuh.org/studentresearchcompetition

• Student Design Competition: $24,000 in prizes

Deadline: July 17, 2017
competition.ctbuh.org

These opportunities are platforms upon which to showcase and

explore critical inquiries into the meaning and value of tall buildings
and cities in modern society.

Submit Today!

Research Seed Funding Sponsor: Student Research Sponsor: Student Design Sponsor:
Ask a CTBUH Expert: Ahmad Rahimian

How to Resolve the Emerging Challenges

Of Tall Building Foundations?
As the world urbanizes, the number of tall buildings will increase, particularly in coastal regions with soft
soil conditions, placing strain on foundation design and affecting sub-surface infrastructure already in
place. Several high-profile cases of tall buildings sinking or settling have made the news recently. We asked,
“How to Resolve the Emerging Challengesof Tall Building Foundations?”
About the Author
Ahmad Rahimian is Director of Building Structures at WSP. Dr. Rahimian is the recipient of the 2007 AISC Special Achievement
Dr. Ahmad Rahimian, WSP Award and the 2005 ASCE-CERF Charles Pankow Innovation Award for innovation. He is a Distinguished Alumnus at NYU School of
Engineering and holds two US patents for seismic protective design.

Foundation Engineering Challenges
In a field that greatly depends on past
experience and empirical methods,
foundation engineering is challenged to
establish design and performance parameters
for tall buildings. Design needs include:
evaluation of bearing capacity and stability;
impacts of the cyclic nature of wind on
building response; load distribution among
support elements; and building-to-building
interactions in closely spaced developments,
as well as constructability.
Path to Resiliency
In addition to safety and economic demands,
foundation design must incorporate current
needs for resiliency and sustainability, which
raise practical and philosophical questions
requiring cross-disciplinary interaction
between planners, architects, owners, and the
affected public. Codes provide risk-based
(ASCE/SEI 7-16) and performance-based
design (PBD) criteria (CTBUH 2008) for
superstructures, while foundations are
expected to remain elastic.
ƒƒ Setting parameters, testing, and incorporat-
ing soil-structure interaction (SSI) and strain
dependency in the structural model.
ƒƒ Agreeing whether the assumed building
“base” is at the ground surface or basement
bottom.
ƒƒ Identifying drainage issues or corrosive soils
that may affect concrete mix and materials
(e.g., steel pile wall thickness).
ƒƒ Identifying potential interaction with
existing adjacent structures, substructure
infrastructure, and critical utilities.

In cities such as New York, accessible sound
bedrock in many locations can make the
foundation choice relatively simple, such as
spread footings with capacities of up to 1,172
metric tons per square meter, or caissons to
bedrock in locations with complex
underground infrastructure. These systems do
not influence the structure’s stiffness,
frequency, or performance under wind or
seismic loads. However, they may require rock
anchors for countering net uplift forces from
wind and gravity loads or overturning from
seismic events. In areas with soft and poor soil
conditions, mat, raft, deep foundations, or a
combination of these are needed for
adequate support (e.g., Torre Mayor in Mexico
City with piles, MesseTurm Trade Tower in
Frankfurt and the Shard in London with raft
and pile foundations). These foundation
systems may influence the tower’s lateral
stiffness and frequencies, thus affecting the
structure’s performance under wind, static,
and dynamic effects.
Measured settlements of 101 to 127
millimeters have shown no major impact on
the functionality of tall buildings, provided
that strict tilt criteria were met. Established
case histories refer to tolerable settlements of
101 millimeters and angular distortions of
1/500 to 1/1000 radians for supertall buildings.
Let’s Communicate
Some foundation challenges could be
resolved early in the design process by means
of effective communication between
structural and geotechnical engineers,
including:
ƒƒ Clarifying governing code and design basis
criteria.
ƒƒ Determining differential and total
settlements and lateral deformations, for all
loading demands.
Future: Reaching Higher by Digging Deeper
The creation of a PBD framework for
foundations of tall buildings should consider a
holistic approach to the soil-foundation-
structure system and in certain cases,
incorporation of fail-safe or self-re-centering
systems to allow fast return to service after
hazardous events.
Engineers make decisions based on a
combination of numerical tools, real-time
instrumentation, and 3D visualization
software, allowing model calibration and
adjustments as the project develops. Quality
construction, with proper foundation testing
and short- and long-term monitoring, is
essential. A global database of performance
observations and load tests of foundations for
tall buildings could be helpful.
Ultimately, foundation engineers have to view
computer modeling only as a tool to evaluate
various parameters and help them to confirm
or reject engineering options, based on a
blending of fundamentals and their own
sense of proportion. 
CTBUH on the Road
The CTBUH community continues to grow
and strengthen around the world. In
Frankfurt, more than 40 professionals
convened at the TaunusTurm to discuss the
flourishing tall building market in Germany
and to measure the interest in establishing a
CTBUH Germany chapter. In Spain, dual
CTBUH Spain events in Madrid and
Barcelona explored the potential of new
materials to change the performance
expectations of tall buildings, and took a look
back at 25 years of tall building construction
in Spain since the Olympics, respectively.
The young CTBUH Iran chapter hosted its
own session of lectures and panel
discussions at the three-day Third
Conference on High-Rise Buildings in
Tehran, focusing on the theme of “Habitation
in Green Cities.” Speakers contemplated the
implication of mass urban migration now
taking place in the country.
In Bangkok, more than 140 professionals
attended the seminar “Design of Tall
Buildings – Trends and Advancements for
CTBUH Research kicks off Cyclone-Glazing and Façade Resilience project
in Miami.
Diary
BUILDING TaLL
Building a skyscraper means finding a balance between limitless potential and potential limitations. Join
the Chicago Architecture Foundation and Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat as they bring
Securing Tall : What’s the Biggest Threat
together a diverse group of experts from architecture, engineering, urban planning and real estate
development to uncover everything from the physics to the financials of how skyscrapers work, and what
to a Skyscraper?
the future holds for building tall. Each night, four speakers provide rapid-fire presentations related to a
pertinent topic in the tall building world.
Chicago Architecture Foundation, May 18
tIME 6–7:30pm (reception follows all lectures)
CoSt $20 public / $12 CAF & CTBUH members / $10 students
The second of CTBUH-CAF lecture series addresses
loCAtIon lecture Hall, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave.
AIA CREDIt 1
REGIStER architecture.org/programs
how professionals respond to critical threats in tall
Thursday, 16 MarCh, 2017
buildings of the future. SECURing TAll: WHAT’S THE
BUilding TAll:
HoW HigH CAn WE go? BiggEST THREAT To A SkySCRApER?
www.architecture.org/experience-caf/programs-
Four professionals from varying disciplines in the tall
building industry answer the question: what is
events/
realistically the tallest a skyscraper could be built and
what are the influencing factors?
FIRST EVENT SPONSOR: thyssenkrupp Elevator
Thursday, 21 sepTember, 2017
gREEning TAll: nATURAliZing
THE VERTiCAl REAlM
The movement to incorporate full-height planted walls
in tall buildings around the world, as well as green
roofs, is gathering pace. Four experts debate the
benefits and challenges of this considerable new
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
direction for our cities.
About CAF The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) is a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring people to discover why design
matters. As an education organization, CAF offers tours, programs, exhibitions, field trips, curricula and online tools that are part
of a dynamic learning journey for all ages. For more information, visit architecture.org.
SkySCRApER
lECTURE SERiES
Thursday, 18 May, 2017
Building a skyscraper also means preparing for possible threats:
earthquakes, strong winds, environmental deterioration,
obsolescence, and terrorist plots. Four professionals remark on
how to address these critical issues in tall buildings of the future.
SECOND EVENT SPONSOR: olsson Fire & Risk
Thursday, 16 NOVEMBEr, 2017
liVing TAll: WHAT Will MAkE TAll
BUildingS MoRE HABiTABlE?
To facilitate livable and sustainable cities, tall buildings
must be implemented with a greater understanding of their
connections to people and urban life. Four professionals
outline how to achieve a greater symbiosis between tall
buildings and cities at the urban scale.
FOURTH EVENT SPONSOR: otis Elevator Company
More information on these events can be found in the events
section of the CTBUH Web site at www.ctbuh.org
Structural Performance,” a collaboration
between CTBUH, thyssenkrupp, the Asian
Institute of Technology, and CSI, including
many from the rapidly developing countries
of Southeast Asia.
More pan-Asian cooperation was
contemplated during a one-day visit of the
SuperTEC delegation from South Korea to
the CTBUH China office in Shanghai, as well
as Tongji University’s Civil Engineering
department and Tongji Architectural Design
Institute (TJAD). SuperTEC is a consortium of
researchers and practitioners led by Korea
and Dankook universities.
In Australia, the stage was being set for the
upcoming 2017 Conference, through events
of the CTBUH Australia chapter, such as the
Brisbane “2016 Summer Seminar: Design of
Tall Buildings,” held in conjunction with the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Australian Section, and a short presentation
tour by CTBUH Executive Director Dr. Antony
Wood to Melbourne and Sydney, on the
subject of “Australia and Future of Vertical
Urbanism.”
On the US West Coast, CTBUH
Seattle held its Fall Forum,
focusing on “Digital Technology
and the Built Environment”, such
as virtual and augmented reality,
as well as a tour of the under-
construction Troy Block in the
rapidly developing South Lake
Union area. In the opposite
corner, CTBUH Miami played
More upcoming events at: http://events.ctbuh.org
IUAV International Tall Buildings
Conference 2017
Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation, Milan, June 7
This one-day event will bring together tall building
professionals and academics from Italy and
beyond, to present on Italian and global
tall-building developments and research.
High-Rise Construction 2017
Samara State Technical University, Russia, Sept. 4–8
The event will include keynote addresses from
several CTBUH senior staff and prominent tall
building personalities. www.sciencevent.net
host to the kick-off meeting of the CTBUH
research project “Cyclone-Glazing and Façade
Resilience for the Asia-Pacific Region,” kindly
sponsored by Trosifol.
Both Chicago and New York CTBUH chapters
took part in university studio reviews. The
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) traveling
studio, “Sustainable Vertical Urbanism: Towards
2050,” taught by Dr. Wood and Dr. Peng Du,
CTBUH Research Associate and kindly
sponsored by Gensler, was reviewed by
leaders of Gensler’s Chicago office as well as
IIT’s Associate Dean of Research Vedran
Mimica. Pratt Institute’s High-Rise Design
Studio was reviewed by volunteers from the
CTBUH Young Professionals Committee,
which also held another edition of its
successful lecture series, kindly sponsored by
Autodesk, entitled “Moving Parts: Modular
Architecture in a Flat World”, drawing more
than 100 attendees. 
THEY SAID
“
Multifunctional towers
should also be ‘world
towers,’ rich in biodiversity
”
as much as in program.
Stefano Boeri, Founder/Partner, Stefano
Boeri Architetti, speaking in the Day 2
plenary panel discussion ”Cities to
Megacities: The Future” CTBUH 2016
Conference, Shenzhen, October 18, 2016.
CTBUH 2017 International Conference
Grand Hyatt Sydney, October 30 – November 3
The 2017’s conference will focus on the theme:
Connecting the City: People, Density & Infrastructure.
Visit www.ctbuh2017.com for more information.
CTBUH on the Road & Diary | 55
Reviews To read other reviews go to: http://journalreviews.ctbuh.org

Building the Skyline

Jason M. Barr, 2016 epilogue, which makes recommendations at play to include building technology’s
Hardcover, 456 pages for the future growth and vitality of the city. impact on the skyscapers built during
Oxford University Press different eras, and the economics of
978-0199344369
The book has two distinct parts. The first individual buildings in terms of competition,
Breaking with the starts with the efforts to settle Manhattan, risk, cost, revenue, and returns.
typical mold of which was once a hilly forest. Settlement and
architecture-, growth before the first skyscrapers were built Every professional in the building industry
engineering-, and sets the stage and begins to define the should read this book to better understand
construction-centric neighborhoods of the city that are still intact the forces that shape this industry. Anyone
chronologies, Building today in many ways. Understanding this interested in American history, economics,
the Skyline is a stage of Manhattan’s development is city planning, and the business drivers
fascinating book, in important to the second section of the book. behind buildings will find this book
which Jason Barr interesting and insightful; not just for the
provides the history of With the stage set, the second part of the information presented, but also for the
societal, economic, and reactive governmental book chronicles the introduction of perspective it will give professionals on their
forces at play in the skyline of Manhattan, skyscrapers and the various drivers for their own work and lives.
from the beginning of the 17th century to the development over the following 13 decades
Reviewed by David Crowell, RMC International
current day. He ends the book with an up to today. This section expands on forces

Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers

Stephen Graham, 2016
Hardcover, 416 pages
Verso
978-1781687932
Today’s world is very
familiar with advances
in technology. For
instance, drone usage
is expanding into new
areas over the next
several years. Over 400
active satellites and
6,000 related facilities
on the ground alone
belong to just one country. This is clearly an
indication how the future of our world is
being shaped by new technologies. Vertical
opens with perspectives from architects and
planners about today’s multi-dimensional
urban environment: , with particular emphasis
on new design elements of future cities.
Graham’s book analyzes tall buildings and
vertical housing in depth. Skyscrapers are
necessary to improve urban densities, reduce
sprawl and increase sustainability, but are built
to be symbols of performance, prestige and
power. Vertical housing on a large scale is a
great tool to deliver affordable housing.
However, Graham gives a brief history of social
housing, citing unique examples of today’s tall
residential buildings from different parts of
the world, which clearly indicates the real
challenges, such as addressing their
contributions to the environment, city, and
people, positive and negative.
Urban planners and designers must be more
creative today than ever before, since more
than 15% of the world’s population lives in
slums, and 75% of the world’s 11 billion
people will be living in cities by 2050.
Graham’s book digs deep to reveal the
elements that are not immediately apparent
and will be of interest to those who truly care
about shaping urban life for the better.
Reviewed by Fatin R. Anlar, FXFowle

CTBUH in the Media More CTBUH in Media articles: http://media.ctbuh.org

ENR’s Top 25
Newsmakers 2016

China’s Obsession with Skyscrapers “The Building Creaks and Sways”:

Reaches New Heights Life in a Skyscraper
February 14 February 4 January 18
The Guardian Weekend Engineering News-Record
South China Morning Post

In a discussion with the South China
Morning Post, CTBUH China Office Director
Daniel Safarik discussed the implications of
skyscraper construction in China
The Guardian interviews CTBUH
Communications Manager Jason Gabel and
numerous high-rise dwellers for its sweeping
profile of life in the sky.
ENR named CTBUH Executive Director
Antony Wood among its “Top 25
Newsmakers” of 2016, recognizing him for his
role in “propelling the global skyscraper
authority into a new era.”

56 | Reviews & CTBUH in Media CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II

Comments
Re: Australia Tall
I read with interest your article “Debating Tall:
Melbourne’s New Skyscraper Guidelines: Too
Restrictive?” (CTBUH Journal 2017 Issue I) and
believe this discussion is flowing through a
number of Australian cities, including Sydney.
An interesting debate is emerging about the
character of Sydney, with the previous
Planning Minister, Rob Stokes, promoting a
built form similar to that of Barcelona or Paris.
This image of a comfortable six- to eight- story
city of street-edge buildings is a romantic
hope that European values will dominate over
American or Asian values. The reality is that
Sydney is now a collage of layers of different
cultures.
Our first layer from aboriginal times still exists
in places across Sydney, but the British
settlement in 1788 brought a new layer of
mid-rise sandstone classical buildings. Sydney
took off in terms of height when the idea of
the American skyscraper arrived in the form of
the 26-story AMP Building at Sydney Cove, in
1962, which was superseded as the tallest by
Australia Square Tower, designed by Harry
Seidler, at 46 stories in 1967. Sydney has not
looked back as a high-rise city, with a number
Melbourne skyline. © David Iliff
Cities to
What’s on the CTBUH Web?
Shaping Dense Vertical Urbanism
Cities to
Shaping Dense Vertical Urbanism
Shenzhen Guangzhou Hong Kong
2016 Conference Archive Now Live
The complete archives of the 2016 CTBUH
Conference, Cities to Megacities: Shaping
Dense Vertical Urbanism, which took place in
Shenzhen, Guangzhou & Shenzhen is now
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
The Council would like to hear your thoughts and opinions on the Journal and CTBUH activities.
Please send your comments to journal@ctbuh.org
of 70-story towers built or planned, and the
city planners lifting heights to over 300 meters
for commercial buildings.
The mid-rise hope is partly a call to “not end
up looking like Asian cities like Shanghai.” To
give some credibility to the form of Asian
cities, I undertook some research on three
cities, Sydney, Shanghai, and Singapore with
Professor Richard Hu from Canberra University.
The perceptions that the two Asian cities were
well ahead in high-rise towers was dispelled
with a simple measure of the number of
towers over 100 meters. According to our
research, confirmed by updated CTBUH
Skyscraper Center listings, Sydney has 120
completed buildings over 100 meters tall.
Singapore has 121 such buildings. Shanghai,
which has a population five times that of
Sydney, has a total of 173 buildings over 100
meters. The reality is that tourist snapshots of
Shanghai’s three super towers at Pudong have
conveyed the impression that the whole city
is like this. So Sydney must now blend a more
Asian approach to its built form, as part of a
cultural layering of our connections to the
world as a cosmopolitan global city.
Chris Johnson, CEO, Urban Taskforce, Australia
Visit www.ctbuh.org for more on the global tall building industry
online. Find speaker powerpoints,
presentation videos, daily reports, photo
galleries, papers published in the proceedings,
and much more!
2016.ctbuh.org
Re: Indexing CTBUH Publications
To the Editor: I would like to ask if Council
academic research publications are listed in
any of the world’s prestigious indexes? I would
like to know what steps the Council is taking
towards this important issue, in order to
render it the image and status it deserves.
Dr. Abdel Rahman Elbakheit,
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Architecture and
Building Science, King Saud University, Riyadh
Editor’s Response:
I am quite pleased that you wrote to us about this,
because it is something that we have not
promoted to our members and the community as
much as we could. The CTBUH Journal is currently
indexed in the following databases: Avery Index to
Architectural Periodicals, EBSCO, JSTOR, and
SCOPUS. Further, we are also in the process of
submitting the CTBUH Journal for inclusion in the
ISI / Web of Science database (now operated by
Clarivate Analytics / Thomson Reuters).
We will alert our membership when our
publications are accepted to new databases, via
our newsletter, e-blast, and Journal platforms.
We know it is important to the reputation of
both CTBUH and the academics and
professionals we publish that our publications
are indexed in the leading global databases.
Many thanks for raising the issue.
Daniel Safarik, CTBUH Journal Editor
CTBUH–CAF Event: How High Can We Go?
Watch the full panel discussion as four
experts from varying disciplines in the tall
building industry debate the topic.
www.ctbuh.org/video/BuildingTall
Comments & What's on the CTBUH Web | 57
Meet the CTBUH
CTBUH 2017 Conference Co-Chair: Philip Vivian
Philip Vivian, Design
Director, Bates Smart, is
one of the co-chairs of
the CTBUH 2017
Conference, taking
place in Sydney,
October 30–November
Philip Vivian, Bates Smart
3, and has been a
CTBUH Sydney representative since 2015.
How did you become involved with the
CTBUH?
I recently had the opportunity to design three
supertall buildings in Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur
& Guizhou (China), and became fascinated
with the typology. This led me to become a
believer in the environmental and social
benefits of density in the modern city. A paper
I proposed on the sub-tropical high-rise was
accepted for the CTBUH Seoul Conference in
2011, and I have been involved ever since,
attending CTBUH Conferences in London,
New York, and South China.
What inspired you to become a CTBUH
Sydney representative?
In CTBUH Sydney, events focus on presenting
entries into the City of Sydney Design
Excellence Competitions for tall buildings. I
presented at the first of these and thought it
was an inspired format that brought together
architects, engineers, and developers to focus
on design excellence, so I offered to join the
committee.
What are your ambitions for the 2017
Conference in Sydney?
At present, Sydney is undergoing a public
transport infrastructure boom that will better
connect the city, creating a massive public
benefit, as well as supporting future density in
our city. I hope that the conference will create
a platform for the world to see what’s
happening in Sydney, as well as for us to learn
from the world’s best.
What do you think is driving Australia’s
embrace of tall buildings and urban density?
Australian cities have reached the limit of the
suburban mono-centric city model and are
experiencing traffic congestion, pollution, and
58 | Meet the CTBUH
(As of March 31, 2017)
SUPPORTING CONTRIBUTORS
AECOM
ARCADIS
BuroHappold Engineering
CCDI Group
health effects from an unsustainable model. CITIC Heye Investment Co., Ltd.
The current infrastructure boom in our cities is D2E International VT Consultants Ltd.
Dassault Systèmes
retrofitting a car-based model with a Dow Corning Corporation
sustainable public transport network; driving Emaar Properties, PJSC
HSB Sundsfastigheter
a more sustainable, connected poly-centric Illinois Institute of Technology
city model with increased density and height IUAV University of Venice
Jeddah Economic Company
at transport nodes. Kingdom Real Estate Development Co.
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, PC
KONE Industrial, Ltd.
After a considerable building boom, it National Engineering Bureau
seems as if skyscrapers are coming under Otis Elevator Company
Shenzhen Ping An Financial Centre Construction and Development
more scrutiny in Australia these days. How Samsung C&T Corporation
do you see your role in that dialogue? Schindler Top Range Division
Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co., Ltd.
Skyscraper design is scrutinized in three areas: Shenzhen Aube Architectural Engineering Design
impact on amenity, public domain and Shenzhen Parkland Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
streetscape interface, and design excellence. Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited
This is good news, as planning authorities, Taipei Financial Center Corp. (TAIPEI 101)
Tongji University
clients, and the general public are all Turner Construction Company
demanding better design. My role is to Underwriters Laboratories (UL) LLC
Wentworth House Partnership Limited
continue to promote architectural design WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
excellence, as well using the world’s best
practices to demonstrate the positive effects PATRONS
of height and density. Autodesk Inc
BMT Fluid Mechanics, Ltd.
DeSimone Consulting Engineers
What characteristics of tall buildings in Durst Organization
East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI)
Australia are special and worth sharing with Fly Service Engineering S.r.I.
the rest of the world? Gensler
HOK, Inc.
Australian high-rises are driven from the inside Hongkong Land, Ltd.
out by workplace strategy. Floor plates are ISA Architecture
KLCC Property Holdings Berhad
based on the need for connectivity, Kuraray America, Inc.
encouraging communication and innovation Langan
Meinhardt Group International
in the workplace. This has resulted in NBBJ
considerable typological innovation, with PACE Development Corporation PLC
POHL Group
high-rises often having side or end cores, Rider Levett Bucknall
atriums for vertical connectivity, outdoor Ridley
Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin, Inc.
terraces, natural ventilation opportunities, SL Green Management
large structural spans, and large floor plates. Studio Libeskind
Tencent Holdings Limited
Activation of the street and public realm are Thornton Tomasetti, Inc.
also key characteristics. thyssenkrupp Elevator
Tishman Speyer Properties
Windtech Consultants Pty., Ltd.
What about the rest of the world’s Zuhair Fayez Partnership
experience in tall buildings do you want to
DONORS
bring to Australia? A&H Tuned Mass Dampers
There is a fear of height by Australian approval Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, LLP
Aon Fire Protection Engineering Corp.
authorities and a misunderstanding of the Arcadis Australia Pacific
benefits of density. The positive experiences Architectural Design & Research Institute of South China University
of Technology
of other cities, such as the City of London, Arquitectonica International
would benefit Australian audiences.  Arup
Aurecon
BALA Engineers
Beijing Fortune Lighting System Engineering Co., Ltd.
Bosa Properties Inc.
Broad Sustainable Building Co., Ltd.
Capol International & Associates Group
CBRE Group, Inc.
China State Construction Engineering Corporation
CTBUH Journal | 2017 Issue II
 CTBUH Organizational Members http://membership.ctbuh.org

Enclos Corp. Cerami & Associates, Inc. Longman Lindsey

Fender Katsalidis Architects China Architecture Design & Research Group (CADI) Lusail Real Estate Development Company
Halfen USA China Electronics Engineering Design Institute (CEEDI) M Moser Associates Ltd.
Hill International Civil & Structural Engineering Consultants (Pvt) Ltd. Maeda Corporation
Jensen Hughes Code Consultants, Inc. Maurer AG
JLL Conrad Gargett Mori Building Co., Ltd.
JORDAHL Cosentini Associates Nabih Youssef & Associates
Jotun Group Cottee Parker Architects National Fire Protection Association
Larsen & Toubro, Ltd. Cotter Consulting Inc. Nikken Sekkei, Ltd.
Leslie E. Robertson Associates, RLLP CoxGomyl Norman Disney & Young
Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Inc. CPP Inc. O’Donnell & Naccarato
make CRICURSA (CRISTALES CURVADOS S.A.) OMA
McNamara • Salvia CS Group Construction Specialties Company Omrania & Associates
Multiplex CS Structural Engineering, Inc. Ornamental Metal Institute of New York
Nishkian Menninger Consulting and Structural Engineers Cubic Architects Pakubuwono Development
Outokumpu Daewoo Engineering & Construction Palafox Associates
PDW Architects Dar Al-Handasah (Shair & Partners) Pappageorge Haymes Partners
PEC Group Davy Sukamta & Partners Structural Engineers Pavarini McGovern
Peckar & Abramson, P.C. DB Realty Ltd. Pepper Construction
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners DCA Architects Perkins + Will
Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects DCI Engineers Plus Architecture
Permasteelisa Group DDG Probuild Construction (Aust) Pty Ltd
Pickard Chilton Architects, Inc. Deerns Prof. Quick und Kollegen - Ingenieure und Geologen GmbH
Plaza Construction DIALOG Profica
PLP Architecture Dong Yang Structural Engineers Co., Ltd. R.G. Vanderweil Engineers LLP
PNB Merdeka Ventures SDN Berhad dwp|suters Radius Developers
PT. Gistama Intisemesta EFT-CRAFT Company Limited Raftery CRE, LLC
Quadrangle Architects Ltd. Elenberg Fraser Pty Ltd Ramboll
SAMOO Architects and Engineers Elevating Studio RAW Design Inc.
Saudi Binladin Group / ABC Division EllisDon Corporation Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd.
Schuco Eversendai Engineering Qatar WLL Related Midwest
Severud Associates Consulting Engineers, PC FM Global Rhode Partners
Shanghai Construction (Group) General Co. Ltd. Foster + Partners Richard Meier & Partners architects LLP
Sika Services AG FXFOWLE Architects, LLP Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Studio Gang Architects GEI Consultants Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Syska Hennessy Group, Inc. GERB Vibration Control Systems (Germany/USA) Ronald Lu & Partners
TAV Construction GGLO, LLC Ronesans Holding
Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd. (TJAD) Global Wind Technology Services (GWTS) Royal HaskoningDHV
Ultra-tech Cement Sri Lanka Glumac Sanni, Ojo & Partners
Vasavi Homes Private Limited gmp • Architekten von Gerkan, Marg und Partner GbR Savills Property Services (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd.
Walsh Construction Company Goettsch Partners SECURISTYLE
Walter P. Moore and Associates, Inc. Gradient Wind Engineering Inc. Sematic Elevator Products
WATG URBAN Graziani + Corazza Architects Inc. SETEC TPI
Werner Voss + Partner Green-Towers Sustainable High-rises GmbH Shimizu Corporation
William Hare Grocon Shui On Management Limited
Woods Bagot Guangzhou Design Institute SilverEdge Systems Software, Inc.
Wordsearch 添惠达 Guangzhou Yuexiu City Construction Jones Lang La Salle Silverstein Properties
Zaha Hadid Limited Property Management Co., Ltd. SkyriseCities
Halvorson and Partners Spiritos Properties LLC
Hariri Pontarini Architects Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates, Ltd.
CONTRIBUTORS Harman Group Steel Institute of New York
Aedas, Ltd. HASSELL Stein Ltd.
Akzo Nobel Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company Studco Australia Pty Ltd
Aliaxis Heller Manus Architects SuperTEC
Alimak Hek AB Henning Larsen Architects Surface Design
alinea consulting LLP Hilti AG SVA International Pty Ltd
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd. SWA Group
Altitude Façade Access Consulting HKA Elevator Consulting Taisei Corporation
Alvine Engineering Housing and Development Board Takenaka Corporation
AMSYSCO Humphreys & Partners Architects, L.P. Taylor Devices, Inc.
Andrew Lee King Fun & Associates Architects Ltd. Hutchinson Builders Terracon
Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners Hysan Development Company Limited TFP Farrells, Ltd.
ArcelorMittal IDOM UK Ltd. Trimble Solutions Corporation
architectsAlliance Inhabit Group Uniestate
Architectural Design & Research Institute of Tsinghua Irwinconsult Pty., Ltd. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University Israeli Association of Construction and Infrastructure Engineers Vetrocare SRL
Architectus ITT Corporation Vidaris, Inc.
AvLaw Pty Ltd JAHN Waterman AHW (Vic) Pty Ltd
Barker Mohandas, LLC Jangho Group Co., Ltd. Werner Sobek Group GmbH
Bates Smart Jaros, Baum & Bolles wh-p Weischede Beratende Ingenieure
BG&E Pty., Ltd. Jiang Architects & Engineers WilkinsonEyre
bKL Architecture LLC John Portman & Associates, Inc. WOHA Architects Pte., Ltd.
Bonacci Group Kajima Design WTM Engineers International GmbH
Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory Kawneer Company WZMH Architects
Bouygues Batiment International KEO International Consultants Y. A. Yashar Architects
Broadway Malyan KHP Konig und Heunisch Planungsgesellschaft
Brunkeberg Systems Kier Construction Major Projects PARTICIPANTS/ACADEMIC & MEDIA INSTITUTES
Cadillac Fairview Kinemetrics Inc. There are an additional 299 members of the Council at the Participant/
Canary Wharf Group, PLC Langdon & Seah Academic Institute/Media Institute level. Please see online for the full
Canderel Management, Inc. LCI Australia Pty Ltd member list. http://members.ctbuh.org
CB Engineers LeMessurier
CCL Lend Lease

Supporting
2 | This Issue Contributors are those who contribute $10,000; Patrons: $6,000; Donors: $3,000; Contributors: $1,500; Participants: $750; AcademicCTBUH
& Media Institutes:
Journal $500.
| 2017 Issue xx
About the Council
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
(CTBUH) is the world’s leading resource for
professionals focused on the inception, design,
construction, and operation of tall buildings and
future cities. Founded in 1969 and headquartered at
Chicago’s historic Monroe Building, the CTBUH is a
not-for-profit organization with an Asia Headquaters
office at Tongji University, Shanghai, a Research
Office at Iuav University, Venice, Italy, and an
Academic Office at the Illinois Institute of
Technology, Chicago. CTBUH facilitates the exchange
of the latest knowledge available on tall buildings
around the world through publications, research,
events, working groups, web resources, and its
extensive network of international representatives.
The Council’s research department is spearheading
the investigation of the next generation of tall
buildings by aiding original research on sustainability
and key development issues. The Council’s free
database on tall buildings, The Skyscraper Center, is
updated daily with detailed information, images,
data, and news. The CTBUH also developed the
international standards for measuring tall building
height and is recognized as the arbiter for bestowing
such designations as “The World’s Tallest Building.”

CTBUH Headquarters
104 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 620
Chicago, IL 60603, USA
Phone: +1 (312) 283-5599
Email: info@ctbuh.org
www.ctbuh.org
www.skyscrapercenter.com

CTBUH Asia Headquarters

College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP)
Tongji University
1239 Si Ping Road, Yangpu District
Shanghai 200092, China
Phone: +86 21 65982972
Email: china@ctbuh.org

CTBUH Research Office

Iuav University of Venice
Dorsoduro 2006
30123 Venice, Italy
Phone: +39 041 257 1276
Email: research@ctbuh.org

CTBUH Academic Office

S. R. Crown Hall
Illinois Institute of Technology
3360 South State Street
Chicago, IL 60616
Phone: +1 (312) 567 3487
Email: academic@ctbuh.org

ISSN: 1946 - 1186