Collaborative 3-D Modeling Critical to Success

Little Island is an artificial island built on the Hudson River, providing a unique park experience for New Yorkers and tourists, including open space, nature, art, entertainment, and education. Its signature design distinguishes it from other piers with complex curved geometry, undulating and landscaped grade elevation, and irregular-looking pile grids. However, the design also imposed the most significant challenges for the structure and construction. Arup, the design team, quickly realized that the only solution to ensure that the geometry of construction would align on site would be a common design and construction model. Therefore, the team adopted an open approach to 3-D modeling and digital information transfer and incorporated direct-to-manufacturing digital fabrication techniques.

The University of Syracuse Stadium (a.k.a. Carrier Dome) opened in 1980 and is covered by an air-supported PTFE coated fiberglass fabric roof. It was the first and remains the only domed stadium in New York State. The 50,000-seat stadium is prominently located on campus, home to Syracuse basketball, football, and lacrosse, while serving the larger community by hosting an array of events.

The DC Southwest Library is a beautiful, natural, and functional aesthetic solution for the community’s new neighborhood library. The Library elegantly addresses its unique site and connection to the adjacent park. It showcases the world’s first self-supporting timber folded plate roof, using Dowel Laminated Timber (DLT). This, along with other crucial sustainability protocols that influenced the design and construction of the structure, contributed to the LEED Platinum accreditation bestowed on the Library.

Successful Use of the Latest Advances in the Field

Stanford School of Medicine’s new Center for Academic Medicine (CAM) provides consolidated workspaces for clinical faculty, computational researchers, departmental administration, and leadership for several departments. The new four-story 170,000-square-foot building is built above a three-level subgrade parking structure, concealing vehicles and eliminating the heat islands of surface parking. It is an innovative workplace that includes collaborative conferencing facilities, quiet office space, a host of amenities, and ample access to natural light and views. Situated adjacent to Stanford’s historic arboretum, CAM is a new threshold to the campus, the School of Medicine, and an extension of the arboretum experience.

Meeting Stringent Seismic and Highway Design Criteria

The Washington State Department of Transportation State Route 99 tunnel is North America’s largest-diameter bored tunnel. With a stacked roadway design, the single-bore tunnel sets a new standard for tunnel and infrastructure design, especially in dense urban areas where surface disturbance and impacts on communities, including residences and businesses, are at a premium. The completed tunnel created a safe north-south route bypassing traffic congestion in Seattle’s downtown core and improved mobility between neighborhoods. In addition, it allowed the removal of a seismically vulnerable viaduct that reduced traffic noise and opened access to the Seattle waterfront.

This historic adaptive reuse project is a part of the Plant Riverside District, a 670,000-square-foot complex located just feet away from the Savannah River in Georgia. Initially built in 1912 as the Savannah Electric & Power Company’s power station, the building sat vacant from 2005 until 2016.

The new Taiyuan Botanical Garden complex in Taiyuan, China, features three paraboloid domes ranging from 140 to 290 feet in diameter and from 40 to 100 feet in height. The gridshells comprise light doubly curved glulam beams arranged in two or three crossing layers. The project pushes the boundaries of structural engineering and construction technique in a country with little experience using timber for long-span applications, creating three beautiful gems for this growing city.

The David Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago is a new center for intellectual exchange, scholarly collaboration, and special events. The 97,000-square-foot facility consists of a 2-story podium and a 10-story tower of stacked “neighborhoods” with a zinc-and-glass exterior. A 285-seat auditorium sits above the podium, and a large multipurpose space on the 2nd Floor, called the University Room, can accommodate groups of up to 600 people. The top of the tower features a flat-floor multipurpose space and offers stunning views of the campus, the Midway Plaisance, the city skyline, and Lake Michigan.

The historic Alberta Bair Theater renovation was an exercise in forensic investigation, creative detailing and problem-solving, and construction coordination. Lack of original drawings, combined with a previous remodel, required extensive field research to document existing construction and load paths. Close coordination during construction was necessary to validate designs and deliver final details. Due to rigging capacities, the theater was also at risk of not booking new acts. Creative structural solutions were implemented to nearly triple the technical rigging capacity of the theater, all while reducing the net loading on existing members.

Creative Solutions for a National Historic Landmark

Nestled between university housing and hospitals in Madison, WI, is a building that, even among equals, distinguishes itself as a monument to architecture. A National Historic Landmark, the First Unitarian Society Meeting House was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1951. The building’s auditorium is supported by center-hinged wood trusses spanning up to 76 feet near the entrance, down to 12 feet at the building’s iconic prow. Trusses bear on stone piers and walls. Wright restricted himself to using 2×4s and occasionally 2×6s. The contractor later commented that Wright wanted to “build that church with toothpicks,” a statement that would become apparent over the next 60 years.