Ahead of the Curve

CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

While it’s easy to design a true circle into a building, the cost and practical difficulties of actually constructing one would soon drive the most tolerant client to distraction.

The time-honoured solution, as applied by architects and engineers ancient and modern, is to avoid the problem altogether by forming the circle out of straight components, the curved shape being faceted. 

We engineered this iconic community building using the same principle. The outer arc comprises 28 facets, but with a curved cast in situ edge to the floor slabs. The stressed cladding bends smoothly around the main structure, supported by a cold formed steel sub-frame.