Boxing Day in Australia 2018
Just a short note to say that Boxing Day is a day of sporting highlights in Australia - as well as a lot of mahem at the sales.
The first day of the third cricket test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - The "G" - saw a crowd of some 73,000 watch a slow scoring day on a flat pitch. India batting.
Also Boxing Day is the start of the annual Sydney to Hobart classic ocean yacht race.
From a lightweight structures viewpoint we have the extensive roof structures at the cricket. Also the fast sailing machines with their composite lightweight hulls, prestressed tensile rigging, tensioned fabric sails precisely cut to give a form to generate maximum driving force.
In recent years we have twin rudders and canting keels to maximize the functions of these appendages and in doing so further reduce the weight of the boats.
Some of the super-maxis have very large beams to enhance the planning ability and effects of the crew as ballast.
Carols by Candlelight Melbourne
What an iconic venue in the Kings Domain in Melbourne!
This is a unique tensile cablenet structure was designed by Barry Patten of the Architectural firm Yuncken Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson. Engineering was done by Irwin Johnstone.
The venue is named after Sidney Myer, a Russian immigrant who arrived in Melbourne in 1899 and establish Myers. He also started an annual Music for the People with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1929. He was an important philanthropist and wanted a more permanent home for these annual performances. The setting in the Botanical Gardens would be used for the "Bowl" which was opened in 1959 some 25 years after his death.
For the LSAA, the structure can be regarded as a huge leap forward in freeform tensile architecture. It remains perhaps the largest auditorium for concerts. It was at least a decade ahead of the cablenet structures of the better known Frei Otto who developed freeform cable structures for the 1967 Expo in Montreal and later the best known roof for the main stadium for the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Carols in the Domain - Demountable Stage Canopy
In Sydney for the past 35 or so years there has been great free pre-Christmas Concerts for families.
The event is held in the Domain, and each year the quite large stage and the canopy is erected.
The founding President of the then MSAA (now the LSAA) was largely responsible for developing the canopy concept.
Vinzenz Sedlak started with a lycra model at a scale of 1:100 and envisaged four masts located near each corner of the stage. Diagonal cross cables spanned between the opposite mast heads and a long front edge cable gave an uninterrupted view of the stage area.
Next Cricket Test at Optus Stadium, Perth
Congratulations to India for winning the first test of the 2018 summer season. Next is to start later this week in the brand new 60,000 seat Optus Stadium in Perth. Best wishes to both teams. The Optus stadium roof structure had considerable input from two of our LSAA Members - Arups and MakMax.
More details of this project can be found HERE
Member Example Structures
Our Member Profiles are listed and here are a few examples of the work our members do:
Financial members are encouraged to submit items for our newsletter and website. Send details to office (at) LSAA.org
Test Cricket Australia vs India Adelaide Oval 2018
The Adelaide Oval is a world class cricket facility that was the focus of a $535 million redevelopment completed in 2014.
The first Test of the 2018-19 season between India and Australia was played at the Adelaide Oval. Congratulations to India for the win but it does seem as though the Aussies have a bit of fight in them. Onto the new stadium in Perth!
Various LSAA Members have been involved in the new roof structures at Adelaide. See this article for example.
Photo Credits: Peter Kneen
2018 Design Award Entries and Winners
Small & Medium Structures (Click on Award to see Article)
Large Structures & Glazing - Facades
Design & Construction Collaboration; Special Applications
Monash University Caulfield Campus, Shade House
Award of Excellence LSAA 2018 Design Awards - Glazing and Facades
APPLICATION OF PROJECT:
Shade Facade
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
A brutalist brick and concrete library is transformed with many careful interventions into a light filled, open structure at the heart of its university campus setting.
New openings on all sides of the building are designed specifically to respond to the immediate surrounding street, bridge and courtyard spaces. Internally a new full height atrium is cut through existing 19 metre span, post tensioned, concrete T beams. Natural light is drawn into the deep floor plates and acts as a navigating device.
Federation Square Canopy Stage
APPLICATION OF PROJECT:
Outdoor Stage Canopy
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Structure was originally envisaged to disappear into the background of the new digital façade.
Design workshops starting with many different material and went through different iterations of demountable to final permanent structure. ETFE cushions were originally envisaged as a lightweight and demountable system.
Further development with the end user ended up with a final structure has a thin profile steelwork onto which a thin polycarbonate structure is supported and cantilevered off.
Structure consists of straight lines but no 90 degree angle in the system as the structure emulates the façade digital geometry into its DNA.