High-Rise Buildings in the Netherlands.pdf

High-Rise Buildings in the Netherlands: Hybrid Structures and

Precast Concrete

J.N.J.A. Vambersky

Delft University of Technology,

Corsmit Consulting Engineers, The Netherlands

Abstract

The emergence of new building materials and new construction technologies has changed the face of the building

industry. Structural steel, reinforced and precast concrete are now easily accessible and compete in the construction

market. However, joining forces, seeking synergy rather than confrontation, is the emergent trend. The result of this

trend is a growing number of hybrid structures in use in everyday building practice. Hybrid or mixed construction with

precast concrete means combined use with other structural materials, such as steel, timber, cast-in-situ concrete and

glass, for the benefit of the building process at large. In the Netherlands two recent examples of this development are

the "Malietoren" office tower, constructed over the motorway entering the city of The Hague, and the 100 m high

sloping "Belvedere" office tower in Rotterdam, where the aim of the architect Renzo Piano to create appealing but

competitively priced buildings was realised through hybrid construction. The planned concepts, alternatives, final

solutions and detailing of these two architecturally appealing buildings are discussed in this paper, to illustrate this new

development. A development in which, especially in the Netherlands, precast concrete is playing an important role.

1. Advantagess of hybrid construction

- Currently hybrid construction is being used in more

than 50 % of new multi-storey buildings, once the

traditional domain of cast-in-situ concrete and

structural steelwork. Precast concrete is ideally suited

to hybrid construction as it may be readily combined

with other materials, such as steel, timber, cast-in-situ

concrete, masonry and glass, for the benefit of the

building process at large.

- By using precast concrete as the dominant material in

hybrid construction, on-site operations are consi-

derably reduced because there is less wet concrete to

place, fewer loose reinforcing bars to fix and fewer

structural components and formwork to erect. There is

also less construction noise and disturbance to local

communities. This results in a safer working

environment. Prefabricated components also provide

working platforms for workers, and this eases the

construction process and improves safety.

- Various case studies claim that hybrid construction

when compared with traditional systems can save

between 10% and 20% construction time.

- Hybrid construction is, by definition, cost effective

because it maximises the beneficial structural and

architectural advantages of using components made of

different materials. The technique requires the

cooperation of architects, consulting engineers, manu-

facturers, suppliers and contractors.

- In some cases client and architectural demands can be

satisfied only by using mixed construction techniques.

Hybrid construction maximises the structural and

architectural advantages of combining components made

of different materials. To achieve this, it is vital to have

good cooperation between the architect the structural

engineer, services engineer, manufacturer, supplier and

the contractor. Hybrid or mixed construction must be

distinguished from "composite" construction where

different materials are constructed to act as one structural

unit.

In hybrid construction the different materials may

work together or independently, but will always provide

advantages over the use of a single material. Today in

engineering practice, builders and users are discovering

that hybrid construction is essential to meet architectural

requirements, providing high surface finishes, minimising

structural floor depths, achieving better sustainability and

ensuring rapid construction, all of which translate into

substantial savings and better quality of the end-product.

Hybrid construction methods vary considerably with the

type of construction and building function. These reflect

local trends, environmental and physical conditions,

relative material and labour costs and local expertise. The

fib-commission 6 -Prefabrication, Working group on

Mixed Construction[1] reports the following.

Contact author: Prof.dipl.-ing. J.N.J.A. Vambersky, Delft

University of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering and

geosciences

P.O. Box 5048, 2600 GA Delft, the Netherlands

Tel. + 31 15 2785488 Fax + 31 15 2781560

e-mail: j.n.j.a.vambersky@citg.tudelft.nl

2. The “Malietoren” office tower, The Hague

The growth human population and its demands for

increased living and working space are often in direct

conflict with our desire to conserve grasslands, forests

136 CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea

and natural resources. Multiple use of space for our

building activities is one answer to this dilemma.

The “Malietoren” office tower (Figure 1) is a case in

point. It is situated over the “Utrechtse Baan” motorway

entering the city of The Hague. The building is almost

square in plan, 40 m long and 32.2 m wide (Figure 2).

The ground floor is designed as an entry and reception

area (Figure 3). Above are five car parking floors reached

by a spiral ramp cantilevering half way over the

motorway on the north face of the building. The sixth and

seventh floors are conference facilities while the

remaining 13 floors are designed as offices. The building

services are concentrated on the top floor of the building,

bringing the total height to 74 m. (See the appendix for

the construction details).

Figure 2. Elevation of truss and plan of building

(dimensions in mm)

The optimum solution was to adopt a composite

concrete truss transfer structure (Figure 2) with a height

of 8.2 m and a span of 32.2 m at the entrance level.

This also satisfied the architectural perception in terms

of structural demands and economy. The 2m-deep precast,

prestressed and post-tensioned lower chord of the truss

was designed to function at the erection stage as a simply

supported beam to carry the weight of the ground floor

acting as a working area. Being prefabricated, the beams

and working floor were placed very quickly (in a single

night) (Figure 4). Diagonals and the upper chord were

then added in in situ concrete B65. The upper floors are

precast hollow-core slabs on precast prestressed concrete

beams, which are very economical and fast to erect.

(Figure 2)

Figure 1. The Malietoren office block

3. The structure

Building over an existing motorway is never easy. The

motorway – effectively a watertight reinforced concrete

trough sunk into the ground – cannot be closed without

causing severe disruption to the life of the city. As a

result, it had to be bridged over to prevent any

disturbance, including additional loads or penetrations to

the trough.

Figure 3. Entrance and reception area

CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea 137

Figure 4. Erection of precast beams

5. The “Bélvèdere” sloping tower Rotterdam

The old harbours in the centre of Rotterdam have lain

idle for a number of years. Today these areas are prime

locations for urban development. Wilhelmina pier, the

site from which over the past two centuries many

European emigrants have boarded ships on their way to

America, is one such a location. Situated on the River

Maas, it is connected to the city centre by the well-known

Erasmus bridge, “the Swan bridge”. Development of

high-quality buildings on this location is the aim of the

Municipality of Rotterdam and of the designers involved.

4. Innovation

For the high-strength (B85) two-storey precast

concrete columns, an innovative, but simple and cheap,

connection (Figure 5) was developed using steel plates

and epoxy resin injection resulting in an enhanced speed

of erection and a minimum column cross-section area

(8% reinforcement). Composite precast concrete façade

frames in system lines A and D and structural steel

bracings in system lines 1 and 6 (Figure 2) were

connected by in-situ concrete corner columns (Figure 6)

to form a stabilising façade tube. The result is a high

quality environmentally and ecologically friendly

building at a very competitive price.

Figure 7. Artist’s impression

Figure 5 . Column-column connection

(dimensions in mm)

6. The building

The architect Renzo Piano was commissioned by the

Real Estate Developer William Properties BV to produce

the architectural design. His inspiration was the Erasmus

bridge immediately adjacent to the location of the

building site. The 100m tall building follows the

inclination of the cable stays of the Erasmus Bridge

(Figure 7 + 8). The building contains approximately

20000 m 2 of office space, 5000 m 2 of retail and

commercial space and two levels of underground car

parking for approximately 250 cars.

Figure 6. Connection of steel bracing to corner

column (dimensions in mm)

7. The inclination

The 6 o inclination of the building, or rather of its

eastern façade close to the Erasmus bridge, was the first

challenge faced by the structural engineer. The position

of the columns (vertical supports), in relation to the

inclined side of the building, influences the horizontal

forces acting upon of this inclination; that is to say, the

138 CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea

Figure 9. Architect’s sketch

Figure 8. Model of the building

Structural scheme A (see Figure 10) shows a design

which has floors spanning from one inclined façade to

another. The effect of this is that the total weight Q of the

whole grid will generate horizontal forces as a function of

the inclination of the columns supporting the floors.

These horizontal forces in turn will cause moments in the

stabilising elements such as cores and shear walls as well

as in their foundations. The total moment, which has to

be resisted, is

Ma.= ¼Qa = ½ q a h 2

bigger the span, the bigger the vertical floor support

reaction to be carried by the inclined side and the bigger

the horizontal load caused by this inclination on the

stabilising structure (Figure 13). However, even with the

optimum position of the columns in the given archi-

tectural design, this horizontal force was still too great to

be borne by conventional structural means like cores or

shear walls only. Being an excellent architect, Renzo

Piano was instinctively aware of this problem, and even

his first sketches on the back of his cigar box include a

reversely inclined compression strut to compensate and

support the leaning side of the building (Figure 9).

This synergy of form and structure, combined with

Piano’s understanding of the different disciplines

involved, had huge potential as a powerful architectural

and structural concept for this building.

(1)

8. Inclined buildings: general concept

Before discussing the structural design of the

Belvédère tower it may be interesting to look first at the

phenomenon of inclined buildings and the impact of the

inclination on the price of the building, depending on the

structural scheme which has been chosen.

The following static schemes A, B and C (see fig. 10,

11 & 12) for an inclined building with the top of the

building being one-half of the base width "a" out of

plumb.

In all three schemes the column-floor connections are

hinge connections. The diaphragm action of the floors

together with the stabilising elements (cores and/or shear

walls) provides the stability of the whole.

Figure 10. Structural scheme A

CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea 139

Structural scheme B (see Figure 11) shows a scenario

where two vertical inner columns have been introduced

as close to the façade as possible in order to reduce the

reactions of the floors supported by the inclined façades.

The smaller the reactions on the inclined façades will be,

the smaller the horizontal components of these reactions

which in turn will have to be resisted by the stabilising

elements. In the given example shown, this results in a

considerably reduced moment Mb=¼M a , which again has

to be resisted by the stabilising elements as well as by

their foundations.

gives more freedom to the architect and more

column-free space at ground floor level.

Figure 12. Structural scheme C

It is clear that there will be a significant price variation

between a building under scheme A and a building under

scheme C, despite the fact that the buildings and their

inclination are the same.

9. The static scheme

Figure 11. Structural scheme B

The reversely inclined strut, depending on its angle of

inclination, the magnitude of the vertical load assigned to

it, the place where it is attached to the building and the

way in which it is designed and detailed to function in the

total structural scheme can:

Scheme C (see Figure 12) shows a situation which is

exactly the same as scheme B, except for the foundation

support of the left-hand side façade which is omitted here.

The façade is designed as a hanger which transfers the

gravity forces first to the top of the building where they

meet the vertical column which in turn takes these forces

to the foundation. This static scheme has the following

consequences:

- The moment M c due to inclination which has

to be taken by the stabilising elements, is only

1/16M a .

Compensate for (counterbalance) the horizontal

forces caused by inclination of the building

(Figure 13)

Form part of (and function as) an outrigger

Perform both functions (1) and (2)

simultaneously.

An analysis of different structural schemes revealed

that the most economical solution was the counter

balancing scheme, in combination with structural core for

overall stability (Figure 15).

- This moment has to be resisted by the

stabilising elements and not by their foundations

as the moment in this scheme at the foundation

level is zero.

For counter balancing, the central column in the

inclined façade does not continue to the foundation but

stops at the level +10.5 m above ground level (Figure 16).

The total force in this column is transferred to the strut

- As the gravity forces at the left-hand façade

are hung up, there is no need of supports. This

140 CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea

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