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2006/2007 StruCad
International Drawing Competition Winners
AceCad would like to thank all of the entrants to the StruCad International
Drawing Competition 2006/2007 for such a high quality of entries. The judging
process was very difficult but we finally have our winners!
 
1st Place
Company: Gulf Steel Industries (U.A.E.)
Project: Al Kazim Towers
Accuracy and speed were key criteria’s when it came to selecting the 3D
structural steel detailing package used to complete the spectacular Al Kazim
Towers. This ‘fast track’ 22
month contract for the construction and completion
of the 52-storey twin towers, part of the Mohammed Amin Al Kazim project in
Dubai was detailed by Gulf Steel Industries in less than 3 months using StruCad
– the world’s leading 3D structural steel detailing system.
The Al
Kazim towers project which has recently celebrated its ‘top out’ (Week 52)
features three basement levels, a ground
floor and an eight storey podium plus two 52-storey towers rising 44 floors
above the podium to a height of 203m. Rising
above the towers two aesthetically-designed roofs ‘topped out’ at 265m.
These iconic towers will include residential, office and commercial space and
stand in a very strategic area near the fifth interchange on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed
road.
The spectacular roof structure of each tower consists of approximately 1200 tons
of steelwork formed into intricate arches to echo the lines of the world famous
Chrysler Building in New York. This aesthetically pleasing and intricate project
was modelling entirely on StruCad and according to Head of Engineering for Gulf
Steel Industries Mr KG Surendran; ‘enabled the project to be delivered in less
time than anticipated and with accuracy to meet the client’s demanding requirements’. As a
result of the collaborative nature of StruCad, links with analysis and design
packages such as STAAD Pro were simply facilitated. The StruCad database enables
the bi-directional transfer of design
data streamlining the engineering, design and detailing functions, whilst
fabrication data and drawings are automatically generated by the system.
  
2nd Place
Company:
Cadtec Draughting Ltd. (New Zealand)
Project:
City Arena
The project's first challenge was the detailing of the spine truss, which is the
main structural support for the single span roof. The spine truss has an
asymmetrical teardrop profile and detailing was further complicated by the
inclusion of non linear pre-cambers. A further challenge was provided by the
wing-form multi plane roof profile. Both sides of the roof slope in two planes
and have radial profiles to the perimeter connected by a central gutter.
Integration of the non linear faceted walls with an asymmetric set-out, to the
underside of the sloping wing-form roof was also required.
The multi function venue will be used by the worlds greatest music artistes and
therefore incorporation of specialised support systems for soundproofing and
lighting arrays were required, which could not conflict with the main structure.
According to Cadtec, fabrication and erection of the City Arena; with the spine
truss and roof steel in particular, required extremely close production
tolerances. The spine truss was required to be erected in one lift; on to cast
in HD bolts on top of columns.
Due to the complex nature of the design, fabrication and erection sequence and
the fact that no two pieces were the same, the use of StruCad enabled the
draughtsman to keep control of the project. This was especially critical as the
project was design-build led and when detailing commenced the roof edge profiles
and much of the secondary structure were not yet designed. As a result StruCad's
system for automatically revising drawings and materials lists were vital to
completing this project. CAM data was used from StruCad to complete the 1235
tons of steelwork via Peddinghaus fabrication equipment. Senior Draughtsman Mr
Ben Cattaway concluded; the inherent flexibility of the StruCad modelling system
allowed any issues to be spotted immediately and quickly dealt with.
  
3rd Place
Company:
Billington Structures Ltd. (United Kingdom)
Project:
Barnsley Transport Interchange
The Barnsley Transport Interchange is made up of a series of extremely
complicated geometric shapes.
The central roof and the main north
/ south concourse of the building resembles a swan in flight, with the neck
forming a tube shaped passenger footbridge.
The roof alone is made up of 3 intersecting, inclined
cones which create a feature wave form roof. The aero foil tips of the
structure are elliptical and there is an abundance of curved steel. Possibly the
most challenging part of detailing this project,
according to StruCad Draughtsman Mr Glyn Bassingdale,
was the feature wall, which is
made up of massively complicated intersections.
The project is part of the redevelopment of the town of Barnsley and cost
approximately £24 million, opening in May 2007. 650 tons of steel were used in
the project which was also fabricated by Billington Structures, who use the CAM
and scribing data facilitated by StruCad to feed their CNC machinery.
“The extremely complex geometry of the Barnsley
Transport Interchange was such that without the aid of StruCad this contract
would have taken 10 times longer and would have
been
way beyond our capabilities”,
said a Billington Structures spokesman.
  
As a result of the significant number of entries and the exceptionally high
standards AceCad would would also like to highly commend the following entries:
Highly Commended
Company: Walter Watson Ltd. (Northern Ireland)
Project: The Crescent Shopping Centre
The Crescent Shopping Centre, City West Road, Dublin was detailed and fabricated
by Walter Watson Ltd. This EU 1,400,000 project incorporates a curved canopy
which both curves aesthetically around the structure and slopes upwards at the
same time. This beam, column, truss and curved member project consists of 610
tons of structural steelwork.
According to Senior Structural Detailer Mr Michael Armstrong, StruCad was most
beneficial in detailing the complex and critical curved steelwork, which was
easily set up in the wireframe environment. This enabled the full size frames
to be set up in the workshop with complete accuracy and confidence. Additionally
CAM data was used from StruCad, with the StruCad Freeware being particularly
useful across the project.
  
Highly Commended
Company: Cadtec Draughting (New Zealand)
Project: Auckland Museum
This multi-award winning structure consists of 4 truss tower frames supporting 2
pre-cambered box girder trusses, each 1 storey deep arranged in a cruciform
which in turn carries a suspended bowl. The bowl is timber clad and is designed
as an independent structure hanging from the trusses. With its copper cladding
the distinctive roof incorporates a wave at the perimeter, which perhaps drew
recognition from the prestigious Institute of Structural Engineers Awards 2007,
who credited the project with the - Commendation Award for Arts, Leisure or
Entertainment Structures 2007.
According to Senior Draughtsman Mr Ben Cattaway, StruCad particularly assisted
due to the ease with which it was possible to create curved construction lines
enabling the pinpointing of locations around the dome as the wave moved up and
down. This enabled the fabrication shop to create full size jigs to mould the
perimeter piping, which is curved in two directions. StruCad also allowed other
trades to check and locate cleat positions for the copper, glass and timber
cladding.
  
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