INNOVATION IN BUILDING
Ramboll UK
Okhta Tower
Located in the Krasnogvardeysky District of Saint-Petersburg, Russia, Okhta
Tower is the architectural centerpiece of a new business and entertainment
district. The building’s shape evokes water, reflections, and refractions. The
396-meter-tall tower has a hybrid steel frame and reinforced concrete core and
floors, with five individual square floor plates arranged around the circular core
on a radial layout. In addition to twist, the individual floor plates shrink to give
the tower a tapering form.
Developing precise radial revolutions and scaling of the floor plates would
have proved too difficult and time-consuming to construct and reconstruct
in traditional 3D. Using GenerativeComponents in conjunction with TriForma
ensured dynamic coordination and accuracy between the visualized scheme,
plan, and section drawings. Design iterations required less than 20 percent of
the manual remodeling time.
Tipping Mar
The David Brower Center
Berkeley, California, United States
This $74 million mixed-use building in downtown Berkeley, Calif., reflects the
city’s commitment to environmental stewardship and affordable, accessible
housing for all its citizens. The LEED Platinum-targeted Brower Center provides
offices for nonprofit environmental organizations, while Oxford Plaza Housing
provides 97 housing units with rooftop gardens and children’s play areas.
The ambitious environmental sustainability goals required close collaboration
among the project architect, engineer, developer, and contractor to integrate
the structural system into an intricately configured building with unique daylighting and HVAC requirements. Located less than a mile from the Hayward
Fault, the project also set ambitious seismic performance goals. RAM Concept
proved essential in designing for the seismic collector loads.
