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All Things Construction PM

Want to Learn About Some Unique Construction Projects?

Published about 1 year ago • 5 min read

In the world of construction, we typically don’t see a building that is all that unique. That’s because it require significant planning and engineering. These drive up the cost of the project.

There are still those projects that try to break the mold and be more ambitious.

This week, we will look at two buildings that are unique and innovative. When I see these types of builds they give me a greater appreciation for the construction industry.

Each one of these builds had to overcome engineering challenges and adopt technology to work. It’s impressive, as you will see, what they were able to create.

Apple Park

First on the list, we have Apple Park. The campus is located in Cupertino, California and is made up of various buildings.

I mainly want to talk about one, their main office, known for it’s circular construction.

Some details about their campus. It’s approximately 2.8 million square feet, accommodates 12,000 employees, and cost $5 billion to build.

What’s crazy is that the original estimate for construction was only $500 million. There must have been numerous changes to the design, additions, and issues that the job encountered.

Construction of Apple Park started in 2013, with the announcement from Steve Jobs in 2006. It was completed four years later in 2017.

Can you imagine seven years of planning to prepare for such a build? No wonder the project cost $5 billion to comolted.

The Construction of Their Main Office

Apple chose such an interesting shape for their design. But it has a purpose.

The circular shape of the building is meant to represent the companies focus on design, green energy, and future of technology.

There’s more that comes with the design as well.

Because of the shape, it allows the wind to enter the building from various angles. The ventilation system for the building keeps it cool without AC for nine months of the year.

I can tell you that an AC system for a building of this a scale would cost a lot in power and maintenance fees.

When it comes to powering the building, they have a photovoltaic system that travels around the entire office building. If this power is insufficient, then the building uses fuel cells to make up for it.

Apple was able to achieve a LEED Platinum certification for their building. The platinum certification is the highest level you can receive. It’s given based on the number of green building solutions you integrate into the building.

Next, we look at the structure which holds up this miraculous building. Over 4,000 concrete slabs which make up the floor and ceiling. They call these “Void Slabs.”

While maintaining a high strength and light weight these slabs do more than just hold up the building. They also are a part of the ventilation system.

Take a look at the cross-sectional view of the slabs.

You can see there’s a vent piece that allows for ventilation to enter the building. They then install subsequent vents to transfer the air throughout.

Another thing the engineers had to account for was the earthquake risk. Cupertino has a high likelihood of earthquakes occurring.

As a result, vibration plates were installed for the building. The plates allow the building to shift four feet in any horizontal direction.

If you’re going to spend that much for a building, you better make it last. The idea to install vibration plates is smart in my opinion.

While this only scrapes the surface with the build, these were some features that stood out to me. If you ever get the chance, I would advise going to check it out at least once in your life time.

I’ve gone, and I can tell you it’s quite the sight. You can’t even comprehend how vast the building is until seen in person.

They even have an interactive augmented reality display in their Apple Store. There you can learn more about how the building functions and the different buildings in the park.

To the next interesting build!

The CCTV Building in China

I chose to talk about this building because it had such a unique shape to it. It is very asymmetrical by design because it aims to avoid looking like a standard skyscraper.

The building is still large. At 54 stories, the shape of the building resembles a pair of pants, hence the nickname, “big pants.”

The CCTV building comprises of two towers that lean against each other. Then cantilevered across at the top to make a connection.

If you look closely at the structure you can see the shape is wild. The structural analysis that they had to perform to get everything right was very extensive.

They used CAD software which allowed them to perform the structural analysis. I imagine without this, the design phase would have taken significantly longer.

I doubt that they would be able to make such a building without the help of modern technology.

Even with the amount of time spent performing structural analysis, the building still breaks Chinese design codes. The building was approved because it was an innovative design that became the icon of the 2008 Olympics.

The construction faced a few challenges during the build.

First, the construction started in 2004 and it was nearly complete in 2008. Unfortunately, a fire broke out in 2009 which delayed the opening of the building. It wasn’t until 2012 that construction finished and the occupants moved in.

Another challenge involved the building structure.

Not only did it need to withstand seismic activity and strong wind, but they also needed to think about how the weather affects their material.

They understood that the steel would expand and contract as the temperature varies throughout the day. Because of this, they could only join the two towers during the cooler parts of the day.

I imagine that if they performed the work during the hotter part of the day, it would cause the beams to expand. When joining the material together, you create unnecessary tension in the beams as it pulls on one another during contraction.

I’m no structural engineer, but just my thoughts on why this was done.

Overall this project must have been a structural nightmare. You can see on the outside of the building it has steel beams running in strange angles all over.

The innovation required to pull this build off is amazing to me and I commend the engineers on this job.

Conclusion

So, which build was your favorite to learn about?

Do you enjoy this kind of content? Is there anything you want to know about construction?

Feel free to reach out to me, I’d be happy to hear from you!

Thanks,

Alex

Sources:

All Things Construction PM

Alex Fraser

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