A 200m diameter gridshell that covers an interior forest. The structure is the largest of its kind in the world. It features a 40m indoor waterfall pouring from an opening in the roof. The design of the glass and steel roof responds to the geometrical constraints of the architecture. It also considers fabrication and procurement challenges.
The highlight of this project is the design of the complex 200m diameter glass-and-steel thin-shell gridshell roof, which encloses an interior forest and features a 40m indoor waterfall.
The gridshell has an irregular toroidal form and is supported at the perimeter as well by 14 interior columns. The structural design responded to the geometrical constraints of the architecture and was detailed to ensure ease of fabrication and assembly.
Geometrically, the gridshell is incredibly complicated. The waterfall vortex is not central, to avoid a pre-existing airport train that runs through the area. Due to the off-centre placement, the toroid becomes slightly ellipsoidal in shape which means each of the 9,000+ triangular glass panels are dimensionally different.
In order to design intelligently and to create value, the engineers went to great efforts to carry out engineering studies and explore fabrication processes.