Buro Happold scoops IStructE award
Consultancy wins Arts/ Entertainment Structures Award
International multidisciplinary engineering consultancy Buro Happold has won the Institution of Structural Engineers Arts/ Entertainment Structures Award for their work on the much feted John Hope Gateway Building at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Gardens.
The John Hope Gateway Building combines the practical need for improved visitor facilities with an opportunity to engage visitors in the work of the RBGE, as well as exploring the relevance of plant life to the critical issues of our time.
The innovative modular 'tree' structure makes use of minimally-sized, slender steel lattice columns to support glued laminated timber roof members and cross-laminated timber roof panels. This provides a stiff yet light roof structure, which was quick to erect as well as being both ecologically appropriate and visually appealing.
Great care has been taken over the detailing of the structural connections, to ensure that the finished product reflects visibly what is happening technically. This makes the structure both interesting to look at as well as being logical and highly satisfying from an engineering viewpoint.
Particular attention has been paid to diminishing the environmental impact of the building overall in a wide variety of ways, including the careful consideration of its positional fit on the site and by sourcing materials locally where possible. The overall result is an exemplar contemporary low carbon structure, quick to erect and with minimal waste, which demonstrates the high level of design integration that we can expect to become the accepted norm in the future. This has been achieved largely through the appropriate choice of materials and technologies to suit the purpose and philosophy of the building.
The judges commented that the building was “A delightful design in which the structural engineering helps entice the visitor to walk in and encounter a strikingly different environment. Whichever way you consider the project - technically, philosophically or aesthetically - the structural engineer has got it right.”
Project team
Client:
Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh
Architect:
Edward Cullinan Architects
Structural Engineer:
Buro Happold
Mechanical and electrical engineers:
Max Fordham
Note to Editors
Buro Happold
Images are available on request.
For more information, please contact:
Gill Sincock
External Communications Consultant
Tel: +44 (0)1225 320600
Email: gill.sincock@burohappold.com
Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976. It offers civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, health and safety management, infrastructure and traffic engineering, ground engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, computational fluid dynamics analysis, inclusive design consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services.
Categories: Awards, Culture, Structural engineering, United Kingdom