Inspiring projects that came to fruition in 2021

It has been a year of exciting milestones for Buro Happold projects around the world.

Across all our sectors and specialisms, we have delivered innovative, imaginative and creative solutions for clients. In this article, we showcase six of our stand-out projects that have come to fruition in 2021.

1. Lankuaikei Agriculture Development (LAD) Headquarters

Shanghai, China

The Lankuaikei Agriculture Development (LAD) Headquarters in Shanghai is an 11-storey terraced office building that brings together both high-tech and low-tech sustainable solutions to act as a showcase for the agriculture technology company.

The building is conceived as an agricultural oasis in a rapidly developing urban area in Shanghai, and one of China’s greenest, smartest, and most inspiring buildings, which it is hoped will engage people with 21st century farming and the innovations being brought to the sector.

Buro Happold was engaged as the energy and sustainability consultant on the distinctive building. It integrates such an extraordinary range of low carbon solutions, that it has been dubbed a “sustainability machine”.

The client’s aim was to achieve an energy neutral, zero emission, zero water building, which would be at the vanguard of sustainable construction in China. Our role was to devise a comprehensive strategy to achieve these objectives.

2. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Los Angeles, USA

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures – located in the historic May Company Building in the Miracle Mile neighbourhood of Los Angeles – is designed to be the world’s leading institution devoted to exploring the art and science of film-making.

The project consists of a major renovation to the 1930s Streamline Moderne May Company Building (renamed the Saban Building), with a soaring spherical addition that will house a 1,000-seat theatre. Visitors to the museum will experience the magic of cinema and the creative, collaborative process of filmmaking.

Buro Happold provided expertise across structural and building services engineering (MEP), lighting design, environmental design, energy modelling and IT consultancy.

Our team worked closely with Earthquake Protection Systems and peer reviewers to develop the triple-friction-pendulum base-isolators and test the seismic design. Across a broad range of specialisms, our innovative engineering solutions have been instrumental in bringing this iconic institution to fruition.

3. ONE Limassol

Limassol, Cyprus

Europe’s tallest residential seafront tower, ONE Limassol, opened its doors to residents this year. The building, a new landmark for Cyprus, sets the benchmark for future luxury development on the island.

Buro Happold was engaged to support the project across a range of disciplines, including structural and building services engineering (MEP), sustainability and acoustics.

Combining significant tall buildings experience gained on projects around the world with knowledge from previous work in the immediate region, the Buro Happold team was able to align our client’s aims with the local resources available and develop efficient engineering solutions.

Our energy specialists built a thermal model of the building to enable them to demonstrate to the architect and facade consultant how sustainable, passive design strategies could be used to reduce solar gain.

Additionally, our structural engineers simplified the tower’s geometry down to a series of flat elements to avoid costly and complicated 3D formwork, without compromising the architect’s vision.

4. Manchester Jewish Museum

Manchester, UK

Manchester Jewish Museum documents the story of Jewish migration, communities and identities in the city, using its Grade II* listed synagogue as a living artefact.

Holding more than 31,000 items, the collection is of international significance. The magnificent red-brick synagogue itself, built by the Sephardi Jewish community in 1874, is one of the greatest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in the country.

Having worked on many listed and heritage buildings, our engineers understood the tight constraints that govern a project like this. However, the synagogue presented unique challenges.

These challenges included preserving the unique architectural motifs of the building, as well as realising new spaces within the existing footprint that could accommodate large events and welcome more visitors through its doors. The restoration of the synagogue opened it up for use as a performance and events space, whilst the new extension allows the museum’s full collection to be displayed.

5. Climate action plan: building technical support

26 cities across South America, Asia and Africa

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group connects more than 90 of the world’s largest cities, representing 650m+ people and one quarter of the global economy. For this project, Buro Happold provided dedicated technical support to inform the development of participating cities’ climate action plans.

Our teams helped cities to plan for and deliver climate action in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, specifically through initiatives to deliver ultra-efficient, net zero carbon new buildings by 2030 and ensure all buildings meet that standard as soon as possible.

We provided cities with a range of different types of support, including a technical review of climate action plans and interim deliverables to ensure opportunities to deliver greenhouse gas emission reductions through buildings are identified, planned and maximised. The project also saw the development of an industrial energy efficiency briefing paper for Chinese cities in collaboration with C40 Cities.

6. Grand Egyptian Museum

Giza, Egypt

The Grand Egyptian Museum is set to be a treasure house for the nation when it opens its doors to the public in 2022. We worked closely with architects Heneghan Peng to develop a passive approach to building environmental design to achieve an internal environment that is conducive to both visitor comfort and the preservation of irreplaceable artefacts.

The result is a building that is essentially a heavily insulated concrete box, isolated from solar radiation by both the translucent wall of the entrance facade and the undulating metal mesh roof to prevent conductivity between these external elements and the museum itself.

This means that, while the roof and facade can reach temperatures in excess of 70°C in the searing desert sun, the galleries themselves remain at around 23°C. Within the museum complex, our intelligent environmental zoning strategy again utilises passive design principles and increases levels of visitor comfort.