The facades feature three different kinds of green pleated ceramic panel. Highquality shared amenity spaces, rooftop gardens, shared balconies and a riverside terrace will help build a community and encourage social interaction in the scheme.

Sketch up model of proposed building / Concrete core after completion of slipform

The structural scheme consists of an insitu concrete frame up to level 2 with an insitu concrete core going up 26 floors. The remaining structure is formed using highly advanced prefabricated off site volumetric units supported by a 1.8m thick concrete transfer slab at Level 2.
On a site area of only 500m2 and bounded by the River Wandle, an electrical substation and a public road, the building construction is further complicated by a large surface water overflow sewer running under the site. The sender nature, eccentric core location and triangular shape of the building presented challenging dynamic design conditions. Wind tunnel testing was utilised during the design process to determine wind forces and floor accelerations.

Construction of pocket living units / Mapleton Crescent today

•   AxixVM greatly aided the quick calculation of the structures natural frequencies, moments of inertia and modal shapes for use by the wind modelling specialists. The ability to define the floor slabs as semi rigid diaphragms allowed for increased accuracy of the modal shapes and frequencies.

•   Connections between the core walls and the module units were modelled as partially fixed beam elements free in the Z direction. This allowed for the transfer of shear and axial forces from the module diaphragm slabs into the core walls without transfer of any vertical loads. The clear graphical output of the forces in the core walls allowed for easy assessment of the vertical loads paths due to lateral loads.

•   The RC design module was used to design reinforcement in accordance with EC2 for the stability shear walls and RC slabs. Along the global structural model, a local model of the level 2 transfer slab was created with a more refined mesh in order to design the reinforcement.

•   AxisVM was also used to analyse the core stability in the temporary state during slipform construction and to assess its adequacy to support a tower crane to be installed on top at level 25 during the project.

Our major task was – among other temporary engineering work – to jack the bridge at both abutments and piers. The center pier had to be post tensioned due to poor existing conditions. The post tension system remained permanently for further strengthening of the pier.

In addition to this, we had widened the pier to be able to distribute the total jacking forces of 3,600kN/side. Structural modification of the existing structure was required due to the fact the bridge was not designed for jacking/bearing replacement. Our estimated self-weight of the structure was confirmed within 5%.

Model of the bridge

Von-Mises stress – overall view of original structural elements / Bottom cover plate of diagonal member

The multi-span bridge (spans:74 – 83 – 88 – 88 – 83 – 74 m), links Buda and Pest was built in 1876 based on Ernest Gouin design. It was extended with another bridge linking to Margaret Island in 1900. The bridge except this extension bridge was destroyed in World War 2. Bridge was rebuilt using six main riveted steel arches with reinforced concrete deck each span. In the following 60 years bridge deteriorated, the slab has broken in many places therefore, reconstruction became necessary at the turn of the millennium.

The old RC slab was replaced with a new orthotropic steel deck during reconstruction. More posts were installed between the main arches and the girders in accordance with the original design and braced with cross bracing.

Several building stages was checked during reconstruction works e.g. splitting of the bridge along to two (3-3 main arches in half-bridge), work stages and loading of the gantry crane or demolition stages of the RC deck.

The central space of the water theme park is covered by a huge five stories high 72 m (236 feet) diameter dome covering 4200 square meters without internal supports. The spherical cap was built with a special construction technology on a glued laminated timber frame and covered with a transparent multilayer plastic film. Warm air streaming in two cells provides protection against harmful UV rays. The main beams are 24 m long bent and glued laminated wooden beams. The final design was made more economimical by replacing all trusses with wooden elements. All connections are hidden behind cover plates.

Starting from the two levels of underground parking and continuing with the aerial perspective offered by elevators that lead up to the spectacular panoramic terraces of the penthouses, blends harmoniously with the elevated style of the residence, the Benta Towers are designed to satisfy the most demanding requirements of comfort, quality and safety. It is an impressive residential complex compound of four 15 and 20 story buildings. The complex has a modern shopping center and underground parking on two levels, distributed throughout the resort.

The residential complex consists of several buildings. The structure is composed of cast in place reinforced concrete frames with bracing walls. We will detail only the two 15 story structures, because the other buildings are not currently built.

Seismic analysis and design

For the reinforced concrete multistory flexible frame buildings, the intensity drift control governs the design. For this reason, the seismic analysis of buildings in seismic areas is extremely important.