Pavilion&Installation
[ ONL ] Acoustic Barrier
5osA
2009. 10. 3. 22:05
Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands
Design team: Kas Oosterhuis, Ilona Lenard, Cas Aalbers, Sander Boer, Tom Hals, Dimitar Karanikolov, Tom Smith, Richard Lewis, Barbara Janssen, Gijs Joosen, Andrei Badescu, Maciek Swiatkowski, Rafael Seemann
Engineering: ONL, Meijers Staalbouw BV, Pilkington Benelux BV
Client: Projectbureau Leidsche Rijn Utrecht
Production: Meijers Staalbouw BV
Project year: 2006
Budget: US $6,52 M
Photographs: ONL [Oosterhuis_Lenard]
1. Urban planning innovation
The design integrates a building volume in an acoustic barrier. ONL has defined a few clear design rules, which are specified in the SPVE [urban planning design requirements]. The building is designed with the speed of a car passing at 120km/h. The integrated building volume is stretched in the direction of the flow of cars according to the formula: length: height = 10:1. In the preliminary design a surface is stretched between the elastic top and bottom lines and following the folding lines
2. Architectural innovation
The design is a pure example of Non Standard Architecture realized on a big scale. Basic principle for the NSA is that all compiled components are in principle different. The exception is the rule. If there are two similar components, it is not on purpose and not relevant. But all exceptions take place in a rigidly defined parametric design system. The adagium “one building, one detail” applies here. NSA is based on the new industrial production method of mass customization. Repetition of similar elements is no longer an economic advantage and it is not a valid argument for the aesthetics of the repetition. Repetition of the same elements is not anymore identical to beauty. The beauty of the NSA principle is now in the shaping of the control of series of thousands of different elements. To acquire these new techniques ONL learned from the designing of industrial products which moves or are moved with a certain speed. One example of this are the folding lines which fade out into the curved surface. Non Standard Architecture is the architecture of smooth transitions.
3. Technical design innovations
The engineering of the geometry was developed in-house at ONL. ONL is entirely responsible for the precise data for the tens of thousands of integrated elements. For this purpose ONL has programmed an effective File to Factory process through the writing of project specific scripts. The scripts describe the geometry exactly and the data is registered in a database. This data is read by the software controlling the production machinery. There is a direct link between the 3d model of the architect and the production machines of the manufacturer. The steel manufacturer has subsequently written scripts for the further specification and production of the nodes.
4. Technical construction innovation
ONL and Meijers Staalbouw have developped a system of a point cloud of nodes and connection beams. Two different variants are developed for the Acoustic Barrier and the Cockpit, due to the different conditions for both constructions. The Acoustic Barrier has as only demand to consist of 10 kg/m2 mass without noise leak. The Cockpit has insulated glazing and through the ‘inflating’ of the volume the dimensions for the connection beams and the triangular glasplates are twice as big. Both constructions have in common that the complexity is completely integrated in the nodes so that the connection beams are maximally simple. The triangles are also produced as flat surfaces. Double curved glass are not only more expensive, but wouldn’t enforce the overall image.
5. Building costs innovation
Meijers Staalbouw has offered the whole Acoustic Barrier as a product with a fixed price in close collaboration with ONL. There has been no extra labour. Also for the Cockpit Meijers Staalbouw offered the whole shell [steelconstruction + concrete floors + glass facades + aluminium facades] for a fixed price without mentionable extra work required. The traditional tendering doesn’t work with designs in which construction and geometry are integral part of the architecture. The knowledge of the production and the manner of communication between the architect and the manufacturer needs to be processed in the preliminary stage of the design. This cannot be postponed till the tendering. The Hessing Cockpit building and the Acoustic Barrier would be twice as expensive if they would be tendered on the market as a traditional bidding. The shell of the Cockpit as well as the whole Acoustic Barrier are realized within the budget agreed upon.
from archdaily