CATEGORY 2: NEW BUILDINGS $30 MILLION TO $80 MILLION
OUTSTANDING PROJECT
TAIYUAN BOTANICAL GARDEN DOMES Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China | StructureCraft The Taiyuan Botanical Garden complex in Taiyuan, China, features 3 paraboloid domes ranging from 43 to 88 meters in diameter and 12 to 30 meters in height. To the designer’s knowledge, the largest of the three domes is the world’s longest clear-span timber gridshell (non-triangulated). All three gridshells comprise light, doubly-curved glulam beams arranged in two or three crossing layers. The project pushes the boundaries of structural engineering, materiality, and construction. A diagrid of almost invisible cables was inserted below the gridshell surface, which stabilized and organized the buckling modes, to solve the inherent issue of local buckling instability resulting from the non-triangulated surface.
CATEGORY 3: NEW BUILDINGS $80 MILLION TO $200 MILLION
STANFORD CENTER FOR ACADEMIC MEDICINE Stanford, CA | HOK Stanford School of Medicine’s new Center for Academic Medicine is a U-shaped, four-story building encompassing 170,000 square feet above a three-level subterranean parking structure. Sitting adjacent to the Stanford University Arboretum, the site presented unique architectural opportunities, such as the building’s chosen U-shape to maximize daylight, views, and access to the arboretum itself. Structural features include using the latest design advances to meet seismic demands surpassing code-required performance, carefully coordinated buckling restrained braced frames, cantilevered roof trusses, two pedestrian bridges, and a heavily landscaped at-grade level. The structural design supports the architectural vision and meets Standford’s rigorous Seismic Safety performance objectives. 40 STRUCTURE magazine
OUTSTANDING PROJECT