«WEIGHTLESS SKYSCRAPER»

THE ARTICLE | 2018

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

«WEIGHTLESS SKYSCRAPER»

THE ARTICLE | 2018

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Ingmar Vitvitskiy

Introduction. Analysis of the auto industry, light industry, aircraft industry and trends in the electronics industry suggests that the product becomes easier from model to model. In the case of the autoindustry, the weight characteristics of the new models are reduced to several hundred kilograms, in case of electronics industry it reduced by kilograms and grams.

What happens in traditional construction? [1,2] The unsure use of lightweight beams or roofing translucent structures or individual elements does not become a single comprehensive system approach, wherein each element of the building including equipment and internal content would be tested for finding of optimal weight based on the famous triad of Vitruvius.
The weight reducing is able to save considerable financial resources: the lower the weight of the building, the smaller the load on the basis of, the lower load - the cheaper zero cycle.
Methods. The weight reduce of floor slabs and basic structures provide the reducing the cost of horizontal and vertical movements of loads, and machine and mechanisms' productivity is increasing. By decreasing the tonnage of steel, glass, concrete, enclosing structures with using of effective spatial design schemes, we can reduce the weight of the building by half, and even reduce tripled with the all-out approach! [5, 6]
Similar height constructions comparison
On the figure 1, the specialists of the INGMAR ARCHITECTS office carried out an analysis of height structures comparable in height. We see how the masses of these structures are changing.
Construction No. 3 to a certain degree, is our present way of buildings' constructions Construction No. 2 - in point of fact is the Eiffel Tower. According to this principle, high-rise buildings are being built today in industrialized countries. (Gercan, Leadenhall).
Construction No. 1 - uses the masterplan capabilities for stabilization. There are a lot of examples of such solutions (figure 2). [7]
Height 288 m Torre de Collserola, Barcelona, Spain. Author Norman Foster

Results and Discussion. In the “MIPIM/The Architectural Review Future Project Awards 2018” contest process, our office went further into the principle's No. 1 development, and we propose to facilitate not only bearing structures (using the Masterplan capabilities), but also reducing the weight of fencing structures, both transparent and opaque. [8] We know a lot of examples of summer fencing structures, fabric based.


Warm membranes, multilayer canopies are used in the space industry, in life-saving and mountaineering equipment, roofs of convertibles, wear resistant clothing in motor sports and in military gear. [9] Specifically, a building with lightweight frontage was built in the Netherlands.


The use of acrylic also contributes to the goal achievement.

013 venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Fabric based façade
An architectural solution is a key factor in weight reduce!
A round building has a smaller weight with the same area as a square one. Less facade area -less weight, less space - less heating costs, etc. [11]
We designed floor slabs for the round building on the principle of a bicycle wheel (the hollow sleeve in a centre is the place for elevator equipment and engineering communications). [12] "Breathable" membrane and valves on the facade are excluding the presence of air supply system (by calculation, of course). Reducing the number of engineering devices without compromising comfort - all contributes to a task. [13, 14]
The usage of the sunshade on the facade in the form of plastic with 18-volt photo cells is reducing weight and excess transit of cable (to avoid adapters for recharging), obscures the frontage of building (removing the air conditioning cost) and the weight of air conditioning systems, respectively. [15]

Conclusions. In high-rise construction, the weight of a building is often equal to the weight of it’s foundation. Reuse of supertankers (floating foundations) with a triple margin of carrying capacity allows to save up to 1/3 of the building cost. The use of internal objects for the placement of engineering systems, pools, water-cooled data centres is all a unified strategy for the buildings of the future according to the INGMAR ARCHITECTS project.

References
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8.MIPIM/The Architectural Review Future Project Awards 2018 catalogue (Cannes, 2018)
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15.V. Mushchanov, Y.,Gorokhov, A., Vardanyan, M.,Kashchenko, D. Nemova, Proc. Eng., Vol. 117, 990 – 1000 (2015)