Introduction
Civil engineering is doing wonders in today’s world through the
constructions of jaw-dropping buildings and structures. These buildings are
made keeping in mind the maintenance and adaptation of the infrastructure
suiting the everyday needs of the road, water and energy supply, natural
calamities and waste networks. Civil engineers build such an infrastructure
that may work smoothly and effectively, meeting the challenges of climate
change, population growth, and natural catastrophes. The Shard in London, a
tallest skyscraper, is the example of such a civil engineering venture. Renzo
Piano has designed it while Irvine Seller is the constructor of this building. Throughout
the infrastructure of this building, innovation can be seen as a result of the
use of novel construction and engineering techniques and tools, augmenting and
optimising the distinguishing architecture and making it accessible for varied uses
of the building.
Shard And Its Pioneering Engineering Beneficial
Aspects
Shard is designed in the form of a hybrid structure, crowned with a
shard of glass emerging out from the London city and is completely dressed in
external glazing. It is a 95-storey building divided into three different
structures. The first 40 floors are made up of a steel-frame, the next floor up
to 72 levels are composed of a post-tension concrete and finally with a steel
spire to finish the shape up to the 95th floor. In other words, the
post-tensioned slab building is at a residential and hotel level while
perimeter columns are at industrial levels. This help to provide with more air conditioning which is needed for the office floors
and on the other hand, extra pipework can be concealed within the steel beams. The
concrete cores help to lean a little. The
perimeter columns are planned in order to lessen their spacing, dimension and
load with the building’s height, mimicking the effect of a greatly subtle and
elusive structure pointed into the sky.
To evade deep beams encircling the perimeter, weights are transmitted
via vierendeel trusses which are 3-storey lower. These trusses are basically frames
containing fixed joints having an ability to transmit and bear bending
pressures.
The design offers a high intensity and level of structural sturdiness,
with several safety-associated innovations and advancements including high-tech
blast safety and a structural fire engineering approach. Top-down construction has been applied in constructing Shard in
order to save time and to build storeys well before the complete excavation of
the basement. It is especially necessary for tall buildings like Shard.
The cladding panels of Shard are derived from a 1.5m by 3.8m unit.
Almost all the glass used is of low-iron, with argon-loaded double-glazed and
first class performance units and coatings for thermal operation. In this
building panels are allowed to hang at slab level from weight-bearing brackets
and intertwine perpendicularly for wind load transmit and water tension. Panels
are coated with low-emissivity which aids in reducing infrared radiation;
however the major system to direct the sun effects is the utilisation of roller
blinds. These roller blinds are mainly made up of woven glass-fibre.
The building of Shard offers damping at the higher levels to reduce
lateral acceleration and therefore prevent the bend of the building in the storm
or wind. This way out also abolishes the requirement for a tuned mass damper, consequently
making an extra residential floor available. This also signifies that depths of
the floor altogether can be shallower, allocating an additional two floors
within the entire height of the building. Preassembly and prefabrication of the
sixty six-metre, five hundred-tonne steel spire is done to curtail the danger
of working and living at such an extraordinary height.
Since balconies are not present on the Shard, nonetheless it is still
possible for the office workers to go into the open air if they want to. This
is made possible through winter gardens situated in the fracture. This is
actually the area between the shards planes and is covered at the back by usual
vertical walls, containing the similar double-glazed sealed units of the
internal division of the shards yet it is devoid of the blinds and screens.
In case of emergencies, about 6 lifts are provided chiefly for the
purpose of evacuation. They are embedded with state-of-the-art features like
bespoke indication and directive control panels at the needed levels of the
floor. The advantage of this is to show that evacuation is happening. These
lifts are provided with alternative power supplies. The Jump Lift is another
contemporary addition to this building and it works by utilising the permanent
shaft of the building and interim car. The jump life also consists of a
transitory machine room that ascends upward.
Conclusion and Reflection
Overall, the Shard is a
complete blend of latest and most modern engineering techniques. In fact, it is
not merely an incredible accomplishment of engineering, it is a lofty image of
London’s willpower to defeat the recession and stimulate economic escalation.
By working on this essay I happened to come across a number of new
technologies and development in the field of civil engineering. I came to know
that building designs may not only be attractive but also aesthetics as
well—having an innovative, creative and exceptional design for the outer and inner
areas of a building. They should be designed particularly for sustainability by
the help of green technology and by using such materials that can effectively
decrease the detrimental effects of a building onto the surroundings and
atmosphere. Though, I also learned that planning for sustainability design can
prove to be little expensive however I also found that it may save costs of maintenance
in the future, such as costs of electricity bills. Above all, I learned the
most important aspect i.e. designing the building primarily for functionality.
It can be achieved by constructing such a lifelong and durable environment that
fulfils the basic needs as well as does not require significant changes or restorations
to broaden its effectiveness for its dwellers. And lastly, civil engineering
aims for designing structures and building that ensure public safety at each
lever.
References
