Located between 3 terminals, construction took 4 years, but it did not affect the operation of the airport and the traffic in and out; the roof weighed equivalent to 6 Airbus a380s, with a huge space but no columns; passengers could enjoy the close-up "rain vortex" close-up on the light rail, but maintain a safe distance... Last month, the high-value "Star Shine Changi", which cost about RMB8.5 billion, was officially opened, a large-scale public facility that integrates airport operation facilities, indoor gardens, retail and catering, entertainment and leisure, and hotels, making Singapore Changi Airport an airport that everyone wants to be late. Jiefang Daily Shangguan News specially invited Cai Yaozhong, technical director of the general contracting department of the construction department of "Xingyao Changi" construction, to reveal the unknown construction story behind this crazy "concave shape" building.
Located between Terminals 1, 2 and 3 of Singapore Changi Airport in the Garden City, Star Changi was designed by an advisory panel of world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie (who is also responsible for the design team at Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore), Benoy and Singapore's RSP, covering an area of approximately 134,000 square metres. Highlighted by its dramatic domed glass roof and contemporary steel exterior, Star Changi is particularly breathtaking with its largest indoor plant display in Singapore and the world's largest indoor waterfall.
"Star Changi" has a "donut" vaulted glass roof. The center of "Donut" is the biggest attraction of "Star Shine Changi"-—— "Forest Valley" and "Rain Vortex".
Singapore's reputation as a garden city is the source of inspiration for the design of "Star Shine Changi", and "Forest Valley" is one of the arrangements in the architectural center. It is a 5-storey garden with a staggered range of plants over an area of 22,000 square meters, including ferns and various shrubs.
Both international tourists and nature lovers will be attracted by this scene, and can enjoy the emerald green scenery, pure waterfalls, and climb the "Forest Valley" to feel cool and comfortable.
The "Rain Vortex" indoor waterfall is 40 meters high, and the waterfall and fairy gas (dry ice) take turns to appear, making the whole "Forest Valley" smokey. And as night falls, the waterfall will also stage a glamorous sound and light show.
What makes these architectural highlights is the rigorous and precise construction behind them, as well as overcoming and solving countless technical difficulties caused by "concave shapes". For a building to achieve a harmonious balance between the stunning appearance and the elements inside, the design must be comprehensively considered. Transforming design drawings into real architecture is an incomparably complex and delicate work, which is a comprehensive integration of factors such as design aesthetics, technical application, construction feasibility, cost budget, implementation progress, work coordination, social coordination and so on - thinking with relationships.
【4 years of "no sense" construction】"Star Shine Changi" is located between the three terminals of Changi Airport, and the construction process cannot interfere with the normal operation of the airport. In the past 4 years, the engineering team has been legendary, completely without affecting the operation of the airport, nor affecting the traffic flow in and out of the airport, and successfully completed the entire project on time.
【Underground "reverse" operation】 "Star Shine Changi" has 5 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. In the entire Changi Airport, "Star Changi" has the deepest basement.
After a rigorous assessment of the geotechnical, soil condition and impact on the surrounding buildings, the project team decided to reverse the construction – typically, basements are built from the bottom up, but given the structural stability of the surrounding complex, especially the airport's top priority, the air traffic control towers, the adoption of a conventional bottom-up approach would be risky. To this end, the construction team took a top-down approach, with excavation and civil engineering moving down layer by layer, while monitoring all adjacent structures 24 hours a day, ensuring the safety and controllability of the surrounding complex throughout the excavation process.
The original design intention of "Star Shine Changi" was to build a "Rain Vortex" in the very center of the building, but considering that the project had to be built around the existing light rail track, so that the light rail connecting Terminals 2 and 3 happened to pass through, the actual "Rain Vortex" presented was slightly off-center and maintained a safe distance from the light rail, and light rail passengers could enjoy the close-up of the "Rain Vortex". However, unless you have a bird's-eye view, fine-tuning of the "Rain Vortex" position is impossible to spot.
The huge roof of "Star Changi" weighs 3500 tons, which is equivalent to six Airbus A380 aircraft parked overhead, and the roof spans an area of 200 meters long and 150 meters wide. In order for visitors to fully enjoy gardens, green spaces, walking trails and dining without visual impairments, this huge space must be free of columns. To do this, the team designed a support system consisting of a ring beam and 14 tree-like columns surrounding the edge of the roof, each of which extends to a height of 12 meters, and the oversized cantilever roof is actually suspended in the air 37 meters above the ground.
【Donuts" can be traced】The super "donuts" of "Star Changi", the transparent domed glass roof, are composed of more than 9,000 pieces of glass, 18,000 steel beams and more than 6,000 cast steel nodes. The key is that each piece of glass, steel beam and steel node has its own specific size and is tailor-made. In order to ensure accurate installation by workers, these components are glued with two-dimensional codes during customization and installation. These two-dimensional codes store a full set of technical data that should be due, including material properties, size, installation location, etc., on-site installers can accurately locate each component by scanning the two-dimensional code, and managers can learn the production and installation status of materials through the network.
Singapore is a water-scarce country, and the only natural water source is rainwater. The "Rain Whirlpool" is designed with the use of rainwater in mind, collecting rainwater as a waterfall water supply on rainy days, and excess rainwater automatically falls into the water storage tank located on the 3rd basement floor for the water circulation resources of the waterfall on sunny days. This not only reduces operating costs, but also reduces the pressure of rainwater discharge during the rainy season, achieving the purpose of environmental protection and economy.
【The longest roller blinds are 94 meters】In order to ensure the safety of such a large public transportation hub and travel shopping and entertainment facilities, while not discounting the beautiful landscape, the team has made great efforts in fire protection design, using an advanced vertical plus horizontal roller shutter system to ensure the maximum spacious visual effect of the airport, and also meet Singapore's fire prevention specifications and anti-terrorism and explosion-proof functions. Of these, the longest horizontal roller blind connecting to Terminal 1 is 94 meters long.
In addition to the difficulties in construction and construction, as a general contractor for design and construction, we must also carefully consider the cleaning and maintenance after the completion of the building, and ensure that each dead corner indoors and outdoors can be cleaned, repaired or replaced by different means. Therefore, the design and construction team used the latest computer software to make various simulations, such as repairing the trajectory of the vehicle, the maximum reach of different mechanical equipment and the area that can be reached, etc., and even considered how to use the Spider-Man + suspension rope system to fill in the dead corners that are really untouchable.
The behind-the-scenes story of "Star Changi", told by the construction technology manager, gives us a lot of inspiration. Architectural design and building construction often go beyond their professional scope and are more like an attitude. The success of a building, in addition to the architect's extraordinary imagination and his unique design style, also involves the sincere cooperation of government authorities, owners, construction parties, supervisors and other parties. For a building to be truly durable, it must not only be concerned about the world in front of it, but also must be carefully planned for its durability and durability.
◆ Cai Yaozhong introduced ◆
Graduated from the Department of Architecture of Tongji University in Shanghai in 1988, majoring in urban planning, he joined the Ninth Design and Research Institute of China State Shipbuilding Corporation after graduation, during which he won many bidding and design competition awards, and in 1992, he won the gold medal of the First Youth Science and Technology Expo in Shanghai with the planning and thesis "Creating a Distinctive Living Environment" in Cangyuan Community, Minhang District, Shanghai, and also won the title of Shanghai Science and Technology Elite. Choi emigrated to Singapore in 1994 and continued his design work at hdBS and Bama Danna Design, then shifted from design to construction in late 1996 and worked for a number of international construction contracting companies, including the leaner designed by Kenzo Tange in Japan. In addition to being in charge of the technical department, he is also actively involved in the construction planning and quality control of the construction site, and many projects have won the "Construction Excellence Award" issued by the Construction authority of Singapore, which is equivalent to the "Luban Award" for construction in China.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Wu Weiqun Text Editor: Li Ye