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Recent Articles

Greenachres Shopping Center Entrance Canopy

Client / Owner / Developer: Growthpoint Properties
Architect: SVA International Architects (Pty) Ltd
Structural Engineer: Hatch Africa (Pty) Ltd
Quantity Surveyor: Norval Wentzel Steinberg Quantity Surveyors
Project Manager: MDSA Project Management (Pty) Ltd
Main Contractor: WBHO
Steelwork Contractor: Uitenhage Super Steel
Structural Steel Detailer / Detailing Company: Mondo Cané

The main roof of the canopy is steel system of girders and trusses. The feature support system is meant to resemble a tree and was fabricated from circular hollow section which reduces several times in the length of the branches. Glass curtain wall supports were provided through rectangular hollow sections.

Steel was fabricated off site and installed, reducing construction time. The circular hollow sections were an architectural requirement to resemble a tree. Providing a structural support that mimics a tree provided some analysis challenges.

Food court 02

The design of the tree proved to be quite challenging, since the branches were not a uniform cross section, but reduced several times. During a full penetration weld had to be achieved during fabrication. This did not happen on the first tree and structural stiffeners were added on as a temporary measure. The shape of the branch cross-section went through several revisions before settling on circular hollow section.

What makes this project special is the innovative architectural design coupled with the advanced analysis required to achieve fulfilment of the client’s vision.