advanced building skins 14 | 15 June 2012 - lamp.tugraz.at - Graz ...

Advanced Building Skins
Figure 6: Visualisation top station
The challenge in this project lay in the development and planning of wide-spanning, self-supporting
shell structures. After determining the form, the next step was to determine the profile dimensions and
then to agree on an optimum solution after considering the economic and business perspectives. Due
to manufacturing reasons, the central connecting elements of the skeleton structure were solid steel
nodes.
Figure 7: Rhino – Model of top station
With specialised software („Rhino“), the basis for the finishing of the nodes, glass sections and steel
construction planning could be performed. As the Funicular Railway lies directly on the coast of Baku
which is well known for its strong winds, a wind assessment needed to be completed beforehand. The
engineering as well as the construction were all completed in Austria. The entire construction was
disassembled into containers and then reassembled and then transported by truck to Baku. A particular
hurdle turned out to be the interface between the substructure calculations onsite and those planned.
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