Building and ManufacturingBuilding in coastal areas and alongside rivers presents many specificchall<strong>eng</strong>es. Rivers can burst their banks; hurricanes can cause devastatinginland flooding. Entire delta regions can become submerged. Waterseems to demand ever more space. New technologies are required toensure human safety near water, and to enhance the flexibility withwhich we can build.“People like to live close towater. If they are to do so insafety, we need new insightsand new solutions.”Wil GroenhuijsenRené Hopstaken, Project Manager and Structural EngineerJeroen Musch28 Theme: innovation
Building on the water“Areas with an abundance of water, such as the large delta regionsor those alongside the major rivers, often pose conflictingdemands. There must be more room for the water itself, so that itcan be contained during any period of flooding. At the same time,the demands of urban expansion must be addressed. As the likelihoodof flooding increases, so does the need for new technologies.‘Floating’ land for construction may therefore be seen as an importantdevelopment. In fact, the concept of living on water is notnew. We have all seen houseboats in various forms, while considerableexperience in building ‘floating homes’ has been gainedin both the Netherlands and Canada. In 2002, a new techniquewas used to create a floating exhibition pavilion at the Floriadehorticultural show in Haarlemmermeer (NL). That involved linkingfour floating thin-walled concrete platforms, but many more suchplatforms could be used. By joining them together, you create alarge area on which to build one or more superstructures. All sortsof uses are imaginable: a sports complex, an events centre or evenentire residential neighborhoods. In the Dutch province of Zeeland,for example, work is now in progress on a floating resort. In Budapest,DHV is involved in the development of a large floating hotelon the River Danube, which will alleviate the serious shortage oftourist accommodation in the city.DHV combines specialist knowledge in construction with thatin water management. The company can therefore offer a ‘totalpackage’ which includes all the facilities needed in this type ofproject. New construction land can be created without affectingthe water storage capacity of the area. The platforms can have atotal surface area of over one hectare. The technique used to interlinkthe platform sections will depend on the type of water featureinvolved (lake, river or sea), and the nature of the building to constructed.One remarkable design, produced by DHV in partnershipwith Waterstudio.nl, is for a floating tower, one hundred meterstall, in Dubai. The design and architecture allow for an even distributionof forces over the supporting platforms.Other countries, including India and Bangladesh, have expressedinterest in these techniques. There have also been enquiriesfrom the United States, where floating buildings could providean appropriate solution during the New Orleans reconstructionprogram. However, the technique does call for new productionmethods and, in some countries, new legislation since ‘movable’property (the traditional houseboat) must now be classified as ‘immovable’property. This is an entirely new development.”Compliance Audit Services for aCanadian mining companyFalconbridge is one of the largest miningcompanies in Canada. It now wishes tooptimize maintenance of selected assetsat its facilities in Canada, Chile, theDominican Republic and the USA. DHV’sCanadian partner Delcan is currently providingCompliance Audit Services (CAS) toFalconbridge, whereby the key objectivesare to sustain asset value and minimizerisks, both in Health & Safety and in commercialoperation. The assessment informationis stored in a customized projectdatabase which accepts entries in English,French and Spanish. The reports generatedduring the Compliance Assessments cantherefore be prepared in the languagespoken by the personnel responsible forimproving the Asset Management Systemat a specific site.FalconbridgeHi-tech nanotechnologybuildingA new nanotechnology research center iscurrently being built in Delft. Its extremelyadvanced facilities will be shared by theDelft University of Technology and theScientific Research Organization (TNO).The ‘hi-tech’ nature of the research to beconducted here gives rise to very high demandsin terms of temperature stability,cleanroom technology, vibration controland exclusion of electro-magnetic radiation.DHV is responsible for the externaland internal architecture of the building,together with the structural design,structural <strong>eng</strong>ineering, infrastructure, andconsultancy services in building physicsand acoustic <strong>eng</strong>ineering. In partnershipwith Deerns, DHV is also overseeing theconstruction work during project implementation.And all this to enable researchinto ‘nanostructures’ in units of one nanometer:the millionth part of a millimeter.DHVPhilips Innovation CampusShanghaiPhilips is setting up an ‘Innovation Campus’in Shanghai, China, at which the company’sChinese Research and Developmentactivities will be clustered. DHV producedthe Masterplan for the Philips InnovationCampus, which covers an area of 100,000square meters. Philips wishes to promotethe synergy between its various units,regarding coordination and open communicationbetween them as extremely important.This requirement has given rise toa design which incorporates atriums andopen work floors, with short walking distancesbetween departments. The officelayout can readily be adjusted in line withchanging organizational requirements.Theme: innovationRMJM29
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