Project Experience
Burj Khalifa, Dubai
(formerly the Burj Dubai)
Renamed the Burj Khalifa in 2010 and standing over 800m high with 160 floors, Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. It is the centrepiece of a large scale mixed use development that includes 30,000 homes, 9 hotels, 7.4 acres of parkland, over 19 residential towers and a 30 acre lake.
Vipac’s Role: Vipac was appointed as the noise, vibration, seismic and pipe stress engineering consultants. The work involved integrated design, mechanical, electrical and plumbing services.
Macquarie Group Building, Sydney
The state of the art One Shelley St, King St. Wharf, is a unique 32,960sqm 6 star Green Star rated building situated in Sydney’s western corridor. The office holds 3,000 Macquarie Bank employees and features an external diagonal steel grid system beyond its glass facade. The A$350 million dollar project sets new benchmarks for environmental sustainability, with various innovations including passive chilled beams and has been awarded a 6 star Green Star office design rating.
Vipac’s Role:Vipac was appointed as the thermal comfort consultants, providing a study report for the indoor comfort of the building and ensuring the design concept was energy efficient and functional. A model of the building was created inside Vipac’s Air Distribution Laboratory, including the proposed ceiling with its passive chilled beams and swirl diffusers. Vipac’s specialist engineers measured temperature, humidity and velocity at hundreds of locations within the buildings’ occupied space for all candidate configurations and seasons, ensuring workplace comfort, functionality and energy efficiency.
Keppel Bay, Singapore
‘Reflections at Keppel Bay’ is world-class waterfront living, with six glass towers and 11 villa apartment blocks housing 1129 luxury homes along a 750m shoreline, all of which have views of the waterfront, golf course and surrounds. The towers range from 24-41 storeys, while the villa blocks range from 6-8 storeys. The towers are crowned with sky gardens on sloping rooflines, and are linked by skybridges, providing pockets of open space and platforms with near 360 degree views.
Vipac’s Role: Vipac provided wind engineering, including cladding pressure, structural wind loads and pedestrian level wind study for the six Keppel towers. The study determined the wind load on the sky bridges as well as sky bridge comfort and safety levels. The environmental study was calibrated for hot, humid climates and promoted natural ventilation.
Jenan Gardens, Saudi Arabia
Jenan Gardens is a new project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, comprising a residential freehold of 2 to 16 floors, an office of 32 levels, a 32 level hotel and serviced apartments, a retail complex, 18 level residential compound, community, hotel leisure and urban office courts and single dwelling courts.
Vipac’s Role: Vipac’s microclimate design improves the outdoor comfort and decreases energy consumption by extending the comfort ‘shoulder’ seasons, and implementing sustainable green design. The study used experimental testing and mathematical simulation. The microclimate design considers solar exposures, dust controls, local temperature distributions, harnessing (by the very massing of the buildings themselves) of sea breezes to implement green design.
Bourke Junction, Melbourne
The 5 building mixed use ‘Bourke Junction’ project will comprise over 150,000m2 of built area including two landmark commercial towers; hotel; restaurant and bar facilities; and a 5 level mixed use building. The project’s design initiatives include a blackwater treatment system, solar hot water systems and extensive facilities for cyclists.
Vipac’s Role: To provide comprehensive acoustic and vibration design services covering building elements, façades and the acoustic environment of internal spaces, as well as inter-tenancy privacy. Vipac was also responsible for noise & vibration design of mechanical and electrical services including impact of neighbouring buildings and public spaces.
Scotts Tower, Singapore
Scotts Tower will be a 153m tower in Singapore’s famous shopping and lifestyle area. With 20,000m2 of built floor area, the building will provide 68 high-end apartment units with panoramic views. The design maximises the full potential of the site; 4 individual towers are vertically offset from one another and suspended from a central core, the lifted apartment towers reducing the building’s footprint.
Vipac’s Role: Vipac provided a structural wind load study for this unique design. The study determined all the required parameters for design including base moments in the two sway directions and torsion and acceleration at the top habitable floor. The evaluated acceleration fulfilled internationally accepted criteria to ensure the occupants’ comfort.
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
Gardens by the Bay is a key project underpinning the National Parks Board’s continuous strategy of transforming Singapore into a Garden City. Occupying 101 hectares of prime land by Marina Bay, the Gardens will be a fantasia showcasing horticultural craftsmanship and floral artistry at its finest.
The largest of the three gardens in the overall development, the 54-hectare Gardens at Marina South will be the first to be implemented and is targeted to complete its first phase by the end of 2011. With an expansive water frontage, the Gardens at Marina South will showcase the best of tropical horticulture and garden artistry, with en mass display of tropical flowers and coloured foliage. Vibrant programming will be incorporated for the gardens to host a suite of international and national events.
Vipac’s Role:Vipac’s role includes room acoustics, sound reinforcement design, sound insulation, noise control (mechanical plant and HVAC design). Vipac applies state-of-the-art solution techniques to many of the unique requirements of the project.
Southern Cross Station, Melbourne
Between 2000 and 2005, Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station was developed into a world-class station for Victoria, boasting state of the art facilities. The $700 million transformation of the former Spencer Street Station precinct is one of the most significant infrastructure redevelopments Victoria has ever seen. The airport style transport interchange provides Victorians with a new world-class and iconic landmark. The station links the regions and the emerging Docklands precinct with the central business district of Melbourne.
Vipac’s Role:Vipac was commissioned by Leighton Contractors to carry out a wind driven rain study, in order to determine the rain protection benefits of a series of perforated mesh screens. The mesh panels form a breathable interface for the proposed ventilation pods on the top of each domed section of the Spencer Street Station roof.
New Quay, Docklands Melbourne
The MAB Corporation from 2010 will be carrying out a $1 billion residential development at Docklands, Melbourne. The Parkland Precinct at New Quay will deliver a five hectare residential and parkland area along Victoria harbour. As part of MAB’s overall New Quay project, the parkland precinct will provide 5,000 construction and development jobs and deliver over 1,000 homes to approximately 2,500 people in the City of Melbourne.
Vipac’s Role: Vipac was commissioned to predict and control the likely wind conditions in these important public boulevard areas, making up the north face of Melbourne’s Docklands. Spanning a dozen buildings and surrounds, the area was wind tunnel modelled for local wind speed prediction. Assessment and design recommendations were made for pedestrian safety and comfort.
Dubai Pearl, Dubai
Dubai Pearl will provide luxury apartments and penthouses for 20,000 people, as well as a business centre and performing arts centre across 4.5million m2 of land. Central to the development is the climate controlled sky walkways. Dubai Pearl Tower will be the first beamless tower design in Dubai.
Vipac’s Role:Wind engineering services, including cladding pressure, structural wind load and pedestrian level wind environment studies. The unique design of Pearl Dubai’s Tower was challenging for wind load prediction, the rigid connecting structure at the top allowing energy transfer between towers. Vipac carried out simultaneous pressure measurements in its wind tunnel, integrating the structural engineers influence coefficients to determine structural loads. The pedestrian level roof garden environment was determined from omni-directional velocity measurements.
Harbour Esplanade, Docklands Melbourne
Harbour Esplanade is the main public thoroughfare in Melbourne Docklands and is to be transformed into a major new waterfront destination. The project area comprises the area from Docklands Park to the south and Footscray Road to the north. Victoria Harbour’s NAB building and the harbour are at its west and the buildings of AFL House, Etihad Stadium, Bendigo Bank and Victoria Point are to its east. The project will create both a major destination and a new heart for Docklands, while providing locals with more neighbourhood parks and open spaces.
Vipac’s Role: Vipac has conducted a study of the wind environment at the proposed heart of the Melbourne Docklands Precinct, Harbour Esplanade. The Vipac study found significant exposure to strong northerly and southerly winds due to channelling and downwash from adjacent buildings, and recommended wind-controlling mechanisms to enhance the pedestrian comfort..
South Australia Water Headquarters, Adelaide
The new South Australia (SA) Water headquarters in Adelaide is a showcase of sustainability; water, energy and waste have all been targeted to create SA’s first 6-Star Greenstar building. Completed in 2008 with a budget of $100m, the building uses 70 percent less water and produces 60 percent less greenhouse gas emissions compared with typical office buildings. The central stair installation, 25-meter long suspended stainless steel mesh with printed sections of the Murray River, provides inspiration and incentive to take the stairs rather than ride in an elevator.
Vipac’s Role:Vipac was engaged as the acoustic engineer for base building and fit-out, including architectural acoustics and noise and vibration control for all engineering services. Vipac also provided the wind assessment of the proposed site - pedestrian wind and wind-induced noise from the glass veil to the southern facade. The building features an under floor displacement air-conditioning system including economy cycle mode, involving ventilation of the building through a central 10-level high atrium. The atrium roof was constructed of air pressurised ETFE (the material used in the construction of the Beijing National Aquatics Centre, a.k.a. the Water Cube of the 2008 Olympics), which imposed a number of challenges to the acoustic design given the roof mounted services plant..