September_1965 — Page 9

world news

First Isostatic Building

in the World

MONS, capital of the Province of Hainaut, in Belgium, has a new seven-storey office building which has been described as the most creative building in Europe.

Located in a park on the outskirts of the town, it houses the technical departments of the provincial government and was designed by Mr. Renold Laven' homme, chief architect and director of the provincial buildings department, in co-operation with Mr. Marcel Van Wetter, consulting engineer.

Because of irregular strata beneath the site and the danger of subsidence, a glass and steel structure was designed on the principle of isostatics, that is, having a flexible framework and foundations. In fact the build- ings rests on a sort of giant articulated tripod.

Seen from the outside, the Delta Building, as it is called, is an equilateral prism, measuring 158 ft. a side and 122 ft. in height, with a total volume of 31,390 cu. yd. The prism “takes off" at 23 ft. from the ground. It rests on three steel tripods and under the joint of each tripod there is a concrete pillar rooted in the subsoil by means of piles that go down 26 ft.

One of the tripods supporting the Delta. The transparent column in the foreground. made of nylon fibres, is the rainwater downpipe

The framework is made of lattice girders and hollow beams and was assembled in only seven weeks. Total weight of the building is 4,000 metric tons; had it been built from traditional materials the weight would have been 6,000 tons. Partitions are of 2mm. thick steel sheets with an intermediary layer of rock wool, and floors are 1.5 mm. steel covered with felt and linoleum.

A central nucleus housing the service areas is also

Far East Architect & Builder September, 1965

shaped like a prism. It is of reinforced concrete and is completely independent of the outside prism. The junction between the two structures is by a slide so that any movement in the subsoil is immediately compen-

sated.

Chicago to Have Largest Multi-Purpose Building

WHAT is believed to be the world's largest combina- tion apartment, office and commercial centre. incorporat- ing 100 floors in a single 1.100 ft. high tapering structure. is to be built in Chicago.

The building will provide 750 apartments on 49 floors, 34 floors of office space, seven floors of parking area for more than 1,000 cars, and commercial and recreation facilities.

Architects for the US$95 million project. to be known as the John Hancock Centre, are Skidmore. Owings and Merrill, of Chi- cago.

The tower, due for completion in 1968. tapers on all four sides 3 in. at each storey. from 41,000 sq. ft. at the base to 16,200 sq. ft. at the summit. This tapering allows larger areas

for for the

office floors which oc- cupy 10 to 43, and small areas for the apartments 46 to 94.

The structural con- cept is similar to a rigid box. This has been achieved by a sys- tem of diagonal brac- ings and horizontal beams interconnecting all exterior columns to

John Hancock Centre

act together not only in carrying loads but also in resiting wind forces. The floors are designed only to carry normal loads and are not affected by the height of the building. They will be essentially free of interior columns beyond the central core and will provide a variety of depth and sizes to accommodate the various occupancies.

Cladding will be metal and glare reducing glass.

New Zealand Bridge and Flyover Tenders

TENDERS for extending Auckland Harbour bridge are to be invited this month and the contract should be award next January for the work to be completed in June, 1969.

The main bridge and viaducts on the north shore are to be widened to provide an eight-lane carriageway by adding two two-lane carriageways, one on each side of the existing structure. The consulting engineers are Freeman, Fox and Partners, of London.

In Wellington, bids close on November 1 for cons- Firms from structing a £31⁄2 million six-lane flyover. Japan, France, USA, Italy, Germany, UK, and Switzer- land have registered with the Ministry of Works their intention to tender.

Swedish Engineers Design Spain Motorway

A GENERAL plan for the 350 kilometre motorway Cadiz-Gibraltar-Malaga-Motril in Spain has been worked out by the Swedish consulting engineers Kjessler & Man-

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