A case study on Hall Of Nation.

1. Ar. Raj Rewal & Ar. Kuldeep
Singh
Er. Mahendra Raj

2. Unit Pyramid : 4.9m x 4.9m base and 3.5m height
Hall of Nation Pyramid : 73m x 73m base and 30m
height
Roof span : 39m x 39m.
• This large-span cast-in-situ concrete space
frames were the first of their kind to be built in
the world.
• Space frame : Truncated pyramid
• Material : Steel or pre-cast concrete would have
been obvious choices but the time and
technology constraints necessitated the use of in-
situ concrete.
Unit Pyramid : 3.6m x 3.6m base and 2.6m height
Halls of Industries Pyramid : 40m x 40m base, and 18m
height Roof span : 22m x 22m,

3. Plans, Elevation, Section
The geometry of the pyramid used as
a basic module. Each plan includes
two levels to help explain the
pyramidical space frame geometry and
how it connects to create the truncated
pyramid form.
The structure blooms out of twenty-
four nodes at the ground level, six
nodes at each face of the square plan.
The building contains an enclosure
with a column-free main hall of 6700
sq. m, and four smaller halls adding
an additional 7500 sq. m, under its
roof structure.

4. Construction photos of pile caps
and the reinforcement being
arranged for the space-frame
members.
Details of Pile foundation:
The Hall of Nations was supported on in-situ-driven piles tied
together with grade beams in two directions. First, along the six
springing points in one face of the pyramid, and second, along the
other direction connecting the opposite faces of the pyramid. The
latter were post-tensioned in stages to cater to the large horizontal
forces that developed as the structure went up.

5. Reinforcement Layout at Level 1
& 2 shows the resolution of one
space frame module that
emerges from three inverted
pyramids.
• The rhombic cross section
was evolved from the slopes
and intersections of the
pyramid members, the
geometry of the rhombus was
found to be most appropriate
versus square, rectangular
and circular sections.
• For the Hall of Nations a
rhombic section with
chamfered edges and a face
dimension of 25cm and cross
sectional area of 585 sq.cm
was developed.

6. Drawings of a typical joint in
steel, precast concrete and in-
situ concrete. A complete set of
construction documents was
developed for each of these
material options and finally the
cast-in-situ was adopted.

7. Reinforcement Details
Details of configurations of lapping and anchorage of reinforcement bars at different nodes.
This congestion was artfully reduced by a system of lapping bars from the four lower members with bars of the four upper
members accounting for 16 bars and finally, only 20 bars passed through a node.
The nodes were constructed by lap-welding members with straight-length bars to short-length curved and bent bars
placed in the joint. The sequence was to cast the straight length of a member from joint to joint, place in position partially
pre-assembled formwork of the joints along with placed-in-position short-length curved bars.

8. The entire structure was not
supported with scaffolding till
the roof.
A system of scaffolding would
support the structure till level 5,
one level above all the desired
openings in the lower levels.
After level 5, the structure itself
supports additional construction
load, freeing the ground space.
With each successive level, four
different configurations of
structure were envisaged and
analyzed for all possible loading
conditions before the final
building was completed.

11. References:
YouTube: Interview of Ar. Raj Rewal
Website: www.thinkmatter.com