1. Longtanhe River Viaduct
Pearl River Tower
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center
Team Shark
Kevin Sonico

2. Longtanhe
River Viaduct,
Yichang

3. Yichang, China
 Located near the Yangtze
River
 Major transit port and
distribution center of goods
 “Economic hub” of
Western Hubei
 1,350 mile (2,175 km) G50
Shanghai-Chongqing
Expressway runs through
Yichang
Longtanhe River Viaduct
Yichang

4. What is a Viaduct?
 “Via” meaning “road,”
“ducere” meaning “to
lead.”
 More than three spans
 Useful for crossing valleys,
rivers, etc.
 Used when mountain
roads are inadequate for
traffic load

5. The Longtanhe River
Viaduct
 Tallest pier:
178m
 Girder span:
200m
 4-lane
roadway (two
in each
direction)
Ties with Germany’s
Kochertal as the 5th
highest bridge pier in
the world

6. 178 m
200 m200 m

7. Balanced Cantilever Design
• Benefits:
– Doesn’t include false work, which is
hazardous and expensive on
waterways.
– Beneficial in rural areas where
transportation of materials is costly
– Longtanhe viaduct turns a day or longer
trip through dangerous mountain roads
into a five hour trip.

8. Balanced Cantilever Design
cont.
• Methods are currently being investigated on how construction can be
optimized for balanced moments on either side of the piers
• End spans must be shorter than interior spans to counteract moments
on adjacent spans

9. Pearl River Tower

10. Building
Specifications
Pearl River Tower
Building Information
Location: No. 15, Zhujiang West Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou
Site Area: 10,636 m2
Total Gross Floor Area: 216,557m2
Building Height: 309m
Number of Floors: 71 Floors
Parking: Approx. 890
Office Floor Information
Typical Floor Plate: Approx. 2800m2
Gross Ceiling Height: 3.9m
Net Height: 2.7-3.0m
Typical Floor Loading:
Office Area 250 kg/m2
Designated load-bearing area 500 kg/m2
Raised Floor Height: 400mm

11. “Net-zero” Energy Building
 “…a structure that does
not require an increase in
the community’s need to
produce electricity.”
 Guangzhou is a highly
polluted city
 Coal power plants
projected to continue in
growth
 Wanted a building to be
designed that did not use
electricity from the power
grid
 Does not consume
additional fossil fuels and
will have zero emissions
(greenhouse gases)
 Winning Firm: Skidmore,
Owings, and Merrill,
Chicago (SOM)

12. “World’s Tallest Green Tower”
3. Reclamation- “Strategies
to harvest the energy
that would already be
resident within the
building”
4. Generation- “Generating
clean power in an
efficient and
environmentally
responsible manner”
Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill’s Four steps to net-zero energy
1. Reduction-
“Finding as many
opportunities as
possible to reduce
the energy
consumed.”
2. Absorption-
“Focus on
strategies
designed to take
advantage of the
natural and
passive energy
sources”

13. Reduction• High performance ventilated
double-wall facades on Northern
and Southern sides with
mechanized blinds
• Triply glazed facades on Eastern
and Western sides
• “Chilled radiant ceiling” and
“Chilled-beam” system
(approximately 14.5° C) delivered in
serpentine arrangement fixed to
circular ceiling beam, and metal fins
on the perimeter reduces area
needed for air conditioning (use of
a chilled beam system reduces
each floor from 4.2m to 3.9m,
adding more floor space)
• “Decoupled” ventilation system
providing only fresh air cooled by
the above system and vented
through access floor
• Dehumidification system using heat
as an energy source from the
double-façade
• Low energy, high efficiency lighting
designed at optimum light intervals

14. Absorption
 A building integrated
photovoltaic skin (BIPVs)
 Photovoltaics on the Eastern
and Western facades, as well
as on the Western façade
shades
 Maximizing natural lighting by
using a motorized active
Venetian shades between
double façade controlled by a
photocell that controls the
solar gain and glare via a
building management system
(BMS)
 “Vertical axis wind turbines
designed to take full
advantage of the building’s
geometry”

15. Wind Turbines
 Southern façade of
building “funnels” wind
to four 6x6.8m wind
tunnels at floors 24
and 48
 Vertical wind turbine
encased in each
tunnel
 Funnel design
increases speed of
wind by 2.5
 Tunnels act as
“pressure-relief valves”
relieving wind pressure
on building
 Decrease of wind load
on structure allows for
reduced structural
elements to withstand
load, saving money on

16. Photovoltaics
• Building “skin” consists of spandrel panels with
built-in photovoltaic panels (Building Integrated
Photovoltaics)
• Lower cost than panels with separate mounting
devices
• Solar panels placed asymmetrical on building to
optimize solar power offered by the sun

17. Reclamation
• “Harvest energy already
resident within the building.”
• Using “chilled radiant
ceilings” and “chilled beams”
to cool air
• Once energy is added to the
building, it can be reused
repeatedly
• Example: recirculated air is
chilled or heated and added
to air from the outdoors
before delivered to occupied
areas of the building.

18. Generation
• Concept design used “micro
turbines” for the building to
produce power in an
environmentally responsible
manner
• Fuel source for micro turbines
includes natural gas, hydrogen,
propane, and diesel
• On-site power generation
eliminates need of power
delivered by grid (delivered
power is less than 30-35%
efficient)
• 50 micro turbines were originally
designed to be daisy-chained
together to operate at an
efficiency of over 80%

19. Structural Elements
• Structural design by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (Chicago)
• Lateral load resistance: Interior reinforced concrete core and
series of mega columns linked together by six story steel X
braces on the narrow edge facades of the building
• Perimeter columns and mega columns linked together by two-
story outriggers and belt trusses at the major mechanical levels
• Redundancy and robustness achieved by belt trusses and
perimeter moment frames
• Mega columns consist of built up structural steel I-sections
encased in concrete
• Structural design components divided into thirds of the building

22. The Kicker…
The Pearl River Tower is
owned by China National
Tobacco’s Guangdong
Tobacco Company

23. Overview

24. Overview

25. Lessons Learned
• Building did not meet “net-zero” requirements, but
consumes 58% less energy than the baseline model
• Use of new “energy efficient” technologies was
limited, i.e. the power company would not buy
surplus electricity from the Pearl River Tower
• Chinese authorities reluctant to import technologies
from other parts of the world
• Required by China, Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill
worked alongside the Guangzhou Design Institute

26. The Hong Kong Convention and
Exhibition Center

27. Three Construction Phases
• Phase I—Built in 1988 as
the “original” Hong Kong
Convention and
Exhibition Center (HKCEC)
• Phase II—Floating island
convention center, built
from 1994-1997
• Expansion—Trusswork
expansion from the
original building to the
floating island built from
2006-2009
Expansion
Phase II
Phase I

28. Phase I
• Constructed in 1988 on
“reclaimed land.”
• Built over area of 1.7
million ft2
• Owned by the Hong Kong
Trade Development
Council (TDC)
• Used as a convention
center to promote
domestic and
international business in
China

29. Phase II
• Before any building
design, a designated
site was examined to
determine a “floating
island” construction of
phase II
• 31.6 million ft3
of sand
was used with gravel
and battered rock walls
to support the structure

30. Phase II (cont.)
• Designed in conjunction
with Skidmore, Owings, and
Merrill (SOM)
• “Top—down”
unconventional approach to
building phase II broke
several records in Hong
Kong’s building history and
won industry accolades
• Roof is a 40,000m2
aluminum cladding for
intended shape
• Feng Shui?

31. Phase II Completed
• Atrium sky bridge in back connects
original building to addition
• New structure allows direct access for
boats with imports
•Structure finished on July 1, 1997, when
Hong Kong was returned back to China
after more than a century of British rule
•SOM: “We aimed for something symbolic
that marked this significant point in time.”.”

32. HKCEC
Expansion
 Expansion proposed in
2006 to replace
existing atrium with
three floors of
convention center
 Expansion would be
placed directly over
330-ft-wide water
channel
 Provide 19,200m2
more
exhibition space
 Project Goal: “Hong
Kong’s existing mega
fairs can become
number one in the
world.”

33. HKCEC Expansion (cont.)
• Mega truss work used to suspend new exhibition
space in place

37. Green Initiatives

38. Facts
Square meters
Total Gross Area 306,000
Total Site Area 92,400
Rentable Space 91,500
Purpose-built Exhibition Hall Space 66,000
Six (6) Exhibition Halls 66,000
Two (2) Theatres (with seating for
336 and 367)
800
Fifty-two (52) Meeting Rooms 6,000
Other Multi-functional Rental
Space
13,000
Seven (7) Restaurants Total seating for 1,340
Two (2) Underground Car Parks Over 700 parking bays

39. Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill
are leaders in modern and
innovative structural
engineering

40. References
Longtanhe River Viaduct
• http://www.highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Longtanhe_River_Viaduct
Pearl River Tower
• Frechette, Roger E. III, P.E., Gilchrist, Russell, LEED AP, Skidmore, Owings, and
Merrill Seeking Zero Energy, ASCE magazine, January, 2009
• http://archrecord.construction.com/features/archives/0612casestudy-1.asp
• http://www.energydesignresources.com/resources/e-news/e-news-69-chilled-
beams.aspx
• http://pearlrivertower.com
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center
• http://HKCEC.com
• http://www.scifire.com.au/images/hkcec_02.jpg
• http://info.hktdc.com/CECexpansion/