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SimpsonHaugh and Partners Uses Generative Design to Shape One Blackfriars Tower Concept

SimpsonHaugh and Partners Uses Generative Design to Shape One Blackfriars Tower Concept
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SimpsonHaugh and Partners Uses Generative Design to Shape One Blackfriars Tower Concept - 1

CASE STUDY Project Summary Organization: SimpsonHaugh and Partners (formerly known as Ian Simpson Architects) Solution: Generative Design Location: London, United Kingdom Project Objective: • Design a mixed-use complex to anchor Blackfriars Bridge and grace the Southwark skyline. • Maximize daylight and minimize solar reflection for neighboring properties. • Balance the tower’s beautiful form with the program’s contextual function. Products used: Bentley Architecture* GenerativeComponents MicroStation Structural Modeler* *AECOsim Building Designer replaces and includes the capabilities of these former products Fast Facts • The tower design included five modules: external façade, internal façade, structure, areas, and 3D surface model. • As project architect, SimpsonHaugh and Partners aimed to work more efficiently and with fewer errors. • Bentley’s generative design and BIM offerings accelerated workflows and reduced errors for all components. ROI • GenerativeComponents allowed SimpsonHaugh to fine tune the façade, reducing the number of panels and minimizing the number of double-curved panels. • It took just two days instead of weeks to produce visuals for viewing angles from the apartments. SimpsonHaugh and Partners Uses Generative Design to Shape One Blackfriars Tower Concept Architects Let Daylight into Neighboring Properties with Blade-thin 50-storey Skyscraper Modeled on Bentley’s BIM Software Central London Landmark London’s leading property developer, St. George South London, retained SimpsonHaugh and Partners to fulfill a vision for mixed-use development at the junction of Blackfriars Road and Stamford Street at the head of Blackfriars Bridge in the central London borough of Southwark. The award-winning practice, ranked among the largest and most influential in the United Kingdom by Architects’ Journal, designed the signature skyscraper One Blackfriars using GenerativeComponents, Bentley’s parametric modeling software, to set out the curved geometry of the building form, and define the relationships between internal and external facades. The 170-meter tower joins a sequence of landmarks along the Southbank of the River Thames, where its minimal footprint and slender profile allow it to rise skyward without overshadowing its neighbors. One Blackfriars presents 74,925 square meters of prime space for a 152-room boutique hotel and 274 luxury apartments, as well as retail shops, restaurants and bars, a health and fitness center, community viewing lounge, and underground parking. The site also makes space for a landscaped public piazza. Targeting ambitious performance standards for sustainability and energy, the tower was designed to Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) Level 4 whilst the hotel was designed to Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) Rating Very Good. Being a Good Neighbor In an age of austerity and popular criticism of the contemporary tower form, the introduction of another sculptural skyscraper to the Central London skyline could have been controversial. One Blackfriars achieved the balance between form and function to earn its place on the cityscape, but not without a struggle. Conceived in 2004 as a hotel-led tower, the concept for One Blackfriars eventually earned community approval and planning permission, having been tested during a public inquiry in 2008 where they were responsive to public feedback. To stand the test of time, the tower design needed to address form, scale, proportion, as well as deal with the recurrence of element repetition. Moreover, it had to provide a contextual response to the particular place. The No. 1 challenge was to establish a base at the bottom of the tower on the site without obstructing the daylight of neighboring properties. At the same time, SimpsonHaugh had a responsibility to fulfill numerous functional pragmatics of the original program. Finally, the building had to be beautiful from every aspect. The final tower design marks the southern bridgehead of Blackfriars Bridge and is a gateway to Southwark. SimpsonHaugh conceived a thin form with “shoulder blades” on the east and west elevations that reduce its apparent width. To develop the design for this flaring shape, SimpsonHaugh developed a set of innovative tools based upon existing applications such as GenerativeComponents, Bentley Architecture (now AECOsim Building Designer), and other software that integrated with the core Bentley applications. The aim was to use the technology to deliver the scheme with fewer people, in less time, and with fewer errors due to reworking or inaccurate coordination. Building within a Building SimpsonHaugh benchmarked its existing processes, team structures, and uses of technology against best practices in architecture, engineering, and other industries. For example, the design and manufacture of boat building and luxury yachts inspired the development of the building canopy. Bentley applications provided a solid platform for parametric modeling and building information modeling (BIM). SimpsonHaugh customized and enhanced the available scripts and tools to push the boundaries of what could be achieved. The design created a double-skin façade, where the outer leaf is a substantially transparent glass surface that traces the curved geometry of the envelope. The solid elements of the more orthogonal inner leaf are colored to overlay the interior volumes with a subtle variation of rendering that lightens as the building extends skyward. The building-within-a-building concept resulted in an outer skin comprising 5,496 panels – each one different from the other – including flat, single and double curved. The inner skin provided thermal lining and opacity. The building breathes through the skin, so ventilation and solar gain had to be quantified and accommodated.

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SimpsonHaugh and Partners Uses Generative Design to Shape One Blackfriars Tower Concept - 2

SIMPSONHAUGH AND PARTNERS ARCHITECTS USES GENERATIVE DESIGN The team at SimpsonHaugh delivered one of the most comprehensive documentation packages we have seen. –Toby Clark, a member of the Arup Facades engineering services team SimpsonHaugh quickly realized that the parametric model could be used to provide more than the initial building form. Development of the model allowed the team to explore the relationship between the inner and outer glazing systems, internal spaces, structural column positions, and other systems. For example, SimpsonHaugh used the model to investigate and...

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