COMPOSITE FLOORING SYSTEM CASE STUDY

Photos courtesy of New Millennium Building Systems

Project: TELUS Garden
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Architects: Henriquez Partners Architects
Engineers: Integral Group

The Project: The TELUS Garden revolutionizes the Vancouver skyline with two new towers in the heart of downtown. This $750-million redevelopment project involves the design and construction of a new 44-story residential tower and a 22-story office tower. The 450,000-square-foot office tower was completed in September 2015 and is the first LEED Platinum office building in Vancouver. It houses the new TELUS company headquarters as well as other offices, a restaurant, and a public plaza, while the 435,000-square-foot residential building will include market housing, retail units, and underground parking.

The Challenge: The design objectives for this project included an open floor plan but with the need for controlled acoustics and low floor vibration. Further, to control construction costs, the objective was to maximize floor-to-ceiling height while still allowing for the space needed for mechanical and electrical distribution.

The Design: The design team took on all of these challenges and compared different structural floor systems to determine the pros and cons in light of their criteria. Ultimately, a 6-inch, deep-deck long-span composite floor system was specified. This option was chosen because the system provided a remarkable 32-foot open span without intermediate support columns. The supplier company’s engineers also provided floor system vibration analysis and certified slab analysis for long-term deflection.

The Results: This civic icon of sustainability features an engineered floor structure that allows for open spaces and some stunning interior finishes. With more than 10,000 square feet of green roofs including two elevated roof forests, TELUS Garden is a true representation of British Columbia.

SINTERED STONE FLOORING CASE STUDY #1

Photos courtesy of Neolith®

Project: Latin American Art Museum Renovations
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Renovation Architects: Estudios Herreros, Madrid, Spain, with Torrado Arquitectos, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Project: An architectural milestone when it was inaugurated in 2001, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA – the Latin American Art Museum) has become one of Buenos Aires’ most recognizable landmarks. In its first decades of operating, its rooms have hosted a number of traveling exhibits to become an essential site of the Latin American contemporary art scene.

The Challenge: MALBA was in need of some updating to improve the visitor experience and become a next-generation museum to serve as a prominent cultural center with multifaceted offerings. To meet these goals, an ambitious renovation project was carried out on the ground floor of the building. The challenge was to find ways to improve access, movement, communication, and the quality of the services offered to visitors, with a view of expanding the entrance and reception area to create a great central hall. The impacted area involved transforming 1,000 square meters (10,764 square feet) of space plus consolidating several floor levels to create a common surface.

The Design: The firm Estudios Herreros was responsible for the renovation design. As a prominent architecture office in Madrid, Spain, it has handled important projects within the art world, such as the Edward Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, and the remodeling of the exhibit areas at the Queen Sofia Museum in Madrid, Spain, among other art gallery and exhibit projects. Juan Herreros, the firm’s founding partner, comments, “The MALBA project was designed to transform the museum hall into an area that meets the new needs deriving from the museum growth in recent years to offer a friendly and inclusive space with the potential to become a part of visitors’ daily lives due to the simplicity.” For the interior design, Herreros used a range of industrially aesthetic materials to create a unique multipurpose area for the renovated museum.

For the flooring, a carefully selected pattern of sintered stone was chosen. Its fresh, balanced tones with greyish shadows appealed to the architects’ aesthetic ambitions. The finished floor resembles a concrete street; a continuous surface that playfully represents a halfway point between the city (outside) and the exhibition rooms (inside). The material’s versatility also meant that it was used for the museum’s restroom countertops. Martin Torrado of Torrado Arquitectos, who collaborated on the project, comments on the unifying qualities of the material: “Sintered stone seemed to be the right material to unify each one of the museum areas and meet our different needs: suitable for high traffic and for paneling horizontal surfaces, countertops, walls, and floors. It was a great decision, as this material can be used for many things.”

The Results: The inclusion of innovative materials such as sintered stone in this ambitious project made it possible to create an all-new space designed to be visited and inhabited by everyone. MALBA is now a next generation museum just like many of the materials used for its renovation which provide an effective response to the most demanding architectural and interior design needs. The project has given rise to an all-new contemporary museum concept without losing sight of the essence of MALBA—the symbol of Buenos Aires for housing internationally emblematic works of art.

SINTERED STONE FLOORING CASE STUDY #2

Photos courtesy of Neolith®

Project: Enigma Restaurant
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Architect: RCR Arquitectes, Olot, Catalonia, Spain

The Project: An air of mystery: This is Enigma. Its story started with renowned Catalan Chef Albert Adrià’s vision to create a “frozen and enigmatic” restaurant project that was to reflect his cuisine as well as his career. His vision took shape when 2017 Pritzker Prize winner RCR Arquitectes drew its design idea in watercolors and decided to bring it to life with the help of a manufacturer and designer of sintered stone. Through an incredibly creative and close collaboration, the enchanting interior of ENIGMA was created. Having worked on the design proposal for three years, Adrià wanted to ensure the perfect outcome for his passion project. Well-known for his experimental cuisine and surprising menus, the chef wanted to create an immersive environment to captivate his guests.

The Design: The pivotal moment in terms of design came when RCR in collaboration with architect Pau Llimona drew a watercolor painting in the size of three A2 papers, which was to be applied to the floors, walls, bathrooms, kitchen worktops, cabinetry, and air-extraction systems. However, a watercolor design not been done on sintered stone before, thus posing an unprecedented challenge. Product Designer Carlos Garcia explains: “We had to expand the original design, all the while trying not to lose the quality of definition offered by the original drawing. Each pixel was equal to 2 meters of final floor.” Through R&D, the manufacturer developed the technology to recreate the design onto slabs, producing a perfect replica of the drawing.

Once this was achieved, an exact color match had to be sourced, as the required green and blue tones are unusual hues for sintered surfaces. The intensity of the colors had to fit in with the other materials and decorations throughout the restaurant to achieve a unified environment, fully submerging diners. Using a digital-printing decoration technology, the architects’ design brief was fully met. The architects also wanted every slab to be of irregular texture, but with a subtle shine to provide a surface that is multisensory: interesting to the eye and inviting to touch. “Sintered stone is a contemporary material with many properties. We have been so surprised by its possibilities that we are now using it for other projects,” explain the architects.

The Fabrication: The floor presented the biggest challenge because of its sheer size. Each slab is unique and had to be perfectly put together to deliver a continuous design. However, the only way to get a full picture of the puzzle required some creative problem-solving and a change of perspective. The manufacturer initially installed the entire floor off-site and used a drone to take images from above, thus ensuring that there were no inconsistencies. RCR Arquitectes/P. Llimona designed an organic space full of curves and narrow aisles and required the slabs to be cut down into six smaller pieces, the smallest being only 3 centimeters wide. Absolute precision was key to guarantee the uniformity of the watercolor design. Taking inspiration from a map, a coordinate system was put into place, uniquely labeling every single slab to know its exact position in the project. This way, the installers on location were able to piece the interior together like a puzzle. The architects note, “It was a pleasure to be able to work with the technical team from the manufacturer. Their willingness to help out was excellent and allowed us to create a unique piece which turned the 700-square-meter floor into a watercolor painting.”

The Results: Albert Adrià, RCR Arquitectes, and the sintered stone manufacturer are all award winners within their respective industries. Together, they created a project that is truly spectacular in terms of design, material quality, food, and surprisingly fashion. Completing the scene is the Enigma staff, whose uniforms have also been designed by RCR/P. Llimona. The architects comment: “We like the idea that it is an Enigma, which is difficult to explain. It is an enveloping space that melts, disappears, almost a labyrinth. Between materiality and conformation, a whole series of organic movements is created. Shadows, transparencies, and a watery presence, nebular.”