Case Study: Arup preserves Design Museum’s iconic roof with Oasys GSA and AdSec

Smart engineering enables complete architectural transformation while preserving heritage roof

The structural engineering firm Arup faced the challenge of preserving the iconic, fragile copper-clad concrete roof of London's Grade II listed Commonwealth Institute building during its transformation into the new Design Museum. The roof, a large and delicate hyperbolic paraboloid structure, needed to be suspended 20 meters in the air while the existing building was demolished and a new basement was excavated. Oasys Software's structural analysis program, Oasys GSA, was used to help understand the roof's original design and model its complex behavior.

Using Oasys GSA, Arup engineers modeled the structure and ran detailed analyses to understand how it would behave on temporary supports, where movements of even 5mm could cause damage. The software enabled fast processing of data and the analysis of various scenarios, which was critical for planning the construction sequence and mitigating risk. Oasys AdSec was also used to check loads on the unusual concrete sections. The successful project, which required 21 man-years of engineering work, preserved the historic roof and resulted in the new Design Museum building winning The Institution of Structural Engineers 2017 Award for Structural Transformation.

Arup

Sebastian Kaminski

Senior Structural Engineer