Engineering Considerations of Tall Building Design

During Architectural Feasibility & Early Concept Phases

for CUHK Architectural School

The Brunel Building © Jack Hobhouse

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 Dong CHEN 陈栋 Director, Asia Structures BEng MSc FICE, CEng (UK) Ing.SIA (Switzerland)

One Bangkok, Thailand Mons Highspeed Rail Station, Belgium Margaret McDermott Bridge Jinhua Hepan Bridge, Zhejiang, China
With SOM, KPF and Benoy With Santiago Calatrava With Santiago Calatrava With WilkinsonEyre

BCDA ICONE Tower, Manila, Philippines Shenzhen Airport East Terminal, China China Merchants Qianhai Commerce Centre Ocean Park Water World, Hong Kong, China
With Henning Larsen With Zaha Hadid With OMA with Aedas
 Joe Tang
Director , MSc(Eng), BEng(Hons), CEng, RPE(BSS), ATD , MIET, MCIBSE, MASHRAE, BEAM Pro, REW C0, REA

Joe is an experienced, Chartered Relevant Projects

Engineer with specific expertise in
Building Services Engineering
who has successfully delivered
numerous sizable projects in Asia
Pacific for some of the country’s
largest and best known
technology, hospitality and
financial companies. Having been
working for more than 20 years in
the Asia Pacific region, developing MGM Macau Google TKPD Tai Wan Eaton Hotel Hong Kong

his strong background in the

relevant sectors.
 Zac YR Tao
Associate, MSc, BEng , CEng, MCIBSE , MHKIE(BSS) , MIET , MHKIBIM , LEED AP(BD+C)

Zac is an qualified MEP engineer Relevant Projects

with wide range of experiences
working in an international
technology company, a renowned
architecture, and international
engineering consultancy firms.
He worked as MEP project leader
with some of the most world-
renowned architects to lead MEP
engineering design and delivered
iconic projects across regions. Detroit Hudson Tower Tai Pei Xinyi A13 Apple Flagship Store Nan Sha Cruise Terminal
Engineering Basis of
Tall Building Design
Tall Building Fundamentals
Economics

• The developer’s return on investment and the demand for the space provided are critical to the feasibility of a
tall building.
• High land values in city centres mean that developers increasingly need to build tall buildings in order to
receive a return on their investment.
• By maximising net:gross ratios, minimising floor-to-floor heights and facilitating rapid construction a greater
return can be achieved.
• The usual repetitive nature of a tall building helps to focus the design team’s energies on producing an efficient
structure.
Economics
The structural engineer’s role is to minimise the costs while maximising the utility of the building.
Architecture

• The form of tall buildings is

becoming more elaborate along
with the demand for more slender
buildings. Both elaborate and
simple tall buildings often require
complex transfer systems to open
up the tower at lower levels or to
transfer loads over basements or
tunnels.

• The structural engineer needs to

take a leading role at concept and
scheme design stages to design a
building that is not only attractive
but will also stand up
2021 (400m) 2003 (230m)
Architecture

2020 (207m)
Architecture
Stability
Stability
Stability
Stability
Stability
Stability
Stability
Stability
Stability
Stability
Floor Framing
Floor Framing

Final Architectural Plan Used as Basis of Concept Design

Floor Framing
Floor Framing
Floor Framing
Floor Framing
Floor Framing
Lift (Core)
Lift (Core)
Lift (Core)
Lift Planning
Lift Planning

• Shaft Space, Overrun(Machine Room) Space, Lift Pit Space

• Provide Separate the lift group/escalator for basement/podium use

• Reduce the No. of Entrance floors for Tower Passenger Lift

• Provide Separate lift groups for non-office usage

• Each Lift Group should have no more than 1 lift lobby

Lift Planning

• Vertical transportation system is critical to high

rise towers. Accurate VT planning will benefit
the core size, cost of the building and user
experience.

• However, the traffic flow is affected by various

factors, such as population density and
distribution, traffic pattern. Therefore, accurate
input of the analysis at the beginning of the
project is critical to the system planning.

• Also, VT analysis is not linear analysis. Take

traffic jam for example, it may take 4 hours for
you to pass through a bridge during peak hour.
If you build another Bridge next to it, it may
only take you 20mins. Therefore, we use
computer simulation to test the possible worst
case situation to make sure all designed
system could handle peak hour people flow.
Lift Planning - Office

• For population estimation. If there is no • If this is self-sue office towers, the inter floor

specific requirements from client, we traffic must be considered

recommend to take value from BCO guide to • Unless specified by client, Office Building two

use population density between way handling capacity is normally considered

8sqm/pp~14sqm/pp. Absenteeism rate should around 13%, target average waiting time

be also considered(10%-20%) (AWT) is :

Office Morning Peak traffic Mix
• According to our experience with the office, • Morning Peak: 25-35s

there are three peak hour periods, morning up • Lunch Peak: 30-45s

peak, lunch peak and evening down peak. The

worst cases occur in morning and lunch, we

suggest to use below traffic mix to carry out

analysis.

Office Lunch Peak traffic Mix

Lift Planning - Hotel

• Regarding the population calculation, if not • From the chart, the peak hours of hotel occurs

specified by the client we recommend 1- in the morning(check out peak) and

2pp/room for high end hotels. Absenteeism evening(check in peak). The morning peak is

should also be considered. more extreme, therefore we recommend to

• The traffic flow is quite complicated in hotels, use morning peak traffic mix as below for the

below diagram shows the traffic flow of analysis:

different hotels: • We recommend to consider two way Handling

capacity of 12%。 Also consider this project

Traffic distribution of different hotels
is high end hotel, the target average waiting

time(AWT) is recommended to be 30-40s.

Hotel Morning Peak Traffic Mix

Analysis
Analysis
Special Design Features
Special Design Features
Special Design Features
Special Design Features
Other Examples

Benoy
Other Examples
Other Examples
MEP Introduction （Building Services)

• Electrical (Power) System

• HVAC System(Cooling Heating Ventilation)

• Plumbing & Drainage System

• Fire Service (Fire alarm, Sprinklers, Fire Hydrants)

• IT/AV/Security
MEP Introduction – Power System

Lighting

Mechanical

11kV/380V Transformer
Small Power

11kV Substation

HK’s Power Building

Infrastructure
MEP Introduction – Power System

• Economic Radius is 300m for Low

Voltage Power Distribution(380V)
MEP Introduction – Power Distribution Options

• Low Level Substations

• High Level Substations

MEP Introduction – Back Up Power System

• Low Level Genset • High Level Genset

HVAC– Chiller Plant Options
• Physical constrain of the hydraulic

Low Zone Mid Zone High Zone

pressure (static head) which is 16bar for

High Zone
normal pressure system
• As such there would be a hydraulic

Low Zone High Zone

separation every 20-25 floors, by means of
different chiller plants or heat exchangers

One Zone
Low Zone
Normal Pressure System High Pressure System
1.6MPa 2.0Mpa (15% more investment)

Chillers

Chiller Location Options

HVAC– Cooling Tower Location Options

On MEP/Refugee Floors, No
visual impact
On Tower Roof, less noise
impact
On Podium Roof, Closer to
Chillers

Cooling Tower Location Options

HVAC Air Side Options – FCU with FA

Heat recovery ventilation unit

Pros:
• Energy Efficient
• Less risks of COVID
Sterilization Fan Coil Unit (FCU) infections.
• Low Noise
• Less Space
• Lowest Cost
• Easy Local Control

Cons:
• More Maintenance Efforts
• Water Leakage Risks
HVAC Air Side Options – Full Air System

VAV control box Sterilization air conditioner Pros:

• Easier Maintenance
• Easier Control

Cons:
• More equipment Space
• Less Energy Efficient
• Higher COVID infection risks
• High Cost

High voltage electrostatic dedusting section Or

Photocatalyst section Air condition unit
HVAC Air Side Options – Displacement Ventilation

Heat recovery
ventilation unit
inside building Pros:
middle layer • Energy Efficient
• Lowest risks of COVID
infections.
• Low Noise
• Less MEP Ceiling Space
• Higher comfortable level
• Flexible for office arrangement

Cons:
• Challenging Control and
balance
• Raised Floor required
Floor Mount AC • High Cost
cabinet
Air supply Grill
Water Tank Location
Port
Flush
12 CT
21 m3
200m m3

100m Break Break FS/SPR AC

0m
Portable
Break Tank
Flushing
Break Tank
FSI Break
Tank
AC Break
Tank SPR SPR FS

Basements
MEP Introduction – High Level Plantroom Maintenance
Questions?

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