AWARD OF THE TENDER
In 2020, Fornale Engineering won the public tender for the final structural timber design and operational construction management of the New Faculty of Engineering – Innovation Hub of Padua.
Our goal was to design a cutting-edge building with high energy performance and, above all, minimal environmental impact.
We proposed a solution in the tender based on a “heavy” post-and-beam frame in glulam; the choice proved to be a winning one.
It was a significant challenge given the dimensions and the intended use category of the building.
BUILDING DESCRIPTION
The building is located in the Padua Fair area on a footprint of approximately 2,000 sq m, spanning 4 floors and reaching a height of over 21 m.
It accommodates up to 3,000 students with 2,800 classroom seats divided into a total of 14 classrooms, a library, 200 seats in study rooms, and all necessary ancillary spaces.
STRUCTURAL SCHEME
The building is designed using a “heavy” glulam frame consisting of beams and columns, braced by 5 CLT stair cores.
The main structural grid measures 12 × 6.5 m in plan, a dimension driven by the minimum clear size required for the lecture halls.
The timber floors are designed using CLT timber panel and glulam tomake a hollow-box section spanning 12 m. Each floor is composed of CLT panels at the soffit and top face, with glulam beams in between, suitably connected. Particular care was devoted to the analysis of the floors’ vibration behaviour and deflections.
The FEM model had to account for the stiffness of all connection systems.
Along the main façade there are cantilevers of over 5 m, resolved partly with glulam structures and partly in steel.
Particular attention was paid to the robustness analysis for the verification of “disproportional effects”; the building is in “Consequence Class CC2b”.
The building was calculated to have an R60 fire resistance rating.
MATERIALS USED
- CONCRETE: 1,950 m³
- REINFORCING STEEL: 45,350 kg
- STRUCTURAL STEEL: 203 tons
- GLULAM: 786 m³
- CLT PANELS (various thicknesses): 15,778 sq m for a total of 2,149 m³
A total of 2,953 m³ of structural timber is used in this project.
DESIGN TEAM
Architectural designers: Settanta7 Studio Associato
Systems designers: STAIN engineering s.r.l.
Sustainability/LEED designers: IURE s.r.l.
Environmental project: Dott. Agr. Massimo Cecchetto
Assignment
Definitive structural timber design – foundation structures + CLT/GLT wood structures + hollow-box timber floors.
Site construction management of the structures
