Products
Brochure Downloads
Freeware
Further Information
2006/2007 StruCad International Drawing Competition Winners
19th December 2007
AceCad would like to thank all of the entrants to the StruCad International Drawing Competition 2006/2007 for such a high quality of entries. The judging process was very difficult but we finally have our winners!
1st Place 
Company: Gulf Steel Industries (U.A.E.)
Project: Al Kazim Towers
Accuracy and speed were key criteria’s when it came to selecting the 3D structural steel detailing package used to complete the spectacular Al Kazim Towers. This ’fast track’ 22 month contract for the construction and completion of the 52-storey twin towers, part of the Mohammed Amin Al Kazim project in Dubai was detailed by Gulf Steel Industries in less than 3 months using StruCad - the world’s leading 3D structural steel detailing system.
The Al Kazim towers project which has recently celebrated its ’top out’ (Week 52) features three basement levels, a ground floor and an eight storey podium plus two 52-storey towers rising 44 floors above the podium to a height of 203m. Rising above the towers two aesthetically-designed roofs ’topped out’ at 265m. These iconic towers will include residential, office and commercial space and stand in a very strategic area near the fifth interchange on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed road.
The spectacular roof structure of each tower consists of approximately 1200 tons of steelwork formed into intricate arches to echo the lines of the world famous Chrysler Building in New York. This aesthetically pleasing and intricate project was modelling entirely on StruCad and according to Head of Engineering for Gulf Steel Industries Mr KG Surendran; ’enabled the project to be delivered in less time than anticipated and with accuracy to meet the client’s demanding requirements’. As a result of the collaborative nature of StruCad, links with analysis and design packages such as STAAD Pro were simply facilitated. The StruCad database enables the bi-directional transfer of design data streamlining the engineering, design and detailing functions, whilst fabrication data and drawings are automatically generated by the system.
   |
2nd Place
Company: Cadtec Draughting Ltd. (New Zealand)
Project: City Arena
The project’s first challenge was the detailing of the spine truss, which is the main structural support for the single span roof. The spine truss has an asymmetrical teardrop profile and detailing was further complicated by the inclusion of non linear pre-cambers. A further challenge was provided by the wing-form multi plane roof profile. Both sides of the roof slope in two planes and have radial profiles to the perimeter connected by a central gutter. Integration of the non linear faceted walls with an asymmetric set-out, to the underside of the sloping wing-form roof was also required.
The multi function venue will be used by the worlds greatest music artistes and therefore incorporation of specialised support systems for soundproofing and lighting arrays were required, which could not conflict with the main structure. According to Cadtec, fabrication and erection of the City Arena; with the spine truss and roof steel in particular, required extremely close production tolerances. The spine truss was required to be erected in one lift; on to cast in HD bolts on top of columns.
Due to the complex nature of the design, fabrication and erection sequence and the fact that no two pieces were the same, the use of StruCad enabled the draughtsman to keep control of the project. This was especially critical as the project was design-build led and when detailing commenced the roof edge profiles and much of the secondary structure were not yet designed. As a result StruCad’s system for automatically revising drawings and materials lists were vital to completing this project. CAM data was used from StruCad to complete the 1235 tons of steelwork via Peddinghaus fabrication equipment. Senior Draughtsman Mr Ben Cattaway concluded; the inherent flexibility of the StruCad modelling system allowed any issues to be spotted immediately and quickly dealt with.
  |
3rd Place
Company: Billington Structures Ltd. (United Kingdom)
Project: Barnsley Transport Interchange
The Barnsley Transport Interchange is made up of a series of extremely complicated geometric shapes. The central roof and the main north / south concourse of the building resembles a swan in flight, with the neck forming a tube shaped passenger footbridge. The roof alone is made up of 3 intersecting, inclined cones which create a feature wave form roof. The aero foil tips of the structure are elliptical and there is an abundance of curved steel. Possibly the most challenging part of detailing this project, according to StruCad Draughtsman Mr Glyn Bassingdale, was the feature wall, which is made up of massively complicated intersections.
The project is part of the redevelopment of the town of Barnsley and cost approximately £24 million, opening in May 2007. 650 tons of steel were used in the project which was also fabricated by Billington Structures, who use the CAM and scribing data facilitated by StruCad to feed their CNC machinery.
"The extremely complex geometry of the Barnsley Transport Interchange was such that without the aid of StruCad this contract would have taken 10 times longer and would have been way beyond our capabilities", said a Billington Structures spokesman.
  |
As a result of the significant number of entries and the exceptionally high standards AceCad would would also like to highly commend the following entries:
Highly Commended
Company: Walter Watson Ltd. (Northern Ireland)
Project: The Crescent Shopping Centre
The Crescent Shopping Centre, City West Road, Dublin was detailed and fabricated by Walter Watson Ltd. This EU 1,400,000 project incorporates a curved canopy which both curves aesthetically around the structure and slopes upwards at the same time. This beam, column, truss and curved member project consists of 610 tons of structural steelwork.
According to Senior Structural Detailer Mr Michael Armstrong, StruCad was most beneficial in detailing the complex and critical curved steelwork, which was easily set up in the wireframe environment. This enabled the full size frames to be set up in the workshop with complete accuracy and confidence. Additionally CAM data was used from StruCad, with the StruCad Freeware being particularly useful across the project.
  |
Highly Commended
Company: Cadtec Draughting (New Zealand)
Project: Auckland Museum
This multi-award winning structure consists of 4 truss tower frames supporting 2 pre-cambered box girder trusses, each 1 storey deep arranged in a cruciform which in turn carries a suspended bowl. The bowl is timber clad and is designed as an independent structure hanging from the trusses. With its copper cladding the distinctive roof incorporates a wave at the perimeter, which perhaps drew recognition from the prestigious Institute of Structural Engineers Awards 2007, who credited the project with the - Commendation Award for Arts, Leisure or Entertainment Structures 2007.
According to Senior Draughtsman Mr Ben Cattaway, StruCad particularly assisted due to the ease with which it was possible to create curved construction lines enabling the pinpointing of locations around the dome as the wave moved up and down. This enabled the fabrication shop to create full size jigs to mould the perimeter piping, which is curved in two directions. StruCad also allowed other trades to check and locate cleat positions for the copper, glass and timber cladding.
   |