66
X1
Category 1: Buildings
Software: Scia Engineer
Project Description
An international design competition sought to identify a
unique design for Canada’s National Music Centre that
would link the historic past of Calgary’s East Village with
the innovations of the future.
As a result, the National Music Centre is an entirely new
cultural institution dedicated to the music of Canada in
all of its forms. It is at once museum, performance hall,
interactive music education center, recording studio and
broadcast center. Sited opposite the Stampede Grounds
in Calgary’s historic East Village, the new National
Music Centre, along with the restored King Eddy Hotel,
will catalyze the future redevelopment of the district.
Key Structural Design Features
• Free form, 5 story concrete structure that utilizes nine
towers to form the body. The towers serve as cores to
resist the lateral load.
• Contemporary look features concrete walls clad
in terra cotta rising in subtle curves. These curves
merge, separate and interlace. Smaller concrete
structures lean on each other and form understated
arches, many of which don’t touch the ground.
• Majority of exterior was architecturally exposed
concrete, making concrete appearance and the
reduction of cracking paramount.
• Combination of mat foundation and spread footings.
• Bridge spanning over 4th Street SE connecting the
structure designed as a full story steel truss and
included no similar connections.
Project Challenges
The scale of the National Music Centre project and the
intricacy of the architecture could have made it difficult
and expensive to complete using traditional engineering
workflows and software. Because of the scale of the
project, complex architecture and mix of materials,
KPFF encountered various design, analysis and
workflow challenges.
One such design challenge was the requirement for the
structure to not only perform adequately for strength,
but also for the unique functional needs related to the
acoustics of specific spaces. In addition, other spaces
held requirements for interior climate control in relation
to the preservation of the museum’s collections. These
design challenges made direct collaboration with the
architectural and interior design teams vital, in order
to ensure that the structure performs effectively in all
aspects of the design.
Also, in an attempt to streamline the project workflow,
KPFF decided to utilize Scia Engineer because it
allowed the engineers to directly leverage the architects
Rhino 3D model into analysis. Within this process,
Rhino 3D files were imported into Scia Engineer as
VRML files.
After importing as VRML files, KPFF was able to choose
to have Scia Engineer convert the VRML geometry into
1D or 2D members automatically, or bring the model
in as reference geometry. In this case, because of the
many doubly curved shell elements in the design, the
model was brought in as a reference model. KPFF
was able use the tools in Scia Engineer’s BIM toolbox
to trace around and convert the Rhino3D model into
a proper analytical model that was ready for loading,
meshing and analysis.
Ultimately, the ability to leverage the architect’s model
into analysis saved KPFF tremendous time. The biggest
advantage was the ability to make changes and turn the
design back to the architect within a day. Without the
quick turnaround that Scia Engineer allowed, the project
design phase would have greatly extended and could
have caused for difficulty in coordination.
National Music Centre - Calgary, Alberta, Canada
