INNOVATION July-August 2012

Visual Arts and Global Studies Centre

The Brentwood College School’s Visual Arts and Global Studies Centre is a 30,000 ft 2 two-storey concrete and heavy timber building that houses fine arts, performing arts and academic facilities. The heavy timber roof incorporates several undulating roof forms, and features a 25 ft high central atrium with a curved, asymmetrical roof shape. Responding to the architect’s challenge, Read Jones Christoffersen’s Victoria structural engineering team developed an innovative truss design for the atrium roof, which incorporates a double glulam top chord, steel cable bottom chord, and laminated structural glass king post. Owner: Brentwood College School. Structural Engineer: Read Jones Christoffersen. Architect: Christine Lintott Architect.

AluminiumStructural Plate Reline The first Aluminum Structural Plate reline was undertaken in the fall of 2011 at kilometre 380.7 of the Alaska Highway near Fort Nelson, BC. The owner, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), chose the slip-line method in lieu of a conventional open cut and replace because detours were considered impractical and too costly for the site. The original host pipe was a 4,920 mm diameter galvanized steel structural plate round structure, approximately 47.7 m long. With the invert plates showing signs of corrosion, PWGSC specified that the new liner be aluminum—a material with a longer material service life for approximately the same cost and about a third of the weight of a conventional steel option. Atlantic Industries offered the design/fabrication/supply of the Aluminium Dura-A-Span TM re-line product, meeting the maximum permitted size of 3,509 mm diameter to accommodate the alignment. The installation was completed by Neelco Builders Limited.

Karebbe Dam Karebbe Dam, completed in October 2011, is a 73 m high concrete gravity structure in a narrow valley at the downstream end of the Larona river gorge in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Two 5.5 m diameter penstocks embedded in the dam foundation supply a 130 MW powerhouse located beneath the spillway chute in a rare hydro-combine arrangement. The dam has one gated spillway bay to pass normal floods, and an overtopping crest with a unique fail-safe spill system to safely discharge extreme floods. The project was designed by the Vancouver Hydro Group of SNC-Lavalin, which also provided procurement, resident engineering and construction management on behalf of the owner, PT Vale. The main civil contractor was Kajama in joint venture with an Indonesian partner. Most of the generating and ancillary equipment was provided by Andritz Hydro. Model testing of the spill system was carried out by Northwest Hydraulics in North Vancouver.

3 6

J U LY/AU G U S T 2 012

i n n o v a t i o n