Glasgow | Riverside Museum | Zaha Hadid

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07 September 2007


By Rory Olcayto


As Zaha Hadid Architects’ Riverside Museum in Glasgow prepares to go on site, Rory Olcayto hears how the roof design evolved over three years

When Zaha Hadid presented her competition-winning Riverside Museum for Glasgow City Council even she managed to mix her metaphors.
Not only was its fluid form “a third metallic river” on account of its site at the confluence of the rivers Kelvin and Clyde, the £74 million scheme was also “a public building that has its own skyline”. But that’s fine, especially in Glasgow, where every building has a nickname.
It turns out, though, that this mix-up is intentional. Both ideas — the river and the “skyline” — are embodied in the form of the transport museum’s zinc-clad, standing-seam roof.
The “skyline” — a two-dimensional study of an imaginary roofline that serves as the building’s north, city-facing elevation — is extruded along a zig-zagging path which terminates at the river Clyde’s edge with a south-facing, mirror-glazed elevation. The resulting roof form resembles a “metallic river”.
Furthermore, it’s clear that the 10,000sq m building, Hadid’s first large-scale UK commission, which will house Glasgow’s transport museum as well as provide offices for the Clyde Maritime Trust, has a purity unexpected in a scheme so rich in metaphor.
“The roof springs out of the interplay between the site and its context. The idea is to juxtapose the city and the Clyde at this location, and to span this space between them,” explains project architect Johannes Hoffman, echoing Hadid’s own comments.
Visitors, he says, will walk across an “event” square, enter the building through its north elevation, then wander through a vast hall, with the sculpted, undulating ceiling acting as a way finder that leads to the south elevation and the River Clyde. Along the way, they will pass by a collection of models and vehicles charting Glasgow’s transport history. Office space and utility rooms hug the east and west facades, and in these areas an additional floor level has been inserted, but the interior is largely, in the words of Hoffman, “a glorified shed”, albeit one that twists and turns through two tight curves or transition zones.
Panel solution

Initial computer renderings of the scheme suggested the building would have a chrome-like finish, but as the design developed, the surface quality has been transformed. At the 2005 Block Architecture Festival a year on from the competition win, Hadid explained that the exterior would be clad in large-scale, stainless-steel shingles, and that rather than have a uniform colour, it would have a “gradation, a rouge”.
That idea, too, has now been superseded, largely because of cost. Says Hoffman: “After the value-engineering process was applied to the roof, we opted for a Rheinzink pre-patinated, zinc-panelled, standing-seam system. But it’s quite fitting that we did so,” he says, intriguingly. Surely a switch from a shiny, shingled “rouge” surface to a uniform, matt standing-seam finish is a something of a downgrade? What does he mean?
“From the concept stage onward, we saw the design as an extrusion through the building. Now, with the zinc panels we can express and accentuate that geometric idea with the standing-seam line layout,” he says.
“The roof springs out of the interplay between the site and its context”


It’s true, the seam lines almost resemble iterations of the “skyline” elevation set deep within the extrusion.
The solution is less costly and ties in to the design principles more effectively, and is also considerably easier to realise. Some parts of the roof twist in three dimensions, meaning that the application of shingles would have required too many bespoke solutions.
Working with panels will be easier, but not easy. “Quite a range of panel widths are used, and there are issues of tapering to consider, as well as areas of double curvature at the transition zone,” says Hoffman. “But on the whole, most panels will curve in one direction.”
How it’s all detailed, however, will be decided by Varla, the specialist contractor overseeing the roof design. “It’s a traditional contract,” says Hoffman, “with contractor-designed portions for the roof, ceiling, drainage and windows. On the roof, for example, we’ve set out every seam line and presented 3D sections to show the design intent, but how it actually works is down to Varla. We determine the shape, but the contractor will determine the final geometry.”
Alex Isles, joint managing director of Varla, says buildability is the key issue for his firm. “There are some high peaks in the roof design that provide a considerable access challenge. We’re working with specialist access companies just now to finalise our plans. For example, we’ll be using cradle systems as opposed to cherry pickers.”
The roof incorporates smoke vents and two recessed access hatches, also dressed in Rheinzink to ensure the standing seam is continuous.
Hoffman says that as it’s a traditional contract, the architect is charged with coordinating all the packages and specialist subcontractors. “It falls on us to provide workable solutions. There are lots of junctions that require close examination and coordination, particularly between roof and ceiling, roof and glazing, but also between roof and drainage.”
The roof build-up will see trapezoidal decking laid on a steel structure designed by Buro Happold. In certain areas a bespoke approach will be required as Hoffman says its not just a case of Varla “snapping on” the decking. “Around the curves, the firm will need to apply ever-closer faceted sections to accommodate tighter radiuses.”
Varla has a depth of 375mm to play with above the structural zone and beyond the decking, a typical build-up fills that space: vapour barrier, insulation, plywood sheeting, then bituminous sheeting, with the zinc standing-seam cladding over that.
The ceiling, once considered as a sprayed concrete design, will be suspended from Buro Happold’s roof structure, and will be constructed of plasterboard and formed gypsum in the transition zones.
The site is currently being prepared and construction is set to start in November, with the building to open in 2010. It’s doubtful whether the builders will be fussing over metaphors as they set about erecting Glasgow’s latest icon, but when it’s finally up, you can bet the locals will find a nickname for it. Let’s face it, Riverside Museum is just a wee bit boring for this wilfully expressive shed.


Creating the Riverside Skyline
- Buro Happold project director Wolf Mangelsdorf describes the roof’s structural elements
We conceived the structural system at the first meeting we had with the architect. We thought the best solution would be to use the folded planes of the roof, which exhibit an in-plane stiffness in the manner of a folded plate structure. The roof is supported by the side walls, as well as by columns within the north and south facades.
The “skyline” profile is translated into a truss system. The ridges and valleys of the profile form the top and bottom booms of the truss, for which we’ve specified 406mm circular hollow sections, while the vertical elements are defined by 680mm-deep rolled I-beams placed at 6m centres throughout the extrusion.
Early on, we realised we could use the transition zones — the curved areas — as stiffened supports, which act as anchor points for the roof structure.
With the side walls, structural mullions in the north and south elevation windows and the curved areas all providing support, there is no need for internal columns.
The accommodation areas, which are adjacent to the east and west elevations, are braced and stiffened, and serve as lateral support for the roof.
There have been some adjustments, but the general form and shape has remained the same. It’s not particularly sensitive to tweaks. Its strength is that the basic idea.

Fonte: bdonline

[JVS]

May 8, 2010
Riverside Museum, Glasgow’s Guggenheim, nears completion
Charlene Sweeney

Like a steel tsunami from the Clyde, the landmark building that could become Glasgow’s answer to the Guggenheim in Bilbao is now almost complete. The wave-shaped Riverside Museum, designed by the acclaimed Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, will be the new home of the city’s transport museum.

The structure, three interwoven galleries clad in 24,000 zinc tiles made on site, is one of the most ambitious building projects attempted in Scotland, and will rank with the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood as an attraction in its own right. Hadid, a previous recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the profession’s highest award, won the commission after an international contest.

With just a year until the museum is due to open, the pressure is on fund-raisers to find the final £1.7 million. The Riverside Museum Appeal, launched in August 2007, pledged to raise £5 million towards the £74 million bill.

To help boost funds, the appeal has entered a new phase in which the public will be encouraged to become involved. Expatriates in the United States have also been invited to support the campaign. It is hoped that the museum’s role in conserving Scotland’s heavy industry heritage, especially shipbuilding on the Clyde, will convince them to dig deep.

“It is not a good time for raising money but I think people will rally round and contribute because there is a close relationship between Glasgow and the museum,” said Lord Smith, the appeal chairman. “Glaswegians are very supportive of their museums and galleries. At the moment 500,000 a year visit the transport museum so there are a lot of people proud of it.”

Taking a leaf from the campaign that raised £14 million for the city’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery, all donors, no matter how small, will be commemorated at the new museum. Those who contribute more than £5000 will have their names on a special wall, while smaller donors will be mentioned on a special video screen. There are also plans for a gala dinner in September and a fresh assault on corporate donors.

Paul Jaffray, project manager for BAM, the building contractor, says it is one of the most unusual buildings he has encountered. “When I first saw the plans I thought, ‘What do we do with this?’ ” he said. “We looked at a lot of Zaha’s buildings before we started.”

The last of the tiles are being hammered in and the specially reinforced concrete floors are being laid. The spacious interior will hold about 3,000 artefacts — more than double the number on show at the old museum, in cramped and rundown premises just over a mile away at Kelvin Hall, which closed two weeks ago. Prize items will include the late Colin McRae’s Subaru Impreza in which he became the youngest World Rally Champion at the age of 27 in 1995, and a Glasgow-built steam locomotive that was returned to the city from South Africa and is being restored. The centre has views of the Govan shipyard where two aircraft carriers will be built from 2014.

“I think this thing will be stunning,” said Lord Smith. “It will be like the Sydney Opera House. People will come just to see the building and then say, ‘Hey, there’s a wonderful transport collection inside’.” He believes that the museum’s new location, where the River Kelvin meets the Clyde, will reinforce Glasgow’s maritime heritage.

“I remember as a wee boy I saw the QE2 being built, but there may be youngsters now who look around and say, ‘What shipbuilding? What engineering?’ It’s important that they know we built a huge amount of railway carriages — some still running in countries like India — ships and trams.”

To donate to the project log on to www.riversideappeal.org

in http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7119586.ece