Plot 3C1 is a 60-storey, commercial office tower on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE – part of major developer Tamouh Investments 'City of Lights' development.
Beca was engaged by DP Architects to provide design services for all civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and vertical transportation for the project.
The building structure presented a two-fold challenge – to retain its aesthetically pleasing slender form, as well as maximising the leasable floor area. To aim to achieve this it stands 290m tall and 75m wide. However the central structural core of the building is only 14m wide – insufficient depth to control building sway in high winds. This could affect occupant comfort on the upper levels of the tower if building lateral stiffness was not carefully considered.
To control the building sway a series of 'outrigger' beams were used between the core and exterior columns. The outrigger beams were incorporated at the mid height of the building to stiffen the building frame by engaging the perimeter columns. In this way additional framing action with the core was generated.
To minimise the area of the office floors dedicated to building services use, a tightly engineered services core was designed. Building ventilation systems were designed to also provide dual service as smoke control systems, reducing space requirements.