Global engineering and infrastructure advisory company Aurecon said it is working on a new office building project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which, on completion, will offer one of the most innovative working environments in the region.

The project is being developed by Abdul Latif Jameel, a Saudi-based diversified business with operations in more than 30 countries.

The company has commissioned leading global architecture and design practice Aedas to design its new headquarters in Jeddah, while Aurecon has been appointed as the structural engineer.

The Abdul Latif Jameel corporate headquarters building is envisaged as an open-plan, social office that will house 2,300 employees.

Aurecon said its engineers developed sophisticated models using Revit design software and worked to integrate that with the models produced by Aedas using the Rhino platform.

“The client’s vision was for the facility to provide various social interaction zones through a bright, open, and flexible layout. Such designs are uncommon in Saudi Arabia, where intense heat means that building designs are dictated by the need for thermal comfort, rather than space or brightness,” explained architect Andrew Bromberg of Aedas.

To create the bright, open spaces in this challenging environment, Aedas oriented the L-shaped building so that the solid face of the building faces west, thus bearing the brunt of the intense afternoon sun, which can hit above 40 deg C, he stated.

Aurecon said the building’s unique tapered L-shaped structure meant that its structural engineers had to devise a tailored support structure that would not compromise the design vision of an open-plan space.

"The L-shaped office areas are arranged in a manner which gives the architectural tapering effect - both legs of the L-shape are arranged slightly differently from the adjacent floors," stated Andy Mak, the principal structural engineer at Aurecon.

"This created an intriguing challenge in determining the column layout to suit the open-plan office and also integrating it with the car park layout in the basement," noted Mak.

"We went through many iterations of overlaying the Revit model and the Rhino model to coordinate the optimum column arrangement,” continued Mak. “In the end, we decided on inclined and kinked columns on one leg of the L shape. This worked very well with the interior architecture and also avoided major transfer beams in the floors," he added.

The link bridges were an integral part of the design and the key visual element in the atrium space.

For architecture, said Mak, the bridges are a key visual element in the atrium space.

"But they also provided the only route to get building services into the office space. Structurally, we used the link bridges to anchor the L-shaped floors back into the large lift shafts, meaning that horizontal forces induced by the kinked columns and all of the seismic storey shear forces had to be channelled through the four link bridges on each floor," he observed.

When completed, the new headquarters building will be rise more than 100 m tall. It is located on the northwest corner of a 21-hectare site adjacent to a major traffic intersection in Al-Balad, the historical area in the city of Jeddah.

“This is a landmark development for Jeddah and a truly unique space in the region,” remarked Mak.

“Bringing this vision from concept to reality has been an incredibly exciting and stimulating project. We look forward to seeing the building come to life as staff move in and the community spirit takes hold,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service