Research On The Integrated Design Of The Long-span Structures And Spaces Of Indoor Arenas Based On Computational Techniques

This research project focuses on the conceptual design of indoor arenas emphasising the integration of the long-span roof structures and large spaces of(competition halls),to formulate a design method based on computational techniques.This design method aims at aiding designers to achieve the integrated design of the long-span roof structures and large spaces of indoor arenas and supporting the design explorations of diverse design alternatives with the consideration of various design requirements.Indoor arenas are important public buildings catering for various activities(e.g.sports events,stage performances,assemblies,exhibitions,and daily sports for the public)and serving as landmarks in urban contexts.In an arena,the large space and long-span roof structure are highly interrelated,which impact the multi-functionality(the spatial capacity,spectator view,and acoustics for various activities)and the structural performance and mainly defines the overall form of the building.Therefore,it is crucial to integrate the large space and long-span roof structure to generate proper forms for indoor arenas,therefore,to satisfy various design requirements.To achieve the integrated designs,it demands proper definition and association of various building elements based on further analyses about the complex interrelationships among the long-span roof structures and large spaces.Based on the integration,diverse design alternatives should be generated,which supports designers to do a fully design exploration,therefore,to achieve a scientific design process.The design exploration demands the information about the quantitative indicators and the overall geometries of the generated design alternatives,for the related numeric assessments and visual investigations.In the convergent step,based on the numeric assessments and visual investigations in the design exploration,the definition of promising design(s)demands challenging decision making.Moreover,different design scenarios of conceptual design in practice should be also considered,in which designers can prioritize the numeric assessments related to quantitative design requirements,or prioritize the visual investigations related to qualitative design requirements,or place equal emphasis on both of them.To satisfy these demands,traditional design methods and tools are limited in dealing with mass information and in supporting the design exploration and decision making with highly complexity.While some computational design techniques,which are potential to satisfy these demands,therefore,to support the conceptual design of indoor arenas.This thesis aims at formulating a computational design method to support the conceptual design of indoor arena.The method emphases on: the integration of the multi-functional space and long-span roof structure,the assessments according to both numeric data related to quantitative design requirements and visual investigations related to qualitative design requirements,and different scenarios in which designers can place different emphases or priorities on numeric assessments and visual investigations.The proposed method is applied to the hypothetical designs of two typical indoor arenas(Barclay Centre in New York and O2 Arena in London)in several experiments of designs.According to the results,the effects of CIDIA in satisfying the demands of the conceptual design of indoor arenas are verified.The three workflows are able to support designers to define promising design(s)in the corresponding design scenarios.CIDIA can be directly used for the design practice and the related research work.It solved the problems of the integrated design of the long-span roof structures and large spaces of indoor arenas,which supports the scientific decision process of the conceptual design of indoor arenas and benefits the designs and the constructions of high-performing indoor arenas.It also provides a platform for the cooperation between architects and structural engineers and can be used for the multi-disciplinary integrated designs of indoor arenas and other types of buildings.Furthermore,CIDIA can be also used for scientific research work,which support the studies of the interrelationships between building geometries and the indicators related to functionality structure,acoustics,etc.