吉尔伯特·阿什（Gilbert-Ash）在英国外国和英联邦办公室的Mayhew剧院

Author: Christopher Dollard

吉尔伯特·阿什是一个获奖的英国建筑公司有限公司mpleted high-profile and prestigious construction projects, ranging from hotels and offices to foreign embassies and consulates, in 40 countries over the course of 30 years. With offices in London and Belfast, they are often contracted by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office due to their expertise and high-quality construction. They recently constructed theDiplomatic Teaching Academyin the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London,威廉王子正式开放.

The Diplomatic Teaching Academy, formally named as the Mayhew Theatre after Cecily Mayhew, the first female diplomat from Britain, is a parabolic glass, steel, and wood structure that had to be built in the courtyard of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London - meaning that the steel superstructure needed to be lifted by crane into the courtyard located 90 meters away from road access and with only five metres of clearance on any side, which is quite a delicate operation.

For this project, Gilbert-Ash needed to operate within tight and sensitive spaces. They also had to complete an intricate and highly modern building with very strict geometrical design specifications. Fortunately, they invested in theLeica BLK360imaging laser scanner, a crucial piece of technology that helped them achieve success with the Mayhew Theatre, which won a2019 Construction Excellence Award.

Advanced Technology Required for Complex, High-Profile Construction

吉尔伯特·阿什, as indicated by their successful record, has always been up to the challenges of high-profile construction work. However, the Mayhew Theatre design and construction process required advanced technology due to the complex challenges noted above.

“建筑物的上层建筑是一个悬臂双曲抛物面top ring beam with a zinc roof - which was referred to as the Pringle due to its shape - and within the building you had an elliptic paraboloid cedar slat ceiling,” said Paul McGeachy, Design Manager at Gilbert-Ash. For non-architects, that highly geometric language indicates that this is a complicated structure to build.

And yes, Pringles are hyperbolic paraboloid-shaped potato chips. To gain a sense for how complicated a “hyperbolic paraboloid” is, the New York Timespublished an articleabout supercomputers and mentioned Pringles, specifically how they are engineered: “Procter & Gamble even uses supercomputers to make sure that Pringles go into cans without breaking.”

显然，Mayhew剧院是一个复杂的结构，在设计和构造的每个阶段都需要无可挑剔的精度，而双曲线抛物面锌屋顶，与适合罐子的pring脚无不同，不需要适合庭院，而不会损害外国和联邦政府。办公室，列出的1年级遗产大楼。如果Pringles要求超级计算机适合罐头，那么Gilbert-Ash肯定需要BLK360才能成功建造Mayhew剧院。

You can even view a detailed description and diagram of how the theatre was constructed in Construction Manager Magazine这里.

Gilbert-Ash在Leica BLK360上投资以创建3D模型

At the start of the project, McGeachy and Graeme Gourley, Senior Estimator, realized that they needed to have extremely precise measurements of their construction plans for the theatre. They had already had some experience with digital construction and reality capture tools, but McGeachy came across the BLK360 and thought it might be the right fit for their portfolio of technology.

“I was at a digital construction fair, checking out the different stalls, and I came across the Leica stand. A spokesman talked me through it and gave me a demonstration,” said McGeachy. “At that point, it was easy to identify that this would be a good addition to our digital construction tools.”

However, because of the space constraints of the job site, the complicated design, and work with subcontractors, it wasn’t possible to simply start work there and adapt the design as work progresses. Instead, Gilbert-Ash decided to start building the steel superstructure off-site in order to determine on-site dimensions.

“Everything had to be meticulously thought out off-site by using digital construction methods,”
said Gourley. “We pre-erected the theatre to determine the size of the glass before it was manufactured and sent to site.”

McGeachy说：“对于我们来说，在现场设定维度，我们可以看到的唯一方法就是以3D捕获它。”然后，他们使用BLK360扫描上层建筑并确定精确的尺寸，然后可以将其用于订购其他材料，例如玻璃和木材组件。BLK360捕获的准确点云数据使Gourley的团队能够精确地开始他们的整个设计过程，从而有助于确保在施工的每一步中的准确性。

“We’re one of the first people in Northern Ireland to invest in the Leica BLK360. We use that to capture our 3D point cloud data,” said McGeachy. “With the 3D models we had developed, we could easily identify clashes between all three disciplines and hold workshops with sub-contractors to develop methods for changes to the design.”

双曲线抛物面的设计和施工工作流程

After capturing the superstructure, McGeachy used several workflows to process the data and create 3D models with Autodesk Revit, ReCap Pro & Mobile, and Navisworks. He was then able to develop the existing Revit model and dimensioned AutoCAD drawings, and the steel subcontractor was able to successfully design the steel structure, framing, and connections using Tekla Structures software.

McGeachy说：“您拥有这些非常复杂的几何形状，并且在这种设计中依靠和互动时，它使其变得更加复杂。”由于剧院设计中的材料和形状各不相同，吉尔伯特·阿什（Gilbert-Ash）依靠BLK360的基本数据来告知确保成功完成Mayhew剧院所需的所有3D建模。

“The Leica BLK360 has basically transformed the way we complete our projects, and it’s made a huge difference to us, especially with the coordination of subcontractors,” said Gourley. “Design clashes can be identified earlier, and the client can get a better sense of what they’re getting earlier on in the project."

With such a complicated structure being built for such a prominent location, purpose, and client, the BLK360 helped Gilbert-Ash to continue their successful relationship and award-winning work with the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office. We look forward to seeing how Gilbert-Ash incorporates 3D laser scanning into their future projects.