56

TheStructuralEngineer
March 2016

Project focus
City of Dreams

City of Dreams, Macau

making the vision viable

Synopsis

Introduction

This article describes how cuttingedge parametric-based engineering

techniques have been used to
achieve the detailed design of 2500
complex steelwork connections
for the exoskeleton of the new City
of Dreams hotel in Macau, China. It
discusses the tools, methodology and
strategy employed by the engineering
team to automate the difficult and
time-consuming process of creating,
verifying and documenting the
geometrically challenging, large-scale
steel connections using niteelement methods within an ambitious
timescale of just 12 months.

An extraordinary building is taking shape

in the City of Dreams entertainment
resort in Macau (a Special Administrative
Region of the Peoples Republic of China).
The 42-oor twin-tower construction
incorporates an irregular-form, aluminiumclad structural exoskeleton with
connections of such scale and complexity
that they are possibly the most analytically
and geometrically challenging large-scale
steelwork connections ever to be built
(Figure 1).
The project for Melco Crown
Entertainment by Zaha Hadid Architects
and BuroHappold is under construction
(Figure 2). When it opens in 2017 it will
provide the City of Dreams development
with a dramatic landmark building to
complement the existing complex of hotels

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 56

Figure 1
City of Dreams
hotel architects
rendering

ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS

Emidio Piermarini EI, BEng, MEng, Engineer, BuroHappold Hong Kong

Hayden Nuttall MSc, DIC, BEng, CEng, FIStructE, MHKIE, Director, BuroHappold Hong Kong
Rob May CEng, MIStructE, PE, MHKIE, MHKIBIM, Associate Director, BuroHappold Bath
Victoria M. Janssens PhD, PEng, Senior Structural Engineer, BuroHappold Hong Kong

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TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 57

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TheStructuralEngineer
March 2016

Project focus
City of Dreams

Figure 3
Structural system

Figure 2
City of Dreams hotel
current progress (January 2016)

VADIM ISMAGILOV

a) Concrete cores

and entertainment facilities on the Cotai

Strip. Housed within its 150000m2 of
oor space will be a seven-storey atrium,
780 hotel rooms, suites and villas, various
restaurants, luxury retail outlets, gaming
and event facilities, and a sky pool.
BuroHappold carried out the general
structural design of the building, together
with the detailed design and construction
documentation of all the steelwork
connections. The structural design work
faced engineering challenges arising from
the typhoon wind climate, seismic design
requirements, complex load paths and
highly irregular geometry of the building,
but it is the uniquely complex problem of
the detailed design and documentation of
the thousands of dissimilar and irregular
steelwork connections of the exoskeleton
and the innovative methodology used
to solve it that are the subject of this
article.

In structural terms, the steel exoskeleton

and the two internal concrete cores act
together to provide lateral load resistance,
sharing wind and seismic loads in
proportion to stiffness. The gravity system
comprises composite beams and slabs
that span between the exoskeleton and the
cores with minimal internal columns (Figure
3).
There are approximately 2500
connections in the exoskeleton. The
members and connections are fabricated
from steel plate up to 150mm thick
using grades up to S460. Many of the
connections incorporate offshore-quality
plate to BS EN 102251 in order to ensure
adequate ductility and strength in the
through-thickness direction. Members are
generally bolted together at connections
in the at regions and site-welded in the
free-form central zone and the corner llets
(Figure 4).

Structure

Methodology

The design concept for the City of Dreams

hotel is of a striking exoskeleton which
wraps around the two concrete cores,
bringing them together with a owing midsection featuring three irregular-shaped
curved openings. Inside the building, the
free-form steel framework continues,
curving high above a huge atrium space
that is echoed by that of the sky pool
above.

With such complex and irregular geometry

it was clear from the outset that traditional
code-based methods and standard
drawing software would not be sufficient
to design and document the exoskeleton
connections. Instead, the BuroHappold
team decided that the complex stress
states that exist where members merge
into the connections meant that niteelement (FE) analysis was the only viable

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 58

b) Exoskeleton

c) Total system

option to verify their structural adequacy.

It was also clear that standard software
packages would not have the functionality
required to create the construction
documentation, especially for the free-

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59

Input Parameters
(variables)

form central region.

To complicate matters further, since the
exoskeleton would be clad in aluminium,
all connections and associated plates
and bolts would have to be located
within the cladding zone dened by the
architect. This would inevitably constrain
and limit options for the geometry of the
connections and necessitate non-planar
solutions.
Finally, the timescale for detailed
design and documentation of all 2500
exoskeleton connections was just 12
months. Put another way, the team would
need to complete an average of 50
connections per week.
In response to this seemingly impossible
task, BuroHappold drew on its expertise
in parametric engineering and structural
optimisation developed on previous
projects, including the Aviva Stadium in
Dublin, Ireland2, and the Louvre Museum
in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates3.
Essentially, the teams solution was to
create a unique, bespoke computational
approach using application programming
interface (API) techniques to allow
efficient processing of the huge number
of FE models required and, critically,
corresponding three-dimensional

(3D) visualisation of every connection

throughout. The approach allowed the
engineering team to focus on the quality
of the engineering solution, rather than on
cumbersome data handling and repetitive
number-crunching tasks, resulting in
signicantly faster and reliable output. As
a result, the entire detailed design and
documentation process was completed on
schedule, in a fraction of the time that the
team estimated would have been required
using a more conventional methodology.

Figure 4
Zones of exoskeleton

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 59

Output Model
Viewed In Rhino 3D

Grasshopper
Denition/Script

Figure 5
Parametric denitions using Grasshopper visual programming for Rhino 3D

Tools
Parametric design is a process in which
problem parameters are dened as
variables and a series of functions applied
in order to nd the solution(s). By varying
these parameters, many variations of
the same problem can be solved. In this
case, the problem was FE analysis of the
many and various steel connections in the
exoskeleton.
The modelling software Rhinoceros
3D (Rhino 3D)4 and its plug-in module
Grasshopper5 were chosen as parametric
design tools for the speed and accuracy
they would bring to the task.
The combination allowed the team to
create the geometry for a large number of

Figure 6
Design process

complex 3D forms quickly and accurately

using visual programming techniques and,
crucially, to make changes to the geometry
by changing the parameters (Figure 5).
They could literally see what they were
doing in each step of the programming
logic and in the corresponding geometry
as it was being created, making the code
debugging process much easier and
quicker than it would have been using
traditional practices.
Rhino 3D was also used to model
the outer surface geometry as a clashdetection study to show that the
connections were within the cladding
zone. Autodesks Robot Structural Analysis
(RSA)6 software was used to create
the local FE models for each unique
connection type.
In this context, it is worth noting that
the size and complexity of the structure
meant that the global analysis model for
the building, which was created using
MIDAS structural analysis software7, took
over 12 hours to run. Hence, it was not
viable to create and insert FE models of
all the connections into the global model,
as this would have increased the analysis
time even further, possibly by three or four
times. Similarly, if the models were inserted

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Project focus
City of Dreams

Figure 7
Grasshopper script to identify similar connections

one at a time, there would be at least a

12-hour wait each time the team wanted to
investigate alternative arrangements for a
connection. The only practical alternative
was to create separate local FE models
of the connections and transfer, or map,
onto them the corresponding moments and
forces from the global model results le,
for all 105 load combinations.
To maintain the tight programme, almost
every aspect of the local model generation
and analysis was automated using bespoke
Visual Basic scripts that linked MIDAS,
RSA and Excel with Grasshopper via their
APIs.
In achieving the solution to this
ambitious project, the BuroHappold
engineering team found themselves at the
cutting edge, using the software in ways
that had not been done before, sometimes
working at the limits of the products
capabilities. The team maintained frequent
dialogue with all the software companies
technical support teams throughout, which
proved to be highly productive for both
parties.

Strategy
The engineering teams strategy was to break
this immense problem into ve key steps
(Figure 6). The rst four months of the project
were spent developing bespoke Grasshopper
scripts for every step. This signicant time
investment was justied many times over by
the huge time saving made in the subsequent
analyses and generation of documentation.
It is important to understand that bespoke
programming, however skilled it might be, does
not replace engineering expertise. Rather,
it augments it by handling large amounts of
data efficiently and releasing engineers to
focus on optimising the design. Accordingly,
visualisation, manual verication and

Figure 8
Visualisation of data for similar connections

Figure 9
Developing
connection
arrangement

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 60

b)

c)

RUPERT INMAN

a)

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61

acceptance were considered essential and

built into the process throughout.
The ve steps were:

a total number of over 2500 connections, this

reduced the number of unique types to about
400.

1. Identify similar connections

2. Develop the connection arrangement
3. Find and map forces from global analysis
model
4. Analyse the connection
5. Generate analysis reports and construction
documents

Step 2: Develop the connection arrangement

Next, the principles of the connection were
developed through engineering judgement
based on the load paths (Figure 9a) and a
Grasshopper script was created to allow the
designer to rapidly conceive a connections
geometry to meet architectural and fabrication
constraints before sending the connection to
be analysed.
Mindful of the fabrication and erection
challenges that such massive connection
nodes would present, 3D study models of
each connection were created using Rhino
3D to ensure that the connections could be
readily fabricated. The models show the plateby-plate fabrication sequence for appropriate
clearance at every stage, including edge
distance tolerances and room for site welding,
testing and bolt tightening (Fig. 9b).

Step 1: Identify similar connections

The rst task was to conrm the number
of unique connection types required by
identifying those that were similar, in order to
reduce fabrication and erection time. With up
to nine elements connecting at each node,
and each element potentially having a different
section shape, section size and/or curvature,
this was not an easy task.
To identify unique connection types, a
Grasshopper script was written to interrogate
the exoskeleton member geometry Rhino
3D le created previously to help build the
global structural analysis model. It contained
the member centreline geometry and the
associated section shapes and sizes.
The script was used to search this le for
all intersections of centrelines (to locate the
connections) and to collect and organise the
relevant geometric data, such as the number
of intersecting members, whether members
are straight or curved, the member shapes
and sizes and the angles between adjacent
members. Thus organised into a programming
library, the data could be easily and accurately
compared to determine similarity of the
intersections, allowing for cases where the
geometry is handed (Figure 7).
Once the unique connection types had
been identied, the script visualised the
geometric data from the Rhino 3D le,
allowing the team to verify the similar
connection information easily (Figure 8). From

The connection designs also had to

accommodate extraordinary architectural
constraints. Zaha Hadid Architects had
provided a Rhino 3D model of the inner
surface of the cladding zone that all the steel
elements and connections had to t inside
(Figure 10a). For simpler connections, with
little or no curvature, the connections and
associated plates and bolts were similar in size
to the steel elements; therefore, clashes were
relatively easy to manage. However, in the freeform central zone, multiple members typically
meet with high curvature, leading to complex
intersections (Fig. 10b). For this reason, the
connections are necessarily signicantly
larger than the individual members. Given the
architectural envelope was not only tight but
also varied in depth where it was in double
curvature or warped, clashes were a real
possibility (Fig. 10c).
Since the constraints of fabrication
would often oppose those presented by
the architecture, the team realised that

a)

b)

c)

Figure 10
Working
with architectural
envelope

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 61

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TheStructuralEngineer
March 2016

Project focus
City of Dreams

RUPERT INMAN

62

Figure 11
Parametric connection denition and fabrication connection

nding an optimal solution meant being

able to explore the design space for
each connection rapidly. To address this,
BuroHappold engineers programmed the
geometry of each connection using a
parametric script with variables dened
for all dimensions that were likely to
need further study to meet architectural,
fabrication and construction constraints
(Figure 11). The more complex the
geometry of the connection, the more
complex the parametric script became, but
some guiding principles were common to

Figure 13
Global analysis model

multiple connections. These allowed parts

of the parametric scripts for one unique
connection to be copied or developed for
application to others.
For example, as a general design
principle, a 25mm edge distance tolerance
was allowed for members being sitewelded to the connections, to account for
erection tolerances. However, increasing
the thickness of a connection node in
order to maximise edge distance for
site welds would make it more likely that
the connection would clash with the
architectural envelope. In order to
explore this, the thickness was
dened as a parameter within the
Grasshopper script. The value
could then be adjusted until the
edge distance tolerance of 25mm
was achieved.
Thanks to Grasshoppers
powerful visualisation, all these
changes occurred graphically and
in real time as the designer moved
the slider value up and down
(Figure 12). If the 25mm tolerance
could not be achieved because
of a clash with the architectural
envelope (as in the example
shown), the designer could rapidly
determine what value would
optimise the edge distance while
remaining within the architectural
envelope.
Step 3. Find and map forces from
global analysis model
With 105 load combinations and
up to nine members in a single
connection, the process of nding
the correct forces/moments in
the global model and correctly

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 62

applying them to the local connection

models was signicant. Once again,
Grasshoppers capability as a tool
for creating and visualising geometry
offered a number of benets in terms of
speed and reliability.
With a script similar to that used in
Step 1 to identify unique connections,
data including connection geometry,
bar/node numbering, section sizes and
member orientations were transferred
to Grasshopper from the global analysis
model and mapped for each connection
under consideration (Figure 13). The
corresponding forces/moments were
then also extracted. The volume of
data this created was so large that it
was split into 55 separate les, each
containing up to ve million sets of bar
forces/moments.
The bespoke scripts allowed
designers to search for any set of
forces/moments from the entire data
set and instantly visualise them on
screen. In-built vector transformation
tools could then be used to map the
forces/moments onto the local model.
The task would have been much more
difficult and time-consuming without the
powerful visualisation functionality that
Grasshopper provides, allowing as it did
for visual debugging of the script.
Even with Grasshoppers power
vector tools, mapping and translation of
the forces/moments from multiple les
was susceptible to error, so the team
used a two-step verication process
comprising visual and numerical checks
to ensure the extracted data were
correct (Figure 14).
For the visual check, the connection
was displayed in 3D together with

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63

Figure 12
Using parametric denition to meet multiple constraints

vectors showing the magnitude and

direction of the applied forces/moments.
This quickly displayed any missing data
and veried that the forces were acting in
the correct direction. Additional analytical
information from the global model, such
as bar/node numbers, section properties,
gamma angles and local axes, could
be displayed as well to ensure proper
mapping of bar information.
For numerical verication, an
equilibrium check was performed for all
load combinations to ensure no out-ofbalance forces/moments existed. Any
questionable load combinations or nodes
were then displayed graphically and further
interrogated.
Step 4: Analyse the connection
The accurate prediction of the resultant
stresses where multiple members intersect
was a major concern. Consideration
of even a simple cruciform example
illustrates the importance of accurately
predicting stresses where members merge
(Figure 15). At the start of the project, the
BuroHappold team had determined that
neither established code-based methods
nor bespoke rst-principles methods
would readily capture the complex stress
states that exist in the many and varied
connections of the exoskeleton where
individual plates intersect and overlap,
especially in locations where multiple
plates up to 750mm wide merged into
a single plate. Given the geometric
complexity and sheer size of the
connection nodes, an FE approach was
the only viable method for verifying the
adequacy of the connections.
Almost every step of the connection
analysis process was semi-automated

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 63

Figure 14
Visualisation and numerical check of mapped forces

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TheStructuralEngineer
March 2016

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City of Dreams

Figure 15
Interaction of in-plane principle stresses and theoretical
von Mises envelope for simple cruciform connection

a) In Rhino 3D

b) Connected live to RSA

NB In both cases, the stress levels 1 and 2 for the incoming members of the cruciform are set at the yield stress of the material

(py). When 1 and 2 are both positive or negative (right-hand case), the maximum stress in the overlapping region does not

signicantly increase. However, when 1 and 2 have opposite signs (left-hand case), the maximum stress in the overlapping
region reaches 3

py. This phenomenon is predicted by inspection of the well-known von Mises failure envelope.

to reduce set-up and processing time,

using bespoke scripts to link the various
software programs to Grasshopper though
their APIs. The scripts were used to
generate the local FE model
add extension bars and apply the forces
apply analytical links and boundary
conditions
run the analysis and extract results
At every stage, the engineer could
employ visual checks to ensure the correct
data were being used. Once the scripts
had been created, these local analysis
models took just a few minutes to run
(compared to 12 hours for the global
analysis using MIDAS), allowing the team
to run them as many times as they needed
to, in order to match plates thicknesses to
stress levels and optimise the connections.
The FE models were based on 2D shell
elements that incorporated all plates in the
connection together with an appropriate
portion of the incoming members. Beyond
this, bar elements were added to match
those in the global model and the mapped
forces/moments from the global model
were applied to these. Since the geometry
and the forces/moments in the local and
global models should match, it was easy
to check these visually and numerically
against one another.
The rst step was to generate the local
analytical model in RSA (Figure 16). The
script rst created a Rhino 3D model of 2D

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 64

Figure 16
Connection
model

surfaces at the centre of the plates, which

could be planar or curved, and converted
these surfaces into RSA objects. It then
asked RSA to create the FE mesh of 2D
shell elements from these objects. Since
the FE mesh would be generated inside
RSA, the geometry of the surfaces created
in Rhino 3D needed to be of sufficient
accuracy to avoid meshing problems,
which can occur when the meshing
algorithms cannot determine the intended
common boundary between adjacent
surfaces. Since the Rhino 3D geometry
was dened parametrically, the overall
geometry could be altered as necessary
until the connection was optimised and
the various fabrication/architectural
constraints had been met.
Once the 2D shell elements were
generated, the script automatically added
the bar elements to the model. The bar
geometry was extracted directly from the
global analysis model and placed in the
same virtual position in the local model.
As the bar forces had been mapped
inside Grasshopper, and the bar numbers
generated in the local model matched
the global model, the load combinations
and bar forces/moments could be
automatically applied using Grasshopper.

This again mitigated errors associated

with manual processes such as copy and
pasting tabulated data.
Under a conventional approach, the
denition of the analytical links between
the bars and the shell elements in RSA,
and the denition of boundary conditions
(analytical supports) would both have
been time-consuming manual operations.
Here, they were both scripted to happen
automatically, saving considerable time
for the project. The nodes of the FE mesh
were imported into Grasshopper, which
applied a script that used geometric
search algorithms to nd the appropriate
nodes to which the bar elements should
be connected. This information was then
sent back to RSA and used to create
the analytical connections. The script
also automatically applied the required
boundary conditions to the local RSA
model in predetermined locations.
After the forces/moments for all load
cases had been applied, the models were
batch-processed. Finally, the sum of each
reaction was checked to ensure they all
equalled zero before the results were
prepared for extraction.
To avoid unnecessary handling of large
and cumbersome data les, and to speed

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65

Figure 17
RSA von Mises stress plot and fabricated connection

Figure 18
Example of calculation output

Figure 19
3D documentation for largest
free-form connection

up the process, a script was developed to

extract stresses in batches to determine
the governing load cases. Stress maps
of these connections were interrogated
using a scale based on the maximum plate
thickness for a given selection of plates
(Figure 17). The stress maps were then
visually inspected to establish whether the
stresses in any areas were unacceptable.
If necessary, the plates thicknesses,
arrangements or grades were changed and
the whole process re-run until satisfactory

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 65

results were achieved.

Finally, the results were all individually
reviewed by BuroHappold engineers as
part of the verication and acceptance
process.
Step 5: Generate analysis reports and
construction documents
It was recognised early in the project
that, given the large number of unique
nodes, the generation of engineering
documentation for each connection

could be a laborious task. Since all the

visual data available to the designers
during the design process were created
in Grasshopper, the logical solution was
to transfer this to an Excel template after
the analysis was complete. By creating a
tool to automate this task, the team made
considerable time savings and provided a
comprehensive visual record of all steps
of the design process, ensuring that any
independent party could easily follow the
assumptions made and data used for the
design of each connection (Figure 18).
While documentation was not a primary
objective of the process, the Grasshopper
scripts generated rich and coordinated
data that could be easily extracted to
provide accurate and relevant information
for the fabricator.
After careful consideration of the
options, it was agreed with the contractor
that the construction information would
be issued in the form of 2D drawings for
the connections in the at-sided areas
and curved corners, where the geometry
could be readily dened using conventional
drawing software, and as 3D digital models
for the free-form areas to assist the
fabricator in understanding the connection
geometry (Figures 19 and 20).
This was because the design intent for
the connections in the free-form area was
more difficult to communicate using 2D
drawings. Since the 3D information was
readily available, it seemed illogical to
convert this to conventional 2D drawings
that would have required multiple views,
sections and coordinates to dene the
shape, position and orientation relative to
the nished structure. Rather, using the
Rhino 3D surface models that had already
been created for the clash-detection
studies, 3D models that were geometrically

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Project focus
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TheStructuralEngineer
March 2016

Figure 20
Example of complex 3D documentation

a) Assembly details

b) 3D setting-out

Figure 21
3D documentation via digital model and construction

accurate in every sense (plate thickness,

plate geometry, plate hierarchy at plate
intersections, actual position/orientation
in the building) were provided for the
fabricator, who simply transferred them into
their own 3D construction model.
The approach was mutually benecial
as it saved time for all parties in what was
already an aggressive schedule and helped
to minimise fabrication errors (Figure 21).

Conclusion
To meet the aggressive construction
programme for the City of Dreams
hotel project, BuroHappold needed to
develop a state-of-the-art approach to
the complex design and documentation
of the exoskeleton connections. This
involved full FE analysis of more than 2500

TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 66

connections and 105 load cases. The

whole process was run using bespoke
parametric Grasshopper scripts, which
successfully integrated MIDAS, RSA,
Rhino 3D and Excel. Due to the number of
unique arrangements, their highly irregular
shapes and the complex stress states
that exist where the members merge, the
exoskeleton connections are possibly
the most analytically and geometrically
challenging large-scale connections of
any building constructed to date (Figure
22).
The Grasshopper scripts not only
allowed the engineering team to process
vast amounts of data quickly; importantly,
they also incorporated on-screen visual
checks at all stages of the process to
help eliminate errors. The scripts were

carefully designed to avoid being a socalled black box set of tools, but rather
an extension of the engineers hand; cutting
out mundane tasks and allowing more time
to focus on problem-solving.
The initial decision to spend the rst
four months of the 12-month programme
developing the process and writing/testing
the parametric scripts was a bold one, but
one which paid off later when some of the
connections were being created, analysed
and documented in less than one hour.
There was inevitably periodic updating
of the scripts throughout the project,
but the majority of the development was
completed in this early stage. Once set up,
this innovative design approach achieved
huge savings in man-hours and allowed
BuroHappold to consistently deliver ahead

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67

Figure 22
Node fabrication in Guangzhou, China

of schedule.
Structural engineering in the
modern era is challenged by projects
of increasing complexity, falling fees
and faster construction programmes.
The profession will not meet these
competing challenges successfully
without harnessing the best available
technology. The construction industry
is now largely a digital industry, with
the leading design teams, contractors
and manufacturers increasingly
creating and sharing digital information.
For structural engineers, parametric
and computational design are the tools
that will enable them to embrace this
complexity, avoid getting bogged down
in ever-increasing amounts of data and
devote more valuable time to what they
do best engineering.

References
E1

E2

E3

E4

3D [Online] Available at: www.rhino3d.com

(Accessed: January 2016)

British Standards Institution (2009) BS EN

10225:2009 Weldable structural steel for xed
offshore structures. Technical delivery conditions,
London, UK: BSI

E5

Shepherd P. (2011) Aviva Stadium the use of

parametric modelling in structural design, The
Structural Engineer, 89 (3), pp. 2834

Robert McNeel & Associates (2016) Grasshopper

[Online] Available at: www.grasshopper3d.com
(Accessed: January 2016)

E6

Autodesk (2016) Robot Structural Analysis

Professional [Online] Available at: www.autodesk.
co.uk/products/robot-structural-analysisoverview
(Accessed: January 2016)

E7

MIDAS Engineering Software (2016) midas Gen

[Online] Available at: http://en.midasuser.com/
product/gen_overview.asp (Accessed: January
2016)

Shrubshall C. and Fisher A. (2011) The practical

application of structural optimisation in the design
of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Taller, Longer, Lighter:
Proc. IABSEIASS Symposium, London, UK, 2023
September
Robert McNeel & Associates (2016) Rhinoceros

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TSE51_56-67 Project Focus Dreams v1.indd 67

fact
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