Art Marvel

The Art Science Museum in Singapore, with the help of Tekla BIM software, is an architectural marvel. The Art Science Museum at Marina Bay, Singapore, resembles an open lotus flower or an open hand. Ten 'fingers' rise out from the base with 21 gallery spaces spread over 4,600 sq m exhibition space.Stunning architectural marvels frequently pose as challenges as they use unusual shapes joined together. Translating these stunning visions into standing structures was no easy feat but Yongnam Engineering and Construction, a Singapore-based engineering firm, successfully achieved it. The process The architects provided Yongnam a wire frame model as well as a 3D model. With this, the firm's designers then re-drew everything within Tekla BIM software to produce the relevant workshop drawings for each part of the museum. These workshop drawings were then used to fabricate the steel structures needed for the museum's unusual design. Detailing and fabricating the curved structures were a design challenge. "The museum is a complicated structure and the steel members had different geometries," noted Arnold C Hipolito, Deputy Engineering Manager, Yongnam. -ôYou need to know the coordinates in order to get the correct geometry of all the members,-ö he added. -ôGetting the geometry wrong would mean that the parts would not fit.-ö The need for precision made Tekla software a crucial tool for the engineering firm. The detailers used Tekla to produce the workshop drawing that was sent to the consultant for approval. After approval, the detailed workshop drawing was sent to Yongnam's workshop for fabrication. In all, the company produced about 5,000 steel parts and their respective workshop drawings. Yongnam also used the software to create erection and orientation drawings so that the different parts could be fitted together on site.The entire process took about two years and eventually opened in February 2011. (Communication by the management of the company)