Primary Structural Elements:
The fluid geometry of water inspires the design in motion. (Architect Magazine, 2018). The building design is unique. The structure itself is weighty and, so a lot of focus had to be put to support the structure and the different functions in the London Aquatic Centre.
The building is planned on an orthogonal axis that is perpendicular to the Stratford City Bridge. The pools are as well aligned along the shaft.
Main building structure:
The roof design of the London Aquatic Centre relies purely on the truss system. The roof is made up of trusses that span a length of 525 feet and a width of 263 feet of the interior with no column or any other support structure in the main hall. Three components support the roof; this includes:
Two massive concrete piers at the northwest end
A concrete wall to the southeast
The rest of the structure is made up of concrete walls and large glass panels which are supported by the steel framework. The roof is made up of a giant dead load of steel, which is transferred into concrete supports meaning the concrete has to be looked into to pick up the weight from the roof.
The roof trusses were erected in a fan arrangement to create the plan geometry of the structure. The middle truss spans approximately120m into a primary truss, which spans a distance of 54m in a transverse direction between the two concrete cores. The center fan truss is cantilevered beyond the central truss, thus forming an overhang on the northern end spanning a distance of 30 meters.
The building is purposefully made to host a large number of people around 2500. It also hosts three pools which were designed in such a way that all the three pools are put against the foundation, so the loads are directly transferred to the foundation. The loads from the stands are passed to the concrete walls then moved into the foundation.
The foundation:
The loads coming from the building are quite large, putting in that the building spans a long way with no columns; therefore, a large amount of material has to be used to support the roof. This calls for the proper design of the foundation to support the building as well. The foundation is made up of 1800 continuous flight auger piles, which are driven 25 meters into the ground plus slabs that have a thickness of 3 meters, which helps to transfer the loads.