About the Project
The building occupies a 300-meter-long site on the river’s southern
bank, which extends approximately 150 meters south where it abuts the
dense urban grid of the city. The main entrance is located within the
Tenth Street Bypass, a sheltered passage that includes vehicular drop
off and a visual and pedestrian connection from the city to the river
through the building allegra-d. Running the length of the site – near its
center but closer to the river than the city – are two levels
of exhibition space, including several large fully enclosed spaces on
grade and an enormous divisible main exhibition hall stacked above.
Whereas the sequence of grade-level exhibition halls is interrupted
by the Tenth Street Bypass, the main hall passes over it to preserve
the large contiguous exhibition floor viagra super force. The physical plant and other
support spaces are located just south of the exhibition halls; where
the building meets the city, there are retail components on the ground
floor and large exhibition prefunction areas and meeting rooms in the
levels above cialis super active. To the north of the principal spaces is a road that separates
the building from a planned waterfront park and just above – cantilevered
from the main volume of the facility – are meeting rooms, a large
concourse and open terraces. The concourse is the connective spine of
the program and relates the facility to the river through its extensive
glazing, panoramic terraces and physical connections that descend to
the waterfront park. Above the concourse, there is an open public terrace
that is sure to become a popular vantage point and gathering place for
the people of the city.
The design of the building’s enclosure – mainly its roof
– evolved from the recognition that Pittsburgh is a city of bridges,
with a strong connection to its rivers and an urban center that is characterized
by tall buildings and steep topography. The new building pays homage
to Pittsburgh's tradition of engineering excellence and its strong urban
form by extending the profile of the nearby suspension bridges onto
the city and integrating it into the architectural composition of the
downtown area. Here, the use of a cable suspension structure not only
refers to the city’s historic tradition, but is also a powerfully
efficient method of hanging a light, column-free roof over a vast open
space.
The roof is divided into fourteen ribbon-like sections that sweep down
towards the river from a line of tall monumental steel masts that rise
high above the facility from their foundations on the southern boundary
of the exhibition halls. Like the road decks of most suspension bridges,
trusses that span the distance between pairs of cables support the stainless
steel cladding of each roof section. In all, there are fifteen individual
cables strung over fifteen masts and anchored to the northern and southern
boundaries of the site – above the pre-function and meeting spaces
on the city side and just to the south of the roof terrace over the
Allegheny.
The roof’s profile, whose pitch increases as it rises from the
terrace towards the masts, creates convection currents that naturally
ventilate the exhibition hall by drawing cool air from the river and
venting warm air at the top. This contributes to the facility’s
overall energy efficiency, augmented by a water-cooling system that
uses twin cascade fountains that line both sides of the Tenth Street
Bypass as a heat-exchange system.
In this building, natural light plays a much more important role than
is typical in convention centers of this magnitude. It not only illuminates
the main exhibition hall through glazed strips between roof sections,
glazed walls on the eastern and western ends of the building, and translucent
fabrics that complete the enclosure, it also expresses the lightness
of the structural concept itself. The building is exceptionally light
and flexible, making it extremely cost effective and a model for the
future construction of large urban spaces. |
