Sinclair Knight Merz carried out the structural design for this NZ$32 million events centre in Auckland, New Zealand. The building houses a 700 seat theatre and a 3000 seat sports arena under the one roof.
The iconic building references both Polynesian and European influences to reflect the cultural identity of the local community. The external triangular spine truss spans 140m with just one internal support. Curved ribs sweep down off the central truss to anchor onto curving horizontal trusses at the eaves of the building. The roof structure spans the entire width and length of the building, and is independent of the internal structures of the building.
As an alternative to widespread piling, the whole structure is founded on spread footings, representing a major cost saving to the project. Tubular steel was used throughout the structure, with particular emphasis placed on the aesthetics of the steel detailing.
A sandwich of plywood sheeting forms the roof, overlain by pre-painted steel roofing. The continuous plywood created significant issues of acoustic flanking sound transmission between the theatre and arena. Carefully engineered acoustic separation was detailed to provide satisfactory sound reduction between the theatre and the arena, as well as reduction of external environmental sound levels.
SKM also provided engineering analysis for the Contractor, enabling the entire 140m roof truss to be lifted onto the structure in one operation. This was the largest lift of its type in NZ, utilising the largest crawler crane in the country, as well as the innovative solution of driving one end of the truss into position on the back of a customised low-loader transporter.