Alcatel Portugal selected by
REFER to execute the control of rail network circulation, includes in the contract the edification of the operational command centre in Lisbon, located in Estação do Braço de Prata.
Due to its specificity and bold architecture, the building was an enormous challenge to the structural conception.
The demands of:
-in calamity case, the building should continue operational and autonomous;
-allowing major comfort to the workers (air temperature and humidity, ergonomic chairs, maintain diffuse relation with daylight, etc.);
-allowing to see all control monitors in the crises room;
-granting the manager immediate access to the crises room, were the ones that conditioned the conception and lead the project to a high level of demand.
The control room with triple height made the circular frontage with out of phase rings isolated from the rest of the structure, creating big problems for seismic resistance. It was necessary to choose shear concrete walls in 3 areas, connected by circular pillars, to increase the vibration frequency to consentaneous levels. The crises room in big console has interference with the ground floor operators, but moving forward enough to see the RAVE monitors; it was also a great challenge, because of the architectonic imposition of thickness associated with the demanding control of deformation, caused by the limit of the room made of circular glass without fixation frame.
The mezzanine in the 3rd floor where the RAVE control is has a 340 m2 area, trapeze form, with a maximum span of 32 m.
Due to its geometric and dimension characteristics, we chose a metallic structure and HEB 320 sections with 1,00 between axles for the pavement, which overcome a 12,00 m span, and on which we made a composite floor slab.
The HEB sections are supported by a 32 m span truss with limited structural height of 2 m to guarantee the control monitors visualization from every place in the room. This unfavorable dimension relation has created stability problems that were solved with imagination and art, reaching a balanced solution despite the severe conditions.
