11/13. Structural Engineers Foundation of Washington's annual fall forum has becoming my favorite lecture every year.
This year's forum is about
Las Vegas Sphere.
I arrived ~15 min late, missed the other 2 speakers, or they didn't exist.
Cawsie Jijina, principle of
Severud Associates was on the podium speaking.
For more details, check out
this article in Structure Magazine.
Some funny annecdotes are :
- Las Vegas's day-night temperature difference can as much as 50°F, the steel has to accommodate up to 3" expansion (during the lecture, he said feet).
- Construction broke ground in 2018, the year when the first Trump administration imposed 25% tarrif on steel. They changed to concrete. When Biden was elected, they switched back to steel (upper level).
- He spent quite a bit of time talking about the dome/roof. Instead of building opposite direction for balance, it's built horizontally one ring at a time.
The large crane on the right of this photo is the 4th largest in the world. It was shipped here from Belgium by sections. Trucked in from SF. The crane on the left was used to assemble it.
Once assembled, a base has to be built for it to sit on.
- He lamented that he couldn't build a true sphere, because elevators cannot provide enough capacity to deliver people between the ground and the venue.
- He didn't mention the cost or the Covid pause and supply shortage.
Interesting. I'm looking forward to next November's lecture.
11/13. Structural Engineers Foundation of Washington's annual fall forum has becoming my favorite lecture every year.
This year's forum is about Las Vegas Sphere.
I arrived ~15 min late, missed the other 2 speakers, or they didn't exist.
Cawsie Jijina, principle of Severud Associates was on the podium speaking.
For more details, check out this article in Structure Magazine.
Some funny annecdotes are :
