Project overview
This project covers various steel structures at the Hampton by Hilton hotel on Al Marjan Island, Ras Al Khaimah. Wrenze Steel carried out the structural design of the steel, with JT&Partners Architectural and Engineering Consultants as consultant and Webb Yates Engineers as structural consultant.
The render shows a curved, multi-storey hotel block beside the sea, with terraces stepping down to a pool deck and a beach lined with palm trees. White canopies crown the roof.
Our scope
Our scope was the structural design of the hotel’s steel structures, which our profile lists as:
- an entrance canopy;
- two roof canopies.
The structural models show the two types. The entrance canopy follows a long, winding line of steel beams. The roof canopies are three-dimensional trusses that run along the roof line, with chords and diagonals forming a light, deep frame.
For each canopy we set the loads, built the analysis model, and designed the members, connections and supports to the concrete building.
The structure
Entrance canopy. An entrance canopy is the first thing guests see, so it is usually slender, and its supports are kept to a minimum. A canopy that follows a curved line is not a simple row of repeated bays. Each segment meets the next at a different angle, and the connections have to follow that geometry.
Roof canopies. A canopy at the top of a hotel is in the most exposed position on the building. Wind speeds rise with height, and a coastal site has little shelter. Uplift on the canopy surface is often greater than its weight, so the trusses and their connections to the roof are designed for load in both directions. Trusses give the depth needed for stiffness while keeping the members light.
Supports on the main structure. The canopies are fixed to the hotel’s main structure, which in buildings of this type is normally reinforced concrete. The anchors, embedded plates and edge distances in the concrete must be designed with the same care as the steel, since this is where the canopy forces leave the steel.
Coastal corrosion. Salt air calls for coating systems suited to a marine environment.
See our work on canopies. Read about our structural steel design service, or request a quote.
