A seminar titled ‘MGM GRAND MACAU: Design and Construction’, jointly organized by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of University of Macau, the Macau Institute of Engineers and the Fundo para o Desenvolvimento das Ciências e da Tecnologia (FDCT), took place at the Auditorium of Fundo para o Desenvolvimento das Ciências e da Tecnologia (FDCT) on 24 Oct 2008. This seminar was delivered by Eng. Yin Wai Siu, Managing Director of Yin Wai Siu & Associates (International) Ltd.
Eng. Yin Wai Siu is originally from Macau. After finishing his secondary education, Eng. Siu went abroad to further his education and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from University of Ottawa in Canada. He is currently the Managing Director of the Siu Yin Wai & Associates Limited, a company established in 1983 with its based in Hong Kong and Macau specializing in structural and geotechnical engineering.
In the seminar, Eng. Siu took the MGM GRAND Macau as an example to share his experience in building design and construction. He talked about the unique form of the MGM GRAND Macau building, its challenging structural design and its special spatial organization.
MGM has a unique outlook simulating three layers of out of phase rolling waves together, resulting in a much slender frame with challenging structural design requirements for the hotel tower under high wind and seismic load design limits. MGM consists of unusual steel structures with large spans that appear in the Conservatory Skylight, the LED Steel Structure, and the Main Entrance Canopy.
One of the most exceptional considerations of this project is the Wind + Seismic deflection requirement of the hotel tower. When compared to the overall height of the hotel at 150m, the aspect ratio is approximately 9.The Macau Wind Code is based on 200 years return period which is nearly 50% higher than that of the Hong Kong Code. To deal with these unique criteria, Wind Tunnel testing result was adopted to find the wind load of the tower structure and applied to it. The result is an enhanced Core Wall and Shear Wall arrangement to resist these high lateral pressure forces. Eng. Siu mentioned that they used an advance technology for steel design and analysis on these unusual steel structures; including use of second-order elastic analysis to investigate structural response under different scenarios. Such technology facilitated simulation base approach for structural steel analysis and design, providing sustainable solution for these unusual features. Moreover, the structure of a 54m central span and transparent canopy, the steel structured canopy in the main entrance and the cambered surfaced monitor at the North-east entrance are also the distinguished features for the building, and it has created the largest scale of the same structures in Macau. Therefore, MGM GRAND MACAU won The Joint Structural Division Special Award 2008 (China Project).
The seminar attracted over 70 participants including many practicing engineers and university students. During the Q&A session, audiences were active in raising questions and discussions about the technical issues presented and Eng. Siu provided with concrete feedbacks and professional comments.
