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PAVILH DE PORTUGAL

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PAVILH DE PORTUGAL

Details:

The Pavilho de Portugal (Portugal Pavilion) was one of the most emblematic and most
centrally positioned in the EXPO' 98 enclosure, whilst also being used for official functions
during the exhibition.
The pavilion is made up of two main structures: the Ceremonial Square, an open space of
bold architectural conception, and the actual Pavilion of Portugal, with a basement and two
floors, which develop around an interior patio.
The curved roof covering of the square, with an approximate area of 3.250 m2, has the
particularity of being composed of a single short span measuring 65m in length and 50 in
width, with the roof reaching a maximum of 17m in height at the lateral extremities and a
minimum of 14m in the middle of the span. The total covered area is 3.762 m2, and the
structure has a total length of 82,5 m for a clear span of 75 m. It has a capacity for 6.000
seated places.
The foundations are made up of reinforced concrete piles cast in the soil and capped by
beams in a continuous foundation braced between each other by reinforced concrete
struts. The support structure of the covering, two porches erected perpendicularly to the
platform, consist of reinforced concrete abutments, braced between them by a membrane
(wall) also in reinforced concrete, supporting in the top of the arch the cable fixing slab
bearing the curved roof.
The covering is a parabolic curved roof , in pre-stressed reinforced concrete with a
constant thickness of 20 cm, with the concrete being of light aggregates (specific weight in
the order of 18 kN/m3) to reduce its own weight, the total of which is around 1.400 tons.
The curved roof is supported by pre-stressed and galvanised steel cables 58 cm from
them to the axis, with each cable consisting of seven sheathed tendons. Between the
support structures of one side and the other and the beginning of the curved roof, the
cables have a free trajectory of 1,56 m, with the curved roof being 64,38 m in its extension
and 50,16 m in its width.
The structural behaviour of the curved roof in itself is of a suspended structure of the
catenary type (similar to a parabola in the way it is a very taut curve), its rigidity and,
consequently its thickness being irrelevant to the amount of curvature. In other words the
concrete of the curved roof simply serves to give expression to the curved roof and to
protect the pre-stressing cables.
The pull of the supporting cables, which is of considerable force, is supported by the
structure of the abutments which, at the base, are joined by struts which practically permits
a self balancing process.
With regard to seismic features, the curved roof functions as an independent oscillator of
the sustaining structure but transmitting to this the inertia forces that it generates.
The Pavilion itself has a maximum height of 14,6 m, a total building area of approximately
6,940 m2 and a floor area of 18.920 m2 distributed over four used levels. Its site plan

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PAVILH DE PORTUGAL

dimensions are 90 by 73 m. In the North-west corner a structure is prominent, also

having two floors measuring 22,5 by 16,5 m, and separated from the main building on 1st
floor by a 5m high gallery. The building is developed around a patio, 22,5 by 20m, filled
with earth up to the level of the ground floor - in order to allow the plantation of a large
tree. In the North extremity, the design of several floors includes a U shape, with the
internal space being extended by walls that demarcate landscaped areas.
Its peripheral walls are in reinforced concrete and the interior structure is made up of
resistant reinforced concrete interior cores, with pillars and metallic beams, and laminated
beams on the higher floors. The slabs on the higher floors are of a steel and light concrete
structure mix (with supporting metal plate.)
The foundations of the building are of reinforced concrete piles driven into the earth,
which is justified given the nature of the land on the banks of the Tejo. The basement is
made of an area spread foundation slab topping the piles, and of containment walls,
pillars, interior resistant cores and a flat slab on the reinforced concrete ground floor.
In terms of structural behaviour, the gravity and absorption actions are supported by
resistant vertical elements (peripheral and interior pillars and walls). In terms of horizontal
actions, with particular emphasis on seismic features, the resistance comes basically from
the peripheral walls (shear walls) and from the reinforced concrete core structure.
Date of Conclusion: 1998
Value: 23.500.000 ?
Amounts involved in the Work:
Concrete: 8.503 m3
Steel: 1,273 tons
Steel cables: 62 tons
Curved roof scaffolding: 45.000 m3
Props 1200 diam: 56 units
Props 800 diam: 40 units

Developer: Park Expo'98, S.A.

Project: Architect lvaro Siza Vieira

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