TimberLab Helps Unitec Students
The Gateway structure serving as the entrance feature to this year’s “Headland Sculpture on the Gulf” exhibition is itself a major sculpture in timber created by Unitec students.

This clever cascading series of Glulam portals was designed by Stevens Lawson Architects and the assembly and construction was overseen by Duncan Elliot of Ebert Construction.
TimberLab is pleased to support this project supplying the hundreds of Glulam panels involved. What belies the simplicity of this work of art is the detailed processing that is demanded to achieve the accuracy required. The students are to be congratulated with all the changing angles that make this sculpture work, being successfully cut, drilled and shaped.

Hidden Details affect Large Outcomes
Almost hidden behind the acoustic ceiling panels, large air circulation ducts and a myriad of water features at the new Albany Pool are the backbone that holds it all together. Massive Glulam portal frames designed by Holmes Consulting, provide the large open internal space that houses the collection of pools and water features.

Making up these impressive portals are 30m continuous length beams, nearly 1m deep and 180mm wide and columns that are 1.4m deep and 4m high. While the picture above shows the portals newly installed, it is the details of the knee connection that make it all work.
The real grunt that takes care of the huge forces in the knee joint can be seen in the picture below. Twelve M20 threaded rods are embedded up to 1m into the top of the Glulam column. Two 16mm knife plates secured with 44 bolts fit into the rebates. TimberLab’s 5 axis CNC bridge is the perfect solution with its ability to accurately prefabricate these details; capable of 1mm tolerances and with specialised drilling tools that can accurately drill the 1m deep holes, proving that new and complex connections are now possible.

TimberLab has been privileged to be invited to assist in the creation of this facility which is to be built in time for APEC 2018 in Papua New Guinea.

We have commenced manufacture of large, curved Glulam portals to Port Moresby.
Watch for further progress in up-coming newsletters.