Testing bridges in the National Gallery Singapore

Case study: National Gallery

The Vibration Engineering Section applied pedestrian loading tests to check the safety of the new National Gallery Singapore ahead of its opening in 2015.

The National Gallery Singapore is a conversion by studioMilou architecture (Paris) of two of Singapore’s most significant heritage buildings – the former Supreme Court and City Hall – into one major regional institution dedicated to modern and and contemporary visual arts.

The conversion cost $530 (about £250m) and the building was opened to the public on 24 November 2015.

James Bassitt and Antonino Quattrone from the Vibration Engineering Section joined Full Scale Dynamics Ltd (FSDL) to evaluate the vibration serviceability of the two sky bridges crossing the atrium between the two buildings.

The testing involved a range of pedestrian loading scenarios with up to 100 pedestrians, including contraflow and studying the perception of moving and standing pedestrians and the effect of music (by Daft Punk, Beastie Boys and Stardust). On the second test day, with the building pre-opened to 12,000 members of the public, a group of dancers was engaged to check induced vibration levels.

Data was collected for use in the EPSRC research project ‘Synchronisation in dynamic loading due to multiple pedestrians and occupants of vibration-sensitive structures’ (EP/I029567/1 and EP/I031031/1) .

Sushma Goh, Group Director, Projects and Facilities Management at the gallery, said: “The two skybridges were a key feature in the atrium of the newly built National Gallery. Ahead of the official opening of the Gallery, we wanted assurance that the easily felt movement of the bridges was not a cause for concern and would not affect the safety of the visitors.

“We had a lot of fun working with the VES team to combine many of our crowd-testing activities, such as hip hop dancing on the bridges (watched by large crowds located on the bridges), as a part of their test subjects. All in all, we tested real crowd situations and were comforted by the readings that the bridges were safe.”