Qatar National Library
The Building
Qatar National Library is currently under construction at Education City, in Doha, Qatar. The building has state of the art air conditioning to protect the Library's Heritage Collection of rare books, manuscripts, and other materials related to Arab-Islamic civilisation. The building is 45,000 square metres.
Beginning in the 1980s, His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani founded the Heritage Collection, an unparalleled contribution of historical sources about Qatar and the region. It includes not only Arabic manuscripts, historical maps and globes, scientific instruments and early photography, but also writings by travellers who explored the Persian Gulf region over the centuries.
The Library was built by Brookfield Multiplex, who also built Wembley Stadium in the UK.
The Process
Steven Lyons, Managing Director of Sesame Access, flew to Qatar for the design meetings with Brookfield Multiplex Design Team.
The full design was undertaken in the UK and discussed in conference calls with Brookfield.
The lifts were then built in the Sesame workshop in Surrey and airfreighted to Qatar.
Sesame engineers flew to Qatar to install the lifts.
Sesame worked closely with Coastal Trading to deliver the project.
Project Information
Architects
Brookfield Multiplex Design Team
Project Managers
Coastal Trading and Engineering Co
Main Contractor
Brookfield Multiplex
Sydney Opera House
The Building
Sydney Opera House is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and probably the most iconic building in the world. The building was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon and opened in 1973. It attracts more than 8.2 million visitors a year and holds 1700 performances each year.
Sydney Opera House has an extensive programme to ensure its events and amenities are accessible to all. It has a dedicated Accessibility Manager, Jenny Spinak.
The Process
Sydney Opera House was undertaking a major refurbishment of its Bennelong Restaurant, housed within one of the iconic arches of the Opera House. Sydney Opera House also wanted to significantly improve its disabled access throughout the building, particularly to the restaurant.
Steven Lyons, Managing Director, flew to Sydney for the design meeting and to survey the pit.
Overnight (UK daytime) initial designs were produced by the Sesame design team to confirm the lift was able to fit within the limited and challenging pit area.
Full designs were completed in the UK and reviewed by the Australian team via Skype. British Standards were then used for the design and build with Australian Standards also being consulted.
The 6 step Sesame Knightsbridge Lift was then hand-built by our engineers in Sesame’s UK workshop and then airfreighted to Sydney.
Sesame installation engineers then flew to Sydney to install the lift and train our on site maintenance partners Thyssen Lifts Australia.
Sesame is now supporting Thyssen Lifts Australia (Sydney Opera House’s resident lift maintenance company) to maintain the Sesame lift.
Project Information
Architects
TZG Architects
Project Managers
Aver
Restaurant Managers
The Fink Group
Sesame's on site maintenance partner
Thyssen Lifts Australia
Apple Store, Strasburg, France
The Building
Apple is the world's largest information technology company and was founded by Steve Jobs in 1976. Apple's core brand is its love of simplicity, technology and innovation. Apple commissioned two Sesame wheelchair lifts: one in its store in Strasbourg, France and another in its store in Dresden, Germany.
Apple enjoys a high level of brand loyalty and has been the world's most valuable brand for 4 years in a row.
Project Information
Client
Apple Inc., USA
Architects
Schwitzke Project GmbH
Project Managers
Schwitzke Project GmbH
Knock Basilica, Co Mayo, Ireland
The Building
Knock Shrine is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and National Shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.
On the evening of Thursday, 21 August 1879, at about 8 o'clock, fifteen people witnessed what they stated was an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist, angels and Jesus Christ. Two women, passing by the church, first noticed it and summoned what would become a small crowd of 15.
Msgr. James Horan was Parish Priest, Knock Shrine from 1967 - 1986. Under his direction, Knock Basilica plus Knock Airport was built. He also arranged the papal visit to Knock in the centenary year of the Apparition.
Msgr. Horan died suddenly whilst on pilgrimage in Lourdes on August 1st 1986 and his coffin was the first to be flown into Knock Airport. Msgr. Horan is buried outside the Basilica.
Special architectural features of the lift
The bespoke wheelchair lift at Knock Basilica was an interesting design challenge for our Sesame Design and Innovation Team.
Can we clad the lift with marble? Yes we can.
Can it transport seated and standing pedestrians to upper landing level? Yes it can.
Can we have a six step horizontally retracting lift? Yes you can.
Oh.. by the way..can we have the steps curved please to match the curve of the alter? What??
...then after a few days of design and engineering blue sky thinking...the answer was "Yes you can"
Project Information
Architects
A & D Wejchert & Partners Architects, Dublin
Main Contractor
Stewart Builders, Galway
Design Engineers
IN2 Engineering Design Partnership, Dublin
Sotheby's Auction House, Paris
The Building
Sotheby’s France first opened in Paris in 1967 and moved to its current headquarters in 1988 on Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré, opposite the Elysée Palace. Built during the Second French Empire and remodelled in the 1930s, it was at the centre of Parisian artistic life for more than 40 years. Auctions, exhibitions, lectures and cultural and special events are held regularly on these elegant premises.
Sotheby's Paris was renovated in 2013 by renown New York Architect Peter Marino
Sotheby's is a British multinational corporation, founded in 1744 and now head quartered in New York City. Its is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, real estate and collectibles.
The Process
Sesame flew to Paris for the design meeting and held follow up design consultations using conference calling.
Sesame designed and manufactured the invisible lift in Sesame's workshop in Surrey, UK.
The lift was then transported to Paris and installed by Sesame's trained installation engineers.
Project Information
Lead Architect
Peter Marino, New York
Sesame lift area Architect
Bodin & Associates, Paris
Project Managers
Turnbull Associates, France
Seattle Space Needle
The disabled access lift that was installed in Seattle is the first of its kind and is called the Seattle ADA lift. The Seattle ADA Lift has been designed and built for the USA market as it conforms to the relevant elements of ASME 18.1. It is a set of vertically retracting stairs that lower to present an ADA Lift for standing and wheelchair users. An upper landing rising barrier protects the fall hazard present when the stairs lower, and on lift barriers and handrails rise with the lift enclosing the user to a height of 1100mm on all sides.
Minimum horizontal pit length
non applicable
Minimum platform size
1 688 mm x 1 178 mm
Maximum rise
2 999 mm
Minimum pit depth below lower landing
1 640 mm
The North American Code
Lifts installed in North America must conform to ASME 18.1 Safety Standard for Platform Lifts and Stairway Chairlifts USA. The standard Sesame systems such as our Mayfair Stairlift & Knightsbridge Stair Lift have not yet been installed in the U.S. as they do not conform to this standard. This is not to say they can not, we have ongoing enquiries where we are in discussions with the local authorities to accept these style of lifts.
The design aspects will follow the relevant areas of ADA Standards for Accessible Design, ICC ANSI.A117.1 Accessible and Usable Buildings and The International Building Code.
The installation of electrical equipment and wiring shall conform to the requirements of ANSI/ NFPA 70. 2.1.6.2
Electrical equipment shall be certified to the requirements of CAN/CSA B44.1/ ASME A17.5.
In addition any local electrical standards will need to be conformed to as well.
The Seattle ADA Lift has not been UL approved as a product as the lift is bespoke designed to suit each site, however the lift will be installed with UL approved hydraulic and electric cabinets supplied by a UL approved manufacturer.