Archinect - News

For World Engineering Day, these six bridges stand as examples of the complexities underneath every design

2024-03-04T20:06:00-05:00

Today is World Engineering Day, and to celebrate it, Archinect has curated a few outstanding bridge projects we’ve included in our recent news coverage to highlight critical pieces of infrastructure at an important time for civil and structural engineering in the Americas and abroad.

The six highlighted bridges provide examples of remarkable design standards and engineering practices while, in some instances, setting records and starting off new precedents for incorporating alternative materials, the conditions of a circular economy, aesthetic variance, building science, low-carbon construction methods, and more.

Strait of Messina Bridge from the Stretto di Messina SpA and Webuild (Sicily, Italy)

Rendering courtesy Webuild

What will become the world’s longest suspension bridge design when completed has been stalled in the project pipeline since 2003. Now, with the constant stop-and-start cycle behind it, the seven-year project will advance toward a likely construction start later th...

San Francisco's Millennium Tower is sinking again despite foundational corrections

2024-02-22T17:52:00-05:00

San Francisco’s ill-fated Millennium Tower is making headlines once again for problems taking place beneath its turbulent foundation.

This time, the 58-story skyscraper is sinking even further on its vertical axis as it settles to the north and west, alarming some building scientists who feel the movement could result in significant corrosive damage despite some recent positive corrections.

Engineers say a fix that has been previously made to anchor its foundation into bedrock on the north and west sides has mostly failed to produce the 4-inch reversal their advanced data models had predicted, instead posting a correction of just a quarter-inch a year and, as outside experts surmised, causing the new directional shift that's happening in an unexpected area.

Now, the building is sinking from underneath the center of its foundation mat at a rate of one-tenth of an inch per year. The phenomenon is known as "dishing." A local geothermal engineer who is monitoring the issue told NBC Bay...

Drexel University researchers develop AI-guided robotic structural inspection system

2024-02-12T08:00:00-05:00

Researchers based at the Drexel University College of Engineering have devised a new method for performing structural safety inspections using autonomous robots aided by machine learning technology.

The article they published recently in the Elsevier journal Automation in Construction presented the potential for a new multi-scale monitoring system informed by deep-learning algorithms that work to find cracks and other damage to buildings before using LiDAR to produce three-dimensional images for inspectors to aid in their documentation.

The development could potentially work to benefit the enormous task of maintaining the health of structures that are increasingly being reused or restored in cities large and small across the country. Despite the relative age of America’s built environment, roughly two-thirds of today’s existing buildings will be in use in the year 2050, according to Gensler’s predictions.

Over 100 schools close in the UK over concrete safety concerns

2023-09-08T11:41:00-04:00

More than one hundred schools and education settings in the United Kingdom have been closed due to concerns over the integrity of concrete roof panels. So far, 147 schools are known to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), with approximately one hundred fully or partially closed, impacting more than 100,000 students at the start of the new school year.

The latest developments began in August when a Raac panel collapsed in a school in England, prompting a wider government review. While 147 schools have been identified as containing Raac, education unions warn that “hundreds more” schools could be impacted. Meanwhile, thirteen universities have closed or partially closed, alongside a number of theaters and cultural venues that have closed as inspections continue. The Guardian additionally reports that the number of UK prisons containing Raac may take two years to identify.

Raac, also referred to as “aircrete,” was utilized from the 1950s to the 1990s in UK public buil...

San Francisco's Millennium Tower is tilting even further, despite engineering fixes

2023-06-15T16:54:00-04:00

Despite initial progress in the first phase of the so-called fix earlier this year, the sinking and leaning Millennium Tower in San Francisco is now tilting more to the west than ever, according to monitoring data reviewed by NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit. The tower is currently leaning more than 29 inches at the northwest corner of Fremont and Mission streets, much of the added tilt occurring during the digging needed to prepare to support the tower along two sides.

The data came from a rooftop monitoring system, which the fix’s chief engineer Ron Hamburger said was less reliable than the one contained in its foundation before stating the half-inch tilt recorded was "negligible."

A geotechnical engineer working on the $100 million project expressed his dismay to reporters, saying: "You spend all this money, but you still have an uncertain result long term."

The structure is leaning so much that some involved think it could potentially be red-tagged in the aftermath of a major earthquake, which the U.S. Geological Survey says has a 20% likelihood of occurring in the next 30 years.

Video of NYC's Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge facing high winds goes viral

2020-12-08T20:07:00-05:00

Earlier this month, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was closed due to weather. However, a video posted to Twitter of the bridge undergoing heavy winds went viral due to the sights and sounds recorded.

Bridges are built to pass strict safety and construction standards and be capable of withstanding various weight loads and weather conditions. Yet, in this case, the high winds that swept through the bridge created a sight that could have come out of a sci-fi film. On top of the dense fog cloaking the bridge, the video below left many viewers ready to share their thoughts.

"Suspension bridges — particularly the longest span in North America — are engineered to be flexible, and any movements on the bridge were within its safety standards," shares MTA Spokesperson Aaron Donovan. "The MTA's weather event safety protocols were activated early and worked as designed with no structural damage, no major vehicular accidents, and no injuries resulting from Monday's high winds."

'Marine sponges' could inspire better structures, research says

2020-11-16T11:35:00-05:00

In a new paper published in Nature Materials, the researchers showed that the diagonally-reinforced square lattice-like skeletal structure of Euplectella aspergillum, a deep-water marine sponge, has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than the traditional lattice designs that have used for centuries in the construction of buildings and bridges.

Matheus Fernandes, a graduate student at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences said in a statement: "We found that the sponge's diagonal reinforcement strategy achieves the highest buckling resistance for a given amount of material, which means that we can build stronger and more resilient structures by intelligently rearranging existing material within the structure."

Has a cure for “concrete cancer” been found in Australia?

2019-11-04T00:01:00-05:00

Next year, if all goes well, a pair of footbridges intended to be cancer-proof will open in Geelong, a town 75km south-west of Melbourne, Australia. These bridges, which will act as prototypes for more than 150 others planned for the expanding city, will be constructed using a novel approach that combines glass-fibre and carbon-fibre rebars. They will, though, cost about the same as equivalent conventional bridges.

The potentially ground-breaking construction approach has been developed by Australian university Deakin and Austeng, an engineering firm. The structural system selectively deploys pricey carbon fiber rebar to strengthen the construction assembly where necessary, while glass fiber rebar members are used round out precast concrete frames that are then used as a base upon which the remainder of the bridge is assembled.

According to The Economist, a three-meter section of the bridge was recently tested and has passed inspection; The design team is moving forward with a 10-meter-long section to be installed in the field. The publication reports that the bridge’s carrying capacity has increased by 20-percent while its cross-section area has fallen by 15-percent.

To boot, the bridge’s concrete mixture is made from a low-carbon “geopolymer concrete” blend that includes fly-ash and other alternatives to carbon-intensive Portland cement.

Salesforce Transit Center's structural fiasco saga revisited

2019-10-29T18:46:00-04:00

The cracks discovered beneath the rooftop park were classic brittle fractures. The tapered 4-inch-thick steel beams—2.5 feet wide and 60 feet long, with a horizontal flange on the bottom—undergirded the 5.4-acre park on the building’s fourth level, and buttressed the roof of the bus deck on the second level. By themselves, the cracks formed a point of weakness with potentially hazardous consequences. But they also suggested the possibility of a larger crisis.

Popular Mechanics offer a detailed recap of the events following the discovery of two cracked structural steel beams in the brand new $2.2 billion, Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco in 2018.

FIU bridge collapse tied to flawed design and minimal project oversight

2019-10-24T12:24:00-04:00

The National Transportation Safety Board members that have been investigating a March 15, 2018 bridge collapse at Florida International University have concluded that the design firm FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc. responsible for the project underestimated the loads created by the bridge's concrete structural system and overestimated the strength of their designs along a critical section that had shown signs of splintering, NBC News reports.

The bridge was, according to previous reports, designed under the Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) method that utilizes prefabricated components, a key reason the bridge was built out of concrete and not steel as is more often the case for similar spans.

Prior to the bridge's deadly collapse, investigators found that contractors had discovered large cracks 40-times larger than what is normally accepted for this type of application in a concrete section of the bridge. Despite the cracking, no one involved the project made an attempt to close th...

Cause of Hard Rock Hotel collapse in New Orleans remains unknown

2019-10-15T18:37:00-04:00

The priority remained on stabilizing the building, two days after the top floors collapsed on one another, sending debris to the street below and killing two people. One worker remained missing, and authorities have said they also want to find him before moving onto an investigation into what happened.

According to 4WWL the cause of the collapse isn't clear. Jean Mattei, former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said that it is currently too difficult to know what caused the failure, reports 4WWL. "From the videos and from what I've seen, it was something that started at the top and cascaded down," Mattei said to 4WWL.

Archinect user t a z has also started a discussion regarding the incident, click here to read it.

A 500-year-old unbuilt bridge design by Leonardo da Vinci holds up

2019-10-11T16:00:00-04:00

Researchers at MIT have proven Leonardo da Vinci correct yet again, this time involving his design for what would have been at the time a revolutionary bridge design. Although clients rejected da Vinci's work at the time, over 500 years later, the researchers have proven that his bridge would have worked.

Part of a proposal for Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire, da Vinci's bridge was intended to connect what is now Istanbul to Galata, a neighboring city. The proposed design spanned about 918 feet and was of masonry construction, making use of the compressive characteristics of an arc geometry. The team had to investigate the available materials of the time and study da Vinci's sketches and letter to the Sultan. If the design was implemented at the time it would have revolutionized architecture, writes Popular Mechanics.

"Leonardo da Vinci’s original drawing of the bridge proposal, showing a plan view at top and a side view (elevation) below, including a sailboat passing under the bridge, along with drawings that students Bast and Michelle Xie produced to show how the structure could be divided up into 126 individual blocks fthat were 3D printed to build a scale model." Credit: Karly Bast and Michelle Xie (Courtesy of MIT)

Settlement reached for sinking Millennium Tower in San Francisco

2019-09-03T15:00:00-04:00

Ever since its opening in 2009 the Millennium Tower has been slowly sinking, so far it's settled about 16 inches on its southwestern corner, causing the entire to tilt around 14 inches. Residents applied for a permit to perform a retrofit back in December 2018 and a plan is now in place to stabilize the structure.

After a long legal battle between homeowners, the building's developer and a neighboring construction project, a settlement has finally been reached, reports The Guardian. While details of the deal remain confidential, it is clear that Millennium Partners and Transbay Joint Powers Authority will be required to pay for the $100M plan to retrofit the tower.

A quick refresher on architecture’s continuing battle with earthquakes

2019-07-09T12:45:00-04:00

With earthquakes in the news following a pair of recent tremors in California, it’s important to remember that seismic design is an integral and increasingly complex aspect of building design architects work hard to address. An ever-improving standard, seismic codes not only save lives, but also help to shape the built environment, and in places like California, play a large role in terms of building design, overall.

Below is a round-up of some of Archinect's recent earthquake-related coverage.

Changing seismic codes and other earthquake-related issues are currently coming online in many American cities, including in Seattle, where new seismic standards for tall buildings have prompted worries about the safety of certain types of existing buildings.

Seattle boosts seismic construction standards for new skyscrapers, but older high-rises are biggest concern

In San Francisco, seismic concerns run deeper than meets the eye. There, much of the city's downtown is built atop landfill are...

Brazilian architect Márcio Sequeira's latest Mola Structural Kit makes understanding the structural behavior of buildings fun

2019-06-17T11:19:00-04:00

Before launching the Mola Structural Kit 1 in 2014, Brazilian architect Márcio Sequeira spent ten years developing the Molar design model before it hit the market. He initially came up with the Mola Structural Model while he was a postgraduate student in architecture school. Since then, Mola has not only become Brazil's most successful crowdfunded campaign, it has found its way into classrooms and major universities across like MIT, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and Technical University Madrid (UPM). In 2016, Sequeira and his team launched a second campaign, Mola 2. The goal was to help fund the production of additional products and expand the line.

Mola Structural Kit 1 launched in 2014 and Kit 2 launched in 2016. Image © Mola Structural Model

Now the company releases its latest model, the Mola Structural Kit 3. According to the Mola team, the kits are used as"a learning tool with a modular construction system that allows those interested in architecture to easil...

Pelli Clarke Pelli-Designed Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco to Reopen July 1

2019-06-11T19:40:00-04:00

Eight months after the discovery of cracked steel girders forced its closure, the Transbay transit center is safe to reopen, an independent panel of engineers and experts has concluded. The reopening is set for 6 a.m. July 1.

A five-member peer-review committee appointed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has approved a series of recently-completed structural repairs made to the Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco.

Workers repair damaged structural beams at the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco, Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Frank Schulenburg.

A pair of cracked structural steel beams were discovered in one section of the building just after the transit center opened late last year. Months of independent investigation and testing discerned that the beams cracked because a series of welding access holes that had been made to the steel beams to allow for their installation.

The affected beams were replaced and now, as Therese McMillan, MTC's executive director tells The San Francisco Chronicle, “The steel structure is sound for continued service."

San Francisco's sinking Millennium Tower: new $100 million plan promises 'cheaper' fix

2018-12-07T15:48:00-05:00

All sides in the Millennium Tower debacle appear to be nearing an agreement on a $100 million-plus fix to stop the 58-story high-rise from sinking further [...] The latest plan calls for drilling piles into bedrock from the sidewalk on the building’s southwest corner. The proposal would be less extensive and intrusive than the plan floated in April, which called for drilling as many as 300 micro-piles to bedrock through the building’s concrete foundation.

A new crack appears in San Francisco's sinking Millennium Tower

2018-09-10T16:32:00-04:00

A large crack formed in a window at the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower over the Labor Day weekend, prompting officials there to block off part of the sidewalk on Mission Street as a precaution, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned. City inspectors issued a notice of violation on Tuesday, giving the Millennium management 72 hours to report back on the extent of the problem and the soundness of the building’s façade in light of the failure.

The latest safety concern over San Francisco's sinking Millennium Tower occurred Labor Day weekend when residents heard creaking sounds followed by a loud popping noise in the building. Soon after the incident a resident living on the 36th floor found a crack in his window. The high rise is currently tilting about 18 inches when measured at the top.

Carmody Groarke build a giant cage sustaining a Scottish landmark

2017-12-06T20:36:00-05:00

The Hill House in Helensburgh was built as "a home for the future" by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1902. But the experimental building material used has allowed water to soak into the building. Now, the National Trust for Scotland will surround the house with a protective "shield" in the form of a "giant cage" while it comes up with ways to restore it. The trust plans to build the huge see-through structure [...] over the top of the landmark to protect the building from the elements.

This temporary structure buys preservationists time in finding a permanent solution to the building's structural problem. While the design problem persists, architects Carmody and Groarke have allowed a unique opportunity for visitors to experience the landmark building from new perspectives with a surrounding walkway included in the cage.

Win “The Structure of Design: An Engineer’s Extraordinary Life in Architecture” by Leslie E. Robertson!

2017-09-01T12:00:00-04:00

“The Structure of Design: An Engineer's Extraordinary Life in Architecture” examines the long career of Leslie Earl Robertson, one of the most celebrated structural engineers in modern architecture. Thanks to publisher The Monacelli Press, Archinect is giving away five copies of the book to our readers! Read on for more about the book.

In this personal and accessible chronicle of the engineer's innovative career, Robertson details the partnerships and problem-solving that have forged classics of modern architecture including the IBM buildings in Pittsburgh and Seattle, the World Trade Center in New York, AT&T Headquarters in New York, the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, the Suzhou Museum, the Miho Museum Bridge, and the Shanghai World Financial Center.

Photo courtesy of The Monacelli Press.

Among other key projects, this book delves into the extensive collaborations with titans of architectural practice, as well as leading sculptors of ...

2,500-year-old Chinese wood joints that make buildings earthquake-proof

2017-07-24T20:19:00-04:00

Over thousands of years, the building science of timber framing developed independently in both Northern Europe and China. But one big difference between the regions is that China, by virtue of its size and geological traits, is prone to devastating earthquakes. Ancient Chinese builders thus needed a way to create wooden structures that could not be shaken apart, and that were not so stiff that its support members would shatter.

Known as dougong, these earthquake-resistant series of brackets were designed and engineered roughly 500 B.C. When interlocked together, the joints transfer weight to supporting columns, containing so many redundancies they can not be shaken apart. By spreading their tolerances over multiple joints they retain flexibility that prevents cracking and splitting.

Perhaps the most surprising element of the system is that the columns are not sunken into the foundation nor moored, but are freestanding.

Foster + Partners | Branch Technology win Phase 2, Level 1 of NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge

2017-05-09T19:42:00-04:00

The Foster + Partners and Branch Technology team recently won first prize in the NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge's Phase 2: Level 1 Compression Test Competition. The three-phase Challenge envisions a future where autonomous machines can help build extra-terrestrial shelters for human habitation. Phase 2 is divided into three levels, with each one focusing on a different structural challenge.

After winning second place in Phase 1 in 2015, Foster + Partners teamed up with Branch Technology to refine the original concept.

Foster + Partners' Mars Habitat concept. Images © Foster + Partners.

In Phase 2 - Level 1, the seven competing teams had to use a combination of recycled mission materials and indigenous Martian regolith to 3D-print a truncated cone and a cylinder, which went through compression testing to assess their suitability as structural components.

Foster + Partners and Branch Technology's Cone Print. Courtesy of Foster + Partners | Branch Technology.

Foster + Partners and Bran...

Four World Trade Center, NMAAHC, Samsung Americas HQ among 2017 IDEAS² winners for steel construction

2017-03-22T20:59:00-04:00

It's already that time of year when the American Institute of Steel Construction reveals the latest winning projects of their Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steel awards...Out of nearly 100 submissions from firms across the country, 13 winners received National and Merit Awards. The judging panel evaluated each submission's use of structural steel through multiple architectural and structural engineering elements.

Some of this year's winning projects are:

Presidential Award of Excellence in Engineering: Four World Trade Center, New York.
Submitted by: Leslie E. Robertson Associates, New York

Photo credit: Fadi Asmar.

National Award: Samsung Americas Headquarters (Device Solutions), San Jose, Calif.
Submitted by: Arup, Los Angeles

Photo credit: Tim Griffith

National Award: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.
Submitted by: Clark/Smoot/Russell A Joint Venture, Bethesda, Md.

Photo credit: Smithsonian Institution - Michael Barnes.

Merit Award: Fulton Center, New York.
Submitted by: Arup, New York

Photo credit: James Ewing Photography.

Merit Award: Nippert Stadium West Pavilion, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Submitted by: THP Limited, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio

Photo credit: Bittermann Photography.

Check out the rest of the winners on Bustler.

The toy-like Mola Structural Kit allows architects to experiment with structural engineering

2016-11-29T14:02:00-05:00

How can architects determine if their designs are structurally sound? Aside from consulting with a professional structural engineering firm, the Mola Structural Kit offers a playful way to test out the strength and durability of various designs. The company has unveiled the second edition of the kit, which has been designed to be compatible with the first. Here's a video that explains it all:

Not for reading the glass, but the core

2016-11-27T01:04:00-05:00

The pedestal extends 42 feet beyond the building’s core to the north and south. The south overhang will suspend the tower over three parallel Long Island Rail Road tracks. The north overhang will act as a counterbalance....Rather than hide the unusual support system, Brookfield will highlight it with a cladding of travertine quarried about 15 miles east of Siena, Italy.

David W Dunlop examines the design and physics behind the making of the $1 billion skyscraper, 1 Manhattan West.

2016 Structural Awards winners announced

2016-11-11T18:26:00-05:00

The Institution of Structural Engineers celebrated the winners of their 2016 Structural Awards today during a ceremony at The Brewery in London...From this year's shortlist, eleven category winners were announced. The Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre in Surrey, Canada — engineered by Fast + Epp — was crowned with the coveted Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence, the Institution's highest accolade.

Here are a few of this year's winners:

Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence AND Award for Community or Residential Structures: Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre - Surrey, Canada. Engineered by: Fast + Epp.

Award for Sustainability: 5 Broadgate – London, UK. Engineered by: BuroHappold.

Award for Education or Healthcare Structures: Blavatnik School of Government – Oxford, UK. Engineered by: Pell Frischmann.

Award for Small Practices: Expo2015 Hive – Milan, Italy + London, UK. Engineered by: Simmonds Studio.

Award for Infrastructure or Transportation Structures: Transformation of Birmingham New Street Station. Engineered by: Atkins/AKTII.

See the rest of the projects and further details on Bustler.

Previous Structural Awards news on Archinect:

The Glass Lantern at Apple Store Istanbul wins top prize in Structural Awards 2014

Winners of the Structural Awards 2013

The Brooklyn Bridge might get an expansion, if it can handle one

2016-08-08T19:17:00-04:00

Now after escalating complaints, New York City transportation officials said on Monday that something would finally be done to solve the riddle of what they call “Times Square in the Sky.”...That something — if the crossing can take it — could be building a new path to alleviate congestion But...any expansion of the promenade would most likely be complicated. “I have to tell you, every time we touch this 133-year-old bridge, it tends to be costly and complex.”

The New York Times states that Aecom will begin a seven-month $370,000 engineering study this month to analyze how much weight the bridge can carry and explore expansion options.

Berkeley researchers solve the mystery of the ultra-strong and durable ancient Roman concrete

2014-12-19T18:10:00-05:00

The mortar resists microcracking through in situ crystallization of platy strätlingite, a durable calcium-alumino-silicate mineral that reinforces interfacial zones and the cementitious matrix. The dense intergrowths of the platy crystals obstruct crack propagation and preserve cohesion at the micron scale, which in turn enables the concrete to maintain its chemical resilience and structural integrity in a seismically active environment at the millennial scale.

The Glass Lantern at Apple Store Istanbul wins top prize in Structural Awards 2014

2014-11-17T18:14:00-05:00

From skyscrapers and bridges to residential and heritage projects, the annual Structural Awards recognize the best in structural engineering excellence and the significant role that structural engineers worldwide serve. Out of this year's shortlist, 12 projects were awarded at the award ceremony in London. Winning the Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence went to The Glass Lantern at the Apple Store in Istanbul.

Here's a few more of this year's winners:

Above: Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence and Award for Commercial or Retail Structures: The Glass Lantern at the Apple Store
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Structural designer: Eckersley O’Callaghan

Award for Highway or Railway Bridge Structures: Elbebridge Schönebeck
Location: Schönebeck, Germany
Structural Designer: Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner

Award for Community or Residential Structures: Kew House
Location: London, UK
Structural Designer: Price & Myers

Award for Small Practices: Lower Hatea River Crossing
Location: Whangarei, New Zealand
Structural Designer: Knight Architects / Peters & Cheung

Award for Small Projects: The Miles Stair – Somerset House
Location: London, UK
Structural Designer: Techniker

Find more of the winning projects on Bustler.

Previously: Structural Awards 2014 shortlist is announced
Winners of the Structural Awards 2013

Structural Awards 2014 shortlist is announced

2014-08-01T17:52:00-04:00

It's that time of year again. The Institution of Structural Engineers revealed the 2014 shortlist for their annual Structural Awards today. The awards recognize achievement, innovation, and excellence in the field of structural engineering in addition to promoting its significant role in the creation of inventive design solutions.

Here's a glimpse of the shortlisted projects:

Find more photos and other details on Bustler.