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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... View full entry
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. — Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)
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... View full entry
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 Economist
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... View full entry
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
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. View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — 4WWL
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... View full entry
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. — Popular Mechanics
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — San Francisco Chronicle
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... View full entry
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.
— San Francisco Chronicle
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. — nbcbayarea.com
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... View full entry
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. — bbc.com
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... View full entry
“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... View full entry
