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...So today's engineers battle not only the force of gravity but the the whirling pockets of wind, known as vortices, that can cause towers to shake or vibrate. Failure to do so would make the motion of the building — or "acceleration," as engineers call it — uncomfortably noticeable. — Chicago Tribune
Tunnel tests for Chicago's future third-tallest skyscraper showed that the plan for the building—three thin, interconnected high-rises designed by Studio Gang—would not be able to withstand high winds. According to the engineers, the design for the Vista tower "would result in building... View full entry
A fix appears to be in the works for San Francisco’s sinking and tilting Millennium Tower — just as a new report estimates the 58-story luxury high-rise has sunk yet another inch in the past seven months. [...]
That lean is now up to nearly 14 inches at the building’s roof — an additional 2-plus inches more than the tilt measured in January.
— San Francisco Chronicle
A pair of engineering firms hired by developer Millennium Partners think there's still hope to save the troubled structure and straighten it up again: "The LERA firm and DeSimone Consulting Engineers say the problem can be remedied by drilling 50 to 100 new piles down to bedrock from the... View full entry
Until now, architects have had to design around the elevator shafts, which can comprise 40 percent of a building's core. Multi could allow them to install elevators almost anywhere, including the perimeter.
Strong magnets on every Multi car work with a magnetized coil running along the elevator hoistway’s guide rails to make the cars float. Turning these coils on and off creates magnetic fields strong enough to pull the car in various directions.
— Wired
After three years of work, ThyssenKrupp, a company synonymous with elevators, is testing the Multi in a German tower and finalizing the safety certification. Zooming up, down, left, right, and diagonally the new elevator was just sold to a residential building under construction in Berlin, and is... View full entry
Designed by LEVER Architecture, Framework Building aims at promoting sustainable building practices and economic opportunity for a sustainable urban-rural ecology.To receive the permit the 12-story building has completed a series of fire, acoustic and structural tests which have proven that mass... View full entry
Incidents like these take place relatively frequently in Egypt where building regulations are often flouted and additional floors added without planning permission. — Daily Mail
The building's failure is attributed to a weak foundation caused by its excessive height. Issued a removal order in 2002, just two years after its construction, the building was occupied up until last Wednesday when it leaned on its neighbor across the street. Its much overdue demolition began... View full entry
Engineers have to ensure the bridge will remain buoyant when a pair of 300-ton trains pass each other, and that the high-voltage current that powers the trains won’t stray into the bridge’s pontoons and corrode its steel rebar. They spent $53 million just to design the section across Lake Washington. — The Seattle Times
The Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge is a floating bridge that stretches across Lake Washington, connecting Seattle and Bellevue through Interstate 90 freeway.This April the final design promising to replace the center express lanes of I-90 with full speed light rail was signed off. Subject to... View full entry
Even in this relentlessly vertical city, famous for walkways that feel like aerial labyrinths, you can’t levitate forever. Where the mountain rises up faster than the towers, you bump into a hillside and come back to earth. In Hong Kong, the ground is everywhere. — Places Journal
The terrain that weaves between streets, through public spaces, and beneath buildings in Hong Kong reminds observers of the tenuous relation between the city and its geology. Karl Kullmann photographs these zones of contact between the multilevel metropolis and the mountain, reflecting on the... View full entry
U.S. News released a “Best Job” rankings from a variety of different industries and architecture came in seventh – in the “engineering” category. Out of eight. Following cartographer. And not even listed on the general 100 “Best Jobs” list. The rankings are produced by looking at a... View full entry
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. — Bustler
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 YorkPhoto credit: Fadi Asmar.National Award: Samsung Americas Headquarters (Device Solutions), San Jose, Calif.Submitted by... View full entry
As BIG grows so does their ambition for engineering challenges. To help further facilitate their adventures in building design, the Copenhagen and New York-based studio have hired an in-house engineer, Duncan Horswill, the former CCO at Søren Jensen Engineers. BIG Engineering, as the unit will be... View full entry
TU Delft recently won the overall winning title in the first phase of SpaceX's Hyperloop Pod competition, which the aerospace company launched in 2015. Students and independent engineers worldwide were invited to design a human-scale Hyperloop pod, as a way to help accelerate SpaceX's development... View full entry
The space elevator—a theoretical mode of transportation where transport modules move up and down a long cable that connects Earth to space—has long been the stuff of futuristic fantasy...Now, a team of MIT scientists has designed one of the strongest lightweight materials in existence, taking us one step closer to realizing that sci-fi dream—and creating a formula for a material that could revolutionize architecture and infrastructure right here on Earth, too. — FastCo. Design
The material in question is called graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon. At just one atom thick, graphene has so far proven to be inoperable as a building material, even though it's the strongest material we know about. But the team of MIT invented a process that could change that. Using... View full entry
One million brilliant white tiles clad the 65m-tall precast concrete roof [...] glazed ceramic tiles need to be hand-checked, or tapped, every five years by specialist engineers, who abseil down the roof “sails” looking for changes in their sound or appearance. Now, thanks to the combined efforts of the opera house, the Getty Foundation, the University of Sydney and the engineering and design group Arup, this expensive, vertigo- inducing process is a step closer to becoming a thing of the past. — theartnewspaper.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:Jørn Utzon's saga with the Sydney Opera house coming to the big screenJørn Utzon's final touch to the Sydney Opera House: a Le Corbusier tapestryThe Sydney Opera House by Jørn Utzon Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary"So much more than an engineer": Ove Arup... View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — Bustler
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... View full entry