For civil engineers only

[Ciro Pabón]

Totally out of thread, or perhaps, out of forum, a list of the coolest structures I've googled. Contributions appreciated. You know what Vitruvius said: "firmness, commodity and delight". Did he say "motivate your posts"? Anyway, it seems some of you are complaining of slow news (not that I have noticed Principessa slowing down, on the contrary, but...)

Wind-powered skyscraper
Lighthouse building - Paris

Are you afraid of heights? Then, you probably won't go into a transparent balcony over the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon Skywalk


Next time they complain about your project being delayed, explain to them that this building was started in 1892 (hey, they are going to finish it soon, they say)
Cathedral of St. Jhon the Divine - New York

Bubble building without columns, beams or cables (Weaire-Phelan structure! At last!)
Beijing's Olympics Water Cube


Is your grass becoming yellow? Move the grass outside the stadium. Degree of difficulty: when the roof retracts, produce electrical energy.
University of Phoenix stadium


Do you need to take in account an 8.2-magnitude earthquake? You probably live in San Francisco, I bet.
San Francisco - Oakland bridge


Yes, I know: this is the typical case of the architecht that delivers his drawing to the engineering firm and they proceed to build it as-is.
Fiera-Milano


A walk in the clouds.
Millau Viaduct - France


Say goodbye to Petronas as the tallest building in the world.
Taipei 101

Sorry, the program compilation is over and is really late! Back to work, long night. I have no time for the Messina or Corinth's Bridge, Dubai's Burj (soon to be the tallest building, relegating Taipei 101 to "history dustbin"), Venetia's Mose, Tokyo's Chanel building, Schio's (Italy) zero energy condo, New York's Hearst building or Rome's Ara Pacis museum. Just a last one: the marvelous insight of an ant's nest given to us by Walter Tschinkel. Not all amazing structures are human:

PDF on wonderful ant's nests


EDIT: Could the Weaire-Phelan structure be used to build the tub of an F1 car? I don't think so: how to build the rods inside the "carbon fiber bubbles" I imagine?

And how to make the bubbles flat on the contact points? Perhaps blowing somehow a gas inside the carbon fiber "pre-made" bubbles while the composite dries? Some kind of chemical primer that produces the gas when heated?

I left the exercise of building it to others , but, FYI, the teflon coating for the Beijing pool is 8 thousands of an inch thick. They will do "ordinary" structures like that some day (if they haven't done it already): I see more and more roofs made of inflatable elements, instead of roof tiles. It is just a matter of time before mechanical engineers understand it and follow our groundbreaking path, as they usually do. Civil engineering rules the engineering world! The other engineers just make smaller structures 50 years later...

BTW, my wife loved the "firmness, commodity and delight" catchphrase of Vitruvius: she wants more of it.

[Steven]

Worth a mention here too: Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, scheduled to be completed around 2047. I'm generally not fond of cathedrals and churches as they are everywhere, but this one is the most beautiful I know.

[Ciro Pabón]

Well, Tomba, thanks. First, for supporting my "excursions" on this F1 forum (you can see, on the editing of the previous post I did, that I try to relate them to F1 somehow) and second, because the Sagrada Familia is one of the earliest examples of hyperboloid structures. I believe, following the old Bauhaus motto, that if the structure is sane, the object is beautiful.

This is the oldest hyperbolic structure I know:

First hyperboloid tower


It was made by Vladimir Shukov, a russian civil engineer (ehem...) who devised the theory based on the work of Chebisev (the mathematician that invented the best-approximation-method for solving functions we still use today) and the work of Nikolay Lobachevsky, a hidden genius. Many years after Lobachevsky's death, a theory of the shape of the universe was devised by Einstein and others. We still debate if the shape of the universe follows the equations made by Lobachevsky (hyperbolic universe, always expanding) or the equations made by Riemann (spherical universe, collapsing in a "Big Crunch" at the end).

So, there you could have a reason for the beauty you see in Gaudí's work: it may reflect somehow the shape of our world. Many, many stadium roofs follow its basic, natural shape, very similar to the natural shape of eggs, used by the immortal son of Bologna, Pier Luigi Nervi, another forgotten master of structures.

As usual, I wonder where in an F1 car you find hyperboloids. I see them (perhaps) in the wings and the nose.

[Carlos]

Ciro --how about an F1 carbon fibre chassis of geometric "cells" -- 3D equalateral triangles or a more complex 3D geometric form- hundreds and hundred of little , light weight membrane cells -- each made with prepreg carbon fiber -- feed all the load paths into it with minimum weight -- this is one of my" daydreams" -- an organic, cell based ,orgami chassis.

Regards Carlos

[RH1300S]

I love the Lighthouse Building Ciro - a thing of beauty.

I wonder how Gaudi would have expressed himself with modern materials - that could be something to imagine!

The wind power building is a great idea; does anyone know anything about using nature to heat/cool buildings. I have often wondered how much ventilation and possibly cooling you could get naturally using heat to create air-flows within and even outside a building.

[Carlos]

Ciro-- Heres an example of hyperboloids in Gran Prix Racing. What an example of innovative engineering. This whole site is a treasure trove that shows what can be done -- by a manufacturer... by an individual

http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/nsu001.jpg

Well --OK -- it's missing a few wheels -- but it's still a Gran Prix Racer

It's a 1956 ---NSU---125cc Gran Prix Machine -- The Famous "Hammock"

I've always found engineers "civil."

Edit: theres a list of pictures nsu001jpg through 008.jpg

Regards Carlos

[f1.redbaron]

I love the Millau Bridge. It looks awesome.

Here is my contribution (a bit obvious):

Burj al-Arab (sp?)


Same neighborhood


Old, but one of the first huge projects (Kansai Airport):

[Steven]

I promise you all that someday I will drive under and over the Milleau bridge and take my Canon with me for some pics I'd say incredible pics but since I'm not such a great photographer I can't say for sure

@Ciro: you know... right before I decided to go study computer science all I ever wanted to do was to become an architect. Somehow I decided otherwise but I'm massively interested in basically anything that is technically outstanding.

[Sawtooth-spike]

i went over that bridge just after it opened. there is service stations at each with load of info about it.

The only problem with it was i was really hung over and sleepy. so it was a little blurry.

oh well

[allan]

these buildings are right across the street from my apartment. they're not finished yet, they've just statrted construction..they are called the Absolute world... i really like it

[f1.redbaron]

I promise you all that someday I will drive under and over the Milleau bridge and take my Canon with me for some pics I'd say incredible pics but since I'm not such a great photographer I can't say for sure

I don't wanna pictures....I wanna drive over it myself Just kidding.

just make sure you don't stop right at the middle of the bridge