Museum with wings wins IABSE award

The International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) has announced two winners of its 2004 Outstanding Structure Awards. The awards went to a project in the U.S. and one in Portugal. They
were given out at the IABSE Symposium “Metropolitan Habitats and Infrastructure” in Shanghai, China at the end of September.
An award for outstanding structure went to the Milwaukee Art Museum Addition in Wisconsin. Described as an “architectural and engineering masterpiece,” the building’s signature feature is a 110-ton moveable winged roof with a wingspan of 66 metres, which sits on top of a steel and glass pavilion. The roof opens and closes in just over three minutes. The complex includes many unusual shapes of concrete and steel, cantilevered concrete canopies that stretch the limits of the material, and a unique cable-stayed bridge.
The Funchal Airport Extension on Madeira Island in Portugal received the other award. The project extended an existing runway by adding a bridge, 1,020 metres long x 180 metres wide over a shallow bay. The carries the impact of a Boeing 747. It consists of an array of large portal frames with circular columns and prestressed beams supporting a deck slab bi-directionally prestressed. Where the rock formations at the surface had no adequate capacity, indirect foundations with concrete piles reaching depths of 60 metres were used. The area beneath the structure was reclaimed with earthwork generated by the construction.
Mr. Chander Alimchandani of India was presented with the 2004 IABSE Award of Merit in Structural Engineering in recognition of his contribution to the design of bridges and structures, as well as the development of pre-stressed concrete structures and post-tensioning technology.