This photograph captures the tension between engineering creativity. The Sydney Opera house resulted from an architectural competition won by an unknown, and proved to be an extremely difficult design to execute by the engineer, Ove Arup. We will explore this tension by studying the work of 4 modern designers, Gehry, Schlaich, Calatrava, and Virlogeux, who span the gamut from pure architecture to engineering influenced by aesthetic concerns.

14 years construction

100 million dollars, 5 times estimate

1973

The presented ideals have been expanded to include Vitruvius’s famous procolamations on the ideals for structure – this may be considered on school of thought on architectural art (their are many!).

Wikipedia on Vitruvias “Vitruvius is famous for asserting in his book De architectura that a structure must exhibit the three qualities of firmitas, utilitas, venustas — that is, it must be strong or durable, useful, and beautiful “Roman Writer, Architect, Engineer died after 15BC

Born Toronto 1929

1954 graduate of USC

Studied urban planning at th Harvard school of design

http://www.pritzkerprize.com/gehry.htm#...about%20Frank%20Gehry

The point here is the method of form finding for Gehry. It is fundamentally artistic, relying on drawing and painting that may have only remote relation to the resulting building. As shown in the sequence of Bilbao sketches

and advanced computer methods like Catia. But Catia, though an aerospace program is used primarily because it can represent complicated geometry, not because it gives insight into structure

The building that made Gehry into an international superstar. His Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain. Clad in Titanium made available by the downfall of the Soviet Union and reduced demand for military applications. This is a case where a new material is used for a new visual effect, rather than a new structural possibility.

ID Number

141989DescriptionGuggenheim Museum BilbaoTaken inMay 2009PhotographerInge Kanakaris-Wirtl (kanakari.photos@gmail.com) ( http://www.kanakari-photos.com)

The building that made Gehry into an international superstar. His Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain. Clad in Titanium made available by the downfall of the Soviet Union and reduced demand for military applications. This is a case where a new material is used for a new visual effect, rather than a new structural possibility.

ID Number

141988DescriptionGuggenheim Museum BilbaoTaken inMay 2009PhotographerInge Kanakaris-Wirtl (kanakari.photos@gmail.com) ( http://www.kanakari-photos.com)

One of our themes has been that structural forms continue to evolve at the hands of the best structural artists. Gehry is now generating some wonder about whether he has exhausted himself creatively, and whether his buildings look too alike. Following is a quick sequence.

Lewis Building at Case Western. Original budget of 25 mil went to 40 and then 60 after Gehry was hired

http://sympathetic-compass.blogspot.com/2008/05/frank-gehrys-new-miss-brooklyn-b1.html

Disney Cocnert Hall

Lewis Library at Princeton

Born 1934 stetten/remstal 17k from stuttgart

Lived in Heilbronn during the war

Apprenticed and became certified as a joiner

1953 to the technische hochschule in stuttgart studied engineering with architecture

Was influenced by Max Bill’s book on Maillart, a gift of his sister

1955 to Berlin to complete school where he was required to take humanities classes, he chose philosophy, history and english lit.

Berlin was highly theoretical whereas stuttgart was model based

Studied under werner koepke, a studen of dischinger, who made them solve eighth order DE’s in their shell studies.

Won a fulbright to study at case where he completed an experimental masters thesis

Back to stuttgart to do the doctorate under Fritz Leonhardt.

We will here investigate Schlaich’s thinking about the suspension bridge form and specifically how to stiffen suspension bridges, and accomodate changes in plan, and close with a brief view of what he thinks of the roof vaulting problem, which he solves in a clever way.

Rosenstein II

We will work in increasing order of scale from a small pedestrian bridge with a deck following the main cable profile and an ‘arch’, an upside down suspender? I suspect it is a tensioned cable acting to stiffen the concrete deck, but it is a crazy juxtaposition, slender steel in the arch shape and concrete in the shape of the suspension system.

kochenhofstrasse

As the scale gets larger he introduces towers and separates the deck from the suspension cables. Note the towers are tied at the top. I think (but don’t know) that the cable is anchored directly to the ground on the other side, rather than having another set of towers.

There is again cabling under the bridge, and this time ...

kochenhofstrasse photo Elsner, Structurae

There is a pair of cables that stiffen not only vertically, but laterally.

Schlaich’s effort here evokes some of the treatment at Niagara

Max eyth see

At longer spans, if not heavier loads, and perhaps in a situation when the clearance is more important, Schlaich changes the stiffenin method into one ...

Max eyth see

In which inclined suspenders are used.

Note, I have not figured out why the suspenders extend asymmetrically on each side of the bridge

Max eyth see

He has had also to deal with a skew/curve problem, which he deals with as Maillart did early on by isolating the curve in the approach.

Williamsburg bridge

Finally at the largest scale, in this unbuilt proposal, we see a modern version of a Roebling hybridge form, stiffened with cable stays, and with a very slender deck. Slenderness has even been carried into the bracing of the towers, which looks in this rendering like cables.

Rosenstein I

Finally, we see that we can have a suspension bridge with one tower.

Similar in form to the Oakland Bay Bridge replacement, but this is not self-anchored and so does not face the same severe challenges in construction.

Rosenstein I

kelheim

Finally, JS figures out how to support a curved path with a suspension form. the result is quite striking, and everything equilibrates nicely, maybe.

kelheim

13-55 schwandbach bridge_150dpi.jpg

We can think about supporting a curved roadway with an arch or a suspension cable. Both complicate the form. What are forces in the deck like? How are the bridges stiffened?

Munich skating rink

Cable Net

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/BSI/SUSPENSI/img0027.jpg

Schlaich loves to use cables to support roofs, as in the Munich Stadium (This is labelled olympic stadium, but I think it must be an interior view of the skating rink)

Munich Skating rink roof

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/BSI/SUSPENSI/img0027.jpg

Here the exterior

Compare/contrast Schlaich, Nervi, Isler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Olympiastadion_Muenchen.jpg

And the nearby olympic stadium. Designed when he was working for Otto and Leonhardt

Born 1951 valencia to a family in international trade, giving an unusual international outlook during the years of the Franco dictatorship

From the age of 8 formally studied drawing and painting

Attempted to enroll at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, but instead went to arch school in Velancia

He was intrigued by the mathematical rigor evident in some historic works of architecture, and so enrolled at ETH in CE for a ph.D. complete in 1979

Sought much of his early work through competitions.

He has been the subject of an exhibit at MoMA.

Calatrava and candela

http://www.gibson-design.com/resource-calatrava+.html

200 m long 135 high

Virlogeux featured on cover of Engineering journal with his Normandie Bridge, completed in 1995, in the background.

Virlogeux was born in 1946, and most of his bridges have been built in France.

He has worked with prestressed concrete and pushed the length of spans of cablestayed bridges and viaducts.

He has written extensively in professional publications.

Virlogeux is a French engineer trained at the Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses (Bridges and Roadways, and the Pierre et Marie Curie University in France. For years he worked for SETRA, the design arm for public works projects undertaken by the French Government.

His most famous design work, shown above, is the Millau Viaduct in the Massif Central in southern France to improve a motorway link, which opened in December 2004.

However, he has designed other bridges such as the cable-stayed bridge in Normandy, France; the Vasco de Gama cable-stayed in Lisbon, a lift bridge in Rouen, France; and a similar lift bridge under construction in Bordeaux, France. He has designed smaller highway and river bridges that show human design. His designs have become thinner and lighter, perhaps in part due to improvements in materials, and wider use of steel in French public works.

Virlogeux intro in a 2007 article printed in The Structural Engineer.

A sentence from Virlogeux calling for more attention to work of great engineers.

He mentions that he is sometimes not credited with designs of the Normandy Bridge or of the Millau Viaduct. Quite often you will find Norman Foster, the architect credited as the designer of the Millau Viaduct.

He says that he almost always works with architects, but that engineers fail to put forth their own claims for the structural work on major projects.

Virlogeux quote in Sept. 2008 The Engineer article about Millau Viaduct.

He sees Millau as work of art as well as an engineering solution.

In one article he talks about the impact of David Billington and the importance of economy, efficiency and elegance.

Another quote from Virlogeux from Sept. 2008 article in The Engineer.

Virlogeux uses a calculator and mathematics to draw his first draft designs, without computers. Later the technical details are submitted to computer calculations.

Virlogeux speaking in London in 2008 at Spans, an exhibition of structures held at The Building Centre.

Click through next slides relatively rapidly, making comments as you see fit.

When get to Millau multiple slides slow down to take slower examination.

From 1970-1994 Virlogeux designed many bridges for SETRA, (Service d’Etudes Techniques des Routes et Autoroutes) the design arm for the French Government public works. He worked with prestressed concrete, box girders and gradually moved to cable-stayed for his longer structures.

He always placed design in the environment, and saw structures as works of art as well as engineering.

Also, he saw construction solutions as part of the design process. He criticizes some, especially architects, for creating designs that are difficult or impossible to build. Each structure should be designed for its environment, he says.

A general map of France to help orient some of his projects.

Note Rouen, Bordeaux, and Clermont Ferrand that is north of the Millau Viaduct.

The right map is of the area around the Millau Viaduct.

Another quote from Virlogeux from Sept. 2008 article in The Engineer.

Virlogeux uses a calculator and mathematics to draw his first draft designs, without computers. Later the technical details are submitted to computer calculations.

Wilson Bridge at Tours in central France on the Loire River, completed in 1810.

Virlogeux even got to work in stone, when the second pier collapsed and the third pier failed, and the second, third and fourth arches collapsed in 1978. He worked on the reconstruction, completed in 1982.

The fixed arch, stone bridge is used as a road bridge.

Each span is 24.3 meters in length.

La Flèche Bridge was completed in 1983 while Virlogeux worked for SETRA.

The hollow box girder, external pre-stressed road bridge has a main span of 64 meters, and total length of 116 meters.

Construction used rotation around a vertical axis.

Hardly a slender solution, but at least it is low to the earth!

Re Island Bridge is a hollow box, haunched cantilever road bridge completed in 1988.

The bridge connects the mainland to Re Island on the Atlantic coast of France near La Pallice and Rivedoux-Plage.

Rouen 6th Bridge, or Gustave Flaubert Bridge, is a vertical lift, road bridge that opened in 2008.

The lift section is 100 meters in length, and raises 55 meters high. This allows tall vessels to enter the port.

Rouen is on the Seine River, inland from the English Channel.

The bridge cost €60 million ($94,176,000)

Bacalan-Bastide Bridge in Bordeaux on the French south central west coast, crossed the Garonne River in central Bordeaux. The structure is similar to the lift bridge in Rouen. The Bordeaux bridge is under construction and slated to open in 2010.

It is slated to cost about €120 million ($158,725,200). A tunnel option was deleted as it would have cost €200 million, and not allowed pedestrian or bicycle lanes to cross.

The bridge, shown in an illustration here, will have two lanes for vehicles each way, a light rail lane, a pedestrian lane and a bicycle lane.

The lift section will be 110 meters, pylons will be 87 meters high with a clearance of 55 meters, 45 meters wide, and total bridge length of 430 meters.

Section will lift to let large vessels enter up the river.

Clos-Moreau Bridge, is in Limoges, across the Vienne River.

The two-hinged road bridge was completed in 2005.

Virlogeux added the pedestrian access to the river bank to keep it accessible to pedestrians.

The bridge cost €8.2 million ($10,585,380). The span arc is 84 meters.

Materials consisted of high-performance concrete, construction was by sections of the arc, with use of prefabricated sections, and prestressing.

Languedoc Bridge, near Gignac France, and crosses the Hérault River. Completed in 2008 at a cost of €7.6 million ($11,929,036).

Virlogeux designed this bridge with Charles Lavigne, the same architect that he worked with on the previously shown Clos-Moreau Bridge in Limoges.

The arch span is 70 meters, with a total length of 10 meters. The deck is 24 meters wide with freeway traffic of two lanes each way.

Like Clos-Moreau it is of prestressed concrete and steel.

A lot has changed since the design of his La Flèche Bridge opened in 1983, shown in an earlier slide.

Languedoc Bridge, near Gignac France, and crosses the Hérault River. Completed in 2008 at a cost of €7.6 million ($11,929,036).

Virlogeux designed this bridge with Charles Lavigne, the same architect that he worked with on the previously shown Clos-Moreau Bridge in Limoges.

The arch span is 70 meters, with a total length of 10 meters. The deck is 24 meters wide with freeway traffic of two lanes each way.

Like Clos-Moreau it is of prestressed concrete and steel.

A lot has changed since the design of his La Flèche Bridge opened in 1983, shown in an earlier slide.

Vasco da Gama Bridge, Lisbon, Portugal. Completed in 1998. Virlogeux is listed as the official expert, with Armando Rito listed as the designer. Bridge was built as road bridge to provide access across the Tagus River to the Expo held in Lisbon in 1998.

The cable-stayed, multicable (192), fan arranged, H-pylons 155 meters tall of reinforced concrete. The main span is 420 meters long, with total length of 824 meters.

The 10-mile structure cost (189,970,001,200 Portuguese Escudo, which in 2002 converted at 1 Euro = 200.482 Escudos) $1 billion, according to a 1998 article by BBC News. I don’t know the cost of just the cable-stayed bridge portion of the entire project.

Normandy Bridge, between Le Havre and Honfleur on the northwestern coast of France. Completed in 1995. For four years its span was the longest cable-stayed, until bested by a bridge in Japan. The bridge cost 2,253,390,088 French Francs, which converted in 2002 at rate of 1 Euro for 6.56 Fr. Francs so, about €528,241,084 in 2002 ratio ($465 million)

The roadway has prestressed concrete approaches, main deck is prestressed concrete and steel, inverted-Y 215-meter high pylons (156 meters above deck) are reinforced concrete. Deck of main span built as hollow box, about 1/3 is concrete and 2/3 is an orthotropic steel deck.

Main span is 856 meters long, total length of 2141 meters. Deck is from 21 to 22 meters wide.

Cantelever used to build main span. Segmental launching used on concrete approaches.

Hybrid harp/fan with lambda towers

Térénz Bridge, over the Auine River between Landévennec and Rosnoen in the Bretagne region of France. Under construction and scheduled for completion in 2010. Cost will be €35 million ($46,294,850).

Cable-stayed, semi-fan cable arrangement.

The main span of the road bridge will be 285 meters.

Millau Viaduct is the premier design by Virlogeux. The multipiered spans stand on tall piers soaring over the Tarn River valley.

(Next four slides give visual impression of the viaduct and could be shown rapidly.)

Normandy Bridge also gains a lot of attention to Virlogeux, probably because of length of its main span.

The Viaduct on the A75 motorway in the Massif Central near the village of Millau in southern France, opened in December 2004.

Virlogeux began conceptualizing the viaduct in 1987 while at SETRA (Service d’Etudes Techniques des Routes et Autoroutes) , and started working on preliminary designs in 1990 – shows how long it takes to bring a major structure to fruition.

The viaduct was built by a private consortium that can collect tolls for 75 years for the project that cost €320 million ($395,360,000) to build. Virlogeux left SETRA, the French state design arm, and established a private consultancy to make sure that he worked on the project to completion – it’s that move that raised the claim that Norman Foster, a British architect, designed the viaduct. Virlogeux, credits Foster with adding elegance to viaduct, but he claims full, and I think deserved credit, for design of the viaduct.

The viaduct is expected to last 120 years.

Another view of Millau.

Each of six center sections span 342 meters each. The two end sections span 204 meters each. So, it has eight spans with seven piers and pylons.

Virlogeux said the architect, Norman Foster, helped make the viaduct more elegant including that all piers should be similarly shaped, and grounded in the earth.

Earlier designs for a suspension bridge, and a low route with a tunnel and other designs were rejected.

The multipier cablestayed viaduct is cheaper than a suspension bridge, especially the cables, and doesn’t require anchoring abutments for the cables.

Yet another view of Millau. Total length of the 7-pier/pylon, 8-section span is 2460 meters.

Note that the viaduct has a single row of pylons and cables that rn along the center of the bridge. The lightweight and strength of the deck made it feasible to have only the single, center row.

The Millau Viaduct won the 2006 Outstanding Structure Awardfrom the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE).

Virlogeux says that wind is a design consideration, but that modern wind studies can predict the turbulence.

Still yet another view of Millau. This one in winter.

Could talk here about temperature variations in the area (from minus 35 C , or minus 31 F; to plus 45 C, or plus 113 F.) and impact on design of the viaduct, especially with the flexible, orthotropic steel deck and the special paving surface to allow for longitudinal changes in the structure.

The top 90 meters of the piers are divided into two sections, to help allow for these changes.

Also, the deck is connected to the piers on bearings to allow for changes. The deck is fixed to the piers by vertical prestressing tendons in line with two fixed spherical Maurer bearings covered with a composite material to resist load stresses.

Millau Viaduct is tall.

It crosses from plateau to plateau of the Tarn River Valley, which is 600 meters on the north and 720 meters on the south. The structure is curved and has an upward slope of 3.025% from north to south, which also helps the drivers maintain visual contact with the roadway while crossing.

Virlogeux says he was striving for a thin, light design.

The tallest pier is actually 245 meters, the graphic above adds the 87 meter-high pylon and deck to get the figure used.

The deck is 250 meters above the Tarn River. The orthotropic, trapezoidal, hollow box steel deck is 4.2 meters deep and 32 meters wide including windscreens. Two lanes of traffic each way, plus a 3-meter wide breakdown lane each way.

Virlogeux in 1997 and 1998 worked on designs for the deck in both steel and prestresed concrete. When the consortium, Compagnie Eiffage du Viaduct de Millau, won the contract in 2001, a member was Eiffel Construction Metallique, so the steel deck solution was the preferred solution!

Construction of the viaduct took only 38 months. Partly due to being able to work on the ground to bridge the valley.

Partly due to strict construction management, including the use of standard industrial materials, equipment and techniques; and computers; remote communications; and use of global positioning systems.

Partly due to prefabrication of the deck and pylons in nearby sites as other work moved forward on the viaduct.

The piers, however, were cast in situ. Each pier had its own construction crew and work occurred simultaneously.

Here the construction cranes are shown as the concrete forms are moved ever higher.

Launch coming together with orange, temporary piers shown in place.

Virlogeux had used launching on his Seyssel Bridge, and on the concrete access deck on his Normandy Bridge. However, the owner consortium developed the final launching system used at Millau.

“Extreme Engineering: Millau Viaduct,” is a 2006 presentation for the Discovery Channel, Season 2, Episode 7. It shows the final launching of the deck, and concentrates on the construction. Neither Virlogeux nor Foster get any attention. It is on DVD and may be purchased or rented through Netflix.

Ends of deck about to come together. Deck was closed May 18, 2004.

Note the cables extending for the previously affixed pylons on the end of each section.

The deck was launched from each end of the viaduct with one pylon attached at the end to provide rigidity.

Illustration above: The concrete piers and metal intermediate piers were fitted with computer controlled hydraulic jacks that lifted the deck and moved it forward with each thrust. Each launching span was 171 meters, and took five days for each section. Of course, the lightweight and flexible steel deck helped make this launching method work.

The deck was welded together in sections and at the launch joining the final sections were welded. The deck was assembled at a remote site and then brought to the roadway prior to each launching action.

Prefabricated pylons, except two at launching ends of deck, were brought to site on crawlers shown in left photo.

Then cranes, in right photo, were used to tip them upright. The tops of the pylons above the cable connection is for elegance.

Steel cables are shown in left photo attached to pylon and deck.

The cables, shown in right photo, are enclosed in protective coating to reduce cable vibration and increase durability.

This commercial art depicts the Millau Viaduct on a beverage can.

Perpignan is a French town on the border with Spain, just north of Barcelona, on the Mediterranean Sea.

Unsure, but could be showing the viaduct as improving the road journey from Paris to Perpignan.

Recent photo, left; earlier photo with model of cable stayed design, center; working with Norman Foster on left in photo, right.

Sources:

Images are from a variety of sources. Some are from Structurae, so only academic, fair use.

Text References:

Alexander, Kaye, French bridge master: Michel Virlogeux, The Architects’ Journal, July 31, 2008.

Blyth, Robert G.K., The Milau Viaduct – a Lesson for Engineers?, Civil Engineer: Magazine of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers, July 2005.

The Design and the Construction of the Millau Viaduct, Steelbridge 2004, 1-18

Dr. Michel Virlogeux received 2003 IABSE Award of Merit in Structural Engineering, Sept. 18, 2003 press release.

High Wire Artist, The Engineer Online, Sept. 1, 2008.

Michel Virlogeux, Structurae. Listing links to his design projects, including images.

Virlogeux, M. (2007). Great Engineers. Structural Engineer, 85(2), 25-31.

Virlogeux, M. (1999). Recent Evolution of Cable-stayed Bridges. Engineering Structures, 21(8), 737-755.

Virlogeux, M. (2001). Bridges with Multiple Cable-stayed Spans. Structural Engineering International: Journal of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), 11(1), 61-82.

Virlogeux,M. (2002) “New Trends in prestressed concrete bridges,” Structural Concrete, June 2002, vol 3, Issue 2, pp. 67-97.

Virlogeux, M. Erection of Cable-Stayed Bridges, Cable-stayed bridges; recent developments and their future; proceedings of the seminar, Yokohama, Japan, Dec. 10-11, 1991, pp. 77-106.

Virlogeux, M. Bridges with Multiple Cable-stayed spans, Structural engineering international; journal of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering, 2002, vol. 11, issue 1, pp. 61-82

Virlogeux, The Normandie Bridge, Structures Congress, pp. 660-665.

Ponts et Chausees translated is Bridges and Roadways. The Ecole Nationale is called les Ponts by the insiders.

In 1973 he earned his degree as Docteur Ingénieur.

While at SETRA Virlogeux became chief engineer for concrete structures, and then for all large structures.

He left SETRA to carry Millau forward, as French Govt. felt lack of public backing for the project. Hence, the bid for the private consortium to develop and build – and collect tolls for 75 years! -- on the project.

IABSE = International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering

Virlogeux and his designs have won other awards, not listed here.

Virlogeux is also active in civil engineering societies.