Civl Engineering
January 2007

Civil Engineering

The Magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers

January 2007  |  Volume 77, Number 01


Streano-havens.com

ON THE COVER: Designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, the new home of the Guthrie Theater, in Minneapolis, incorporates many areas that can alter a visitor’s sense of space, including the “yellow box” lobby, which cantilevers in two directions and is infused with a glow from lights below. Cover Photograph by Roland Halbe Fotografie

Features

Setting The Stage

By Robert J. Quinn, P.E.

The new home of the Guthrie Theater, in Minneapolis, replaces a single-stage venue with an intriguingly complex performance hall that includes three separate stages, an ethereal elevated lobby, and what may well be the longest occupiable cantilevered space in the world.

The Source of the Problem

By Erik L. Nelson, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, Deepak Ahuja,P.E., M.ASCE, Stewart M. Verhulst, P.E., M.ASCE, and Erin Criste, M.ASCE

A thorough investigation of a roof collapse calls into question certain decisions with regard to bridging layout and design loads for uplift. But the central question is, does the fault lie with the designers or with inconsistencies in the sources upon which those designers relied?

An Uplifting Experience

By Tim J. Ingham, Ph.D., S.E., M.ASCE, Brad Fristoe, and Ron Hollingsworth

In 1964 one of four Pratt trusses supporting Alaska’s Million Dollar Bridge—a historic landmark constructed circa 1910—collapsed into the river during an earthquake. More than 40 years later, engineers devised a scheme to repair the bridge by carefully lifting the truss from the icy waters and rehabilitating it. Next, the bridge will be strengthened to ensure that a similar earthquake in the future will not produce the same result.

The Singapore Solutions

By Foo Hee Kiang, William W.L. Yong, P.E., and Don D. Ratnayaka

As water consumption in Singapore has increased, alternative sources have been explored. In addition to using reclaimed municipal wastewater, Singapore’s Public Utilities Board has turned to seawater, constructing one of the largest and most energy-efficient desalination plants in the world.

Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Graduate School of Design Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
   
Energy-saving skyscraper • Structural ribbons • Panama Canal expands • S-shaped crossing • Spain’s tallest tower • Uranium remediated • Kissimmee River restoration • Floating foundation • Sunken ships delay tunnel • CSO solutions • Dam augmentation • Rebuilding Pakistan • News Briefs
 
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