Insights from IStructE Centenary Conference
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David Harvey receives his commemorative plaque from Gold Medalist and centenary conference organizer H.K. Cheng |
by David Harvey,
M.Sc., P.Eng.,
Struct.Eng.,
FIStructE, IStructE
Immediate Past
President
I had the distinct
privilege of
attending the
IStructE Centenary
Conference held at
the new Hong Kong
Convention and
Exhibition Centre
along with 400
delegates from
around the world.
The conference
proved to be a breathtaking summary of some of the last century's
major structural engineering achievements along with a glimpse of
what the future may hold for structural engineers.
The presenters were a veritable “Who’s Who” of structural engineering.
Attending the conference were many significant names from
IStructE ranks, including the President, Sarah Buck, Chief Executive,
Keith Eaton, eight past presidents, three vice presidents, and two
gold medalists.
A number of leading Chinese engineers were invited, six of whom
were awarded IStructE Fellowships. A rare Honorary Fellowship was
awarded to Huang Wei, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Construction,
Peoples Republic of China. Mr. Huang is now in the select company
of the Duke of Edinburgh and several members of the House of
Lords!
It was a distinct honour for me to chair the session on bridge
engineering. Notable presentations were made by Man-Chung Tang,
Chairman of TY Lin International, San Francisco; and Holger
Svenssen of Leonhardt, Andra and Partner, Germany who provided
interesting perspectives into developments in modern bridge
engineering. Equally fascinating was the talk by Naeem Hussain of
Arup, Hong Kong, who described the tremendous achievements in
design and construction of the nearby Stonecutter's Bridge, a worldclass,
cable-stayed bridge with a 1018 metre main span, currently
under construction.
William Baker, Partner in charge of structural design in London and
Chicago for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, covered some historical
trends and made some bold projections for the next 100 years of
structural engineering. Perhaps best known as the lead structural
engineer for the record-breaking building, Burj Dubai, he pointed out
that population densities in most major cities had plenty of scope for
increase, noting that the density in Hong Kong is ten times that of
Tokyo, and thirty times that of New York. Bill predicted that the 800
metre height of Burj Dubai would be passed by other record-breaking
structures within a few years, and that the historic dream of mile-high
buildings are perfectly achievable with current technology.
One of the great benefits in attending ‘block-buster’ conferences, is
the opportunity to rub shoulders and dialogue with the living legends
of structural engineering. Naturally, I took full advantage of this. My
discussion with John Burland was a particular delight.
John is the designer of the foundation strengthening system that
rescued the Leaning Tower of Pisa (and a rare IStructE and ICE
double Gold Medalist). To my delight, John explained why the
prediction for the lean of the Big Ben clock tower, associated with the
construction of London’s House of Commons Underground Car Park
constructed over 30 years ago, was very accurate, but 180 degrees
out! (Current three-dimensional soil-structure interaction modeling
can now handle these former computational inaccuracies).
Sitting down with William Baker over breakfast, I enjoyed an extended
discussion on the design of tall buildings. William drew out on the
back on an envelope framing systems for Burj Dubai and several
other iconic buildings!
Discovering how structural engineers conceive structural solutions is
endlessly fascinating. I’m sure that the second centenary conference
will be even better, and it will be interesting to see how many of
William’s predictions actually come true.
AE Staff are key contributors to the 2008 ASCE Structures Congress
 For the first time in its 40
year history, the American
Society of Civil
Engineers/Structural
Engineers (ASCE/SEI)
Structures Congress will be
held outside of the United
States, when the City of
Vancouver hosts the
Congress on April 24 -26,
2008, at the Hyatt
Regency Hotel. The
premier annual structural engineering event in North America, the
Structures Congress draws over 1000 delegates from around the
world. The 2008 Congress has been planned for the last three years
by a local Steering Committee, which includes AE staff (seated at
table from left to right) Don Kennedy, David Harvey, George De
Ridder, Administrative Assistant Ces Bernabe, and Leslie Mihalik.
Alfred Kao and Mark Porter are serving as Session Moderators.
The Steering Committee has put together a comprehensive technical
program featuring ten tracks and 100 technical sessions over the
three days. Prominent speakers include winner of the Nobel Prize
for Physics, Dr Carl Wieman, Vice President of Construction for the
2010 Olympic Games, Dan Doyle, and the creator of the worldfamous
Millau Viaduct, Michel Virlogeux. Two pre-tour presentations
and technical tours to the Canada Line project and the Olympic
Speed Skating Oval and two pre-congress workshops are also
planned. For full details of the conference and to view the preliminary
technical program, visit the Congress website at:
http://content.asce.org/conferences/structures2008/
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