Category Archives: Civil Engineering

The 2011 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture

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The Neues Museum in Berlin is the winner of the 2011 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Award, the European Commission announced this week.

The building is a reconstruction, blending old and new, by the British architect Sir David Chipperfield. The original Neues Museum, designed by Friedrich August Stüler, was built in the mid-19th century. The building was severely damaged in the Second World War and reconstruction began in 2003, with the aim of restoring the site to its former glory.

Launched in 1987, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Award is presented every other year. The Prize is supported by the European Commission in the framework of its Culture Programme and by the Mies van der Rohe Foundation.

The winners were chosen from 343 submitted works in 33 European countries. Six works were shortlisted for the main award. The other finalists were: Bronks Youth Theatre (Brussels, Belgium); MAXXI: Museum of XXI Century Arts (Rome, Italy); Concert House Danish Radio (Copenhagen, Denmark); Acropolis Museum (Athens, Greece) and Rehabilitation Centre Groot Klimmendaal (Arnhem, The Netherlands).

The award ceremony will take place on 20 June at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.

To find out more about the award and the ceremony why not visit the Europa website here. The library has access to a wide variety of databases concerning the subject of architecture and civil engineering on Metalib. Why not have a browse?

Tall, taller, tallest!

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London Bridge Tower

"The Shard" - London

Just before Christmas, London Bridge Tower, nicknamed “the Shard”, officially became the UK’s tallest building when the construction of the central core was complete. At 245m it is now taller than the Canary Wharf building at One Canada Square. However, there are still two year’s work ahead before it is finished. The completed structure will be another 65m in height and will become the tallest commercial building in Europe. 

Designed by architect Renzo Piano and famously starting life as a sketch on the back of a napkin in a Berlin restaurant, it has a number of sustainable features including the recyling of heat generated by office computers for apartments higher in the structure. A triple-skin glass facade will contain venetian blinds controlled by computers, reducing the need for air-conditioning by shielding occupants from the sun.

With a final height of 310m it is still a long way short of the world’s tallest building. It’s only a year since that title was claimed when the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was completed. Recently in the news when Tom Cruise was seen apparently dangling from it during filming of the latest Mission Impossible movie it stands an amazing 828m tall.

If you are looking for more information on construction and buildings why not take a look at the following sources: Civil Engineering Abstracts, Compendex and the Construction Information Service. You can find these all in the Civil Engineering category in MetaLib.

Image courtesy of George Rex used under Creative Commons Licence.