Complex 3D-Printed Steel Components Push The Boundaries Of Architecture

By Emma Hutchings
June 17, 2014, Technology

Arup engineers are using the latest techniques to produce a design method for critical structural steel elements.

Multidisciplinary organization Arup (a team of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists) was founded in 1946 with an initial focus on structural engineering. It is best known for its work on the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Arup boasts a team of broad-minded individuals from a range of disciplines as well as an unconventional approach to design.

Its engineers are now pushing the boundaries of 3D printing to utilize the technology in real-world construction projects. They have used the latest additive manufacturing techniques to produce a design method for critical structural steel elements for use in various complex projects.This development could mean a new direction for the use of additive manufacturing in the fields of construction and engineering.

Arup’s research shows that these techniques have the potential to reduce both costs and waste, as well as cutting the carbon footprint of the construction sector. To showcase the possibilities of this new technology, a redesigned steel node was created for a lightweight structure using additive manufacturing. Read more…

Canadian Museum of History honours architect Douglas Cardinal

Canadian Architect Staff
June 15, 2014, Canadian Architect

On the occasion of his 80th birthday, the Canadian Museum of History is honouring architect Douglas Cardinal – the designer of its iconic and celebrated buildings – by renaming one of its principal event and meeting rooms the Douglas J. Cardinal Salon.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Museum’s two adjoining buildings. Upon opening, they received immediate international acclaim for their innovative and elegant design, inspired in part by their dramatic waterfront setting across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill. Cardinal’s work on the project earned him a place among the world’s most renowned architects.

“Our Museum and all Canadians owe a great debt of gratitude to Mr. Cardinal for this architectural treasure, which has graced the nation’s capital for almost three decades,” said Mark O’Neill, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History. “The Museum is proud to honour Mr. Cardinal and extends best wishes on his 80th birthday.”

The Museum consists of two pavilions. One houses the Museum’s artifact vaults and administrative and curatorial offices. The other is the public museum building most familiar to millions of visitors from across Canada and around the world. The public building is especially dramatic with its flowing lines, copper-clad roof domes and the towering window wall of its Grand Hall.

“The Museum will be symbolic in form,” Cardinal wrote in his original design statement. “It will speak of the emergence of this continent, its forms sculpted by the winds, the rivers, the glaciers.” His vision was fully realized on June 29, 1989, when the Museum first opened to the public. Read more…

Reimagining Winnipeg: What these fearless architects can teach the rest of Canada

By Alex Bozikovic
June 13 2014, The Globe and Mail

It was Saturday night, and 1,200 people were dressed in white and sitting down to dinner on the Esplanade Riel above the Red River, where 150 tables showcased food from the city’s top chefs. The people behind the event, a group of architects who call themselves 5468796, were there, too – each hosting a table, and drinking in the atmosphere of a city that’s come alive in recent years. Johanna Hurme, a partner in 5468796, was sporting big purple sunglasses and mingling with out-of-town architects. “It really was a success,” she says. “It felt like the true spirit of Winnipeg came out.”

Many Canadians, even some Winnipeggers, might be surprised at that cultured confidence. But 5468796 is leading a new generation of local architects to invent a new city, and perhaps a new Canada, that gives innovative architecture a seat at the table. Manitoba’s capital city, after decades of stasis, is seeing an architectural rebirth, and 5468796 is at the centre of it. The firm is just seven years old, and its three partners relatively young: the Finnish-born Hurme is 38; the Bosnian-born Sasa Radulovic, 41; and Colin Neufeld, 38.

Yet they’ve managed to realize a remarkable set of projects. Among them are a condo building with units that fit together like a 3-D puzzle.

As well, there’s been a renovation that added sleek steel balconies to a historic facade on Portage Avenue, and a bandshell with walls made from 20,000 pieces of aluminum chain mail. They’ve won Canadian and international architecture awards, consistent attention from design blogs, and a partnership with a New York think tank.

And they’ve done so while smashing preconceptions about what is possible for their city and their profession. “I think we’re a bit naive,” says Radulovic, “and we work not to let go of that. If the answer is ‘No,’ we ask, ‘Why not?’” Read more…