AWARDS OF MERIT are given to national winners and the AWARD OF EXCELLENCE awards the European winner among these Awards of Merit.
The Steel Design Awards 2019 were given during a special ceremony held on 14th October 2019 in Brussels.
This year, the Jury has decided that the Award of Excellence will be shared by two very different projects. One is an important and beautiful contribution to the public life of a European capital, the other is small, playful, and precise. Both are of outstanding quality in architecture, structure and construction, and worthy winners of the 2019 ECCS Steel Design Award of Excellence.
The Oodi Central Library is the new Central Library of Helsinki. It appears as a concert hall for books, providing elegant landscapes for reading, recording music, modern fabrication, a café and a film theater.
As in earlier projects by the Architects, the design offers a bold, symphonic gesture which becomes a governing force in the functioning of the building. In this case, the move is a hoisting and angling of the wooden front, opening it up and inviting the public to look in and enter. The building itself works as a 108-meter span bridge, carried by two 1000 tonnes arches and a supporting load bearing steel structure, to create an open, column free inside view. Clad in timber and glass, the structural system is hidden, but it is a necessary precondition and recognizable to initiates of building technique.
Oodi Central Library will remain a jewel of the Finish capital, and an outstanding example of steel construction.
PAN Treetop Houses is a playful, imaginative project, contrasting a strict, modern micro-house dwelling with the deep, surrounding woodland. The stilted huts are inspired by forest fire lookout towers, A-framed lodges, and a Moomins’ house, and perhaps, more eerily, they channel Baba Yaga’s chicken leg cabin as well. The lightness of the loadbearing structure would not be possible in another material.
The huts are linked to the free-standing spiral staircase by a light bridge, offering an entrance high above ground, but no real outside space to occupy. As such you can imagine running away to the forest, and then again from the forest, and into a microcosm of urbanity. PAN Treetop Houses are beguiling examples of architecture’s combination of irrational, societal desires, and rational, technical execution.
The 40 m2 cabins are minimal and professionally executed. They are created with consistently high-quality engineering, architectural work, and steelwork, and exquisite detailing. The cabins are an example of how interesting architecture can create interest in a destination, by their appearance, and by the new way they frame and inhabit their environment.
PAN Treetop Houses is a unique project with character, and an outstanding example of steel construction.
Awards of Merit 2019
The European Steel Design Awards of Merit and Excellence have been selected among the finalists, which were chosen from the initial nominees, out of 28 projects submitted in total.
The finalists for the 2019 European Steel Design Awards are (by country alphabetical order):
Austria: The New ÖAMTC Headquarters, Vienna
Czech Republic: Replacement bridge over the Dam Hracholusky
Denmark: K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen
Finland: Oodi Central Library, Helsinki
France: Simonne-Mathieu Tennis Court, Roland Garros
Germany: Adidas Arena, Herzogenaurach
Norway: PAN Treetop Houses, Gjesasen
Portugal: Hippodrome de Longchamp, Paris
Sweden: Kristallen, Kiruna
Switzerland: Jet d’eau Movable Footbridge, Geneva
The Netherlands: Station E-line, Den Haag
Turkey: Sveti Stephan Bulgarian Church Restoration, Istanbul
Student Awards 2019
For the European Steel Design Awards, students are also encouraged to submit projects they prepared for their studies. In Brussels, 4 students got a special STUDENT AWARD and the opportunity to introduce their projects to the public.
Valerio Calavetta (KIT Karlsruhe - Germany), for his Living in the Wildpark Stadium project.
G. S. Van Bolderen (Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences Delft University of Technology - The Netherlands), for his Exploration of Stability of 3D-Printed Steel Members project.
Jonathan Storheil Værnes (The Oslo School of Architecure and Design - Norway), for his Steel House project.
Thea Platou (The Oslo School of Architecure and Design - Norway), for her Re Store Fieldwork project.
Professor J.M. ROTTER was born in Chesterfield, England and graduated at Cambridge University when he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to study in Australia. He got a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Sydney. His main specialty is the Buckling of Shells.
Jouko KOUHI is expert in Connections, welding, stability and fatigue of steel structures. He has been an active member of various ECCS Technical Committees since 1979, working on ENV 1993 part 1.8 from 1999 to 2002.
Frans BIJLAARD, Professor of steel structures at the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences at Delft University of Technology. His main specialties are on stability of steel structures, structural behaviour of joints in steel structures and design of greenhouses.
The involvement of Professor Jean Pierre MUZEAU in Education and his strong motivation in promoting the use of steel in construction over his career have to be underlined. He has been qualified as “Passeur de Connaissances” (Ndt : conveyor of knowledge) by the Members of the Jury who have underlined his prominent role among the young generations of civil engineers.
Prof. Joachim LINDNER got a 40-year academic career and extensive experience in civil engineering from lateral torsional buckling through contact splices, historical grey cast iron columns, fatigue behaviour, stability design of glass-beams, scaffolding design, crane girders, plate buckling problems, composite beams and columns, corrugated webs, connection problems and imperfection regulations. He signed around 220 publications.
Professor Reidar BJORHOVDE has an impressive academic background, including two Ph.D. in the area of Civil Engineering, and a remarkable professional career which includes several years as a Professor in various universities in North America. He also been the Director of Bjorhovde Group since 1998.
Professor Carlo URBANO has been active on ECCS committee “Stability of steel structures” since 1975. He has been also present on CEN, IABSE, SSRC committees. Graduated at the Politecnico di Milano in 1963, he dedicated his career to the “Strength of Materials”. He developed scientific research mainly on the general theory of elasticity, stability of elastic equilibrium, response to dynamics and elastoplastic vibrations, shell structures, solutions for steel and reinforced structures. Lately, he has focused his works on the elastic and elastoplastic stability of compressed simple or composed steel members in the presence of mechanical and geometrical imperfections and damages due to cyclic actions. He is the author of an incredible number of papers and publications.
Prof. Ing. Jean-Baptiste SCHLEICH will always be recognised as "Mr Fire” of Europe. He was the leading professor in the development of the "Natural Fire Safety Concept". Under his leadership, the relationship of the fire load to the risk to a structure and its occupants was researched and tested. It is due to his work that structures can now be fire engineered with a significant benefit to the industry, building owners and users.
Professor Manfred HIRT had been member of the various ECCS Technical Committees. He wrote more than 130 publications as author or co-author. Director of the Steel Structures Laboratory (ICOM) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL), Prof. Hirt was known on the international scene for his expertise in the field of fatigue and fracture mechanics of steel structures, loads and action on structures, structural safety and serviceability and steel-concrete composite construction. In August 2003, he had been elected President of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE).
Professor Giulio BALLIO was born in Rome, on 4 March 1940, and graduated in Aeronautical Engineering at the “Politecnico of Milan”, in 1963. He was Ordinario of the Science of Construction at Pavia University and, subsequently, of Construction in Steel at the Politecnico of Milan, where he has also been responsible, since 1985, for the Material Tests Laboratory.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerhard SEDLACEK, was a leading and opinion-forming person in various ECCS technical committees and subcommittees. He was one of the most active person in the European steel research sector as well as in the European codification field. His various activities covered a huge range beginning from intelligent design of steel and composite structures to researching, applying of research results, safety requirements, teaching and training of students and engineers, promotion and developing of steel structures and design tools for a better market share.
Professor Patrick DOWLING started his working life as an employee of BCSA and subsequently worked both in industry and academia. He was extensively involved with ECCS in plate buckling research and was Chairman of the CEN Eurocode 3 Committee.
When awarded, Professor Federico MAZZOLANI was Director of the “Institute of Technique of Construction” at the Engineering Faculty of Naples, Italy. Born in Milan, in 1938, and graduated in Civil Engineering at the University of Naples, Prof. Federico M. Mazzolani co-operated since 1970 with ECCS, assuming the responsibility of Committee chairmanship. His activity has been characterised by the issue of several fundamental documents, which played a leader role in the development of the European codification at the level of both national codes and Eurocodes.
Scientific Manager and Deputy General Manager of the French Technical and Industrial Centre of Steel Construction (CTICM), Professor Jacques BROZZETTI contributed highly to the development of the European Steel Construction. He had a long involvement with various research projects including stability problems, composite construction, fatigue and fire behaviour of steel structures. As a result, he had been involved with many Codes and design guides comprising writing activities. He worked with the profession to promote the steel construction on its various aspects.
Prof. Jan W.B. STARK, from the University of Delft, The Netherlands, had made substantial contributions to the construction industry in general, and more specifically with regard to steel and composite structures. For many years, he had been an active member of CEN and served ECCS in various committees. The Charles Massonnet Award was presented to him to express our gratitude for his high standard and valuable contribution to the steel construction industry.
Close collaborator of Professor Charles Massonnet, Professor René MAQUOI, was awarded in recognition of his efforts for the development of steel and composite construction. Indeed, Professor Massonnet was his “master” and conducted his first step in the ECCS activities.
Frantisek Wald concentrates on the connection and fire design of steel structures. He prepared the component model for column bases and the component based finite element model of joints. He works in ECCS Technical Committee 10 - Structural joints and in Project team for preparation of standard - EN 1993-1-8:2020.
