Site Visit to Germany
It is not common for a student in civil engineering to visit milestone works of structural engineering during his undergraduate studies; yet it is expected for a student in architecture or art history to visit the exemplary projects or artifacts that they are studying. One of the reasons for which the engineering students do not make such visits lays in the fact that they are incorrectly perceived in our culture (and even by many in their own profession) as simple 'technicians' that have no need to experience and explore multi-dimensional nature of structures. However, these visits are educational, instructive, and inspirational, providing with a full comprehension on structures' structural, social and symbolic significance, simultaneously improving general erudition, all beyond anything that is possible in the classroom.
Site visits give one a sense of scale and surroundings that is not possible to fully experience through drawings, presentations, and photographs. One becomes intimately connected and fully curious about the construction process. The connections are observed up close and the details of bolts and welds that comprise the simple or sometimes complex part of the steel design is seen. For a concrete structure the imprint of the form boards that reminds one that formwork (what molds the concrete) needs to be built before the concrete can be poured. Thin wooden lattice combined with twisted wire and plastic sheet demonstrates the ingenuity in combination of traditional and new materials. During a site visit one can also observe the durability of the structure over time, which is a measure of sustainability and resilience. One also becomes intrigued by political and social circumstances that led to creation of structure. By directly observing these structures 'in action', one can measure the success or failure to meet the structure's functionality and one understands the structure's relationship to the community. Visiting prominent consultant offices and talking first hand to structural engineers, submerges students in all aspects of design challenges and processes. At all of visited firms, practicing engineers gave advise to our students about their education and career. Finally, meeting students from other institutions and performing projects with them cross-fertilizes and enriches pool of ideas, leading to unique creative experiences.
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| Students dancing along with a music video shoot on the garden shell of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt |
Before making the visit, each student in CEE463 had begun his or her exploration of one of German Shells through a design, structural analysis, and a study of the social and symbolic context. The students summarized their findings in a little pocket size travel booklet that was printed and taken as a guide for ambitious on site visits to Stuttgart and its surrounding cities, followed by Manheim, Frankfort, Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg. In total 18 structures are described by 18 students. Before visiting each structure, as a preparation, the students read the information in the travel booklet. On site, each student presented to the rest of the group the structure that she/he described in the booklet: the way the structural system works, how it was built, and the social context of it. During these visits, the students were given a time to closely observe the structure, to study it carefully, its details, its surroundings, and to get a sense for its symbolic aspect and the relationship to the community.
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| Cover and Table of Contents of the Travel Booklet |
Upon arrival in Stuttgart we were given private tours of Theater under the Domes (Theater unter de Kuppeln), Balz House (Haus Balz), and Grötzingen open-air theater (Naturtheater) by the architect of these great works in person, Mr. Michael Balz. Mr. Balz warmly hosted us in his studio and his house where he presented his collaborative design process with Heinz Isler who was the engineer of above mentioned great works. In these tours, we were given access to restricted areas and our gracious host also provided invaluable information about the structures from engineering, social, and symbolic points of view.
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| Mr. Michael Balz and students in his house near Stuttgart |
The Stuttgart tour continued with visits to the offices of Schlaich Bergermann und Partner and Knippers Helbig. Students were given presentations on structures by Dipl.-Ing. Hans Schober and Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Jan Knippers, including those shells that were objects of their study. In addition, they were given a presentation on innovative solar power harvesting facilities by Dipl.-Ing. Markus Balz. After the visit of several other works of Schlaich Bergermann und Partner, the visit to Stuttgart concluded at Institute of Lightweight Structures (ILEK) of Stuttgart University, where the students could see and learn on several ILEK research projects including "active" laminated-wood shell.
Travel continued with visit to the Mannheim Multihalle , where students could admire the masterpiece of light-weight engineering from very close (and play soccer under it). The next destination was Frankfurt, including a visit to historic Great Market Hall (Grossemarkthalle) during its transformation into the headquarters for the European Central Bank, guided by Dipl.-Ing. Horst Peseke and Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Leiblien from Bollinger+Grohmann, followed by small dancing party over the shell of Stadel Museum and a visit to Bollinger+Grohmann offices with presentations about their most important projects by Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Manfred Grohmann. After a typical Frankfurter dinner the visit continued in MyZeil center.
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| Learning about active structures at ILEK | Visiting the construction site of the European Central Bank with Bollinger+Grohmann |
The next day, the important stopover was Leipzig Market Hall (Grossmarkthalle), the largest dome in the world 1930-1957. In the afternoon and during the day after the students were left to relax and organize themselves for informal the visit to Berlin structures including Berlin Central Station, DZ Bank, Sony Center Forum Roof, and House for hippopotamus in Berlin Zoo, but they also visited other Berlin historical and cultural attractions such as Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, Jewish Museum, Brandenburg Gate, and others.
The last visited city was Hamburg with its Courtyard Skylight of the Hamburg History Museum, visit to historic bridges in old port, and the Audimax shell. The working part of the trip was concluded with collaborative workshop performed at c where student of Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Annette Bögle mixed with Princeton students in order to create the proposals of innovative shell structures. The success of the trip was "sealed" by typical Hamburger (city of Hamburg, not the meal) dinner!
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| Annette Bögle explaining the roof of the Hamburg History Museum | Presentations during the workshop with students of the HafenCity Universität Hamburg |