Titan Crane in Clydebank Receives Landmark Status

The Titan Clydebank Crane is trending on Twitter today as it's about to be bestowed the accolade of international historic civil engineering landmark! The fact that the title is also held by the Eiffel Tower in Paris gives some indication to its prestige in the worlds of civil engineering. That makes today a big day for the humble Glasgow crane!

The award conferred by four leading engineering institutions, is recognition of the structure's status as the world's first electrically powered cantilever crane and its contribution to Glasgow's shipbuilding industry. The well-known Queen Mary and QE2 ships were both constructed using the mechanism which in the early twentieth century, was considered the best in cutting-edge technology. Adam Hunter, chief engineer at Glasgow firm Sir William Arrol & Co. is accredited with designing the crane. His intelligent design and engineering prowess quickly caught on in local shipyards and at sites across the globe: the better-known Finneston Crane is a direct descendant!

It's great to see that over one hundred years since its inception, the Titan crane is being given the status it deserves as a symbol of the city's engineering heritage. Perhaps this is due to many cantilever cranes being eliminated from history through their demolition with the decline of the industrial West. The Titan Clydebank may no longer be operational but as of today, it's legacy is assured. 

Visit RCAHMS' website for more details about the crane or search SCRAN through the GSA Library catalogue for a strong selection of historic images.

Tonight: 'Unbuilt Britain' Series Begins

Tonight sees the beginning of a new architecture series on BBC Four looking at some of the ambitious designs never to the leave the drawing board. 'Dreaming the Impossible: Unbuilt Britain' will look at some of the grandest and mapcap ideas ever proposed to leave us contemplating city landscapes which might have been.

The series is presented by architecture historian Dr Olivia Horsfall Turner, expert in seventeenth century, British architecture. In tonight's programme, entitled 'Glass Houses', she uses her knowledge base to explore architect Sir Joseph Paxton's controversial design in 1855 to build a ten-mile glass transport loop around the centre of London. The ostentatious, and highly-expensive design was abandoned despite a sanctioning bill reaching Parliament, due to the outbreak of cholera in the mid-nineteenth century. Intriguingly however, the plan was resurrected 100 years later by architect Geoffrey Jellicoe as an answer to solving London's congestion problems. Inspired by Paxton, Jellicoe's design for a transport green belt favoured the use of glass, even going as far as to suggest a 'glass city' which would radicalise the transport system beyond all recognition...

The Unbuilt Britain series is comprised of three programmes all looking at the influence of technology on urban planning and design. If this gets you thinking, why not also check out broadcaster Jonathan Glancey's brilliant radio series on BBC Radio 4 of the same title.

The Eiffel Tower on the Google Cultural Institute

The latest offering from the wonderful innovators at the Google Cultural Institute has a certain "je ne sais quoi." Paris' most visited monument, The Eiffel Tower has been given the digitial treatment in an exciting new project which, (attention all architects!) educates on the monument's masterful construction.

Three online exhibits blend the Towers's history with an excellent collection of items including rare archival images, photographs from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and even reproductions of the original architect's plans by Gustave Eiffel.

The first exhibit explores the birth of the Eiffel Tower while the second provides step-by-step details of the construction of the monument through a showcase of itemised photographs and sketches. A look at the Tower's inauguration and first few visitors lies in the third exhibit. Its social impact was immediately manifest by the visitors' willingness to climb 1710 steps to reach the top! The Google Street View Team have filmed 360-degree views of the monument's architecture and provide the panoramic views seen over Paris on making the ascent.

Constructed in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was built as a tribute on the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution. In the same year, Paris held its Exposition Universelle, an exhibition for participating nations to showcase the advancements made in a heavily industrial age. The Tower's construction in two years, two months and five days is still hailed as an architectural achievement and an astonishing feat of French engineering. It remained the highest structure of its kind in the world for 40 years (a tile held today by the Burj Kalifa in Dubai) and continues to attract over 7 million visitors a year. As well as being France's most iconic symbol, this also makes it one of the world's most visited monuments!

We blogged about the marvellous Google Cultural Institute on the GSA Library Art & Design blog when it launched back in October last year. The virtual museum is amassing worldwide acclaim as it gathers momentum with the collections of some prestigious galleries and museums freely accessible to all. This latest project is tremendously exciting for bringing to life the architectural vision of Gustave Eiffel in the late nineteenth century and for the resources capabilities as a valuable educational resource! Vive la Google!

New Website Follows Glasgow's 'Future City' Project

You may remember us blogging about Glasgow's selection as a 'smart city' in an earlier post this year. 

We were celebrating Glasgow's competition win to pilot how technology can make life in the city, smarter, safer and more sustainable. The competition had been organised by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) - the Government's innovation agency. Glasgow's £24 million funding bid met with approval by the Board who have set up a number of specialist teams working on various technological projects around the city. A smartphone app for cyclists, intelligent street lighting and 'citizen science' mapping are some of the trail-blazing technologies in the pipeline which the public, academics and businesses will be encouraged to use and improve in a pilot focused on the 'smart' future of our cities.

We're revisiting the Future City /Glasgow project after discovering that a dedicated website has been launched making its work easier to follow online. The site brings visitors the latest news on the 'Demonstrator programme' as  it's been dubbed, with details relayed via press releases.

Check the website for details of the projects and to keep up-to-date with news. It's also worth navigating from the main page to read the blog discussing the nature of 'smart' and 'future' cities and to check the event-footage that's being streamed of events including science-related news from the ongoing UK Space Conference (Monday 15th to Wednesday 17th July). We found this video of the new City Operations Centre which will house the teams monitoring Glasgow's new CCTV network, the city's traffic lights and traffic cameras. You'd be smart to follow!

Architecture, Design & Engineering Drawings

The Architecture, Design, and Engineering category covers about 40,000 drawings (described in more than 3,900 catalog records), spanning 1600 to 1989, with most dating between 1880 and 1940. The designs are primarily for sites and structures in the U.S. (especially Washington, D.C.), as well as Europe and Mexico. American architects and architectural firms created most of the images. Building types range from the United States Capitol and the Library of Congress to private residences and hamburger restaurants.
Works by distinguished figures in the history of architecture, design, and engineering in the United States are well represented including Benjamin Henry Latrobe, William Thornton, Stephen Hallet, Thomas Ustick Walter, Montgomery C. Meigs, Cass Gilbert, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ade/

Melvyn Bragg on ‘De Architectura’

BBC Radio 4’s ‘In our time’ recently featured a 45-minute discussion on Vitruvius’ ‘De Architectura’, the only surviving work on architecture from the ancient world. Melvyn Bragg and guests, including architectural historian Robert Tavernor, offer some fascinating context for the original manuscript, and look at its ‘rediscovery’ during the Renaissance and continuing appeal to architects today.

Network Rail's Virtual Archive

Network Rail, which has responsibility for the UK's railway infrastructure, has just launched online access to some of its extensive archive of engineering and architectural drawings, many of which date back to the very earliest days of railway construction. The high-quality images include some of the UK's best-known bridges and stations, and the database is searchable and includes a timeline.

JCT student essay competition

The Joint Contracts Tribunal's (JCT) Education and Training Initiative was launched last year to provide the construction sector with a complete education and training package, including groups to support both students and education providers. As part of the Initiative, JCT has launched a student essay competition on one of two topics: “A Vision for the Future of Construction” or “The Future of Construction Contract Management in the Digital Age”. Generous prize monies are on offer, and students can enter as individuals or as a team of up to three. 

Power to the People

Historic Scotland recently held a conference to celebrate the achievements of Scottish architects and engineers in pioneering the generation of hydroelectricity in the UK. An associated free book can be downloaded from the Historic Scotland website which traces the development of the industry and assesses the contribution of a number of distinguished pre- and post-war architects. A gazetteer provides an overview of the existing infrastructure in Scotland.

Glasgow's new urban motorway

Glasgow's controversial new M74 motorway through the city's south side will open to traffic on 28 June. The road has its own website which explains the background to the scheme and its intended contribution to economic and community regeneration in advance of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The website also has information on the 'M74 Dig' which uncovered sites of archaeological and historical importance along the route.

Cedric Price

To accompany the launch of the exhibition on architect/engineer Cedric Price at the Lighthouse in Glasgow, Architecture and Design Scotland have recorded and made available online a panel discussion on Price which took place at the exhibition's launch. A second discussion takes place at the Lighthouse tonight, 19 May, and will feature a presentation by Price scholar Professor Stanley Mathews.

Award-winning papers from the ICE

Interesting to see that the ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers) is once again making the best work published in its journals last year freely available as part of its commitment to best practice and knowledge transfer. The 30 papers can all be downloaded as pdfs, and while some cover technical engineering topics, others are on cities and urban design and will be of interest to architects.

Construction History Society

The CHS is a well-established international organisation with an interest in buildings from all periods of history worldwide. It produces regular newsletters, a selection of which are made freely available on the Society's website, together with information about the contents of its annual Journal and the papers from its 2nd International Construction History Congress.

Structural failure, Victorian style

The National Library of Scotland has put online 91 black and white photographs from the 1880 Board of Trade enquiry into the infamous collapse of the Tay Bridge in 1879. The dramatic images were taken after the collapse and followed salvage work which recovered debris from the River Tay.

Le Beton Arme

...the French term for reinforced concrete, and the title of a monthly magazine published between 1898 and 1939 to showcase this form of construction, patented by French engineer Francois Hennebique. This journal, a key source for the history of technology, has now been mostly digitised and made freely available through a collaboration between Ghent University and partners in Paris and London.

Link: http://lib.ugent.be/lebetonarme/

Access: Free