The Roman Bridge-Builder: Some Aspects of his Work

This paper describes the design and execution of Broadgate Exchange House, an exciting steel structure in London. This structure uses four tied-arches to clear span an entire office building 78m over a congested railroad track site. An important visual aspect of the building is the use offire engineering principles to allow the perimeter structural steel to be exposed. Special features include redundancy, corrosion protection, behaviour under patterned loads, and buckling analyses. This special structure combines the diverse roles of a bridge and an office building into one system with a clarity of expression which is the focus of the architecture. H. Iyengar, W.F. Baker and R.C. Sinn

The Kenneth Severn Award is an annual essay competition for young engineers, with the question set by the President. Here, winner Radu Trancau looks forward to a bright future and considers what steps structural engineers must take to get there.

FOR the benefit of members residing at a distance and for others who have not yet been able to visit the new premises of the Institution of Structural Engineers, we publish this month some photographs. The new headquarters which has been purchased by the Institution are at No. 10, Upper Belgrave Street : they are about mid-way between Victoria Station and Hyde Park Corner Tube Station, being about five minutes’ walk from each : and are two minutes’ walk up Wilton Street from the bus stops in Grosvenor Place. They are therefore very central. The premises are on five floors and a basement. In the basement are the housekeeper’s quarters and some storage accommodation. The ground floor contains the Secretary’s office, general office and library ; on the first floor is the Meeting Room and the Assistant Secretary’s office. The second and third floors form the Secretary’s residential quarters, and the top floor is mainly devoted to store-rooms. The Meeting Room will, it is estimated, seat about 160 members at Meetings, and as under the terms of the licence for Meetings, strangers can only be permitted to attend by special invitation, it should prove quite large enough for all present purposes. In this room a lantern and screen have been fitted up, the lantern operated by a simple new electrical device for lighting, so that no further fees will have to be paid (as has been the case in the past) to secure the services of an expert operator with a lantern, that duty now being undertaken by the staff. During the daytime, except when Committees are meeting, the Meeting Room is arranged as a Members’ Common Room, and members are asked to make the fullest use of it. Coffee may be obtained here after lunch, as also may afternoon tea. It forms a pleasant meeting-place for informal talks, or for quiet reference to books. Following are some photographs.