Arup wins Grand Conceptor; seven additional ACEC awards

NEW YORK – Arup, a multidisciplinary engineering and consulting firm with a reputation for delivering innovative and sustainable designs, announced that its structural engineering design for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts has won the coveted Grand Conceptor award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) in its national Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) competition. Arup also won seven additional EEA awards from the Massachusetts and New York Chapters for the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield, Massachusetts; the Kauffman Center in St. Louis Missouri; +Pool on the East River in New York City; Pier 15 on New York’s East River Waterfront; and Haeundai I’PARK City, in Busan, South Korea.

ACEC National
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, Missouri
Grand Conceptor Winner
Named the year’s ‘Most Outstanding Engineering Triumph’ by ACEC, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, located in downtown Kansas City is 356,000 SF architecturally intricate entertainment complex that features two acoustically tuned performance halls, a four-story, wide-angled glass wall front façade, topped by slightly concave sloping roofs, and a pioneering tensile structural support system encompassing high-strength exterior rods. The facility features a 1,600-seat concert hall, a 1,800-seat ballet/opera house, a 1,000-car underground parking garage, a cafe and a terraced garden. This project was chosen from a field of 146 engineering accomplishments from throughout the world that first won gold awards at the state level.

ACEC national awards are judged by a panel of 25 individuals drawn from fields ranging from engineering to government and media. Criteria include innovation; future value to the engineering profession; perception by the public; social, economic, and sustainable considerations; and successful fulfillment of client and owner needs. The winners are recognized at ACEC’s annual Engineering Excellence Awards Gala, which has become the engineering industry’s highest profile event. The black-tie gala annually attracts more than 600 members and guests, national industry leaders, representatives of Congress and the Administration.

The Kauffman Center, designed by Safdie Architects, is a world-class cultural center intended to serve as the focal point of Kansas City’s burgeoning arts district. The project’s structural engineering highlights include a tensile roof system, a “box-in-box” design that separates the facility into three buildings for acoustical purposes, and a split in materials that provided cost and functionality benefits. This project was also honored with two awards from the New York chapter.

ACEC/Massachusetts
John W. Olver Transit Center, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Gold Award Winner
Arup’s integration of several cutting-edge, renewable energy technologies made this the first zero net energy transit center in the United States. A catalyst for redevelopment and growth in the region, the new multimodal transit center, designed by Charles Rose Architects, includes a bus depot, community space, offices, and future link to Amtrak service with the completion of the Knowledge Corridor Rail Project. Key green features include an active chilled beam system, a solar wall that preheats fresh air by as much as 15 degrees during peak winter sun, second-stage preheating via a ground source heat pump, daylighting, and a freestanding 96kW photovoltaic array.

ACEC/New York
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Diamond Award, Structural Systems

Platinum Award, Building/Technology Systems

+Pool, East River, New York
Diamond Award, Studies, Research & Consulting
Arup is working with New York City design studios Family and PlayLab on feasibility studies for a new floating pool that would filter New York City river water – “like a giant strainer dropped in the river,” according to the designers. + Pool’s proposed innovative river water filtration system represents a new model for swimming pools. The +Pool project fits in with Arup’s commitment to bringing innovative ideas that help cities around the world revitalize their waterfronts.

Pier 15, East River Waterfront,
Gold Award, Studies, Special Projects
One of the outstanding features of Manhattan’s new East River Waterfront park is the two-level Pier 15. In addition to landscaped recreational areas and a rooftop park, it houses two glass-enclosed pavilions designed by SHoP Architects, providing a highly distinctive public structure with incredible views of the river, Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, and several bridges. As partner to Daniel Frankfurt, PC in a prime consultant joint venture for the full park, Arup provided multidisciplinary engineering services including structural, geotechnical, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services for the entire structure. Because the East River is a harsh tidal and salty environment the need for hardy materials and simple, inexpensive maintenance was a crucial design driver.

Haeundae I’PARK City, Busan, South Korea
Silver Award, Structural Systems
Situated on the Busan waterfront, the project consists of multiple high-rise towers and low-rise, mixed-use construction and is comprised of luxury residential towers, a 34-story hotel tower, as well as sport, assembly and retail all above grade, in addition to five levels below grade for MEP equipment and parking garage. Arup supported the vision of Studio Daniel Libeskind by developing structural schemes for each of the project components, which are efficient, economic and simple structural solutions. The team focused on making tall towers possible in extreme wind conditions and designing for the construction of deep-basement structures on waterfront land.