FIP Awards for Outstanding Structures 1998 (60 pages, ISBN 978-1-871956-30-6) - PDF Format

In 1990, the FIP Council introduced an Award for Outstanding Structures as a means of giving international recognition to concrete structures which demonstrate the versatility of concrete as a structural medium. The awards are made at the FIP Congresses every four years and consist of a bronze plaque and certificates for the principal parties involved.

The entries for the 1998 FIP Outstanding Structures Awards were exhibited and judged by the FIP jury in London in March 1998. The jury, consisting of the members of the FIP Presidium, had an onerous task due to the quality and diversity of the entries.

Altogether, 35 entries were received from 12 Member Groups, of which 23 were classified as “Civil Engineering Structures” and 12 as “Buildings”. The dividing line between these two categories is often hard to define. Some of the entries, although of notable quality, were regrettably not considered for the awards due to non-compliance with the rules of the competition.

The jury selected four entries, two in each of the two categories, for the 1998 Awards. In addition, six further entries were judged to be worthy of “Special Mention”. The awards and the Special Mentions will be announced at the XIIIth FIP Congress in Amsterdam in May 1998.

Under the rules of the competition, the judges have complete freedom to make the selection of awards at their discretion, and their decision cannot be challenged. This is not a licence to be flippant or partial, but rather recognition of the fact that it is difficult to judge one concept against another and to grasp, from limited information, the particular and sometimes hidden quality of an entry.

The jury this year felt that many more of the structures than those singled out for awards should be given recognition in some lasting form, and the idea was born to produce a book presenting the majority of the entries to the industry and to the public. Through this book we wish to stimulate the creativity and skill of our profession and enhance people’s awareness of the merits of structural concrete in the continuous development of the environment. The structures we present range from record-breaking large-span bridges to small buildings, parking garages, and railway tunnels. In many respects, the book can be seen as a “state of the art” document of concrete structures as we move into the next millennium.

At the next Congress in Osaka, Japan in 2002, I anticipate that the FIP Outstanding Structures Award will continue under the auspices of fib, and that we shall be judging a large number of equally impressive structures.

I am delighted that the book has been made available for the Amsterdam Congress in record-breaking time, and I wish to express my sincere thanks to the FIP Secretariat, the designers Tarot Millbury, and the FIP Member Groups who have supported the award scheme.

Jan Moksnes