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Monday, 4th October 2010
Resource of the Week -- Structurae: International Database and Gallery of Structures
Resource of the Week -- Structurae: International Database and Gallery of Structures
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor
We apologize in advance for the time sink, but this gem -- discovered by Gary -- is one of the more compelling sites we've seen lately.
This site offers you information on works of structural engineering, architecture or construction through time, history and from around the world. Our documentation begins at the time of the pyramids in Egypt and Roman construction, continues to Romanesque and Gothic churches and through to the Industrial Revolution all the way to today and beyond. Structurae deals mostly with bridges, tunnels, dams, skyscrapers, stadiums, towers, etc. Explore this site to discover the marvelous works of structural engineering.
You can search this database -- a Google site search box is available -- but it's much more interesting to browse. Click on the Structures link at the top, and you'll be transported to a page that explains the different ways you can peruse the site, with the actual links down the lefthand side:
You can also browse the items that have been:
You'll probably enjoy browsing via the Geographic option, to see what's here that is near you. Click on a continent, then on an individual country. What you'll see next depends on which country you've chosen. For the U.S., you'll see links for all of the states, territories (just one; American Samoa); and Islands (Guam and Puerto Rico).
There's an "Offshore Areas" section which, here, is just the Gulf of Mexico. When you click on it, you'll see a listing of oil drilling platforms. District of Columbia is the only entry in the Districts section. Click through to Washington, on the Cities and Towns page. As you might expect, there is plenty to see here, including entries for the various Metro stations, such as this one for Foggy Bottom-GWU. (Note that there's no image here; many entries don't have one, but users are invited to contribute images that do not violate someone's intellectual property rights.)
Scroll down to the bottom of this page and you'll see a section called Large-scale Projects -- which here include airports, interstates, and the various Metro lines, including the Silver Line, which is currently under construction. At the bottom of the page is a section called Firms & Offices, which contains links to architectural and engineering, and construction firms in that city which are included in the database. (You can browse all of the firms via a link at the top of the page.)
If you're browsing Canada, you'll see that it's subdivided into Provinces; Territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut); Union Territories (Yukon); and one city (Klinaklini, which has one entry, for the Klinaklini Bridge).
If you're looking for the UK, naturally you'll go to the Europe page and scroll down. Australia and New Zealand can, of course, be found on the Australia and Oceania page.
Did you not find something you expected to see in this database? Submissions are welcome. And note that at the bottom of each entry page are links you can use to correct/add/change information, suggest relevant web links or relevant publications. There is a Literature link along the top which takes you to all of the literature entries in the database. You can browse by title, author or subject, or view all the specialized journals that are cataloged here.
Who's behind this site? Scroll to the bottom of the About page:
Structurae is brought to you by Nicolas Janberg, structural and bridge engineer by profession, who works on this site full time on his own, but who obtains a lot of help and information from a large number of professionals from around the world. Hundreds of engineers and architects, professors and students, professionals and amateurs — whom we wish to thank here wholeheartedly — have contributed to this database.
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