Winners Announced for Nemetschek Engineering Group's International User Contest

At the 7th User Contest, six prizewinners from all over Europe impress with efficient design of complex engineering structures.

München - The winners have been chosen for the Nemetschek Engineering Group’s International User Contest 2011: the submissions of Prodis plus s.r.o. (Bratislava), amsler bombeli et associés sa (Lausanne), Statika s.r.o. (Prague), Movares (Utrecht) and Tractebel Engineering (Gennevilliers) beat 117 other submissions from 19 different countries. In addition, a Special Jury BIM Prize was also awarded to provide particular recognition to the implementation of certain criteria such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and interoperability. This was awarded to the Inginerie Structurala engineering firm in Bucharest.

Evaluated by an international jury

This was the 7th biennial competition aimed at all engineering and design firms working with software from the Nemetschek Engineering Group – i.e. with software from Nemetschek Allplan, Nemetschek Scia, Nemetschek Engineering (Precast), Frilo and Glaser. For the first time, the categories were defined so that users of different Nemetschek Group software products could compete in the same categories. In all five design categories - from buildings to public construction, industrial and plant construction, industrial design and special projects - both structural analysis and CAD applications are represented. An independent, international jury with nine engineering specialists from industry, research and education evaluated the submitted projects by originality, complexity, technical level and use of the software functions. The Nemetschek Engineering Group awarded a total of € 9,000; each winner receives a prize of € 1,500.

According to Jean-Pierre Rammant, Head of the Nemetschek Engineering Group and CEO of the coordinating company Nemetschek Scia, the competition is now well-established in the engineering sector: “We are proud to receive 117 high-quality projects from 91 offices in 19 countries”. He goes on to describe the increasingly important role of BIM, which the jury also confirmed in its final appraisal: "The different design partners, architects, engineering professionals and draftspersons have made even greater use than ever of the innovative options of BIM and interoperability. Nemetschek software has demonstrated its efficiency once again."

An overview of winning projects

Category 1 (Buildings): River House in Bratislava/Slovak Republic
The River House is the predominant building in the multi-functional River Park complex on the left bank of the Danube in Bratislava. The structural analysis was performed by Bratislava-based firm Prodis plus s.r.o. The complex with its irregular trapezoid form consists of four raised blocks with 203 luxury residences, high-quality offices, and a five-star hotel.

Category 2 (Civil Structures): Hans Wilsdorf Bridge in Geneva/Switzerland
After its planned completion in 2012, the Hans Wilsdorf Bridge in Geneva will have a span of 85.4 meters and a width of 15.5 m. Steel profiles (40x40 cm) give the construction its elliptical shape. Due to its complex tubular geometry, the structural engineers at the amsler bombeli et associés sa office in Lausanne developed several models for their structural analyses.

Category 3 (Industrial Buildings and Plants): Warehouse for Spent Nuclear Fuel in the Czech Republic
After analyzing three variants in advance – one building, a combined building and two separate buildings – the designers at Statika s.r.o. in Prague divided the building complex between a reception building and the storage building itself. The fuel rod warehouse has a monolithic reinforced concrete framework and a prefabricated roof, also of monolithic construction. The project was also selected because of the complexity of special load cases covering scenarios such as seismic activity, plane impact and explosions.

Category 4 (Industrialized Planning): Freeway Fly-Over Kerensheide, The Netherlands
Designed by the Movares traffic planning company, the Kerensheide (A2/A76) freeway fly-over is planned for completion in mid-2012. It is around 590 meters long and 17 meters wide, consisting of 11 segments with a maximum span of 57.2 meters. To save time and costs during the construction phase, the designers used BIM during the 3D draft phase – particularly for the reinforcement drawings and details and based on the data exchange format.

Category 5 (Special Projects): Confluences Museum in Lyon/France
Scheduled to open its doors in 2014 the Musée des Confluences in Lyon is intended to reflect the latest developments in science. In their design, the architects from Coop Himmelb(l)au, supported by the experts from Tractebel Engineering France,combine three entities: a crystal-like construction and a steel cloud rest on a two-storey, reinforced concrete base building. Like the transparent crystal with its glass reception area, the cloud is also a steel construction. Its 7 stories seem to float on three steel supports and 12 concrete pillars.

Special Jury BIM Prize: Orchidea Tower in Bucharest/Romania
The special jury prize goes to the Bucharest-based Inginerie Structurala engineering firm. The project comprises two adjacent, almost 83-meter high office buildings in the form of a butterfly. The planned location is on the left back of the Dambovita river in Bucharest. Romania is in an earthquake-endangered zone and the aquiferous subsurface presented another design challenge.

Book with all submitted projects

The "Nemetschek Engineering User Contest Book" presents all 117 submitted projects. The book appears on May 26, 2011 in a print run of 6,000, as well as in e-book format. The book’s 250 pages give the reader a detailed look at the structures as well as an idea of the possibilities of contemporary, professional design and implementation. A hard cover book is available free of charge at all participating Nemetschek Engineering Group companies.