A peculiar 3D printed steel footbridge across the Florida Canyon of Balboa Park in San Diego was named the “2021 Forging Award”. This is the Chicago-based American Institute of Steel Construction ( AISC) has entered the fourth cycle of the conceptual design competition.
The Florida Canyon Pedestrian Bridge uses a striking organic form, the clever (mandatory) use of steel as the main structural component, and the clever integration of public spaces (including the dazzling pulse hammock/opening situation). It is a high-level Hunter Lu Design assistant in the architecture and visualization group of the San Diego office of TY Lin International, the founder of Hunter Ruthrauff, a global engineering services company. Ruthrauff is also a founding member of the company’s innovation department and the head of the Digi-Fab laboratory, which focuses on 3D printing and CNC wiring.
Ruthrauff graduated from Cal Poly Pomona and the University of Washington with a master’s degree in design and computational architecture. He has led the design of countless bridges for TY Lin, including the 4th intersection of the Panama Canal and the Avalon Gateway Bridge in Los Angeles. , And the intersection of the Fremont Innovation District in Fremont, California. Ruthrauff is also the co-founder of M-Form, a digital manufacturing company based in San Diego, dedicated to using patented robotic mold technology to produce curved building panels. As stated in the award-winning announcement, Ruthrauff “choose 3D printed steel when choosing a design proposal because it has better tensile strength than 3D printed concrete and reduces the complexity of the design process.”
This is the second consecutive year that the pedestrian bridge has won the Fogg Award. In 2020, the highest award goes to the Manhattan theoretical pedestrian bridge and elevated park conceived by Rosannah Harding and Matthew Ostrow of HardingOstrow.
This year’s finalists also included the Municipal Plaza in Richmond, Virginia, which included folding steel panels designed by Mert Kansu and Yimeng Teng of VMDO Architects and Signal Park, a shaded “urban village cluster” for San Jose. “, rainwater collection steel scaffolding structure. Jieun Yang of the Habitat Workshop designed the latter concept.
As the winner, Ruthrauff will receive a cash prize of US$10,000. After the design reports given by all the 2021 Forge Award finalists on March 31, Ruthrauff will give an exciting presentation of his winning design at the NASCC: Virtual Steel Conference on April 12.
Although AISC established the Forge Prize for finding envelope-like conceptual designs that may not be realized, the competition jury believes that Ruthrauff’s proposal is significantly different from 3D printed concrete structures, not just in the fundamentals. Unrealistic ideas are not subject to any real-world design and engineering considerations.
Adjaye Associates Architects partner and founder Adjaye Associates Architects competition judge Pascale Sablan said: “I don’t think any of us would doubt that it will come together and become a catalyst for others in the entire country.” In addition to the built environment, There is also the Balboa Park pedestrian bridge. “[Ruthrauff] really convinced us that [he] can actually help solve some of the infrastructure problems that plague our country.”
In addition to Sablan, the 2021 Forge Awards jury also includes Dallas architect and blogger Bob Borson and Building Design + Construction executive editor Robert Cassidy.