Christian Menn

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The Sunniberg Bridge from the northwest

Christian Menn (born March 3, 1927 in Meiringen ; † July 16, 2018 ) was a Swiss civil engineer . He was a professor at the ETH Zurich and is considered the most important Swiss bridge builder of his time.

Life

Christian Menn came from a family in Graubünden ; the father Simon Menn was also a civil engineer. In Chur he attended the cantonal high school until 1946. He then began studying civil engineering at the ETH Zurich, which he graduated with a diploma in 1950. He then worked as an engineer at two offices in Chur and Zurich, as well as a construction company in Bern. From 1953 until his doctorate in 1956, he worked as an assistant at the ETH Zurich with Professor Pierre Lardy . He then gained further practical experience at the Société Dumez construction company in Paris and an engineering office in Bern.

In 1957 Menn founded his own engineering office in Chur. Over the next 14 years he and his office planned over 100 bridges worldwide, over 80 of them in the canton of Graubünden . In particular its arch bridges , such as B. the Nanin bridge at Mesocco with a span of 112 m in the south ramp of the San Bernardino pass road , are in the tradition of his important compatriot Robert Maillart . In 1970, Menn and his colleagues Emch + Berger from Bern won the competition for the Bernese Felsenaubrücke , a 1116 meter long motorway bridge . The structure has a maximum spans of 144 meters and was erected as a single-cell prestressed concrete box girder in cantilevered form .

In 1971, Menn accepted a professorship for structural engineering and construction at the ETH Zurich, which he held until his retirement in 1992. During this time he designed, among other things, the spectacular 678 meter long Ganter Bridge on the Simplon Pass , which has a main opening with a 174 meter span. He then worked as a consulting engineer and developed bridge designs, such as for the Sunniberg Bridge near Klosters , the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge in Boston or a cable-stayed bridge over Lake Grimsel in the Bernese Oberland . He advised on bridge projects around the world and was a jury member at national and international competitions.

honors and awards

Buildings (selection)

Publications

literature

Web links

Commons : Christian Menn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Swiss bridge builder Christian Menn died at the age of 91 , Swissinfo from July 19, 2018, accessed on July 19, 2018. Obituary in: Bündner Jahrbuch 2020, 160–162.
  2. ↑ Antje Stahl: "Christian Menn, the most important Swiss bridge builder, has died." In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of July 19, 2018.
  3. ↑ Engineering Prize 2002 awarded
personal data
SURNAME Menn, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss civil engineer and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Meiringen , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH 16th July 2018