Tristram Carfrae

Watercube, Beijing

Tristram Carfrae (born April 1959 ) is an Australian civil engineer .

Carfrae studied at Cambridge and after graduation was with Arup from 1981 . He is Vice Chairman of Arup engineering firm in London and one of 40 Arup Fellows.

After completing his studies, he started at Arup and worked there under Peter Rice , who at Arup was mainly responsible for building the roof of the Sydney Opera House . Rice was an engineer with John Thornton for the Lloyds Building by architect Richard Rogers and Carfrae was involved in the steel construction of the atrium. Since the 1980s he has been dealing with lightweight, resource-saving, wide-span supporting structures. For example, in 1983 he was involved in the Schlumberger research building of the architect Michael Hopkins in Cambridge, where glass fiber fabric coated with PTFE was used for the first time in Great Britain . He is particularly known for sports stadiums. He spent a long time in Australia for Arup, returned to London from 1998 to 2000 to work for Arup Associates (the architecture division) and then returned to Australia. From 2007 he headed the global construction sector at Arup and was back in London in 2011.

In 2014 he received the Gold Medal from the Institution of Structural Engineers and the Milne Medal from the UK section of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). In 2006 Carfrae was elected Royal Designers for Industry (RDI) by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), and in 2017 he became a Master of the Faculty of RDI. In 2001 he was named Australian Professional Engineer of the Year. In 2008 he received the Hero of Innovation Award from the Warren Center and in 2009 he received the MacRobert Award. In 2018 he received the International Award of Merit in Structural Engineering . He is a member of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineers .

He worked with architects such as Renzo Piano , Richard Rogers , Philip Cox and Thomas Heatherwick .

Works

• Helix Bridge in Singapore
• Beijing National Swimming Center ("Water Cube") for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing . He is particularly known for this building. Was used ETFE plastic, took in the unlike glass the sound reflected little and still light.
• Allianz Stadium (Sydney) (architect Philip Cox ).
• Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC)
• Etihad Stadium (City of Manchester Stadium) in Manchester
• Cathedral of the Royal Agricultural Showground Exhibition Halls, Sydney
• Melbourne Rectangular Stadium (AAMI Park Stadium), Melbourne
• Tennis Center and Dunc Gray Velodome for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney
• Collaboration in the completion of Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
• Garden Bridge in London over the Thames (architect Thomas Heatherwick )

Web links

• Arup website
• Master RDI 2017
• Biography at the RSA
• Expedition Workshed, Carfrae
• Interview - Tristram Carfrae: “I've had luck all my life” , March 16, 2015. Interview.
• Miracle of statics, Spiegel , June 24, 2008