Placeholder for a picture

of the project
Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France

CHP GmbH, Freiburg, Germany
Art under a straw hat
A building which houses modern and contemporary art must, itself also, satisfy certain artistic demands. And
this is certainly the case at the Pompidou Art Center in Metz: The architects were inspired by the straw hats
of japanese rice farmers. This new home for art represents a milestone in the feld of architecture and faced
structural engineers with a number of challenges. They were solved with Allplan Engineering.
Not only is the Pompidou Center in Metz the centerpiece of an
extensive redevelopment project in the capital of the Lorraine
region but, it is the frst decentralization project carried out by a
French cultural institute. It also marks a completely new trend in
this previously very centralized country. With its own exhibitions
and events, the new art center will give a wide ranging audience
the chance to see things previously only available at the main
Pompidou Center. Established in 1977 in Paris, with around
59,000 exhibits, it is the largest interdisciplinary collection of
modern and contemporary art in Europe. The aim of the Pom-
pidou Center in Metz is to establish itself as a point of cultural
infuence throughout eastern France, to enable it to develop into
one of the main cultural institutes in Europe.
A tent full of surprises
The architects Shigeru Ban (Tokyo), Jean de Gastines (Paris)
and Philip Gumuchdjian (London) won the international archi-
tectural competition in 2003, with a foating design of concrete,
steel and wood. The client Metz Mtropole selected the
Demathieu & Bard construction group to establish the suppor-
ting general arrangement, with the CTE engineering agency
in Mulhouse and thus its Freiburg branch, CHP GmbH, being
assigned the task of structural design.
The groundbreaking nature of the building, which was inspired
by the image of a rice farmers straw hat, made the structural
design a particular challenge: Firstly, the three materials metal,
wood and concrete had to be combined and their static inter-
dependently taken into account. And secondly, the architectural
design was very complex due to the optically individual, yet
statically overlapping interwoven elements.
Three exhibition galleries made of reinforced concrete extend
out from a hexagonal tower; a 77 meter high arrow shaped steel
tube frame construction. The galleries overlap each other in the
form of a parallelepiped and cross each other at 45 degree
angles. The over 80 meter long galleries are supported by nar-
row concrete columns. The main load bearing structure consists
of reinforced concrete and covers seven foors. The galleries
are complemented by the 1,200m nave, a studio for cinema
and theater performances and an auditorium for other events.
An information center, a caf, a restaurant and a bookshop are
located in adjoining rooms.
The straw hat design was realized using a fligree roof structure
made of laminated spruce. The glass fber and Tefon membrane
consists of six rectangular modules that cover an area of
8,000 m and falls from a height of 37 meters from a metal ring.
The total exhibition area is 5,020 m. All exhibition areas can
be modularized as required, thus contributing an element of
surprise to artistic displays. Taken as a whole, the airy building is
somewhat reminiscent of a big circus tent with a front yard and
some green spaces.
Between desire and reality
During the planning of the supporting general arrangement, it
quickly became apparent that the original architectural concept
was associated with serious risks in terms of construction: a
wooden roof structure was planned, which was to be fxed to the
concrete construction and would therefore be very rigid. In con-
trast, the galleries were designed to be very fexible. There was
therefore a risk of uncontrollable deformations forming between
the various construction elements.
Together with the french company Demathieu & Bard, and with
support from the timber specialist Professor Dominique Calvi,
CTE reworked the original design. The three galleries were
constructed as more rigid, monolithic structures upon which the
roof rested as a foating spherical form. The horizontal and ver-
tical deformations between the supporting general arrangement
of concrete and the surrounding steel and wood structures were
thereby disconnected.
If one takes a look at some of the key fgures, the construction
requirements of this project are particularly impressive in terms
of the size of the computer model: 45,000 surface elements,
15,000 wire elements, 346 foundation points, 240 load cases
and 600 load combinations were also to be taken into account.
A clear view in the third dimension
Once the static challenges were resolved, the computational
results from CHPs Freiburg offce were integrated into the
reinforcement design. For this, CHP relied on the Nemetschek
Allplan solution Allplan Engineering. Two dimensional plan-
ning was not suffcient for the challenges of this project, as the
complexity of the intersections and the connection points, as well
as the high degree of reinforcement required, made 3D tools vital
for the reinforcement planning.
The interactive functionality of Allplan Engineering provided
support in this respect to the CHP planners: depending on
requirements, the CAD designers could work with foor plans,
isometrics, views and sections in order to create the spatial
model. Changes to the reinforcing body were then automatically
transferred by the system to all plans and lists.
Particular attention was given to the portrayal of connections
between the tower and the galleries, between the main facade
and the galleries, between the gallery ceilings and walls and
between the various foors and the main structure of the tower. In
addition to the usual planning documents, 3D detail renderings
of the reinforcing body were created from the highly complex pe-
netration points and passed on to the building site. These helped
the onsite construction teams to better understand the respective
situations and to identify the best possible construction solutions.
Seamless cooperation
A further advantage of 3D planning with Allplan was that, in con-
trast to conventional rein-forcement planning in 2D, no specifc
information had to be transferred between users. This allowed
all designers, wherever they were based, to work at any time on
plans based on a single 3D model. Knowing exactly how another
designer had previously worked on the plan was not necessary.
This is particularly useful for international, cross-border projects
such as the Pompidou Center in Metz.
In terms of cooperation, CHP also benefted from the interna-
tional nature of Allplan Engineering: this allowed, for example,
the general arrangement plans created by CTE in Mulhouse
using a French version of Allplan Engineering to be transferred
via the Internet to the German design partner. The required
planning data, relating to the construction progress, could thus
be extracted from the building model in France, transferred in the
original format and imported in the same place in the model by
CHP in Germany. On the basis of this, CHP designers were able
to create reinforcement plans compliant with French standards
while working with their German user interfaces. The reinforce-
ment schedules could also be output in French.
Challenging parts of the reinforcement system were discussed
and resolved directly on the reinforcement model with the French
partners by means of desktop sharing. By virtue of the common
database and common method of working in Allplan, it was pos-
sible to direct the Freiburg-based team from France just as easily
as if they had been sitting in the room next door. The partners
could therefore always rapidly react to any special issues arising
on site in Metz.
The European design team can now look back on another
successful project featuring intensive cooperation. Despite the
complex tasks, the time pressure and some signifcant change
requests, there were no design or list errors. This can be attribut-
ed to the diligent work of the designers as well as the power of
Allplan Engineering.

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