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| The MuCEM: Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations features a 115-m inclined walkway that bridges out from the roof of the building over the harbor basin to Fort Saint-Jean—a 17th-century stronghold that will also house museum exhibitions. A 62-m footbridge leads visitors to le Panier, the oldest and most traditional neighborhood in Marseille. |
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A museum with an ornate, lightweight concrete screening system on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea took top honors in the American Concrete Institute’s inaugural Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards competition. Submitted by the ACI Paris Chapter, the MuCEM: Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations in Marseille, France, is a classic monolithic design built around a perfect square.
An inner square (52 x 52 x 18 meters) composed of steel and glass forms the heart of the museum, which contains more than 3,600 sq. m of exhibition space. It’s enclosed by a lattice screen of fiber-reinforced, ultra-high performance concrete measuring 72 x 72 x 25 meters. Lafarge provided around 27,000 cu. m of concrete for the project.
ACI recognized MuCEM and nine other Excellence in Concrete Construction projects in five categories last month in Denver:
- Low-Rise Buildings, MuCEM: Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations, Paris Chapter; second place, Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum, Louisiana Chapter.
- High-Rise Buildings, Al Hamra Business Tower, Kuwait Chapter; honorable mention, Tower One – World Trade Center, Concrete Industry Board, an ACI New York City Chapter; honorable mention, Adobe Corporate Campus – Phase 1, Intermountain Chapter.
- Infrastructure, Cable-stayed Foot Bridge, Czech Concrete Society; second place, Interstate 5 Willamette River Bridge Project, Oregon Chapter.
- Decorative Concrete, Jean Bouin Stadium, Paris Chapter; second place, Downtown Doral Park Pavilion, South Florida Chapter.
- Repair & Restoration, Mission Bridge Seismic Retrofit, British Columbia Chapter.
Entries for the 2016 Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards program are being accepted through February 15. Each ACI chapter or international partner can sponsor up to two entries. If a chapter does not have an awards program, members can still submit a project if there are plans to develop and launch such a program within three years. — www.ACIExcellence.org