Structural Designer
Beijing Institute of Architectural Design
Client Name
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Location
Pingtang County, People’s Republic of China
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Judge's comment:FAST is a spectacularly large piece of engineering that allows a 300m parabolic aperture to track within a 500m spherical cable net. While essentially a cable net structure suspended from a steel truss ring beam, the scale of the structure, the movement precision (to within 1mm over 500m) required, the remote location, and the degree of analysis required make this a hugely ambitious and bold project and a first of its kind at this scale, which deserves enormous respect. The list of technical considerations that become apparent on close inspection of this project demonstrate the engineers have been meticulous in their approach and often working from first principles to produce this highly challenging and impressive structure.
Judge's comment: