June_1965 — Page 9

world news

Prestressed Concrete Congress

in Paris

THE Importance of .prestressed concrete to the construc- tion industries of the world will be reflected at the World Prestressed Concrete Congress, to be held in Paris in 1966. This fifth Congress of the Federation Internationale de la Precontrainte will be held at the Palais de Chaillot from June 11 to 18, 1966.

Thirty-six countries have nominated their leading engineers to discuss development since the last congress in 1962 and to describe the outstanding prestressed con- crete structures which have been built throughout the world since that time.

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Delegates will be given a world wide survey of the progress of research into prestressed concrete by research engineers, Professor A. Grozdev (U.S.S.R.), Dr. E. Hognestad (U.S A.). Mr. K. F. Lightenberg (Nether- lands) and Monsieur R. Peltier (France),

There will be reports on the work of the F.I.P. since the Rome Congress in 1962, and also on the work of its commissions on the following subjects: Interna- tional code of practice for prestressed concrete: presa- brication: prestressed concrete structures in earthquake regions: high-strength concrete: prestressed lightweight concrete: application of prestressed concrete to ma- chinery structures; fire resistance of prestressed con- crete, and prestressed concrete fuel oil and petrol tanks. In addition, the programme of work for the following four years will be formulated during the congress.

Simultaneous translations will be provided in the four official languages, English, French, German and Russian, and documents, papers and proceedings of the congress will be published in each of these languages.

Symposium on Tall Buildings Planned

A SYMPOSIUM on tall buildings, with particular reference to shear wall structures, will be held on April 13-15, 1966, at the University of Southampton.

The organisers. the University of Southampton and Civil Engineering Research Association, would be glad to receive relevant Papers on both the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject. Manuscripts should be sent to the organising secretaries, Dr. A. Coull and Dr. B. Stafford Smith, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Southampton, before the end of October. 1965.

New Madison Square Garden Centre Project

THE world's largest sports, entertainment, convention and exhibition hall is now being built in New York as part of the new Madison Square Garden Centre.

It is going up on the above-ground site of Pennsyl- vania Station, зn area of 9.25 acres. The project con- sists of two elements: the sports and exhibition centre on the westerly portion, and a 29-storey office building containing 1,210,000 sq. ft. of accommodation on the easterly portion. The buildings will occupy 47 per cent of the site and will be surrounded by more than 4 acres of open landscaped areas.

The major facility of the sports centre will be the new air-conditioned, 22,000-seat Madison Square Gar-

Far East Architect & Builder June, 1965

den. Its floor and adjacent areas will convert to 90,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space on a single level. In addition. the centre will include a 4,000-seat forum, a sports cinema. an art gallery, and museum of sport and a 48-lane bowling centre.

The sports centre and office building complexes will be separated by a four-lane private roadway. A glass enclosed entrance mall. 167 ft. wide and 132 ft. long, will lead from the garden colonnades of the office building into the sports centre and to the box office promenade.

The modernized underground station facilities will be reached by five main entrances from the street and by means of additional walkways and escalators from the office building and the sports areas.

Estimated total cost of the centre is US$66 million. Of this sum, about $22 million is being spent by the

Above: The new Madison Square Garden and 29-storey office block. Below: Cut-away view of the 22,000-seat sports centre Pennsylvania Railroad on demolishing the present station to provide necessary foundatons for the above- ground structures and on improving and modernizing the passenger terminal and facilities.

Charles Luckman Associates are the architects for the project. The General Contractors are Turner Con- struction Co. and Del E. Webb Corp.

Hotel Exported from England to Gibraltar

A NINE-STOREY hotel with 150 double bedrooms is being constructed in Gibraltar from precast concrete elements fabricated in England and ranean in two shiploads.

exported to the Mediter-

Parcar, Ltd., 1 Bedford Square, London. W.C.1. the developers. use a new modular system involving only two simple shapes, but allowing variations in archi- tectural design. They plan to export hotels to other parts of Europe.

The two components of the system comprise an H-frame and a novel double-diamond shape They are

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