The New “Flying Carpet” Roof For the Courtyard at the Musée de Louvre
Hello everyone. I hope your holidays have gone well so far if they started. If not, cram as much fun with your family into the next week. Today I decided to not post a lengthy or detailed article. I just wanted to share something cool I just read about today. The Musée de Louvre has recently completed construction on a roof over a courtyard area that literally looks like a flying carpet.
The concept of having a design like this is extremely impressive. Not only that, there was a lot of coordination and change of work late in the process to insure the architect achieved the desired look. This is the type of project I would love to work on…very challenging and technical with coordination and team work being a necessity. In fact, it’s so technical I’m not going to even try to explain the details. The basic design is a steel frame with various pieces of glass that vary in size and thickness so as to withstand the stress placed on the glass. The glass is curved and tinted so that it literally looks like a flying carpet and is supported by slender pinned end supports placed such that lateral movements are resisted. All of this required highly technical computer analysis and was very impressive to read about. I definitely recommend finding the reference below or finding more information about it if you are a structural engineer. Below are some photos I found that show new roof structure.
What are your thoughts on the roof? If you were in Paris, would the Louvre be a place you had to visit to see this structure? Please share if you find this article interesting and subscribe if you want to read more. Thanks for your time and have a good week off. 🙂
Resources:
Bucci, Pierluigi, “Flying Carpet”, Civil Engineering Magazine, June 2013, pg 49
Thoughts on the Engineering Industry 