Nantes, France, will host the 40th IABSE Symposium with the main theme of 'Tomorrow’s Megastructures'. Popularised in the 1960s as an architectural concept, a megastructure is referring to a very large manmade object, though the limits of precisely how large this is varies considerably. The term could be applied to any especially large or tall building, but also to enormous self-supporting artificial constructions.
Megastructures represent the most ambitious and spectacular constructions in the world which are all incredible technological achievements of great human adventures. As the Jules Vernes’ birthplace (who wrote many adventure novels, including a premonitory 'Paris in the Twentieth Centur”), Nantes is definitively the best place to address the following challenges:
· Megastructures: a radical paradigm shift or simply a change of scale? · Today’s and tomorrow’s megastructures and megaprojects · New trends for innovations in the construction, the preservation, the exploitation and the upgrading of structures.
The organisers invite the world’s structural engineering community to share their experiences with today megastructures and to present their vision of tomorrows megastructures, and more broadly their prospect of future outstanding structures. Consultants, contractors, owners, researchers and practitioners will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences on structural design, construction and maintenance issues.