Centre Pompidou

Structure Case Study

Moriah Colbert, Jeremy Sims, Aniekan Bassey-Etuk, Tucker Harding, Saloni

Overview
Architects: Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers
and Gianfranco Franchini
Structural Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners
Location: Paris, France.
Building Usage: Library and Museum
Architectural Style: Postmodernism, Brutalist
Client: President Georges Pompidou
Year: 1977(started in 1971)
Land Area: 5 acres
Floor Area: 103,305 sqm
 About the Centre Pompidou

● In 1969 the President of france, Georges Pompidou

set up an international competition to design a
multidisciplinary cultural Center that would be a
monumental structure in the city and attract
tourists from around the world.
● The competition was chaired by Architect and Engineer
Jean Prouvé and attracted over
681 submissions from 49 countries.
 About the Centre Pompidou

● Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Gianfranco Franchini won the

competition and erected one of the most unorthodox
structures of that era.
● the construction of the Centre Pompidou took more than half a
decade to complete and was inaugurated on 31 January
1977
● The Centre Pompidou was an instant success and has attracted
over 150 million visitors since it was erected
Soil and Seismic Conditions
● The site is located in a Level 1 (very low risk)
earthquake zone
● Virtually the whole of France can be classified in the
zone of brown forest soils
● Favorable soil materials are found within the Paris
Basin
○ These soils are acceptable for building
Earthworks and Foundation
● Earthworks of 300,000m3 was
needed to create a hole 16 to 20
meters deep.
○ The hole is reinforced with
retaining walls
● The foundation for the supports of
the posts are placed and then the
infrastructure is built
● All four floors of the basement (below
grade) are made of reinforced
concrete
Building Materials

● The structural components

of the building are
essentially
metallic-columns, beams,
connection elements, and
poured concrete that make
up the flooring
 Structural Elements

:Structural bay

:Truss = 157’ x 3’
https://cca9bparch2230.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/centre-georges-pompidou/
Load Transfer Diagram
The dead and live loads acting on roof and floors are
transferred through I beams to the large steel cross
beam. The force from the truss is continued into
columns and moved to ground. The loads from the
escalator and the duct work are also transferred to
columns and brought down to foundation

https://cca9bparch2230.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/centre-georges-pompidou/
Spanning System Gerberettes and Columns
• Trusses resting on 8 meter long gerberettes
• Column free
• Gerberettes and columns – Pin connection
• Gerberettes will rotate when forces will act Load
ing
• 850mm Columns fixed to the ground
• Load transferred to the ground
• 200mm pre-tensioned solid steel tie-rods tie
the gerberettes to the ground
• Creates negative moment in gerberettes to
counter the forces in columns

• This method
incorporates the benefit
of pre-tensioned
technique of reinforced
concrete structure with
steel structure. Compression Tension
Bracing System Bracing on
transversal side
Transversal and Longitudinal - V-bracing
- Cross bracing

A Hollow round members -

capped by cast U-shaped
member
Struts attach the
underside of the truss
to the floor below -
Pin connection

B Central component is
cast - round hollow
members welded

A
B

C
C Pair of X braces
resolved into a single
gase - pin connection
Struts attach the underside of the truss
to the floor below - Pin connection
 Hollow round
members - capped Central component is
A by cast U-shaped B cast - round hollow
member members welded
A
B

Pair of X braces
C resolved into a single
gase - pin connection
Bracing System Transversal and Longitudinal
Bracing on Round donut shaped plate -
longitudinal side multiple members into one point -
- X-bracing bolted pin connection

Circular connector -
incoming truss and X
bracing members bolt
- plate fastened to
front
Visual Analysis - 3D
Loading - 1.2D + 1.6L + .5W
Gerberettes act as hinges, putting
internal column in compression
and exterior “column” into tension.
Visual Analysis - 2D
Deflected Shape
Visual Analysis - 2D
Shear
Visual Analysis - 2D
Moment
Work Cited
"Centre Pompidou." CEE London Blogs. Accessed November 29, 2018.
http://www.ceelondonblogs.ce.gatech.edu/blog_3/centre-pompidou/

Popkin, Jeremy David, and John E. Flower. "France." Encyclopædia Britannica. November 28, 2018. Accessed November 29, 2018.
https://www.britannica.com/place/France/Soils#ref468824.

L'pope Du Chantier." Louise Bourgeois. Accessed November 29, 2018.

http://mediation.centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ENS-architecture-Centre-Pompidou/comment_ca_fonctionne/p3.htm.

BRGM. "Zonage Sismique De La France." Retour à L'accueil. Accessed November 29, 2018.
http://www.planseisme.fr/Zonage-sismique-de-la-France.html.

"Structural Diagrams – Centre Georges Pompidou." Cca9bparch2230. December 07, 2014. Accessed November 29, 2018.
https://cca9bparch2230.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/centre-georges-pompidou/.

"Pompidou Center Long Section | Architecture Inspiration | Pinterest | Centre, Architecture and Renzo Piano." Pinterest. Accessed November 29, 2018.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/82120393177641146/?lp=true.

Liebling-Goldberg, Melissa. "Centre Pompidou , Paris - Culture Review." Condé Nast Traveler. Accessed November 29, 2018.
https://www.cntraveler.com/activities/paris/centre-pompidou.

"Home." Centre Pompidou. Accessed November 29, 2018.

https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/The-Centre-Pompidou/The-history.

https://web.archive.org/web/20081204030132/http://www.centrepompidou.fr/pompidou/Communication.nsf/0/B90DF3E7C7F18CAEC1256D970053FA6D?OpenDocument&sessio
nM=3.1.12&L=2
https://app.emaze.com/@AFLTIOCT#1