Fascination for Con­struction

“Making the impossible possible” – this appears to be the maxim of Bollinger + Grohmann engineers, as the projects presented by Grohmann impressively illustrated: While the UFA cinema centre, implemented in co­operation with Coop Himmelb(l)au in 1995, was still developed with the help of a 3D model, later projects such as the BMW Bubble for the IAA1999 in Frankfurt already used computer-aided design. The firm keeps pushing the limits of what is possible in its approaches to design and construc­tion. As a matter of fact, many of its buildings could not have been realised without the help of specially developed software such as the Karamba design tool. Both the temporary White Noise pavilion in Salzburg, Austria (2011) and the large-scale ECB project (2003–2014) were essentially designed with the aid of specifically developed calculation software. An essential component in implementing such solutions is a high level of cre­ativity. For this reason, Grohmann drew the following conclusion in the second part of his lecture: “One should not forget why young people study civil engineering. They want to employ their imaginations, turn ideas ­into reality, be creative, discover new things, create buildings and shape and design things. For this reason, the educational approach itself should be broad-based and creative, and it should actually be fun. This is the only way to achieve sound and in-depth understanding.” Knowledge, crea­tivity ­and a passion for the profession can make great and impossible things possible, as the devoted engineer Manfred Grohman strongly believes. 

Structural engineers Klaus Bollinger and Manfred Grohmann set up their office 30 years ago in Frankfurt am Main. From the outset, their passion for high-quality architecture and innovative structures has been paramount. Their team works with many international archi­tecture firms, such as CoopHimmelb(l)au, SANAA, Dominique Perrault, Renzo Piano, BIG, LAVA and Zaha Hadid. As responsible engineers, their prime focus is to enhance and refine each individual design and its implementation on the building site.