News Detail

Frame the Future

6/1/2013

We are more than a decade into the twenty-first century. Everywhere we look in the United States, we see concrete evidence of the ambitions of twentieth-century engineers and contractors: rail, road, and water infrastructure that is rivaled by none in the world. During the last century, the United States designed and built iconic bridges and buildings that surpassed the imagination of previous generations. Reinforced concrete played an essential role in every aspect of those twentieth-century engineering accomplishments.

Since its first convention in 1905, ACI has been improving on the framework—in essence, the formwork—to help build the foundations of good practice in design, construction, and use of materials. ACI has contributed to a detailed knowledge of concrete and its wide acceptance not only in the United States but also globally. The “History of ACI” section of the ACI website includes the following statement:

The objectives set down by the founders of ACI point the way to continued technical advancement and service to the engineering profession, the needs of a broad spectrum of membership, and the public interest.

Our goal as ACI members is to further the Institute’s objectives and point the way.

You may know that my background is in tall buildings. Tall buildings are reflections of the convergence of ambition and technological advancements. Tall buildings allow and demand us to implement structural, material, and construction innovations.

Toronto, ON, Canada, was the site of the ACI Fall 2012 Convention. Some convention attendees may have been surprised by the tall building boom underway in that beautiful city. This building boom was highlighted in the December 2012 Journal of The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the recognized arbiter on tall building height. As of December 2012 and since 2005, Canada has built 26 buildings taller than 150 m (492 ft). Toronto has 15 more under construction—more than any other city in the entire Western world.

In 2012, 66 buildings taller than 200 m (656 ft) were completed globally. Four of the 66 were in Canada. Only two were in the United States. The countries dominating these tall building completions were China, South Korea, Panama, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

The United States once dominated tall building development. Today, it is home to only one of the top 10 tallest buildings in the world. And that building, the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower), was completed in 1974.

Of the 20 tallest buildings in the world by 2020, as projected by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, only one will be in the United States: the One World Trade Center, nearing completion in New York, NY.

The advancements in concrete technology realized in the One World Trade Center project will impact the work we are doing at ACI for years to come. We are blessed to have many in our midst who worked on this signature project and will contribute to our knowledge of concrete design, materials, and construction.

One World Trade Center will be the only building on the list from the United States, and it will also be the only building on the list from the entirety of the Americas. The locations of the remaining 19 buildings are noteworthy: the Middle East, China, and the rest of Asia. It is a pretty safe bet these tall buildings, including two structures soaring over 600 m (2000 ft), will incorporate significant advancements in concrete technology. We are also seeing this pattern of regional dominance in other arenas of engineering and construction wonders: bridges, ports, dams, and tunnels.

In light of this geographical shift in activity and technology, I ask you to consider the following so that ACI may continue to point the way:

• What do we need to do to ensure we are capturing these advancements in concrete design, materials, and construction?
• What changes, if any, are needed to our committee efforts?
• What do we need to do to maximize the awareness of these advancements?

ACI’s founders established noble and ambitious objectives. To carry these objectives forward, we must adapt. As a member-driven organization, your responses to these questions matter—I wait to hear them.

Anne M. Ellis
American Concrete Institute

Video of the Presidential acceptance speech by Anne Ellis from the ACI Spring 2013 Convention is posted at www.concrete.org; search for “05/13 president's memo.”

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