New at the Deutsches Museum – Another Design Made of Carbon Concrete

Just a few days ago, following general renovation, the Deutsches Museum reopened with 20 new exhibitions, among them also the exhibition “Bridge Building and Hydraulic Engineering”. A purpose-built special structure is now found there designed by Deutscher Zukunftspreis prizewinner Prof. Manfred Curbach. He and his colleagues Offermann and Cherif were already jointly awarded the Deutscher Zukunftpreis 2016 for their fundamental work on carbon concrete.

Carbon concrete is a fascinating material that demonstrates its most important properties in this “CarboLight Bridge”: formability, lightness, and elegance. It combines a sleek design with resource conservation. The 9.5-meter-long CarboLight Bridge was designed as a filigree construction consisting of two slightly inclined V-columns, a three-part superstructure and a design weight of only 2.1 tons. The project was developed and implemented at the TU Dresden.

That this is a very special structure was seen within the framework of the fib International Congress. The renowned conference is considered an important meeting of scientists in the field of concrete research. The bridge received two awards: the Exceptional Recognition special prize in the “Award for Outstanding Concrete Structures” as well as the 2022 Innovation Award in the category “Structures” for the paper “An Ultra-light Carbon Concrete Bridge: From Design to Realisation” by tuhors Marc Koschemann, Iurii Vakaliuk and Manfred Curbach. Professor Curbach was also induced as a fib-fellow 2022 of the fib – Fédération internationale du béton.

Following the renovation of the Deutsches Museum, the Deutscher Zukunftspreis exhibition is once more open to the public with its presentations of innovations which received the German President’s Award for Innovation in Science and Technology. There – and equally unusual – visitors will find a module made of carbon concrete that serves as an example of the material’s possibilities. This exhibit made of carbon concrete was realized with the help of the team from TU Dresden and also proves that sophisticated and complex shapes can be realized both in design and construction with this innovative building material. Additional information on the production of the material can be found in the exhibition. From the statements by the prizewinners, visitors learn a lot about the journey from the idea to success.

Both presentations are now open to visitors daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm. at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.