DISCUSSION

REPORT BY

1. The first of these was the new Paris Arts Centre, now called the Centre Pompidou. The large span truss girders of the structure are supported on rocker beams (gerberettes). A downward force of 4,000 lonnes and an upward force of 1,000 tonnes is produced (see Fig.l) and each component is supported by a diaphragm panel, which in French terminology is known as a barrette. These diaphragm panels were 11 metres long in plan passing through an alluvial sand and gravel on to a weathered limestone. The design was thus not constrained by the construction problems. Au anchored king pile wall i.e. the Berlinoise system, supports the sides of the excavation for the site's basement and