“My first thought was that it was impossible to stabilize the show and isolate the projection booth from the moving show loads. With the RISA-3D analysis, I was able to approximate the moving loads and vibration of the monorail and design a structure that accomplished (those) goals.”

(Click on image to zoom)

Location
Seattle

Structural Engineer
Entertainment Engineering, Inc.,
Burbank, Calif.

Design Team
Kent Bingham
Brad Read, PE

Architect
Frank O. Gehry

About the Project

The Artist Journey Show is one of several unique attractions of the Experience Music Project, a music museum designed by renowned architect Frank O. Gehry. The EMP consists of a series of unique and fluid shaped enclosures linked by a monorail system. In all, the separate steel structures incorporated 30 tons of moving and flying sets and partitions, an oculus opening with show elements entering and exiting via winches, a motion-simulation IMAX Theater with digital animations and light and sound shows. In addition, a monorail track ran in the middle of the show and Read needed to make certain the vibrations caused by the train did not affect the steel structures.