Tristram George Allen Carfrae, FRSA, FREng, FTSE, RDI (born 1 April 1959) is a

British-Australian Anglo-Celtic Australians is an ancestral grouping of Australians whose ancestors originate wholly or partially in the British Isles - predominantly in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. While Anglo-Celtic Australians do not form an officia ...

structural engineer and designer. He is currently Deputy Chair of Arup and an Arup Fellow. Carfrae was awarded the

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

of the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2014. He became the fourth Briton to be awarded the

International Award of Merit in Structural Engineering The International Award of Merit in Structural Engineering is presented to people for outstanding contributions in the field of structural engineering, with special reference to usefulness for society by the International Association for Bridge and ...

by the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering in 2018. In 2018-19 he was Master of the

Royal Designers for Industry Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained ...

. Working in both Australia and UK, Carfrae has contributed (code word) to the design of many projects with notable architects such as

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British architect noted for his modernist and Functionalism (architecture), functionalist designs in high-tech architecture. He was a senior partner a ...

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (20 ...

Philip Cox Philip Sutton Cox (born 1 October 1939) is an Australian architect. Cox is the founding partner of Cox Architecture, one of the largest architectural practices in Australia. He commenced his first practice with Ian McKay in 1962, and ...

and Thomas Heatherwick, these include: Lloyd's of London,

Stadio San Nicola The Stadio San Nicola ( en, Saint Nicholas Stadium) is a multi-use all-seater stadium designed by Renzo Piano in Bari, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of S.S.C. Bari. The stadium's design resembles ...

Aurora Place Aurora Place is a commercial skyscraper and residential block on Phillip Street in Sydney, Australia. Designed by Renzo Piano, the 41-storey building stands at a height of high to the top of the spire and to the roof. The building has an unu ...

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

, Beijing National Aquatics Center (the Water Cube),

Helix Bridge The Helix Bridge, officially The Helix, and previously known as the Double Helix Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge linking Marina Centre with Marina South in the Marina Bay area in Singapore. It was officially opened on 24 April 2010, however, on ...

One One One Eagle Street One One One Eagle Street is a office building at 111 Eagle Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the city centre. With 6 star Green Star office design rating, the building is part of the CBD's 'Golden Triangle' district. Its loca ...

Singapore Sports Hub The Singapore Sports Hub (Chinese: 新加坡体育城; Malay: Hab Sukan Singapura; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் விளையாட்டு மையம்) is a sports and recreation district in Kallang, Singapore. The Sports H ...

Coal Drops Yard Coal Drops Yard is a shopping complex and privately owned public space that forms part of the King's Cross Central development scheme in London, England. The development was designed by Thomas Heatherwick and opened in October 2018. History The t ...

and he is currently helping to complete the design of Sagrada Familia.

Career

Carfrae joined Arup in 1981 and started developing computer software for the design of fabric lightweight structures, most notably the Schlumberger Research Centre at

West Cambridge West Cambridge is a university site to the west of Cambridge city centre in England. As part of the ''West Cambridge Master Plan'', several of the University of Cambridge's departments have relocated to the West Cambridge site from the centre ...

completed in 1985. After working on the

-designed, Grade 1 listed, Lloyd's of London, Carfrae moved to Sydney, Australia for a year in 1986 and was lead engineer for the

Sydney Football Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...

with architect

. On return to London in 1987, he joined

Peter Rice Peter Rice (16 June 1935 – 25 October 1992) was an Irish structural engineer. Born in Dublin, he grew up in 52 Castle Road, Dundalk in County Louth, and spent his childhood between the town of Dundalk, and the villages of Gyles' Quay and ...

and completed the engineering design of Renzo Piano's

for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

and the structural stone façade for the Pavilion of the Future at Seville Expo '92. After six months in Tokyo, Carfrae returned to Sydney in 1990 and renewed his relationship with

working together to design the Brisbane Convention Exhibition Centre. He spent the rest of the nineties designing notable projects such as Sydney Airport Air Traffic Control Tower (architect Ken Woolley),

Cairns Convention Centre The Cairns Convention Centre is a convention and entertainment centre in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The venue was selected the World's Best Congress Centre in 2004 and 2014. Description The centre has a floor space of on a site in the Ca ...

and Singapore Expo (both with

), Munich Airport Centre, with American architect Helmut Jahn and

with

. He concluded the nineties with three projects for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

–

Dunc Gray Velodrome The Dunc Gray Velodrome is an Australian velodrome located at Bass Hill approximately 5 kilometres north west of the Sydney suburb of Bankstown. The cycling venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics, the Dunc Gray Velodrome was opened on 28 November 199 ...

(architect Paul Ryder),

Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre The Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre is a tennis and multi-purpose sports facility located within the Olympic Park in Parramatta, near Sydney, Australia. The centre was built in 1999 and hosted the tennis events for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Th ...

(architect

Lawrence Nield Professor Lawrence Nield is a retired Australian architect, who since 2012 has been head of the NSW State Heritage Register, Heritage Council of New South Wales. He is also known for his writings on urban design. He was head of master planning ...

) and Sydney Showground Dome and Exhibition (

Ken Woolley Kenneth Frank Charles Woolley, AM B Arch, Hon DSc Arch Sydney LFRAIA, FTSE, Architect, (29 May 1933 – 25 November 2015) was an Australian architect. In a career spanning 60 years, he is best known for his contributions to project housing with ...

). In 1999 Carfrae returned to London for two years and helped lead the Arup architectural practice, Arup Associates and designed the

for the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

. Back in Sydney from 2001, Carfrae's creative partnership with

resulted in Khalifa International Stadium, Northern Stand at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

for the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

Kurilpa Bridge The Kurilpa Bridge (originally known as the Tank Street Bridge) is a 63 million pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Brisbane River in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The bridge connects Kurilpa Point in South Brisbane to Tank Street in th ...

, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium,

and

Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby ...

. Other notable Carfrae projects during the first decade of the 21st century include Lang Park stadium (with Populous) and the sustainability strategy for Barangaroo, New South Wales (for Lendlease with

). Just before returning to London, Carfrae designed the world's largest dome for the

. Back in London in 2011, Carfrae led the design team for the never-built and controversial London

Garden Bridge The Garden Bridge project was an unsuccessful private proposal for a pedestrian bridge over the River Thames in London, England. Originally an idea of Joanna Lumley, and strongly supported by then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson, the designer Tho ...

with Thomas Heatherwick – they continued to design

. The new passenger terminal for Kuwait International Airport with

Foster and Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide. ...

is currently under construction. Since 2015, Carfrae has been working with the Sagrada Familia Foundation to help complete the design of Antoni Gaudi's church in Barcelona.

Awards and honours

Carfrae was awarded the title of

Royal Designer for Industry Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained ...

(RDI) in 2006 by the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carfrae, Tristram 1959 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Structural engineers Engineering award winners 21st-century British engineers British civil engineers British structural engineers