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HANNSKARL BANDEL
1925-1993
BY ANTON TEDESKO
HANNSKARL BANDEL, creator of imposing structures, was born in
Dessau, Germany, on May 3, 1925. His father was an architect,
owner of a construction firm. His mother's maiden name was
Brechtel and she came from the family of the well-known
German construction company called Brechtel. Hannskarl
studied ceil engineering at the Technical University of Berlin
under the famous Professor Dischinger. Under Professor Sattler
he earned his doctorate in engineering. After design and
research experience with several firms in the German steel
industry, he became an assistant of Professor Sattler, who
suggested that he visit the United States to widen his experience
with suspension bridges. Bandel, however, moved up the ladder
with his work on building structures in the New York office of
Fred Severud (former National Academy of Engineering
member). Severud was so impressed by Banders creativity and
outstanding structural design ability that he made him his
associate. Three years later, he was made a full partner of the
firm, subsequently known as Severud, Perrone, Sturm, Bandel.
It can be said that the reputation that the firm thereafter
acquired was, to a great extent, due to Bandel's dynamic per-
sonality and his innovative vision. Personally, he was a shy and
modest man who judged the work of others fairly, but he
would speak out against poorly conceived solutions. His co
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18
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
workers considered it a privilege to be involved in his efforts
and were quite often astounded by the breadth of his ideas
and his inventiveness.
During his years with Severud, he designed the Marina Tow-
ers in Chicago; with architect Eero Saarinen, he designed the
630-foot-high Jefferson Memorial Arch in St. Louis; and he
worked on the cable-suspended Madison Square Garden are-
na roof in New York City; the Place St. Marie in Montreal; the
Toronto City Hall; the Ford Foundation headquarters build-
ing in New York City; the Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts in Washington, D.C.; and the Crystal Cathedral in Gar-
den Grove, California.
In 1978 he was elected a member of the National Academy of
~ . .
tngmeermg.
After Fred Severud's retirement, the firm, despite Bandel's
objections, was bought by a Hungarian engineer. Bande] left
the firm and became the senior vice-president of DRC Con-
sultants, working on cable-stayed bridges and various other
structures, following his original design ideas.
He was offered the chair of structural engineering at the
University of Graz, Austria, in 1980, but graciously turned
down the offer because the daily challenging assignments of
his professional life in America were much more important to
him than a highly visible, prestigious professorship in Europe.
Dr. Banclel recently conceived and developed the feasibility
study making use of an arch to strengthen the cantilever truss
on the Mathews Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida. He was in-
volved in providing construction engineering services for the
cable-stayed Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida and the cable-
stayed Glebe Island Bridge in Sydney, Australia.
His ideas for the rehabilitation of deficient structures and
in the retrofitting of long-span bridges will have repercussions
for American infrastructure in the years to come. Structural
engineering of the highest level was applied in his work on
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-commis-
sioned study for the Pathfinder (man-to-Mars mission). This
assignment encompasses the design of joints for a three-di
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HANNSKARL BANDEL
19
mensional truss built in a zero-gravity environment without
tools to subsequently sustain the loacis associates! with enter-
ing the atmosphere of Mars.
On December 29, 1993, as countless times before, he was
on the ski slopes of the Aspen Highlands at Aspen, Colorado.
His wife was with him when he suddenly suffered what seemed
to be indigestion. The ski patrol placed him on a toboggan
and rapidly descended with him to lower altitudes. But
Hannskar! lost his oxygen mask cluring the trip and diec! due
to heart failure. He tract never been ill before and his friends
observed that this was the way he wanted to go.
He will be missed by his many friends. He is survive c3 by his
wife, the former Irmtraut Sitter, living in Carbondale, Coloraclo.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
design ability
