Tibetan Art Museum wins Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence

The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) awarded the accolade to Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd for their work on the Tibetan Art Museum in Lhasa, Tibet.

Located on the world’s highest plateau, the Tibetan Art Museum sits in a remote and ecologically sensitive environment, which presented a number of unique challenges.

A key challenge of the project was upgrading the existing factory buildings, which had insufficient concrete strength, to meet modern seismic standards. Tongji’s solutions included strategic strengthening, the installation of damping systems, and base isolation, all designed to work seamlessly with the original structures. According to IStructE, this approach minimised the need for new construction, significantly reducing the environmental impact on the Tibetan Plateau.

Judged across four key pillars - Planet, People, Process, and Profession – IStructE said the Tibetan Art Museum stood out for its commitment to sustainability, minimal intervention, and seismic resilience. The judges praised the project as an ‘inspiring example of transformative reuse and seismic strengthening in a challenging environment’.