Born in Meiringen, Canton of Bern, Menn graduated from high school in 1946, followed by structural engineering studies at ETH Zurich. He received a diploma as Bauingenieur in 1950. From 1950 through 1953 he worked for construction engineering companies. Then, he returned to ETH Zurich to become assistant to Pierre Lardy, a well-known professor of structural engineering, and was awarded a PhD degree in 1956. He gained practical experience working for companies in Paris and Bern before starting his own consulting company in 1957.
Design philosophy
Menn’s bridges had to be designed for the times: "Structural Analysis found itself at the time in the transition from descriptive graphical analysis to abstract analytical statics". Menn worked very closely with Pierre Lardy during the beginning of his career, emphasizing the design of structures based on aesthetics and economy. Menn believed that economy, serviceability and safety of the bridge would revolve around aesthetics. Menn has stated that an engineer achieves safety and serviceability by understanding the underlying scientific principles, but that economy and elegance are achieved through non-scientific ideas. An engineer must also have aesthetic creativity. Menn describes his bridges with abstract theoretical models which allow him to analyze bridges and find stresses and distribution of forces within the structure. Building on this framework, he is able to devise numerical calculations which can eventually be used in computer modeling of the structures.
Swiss tourism
The important role of tourism in the Swiss economy has a strong influence on the types of bridges that are constructed. When choosing a bridge design, Swiss leaders prioritize the aesthetic characteristics of a bridge more highly than a country that is less tourism-driven. The need for visually appealing bridges afforded bridge designer Menn with a great opportunity. His use of pre-stressed concrete and the implementation of cable-stayed bridge decks give his designs great aesthetic appeal.
In spring 1979, Menn supervised a thesis on a bridge over the Acleta gorge close to Disentis in the Grisons by a young Santiago Calatrava, as he completed his studies in Civil Engineering at ETH Zurich. That same year, Menn also asked Calatrava to provide sketches for a bridge on tall pylons to cross a deep valley, and these sketches by Calatrava in 1979 containing finback and extradosed solutions were finally published in 2004. Menn worked with a young Miguel Rosales on the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker HillMemorial Bridge, completed in 2003, as part of the massive "Big Dig" project in Boston. This highly-visible structure has become an iconic landmark in the Boston skyline, and helped launch Rosales' career as a bridge designer, carrying the older designer's philosophy into the next generation of structural designers.
