The Swiss engineer Robert Maillart (1872-1940) built bridges and industrial buildings of startling originality. His innovative use of concrete, especially in the design of thin arch structures, and his introduction of a wide range of new engineering forms, make him a seminal figure in the history of modern engineering. Focusing on 14 of Maillart's major works, this book provides a stunning full-color visual presentation of engineering structures as works of art in their own right and as images for new possibilities in architecture.Previous studies of Maillart - including the pioneering essays by Sigfried Gidieon and Max Bill - were based on black and white illustrations taken in the 1930s. For this German and English dual language book, Maillart's Swiss structures were rephotographed under the author's supervision. With the added dimension of color and looked at from the point of view of a wellknown structural engineer, they present Maillart in a totally new perspective.Billington explains in detail how Maillart's ideas unfold from his first design, the 1901 Zuoz Bridge, to his last, the 1940 Lachen Bridge. He analyzes these works using engineering criteria and raises the provocative notion that structure is a fertile ground for new forms that remain to be realized in structural engineering and in architecture.David P. Billington is Professor of Civil Engineering at Princeton University.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
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the art of good engineering,
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This review is from: Robert Maillart and the Art of Reinforced Concrete (Hardcover)
Too many people (and too many engineers) fail to understand that great engineering is about creation and imagination. Robert Maillart was first and foremost a great engineer, but he was also a wonderful artist.This book (in English and German) traces his works from 1905 to his death (about 1940). Billington shows how Maillart takes his designs, step by step, from the historical stone arch design to the modern use of reinforced concrete. His bridges are wonderfully designed to be functional as well as perfectly suited to their placement in the environment. Because of their locations deep in the Swiss countryside, they tend to be difficult to view and photograph. But Billington includes excellent photographs (both historic and contemporary). The best part about the book is the way Billington shows that the later works are built upon the concepts explored in the earlier works. There are some discussions of engineering concepts, but this is really a book about art and aesthetics, not about stress and strain. As Maillart proved, you can provide gorgeous aesthetics and still create structures that serve a useful purpose for 100 years (and still going strong). I wish the chapter about his influence on later engineers had been more developed. I also wish there could have been more discussion of the economics involved, perhaps a detailed exploration of one of the design competitions. (Maillart had to not only build the bridges, but he also had to be the low-bidder!)
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
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This review is from: Robert Maillart and the Art of Reinforced Concrete (Hardcover)
Released jointly by MIT Press and The Architectural History Foundation, this is a handsome, oblong book. In dustcover; turquoise cloth over hardback boards with gold print on the spine.
Inside, the 151 page book is printed on glossy stock. German and English text side-by-side. About 125 illustrations, mostly photographs with some technical drawings; many color photographs. Map, End Notes, Glossary, Index, Foreword, and Preface.
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
- Bridgescape: The Art of Designing Bridges by Frederick Gottemoeller in Front Matter, page 30, and Back Matter
- Bridgescape: The Art of Designing Bridges, Second Edition by Frederick Gottemoeller on page 24, and Back Matter
- Birkhäuser Architectural Guide Switzerland 20th Century (Birkhauser Architectural Guides) by Mercedes Daguerre on page 166, and page 334
- Constructing Architecture: Materials, Processes, Structures by Andrea Deplazes in Back Matter
- Preliminary Design of Bridges for Architects and Engineers (Civil and Environmental Engineering) by Melaragno in Back Matter
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