CONTEMPORARY DESIGN THEORY AND CRITICISM

Ankita Khante-Barsha Amarendra-Eesha Ithadi

BIOGRAPHICAL TIMELINE

Born at Uruguay in 1917

Deceased on 29th july,2000

1943: Graduates from the civil engineering faculty in Montevideo.

1945-1948: Engineer at Christiani & Nielsen.

1953-73: Professor for Bridges and Large-Scale Structures at the Faculty of Engineering in Montevideo.

1958: Atlantida Church 1975:

Warehouses at the port of Montevideo

1956: Founded the firm 'Dieste y Montanez’

Caputto Fruit Plant. Salto, Uruguay1971-72

Gimnasio Don Bosco. Montevideo, Uruguay. 1983-84

Building typologies

Warehouse

Bus termin

al

Church

Commercial buildings

Houses

Stadium

Eladio as an innovator A particular innovation was his Gaussian vault, a thin-shell structure for roofs in single-thickness brick, that derives its stiffness and strength from a double curvature catenary arch form that resists buckling failure.  One of the few to bring architecture and structural engineering into close proximity.

These forms made of bricks were cheaper than reinforced concrete, and didn't require ribs and beams. In developing this approach, even in comparison with modernists the world over, he was an innovator.

Traditional method of ribbing

Innovative way deduced by Eladio Dieste

Laying of bricks for Vaulting

Ideology behind…“For architecture to be truly constructed, the materials must be used with profound respect for their essence and possibilities; only thus can 'cosmic economy' be achieved... in agreement with the profound order of the world; only then can have that authority that so astounds us in the great works of the past.”

The resistant virtues of the structure that we make depend on their form; it is through their

form that they are stable and not because of an awkward accumulation of materials. There is

nothing more noble and elegant from an intellectual viewpoint than this; resistance

through form (Many of the techniques that he developed to achieve these forms, such as pre-

stressing of brickwork and moveable formworks, were in advance of contemporary

techniques in the developed world.)

Basic Design considerations The proportions of the whole

Integration of the structural aspect with the form of the building

The economy and elegance of the materials

The detail of the parts and articulation of every module in a building

Knowing the use of light as it plays on and especially as it is admitted into these buildings. 

regionalism Instead of opting for the use of concrete as his material of choice, as some of his contemporaries did—Félix Candela—Dieste decided to capitalize on the availability and affordability of a well-known local material: brick.

The use of brick not only made economic sense to him, but it also allowed for the projects he worked on to insert themselves within a long tradition of construction in Latin America, echoing the culture of his native Uruguay.

And by creating sophisticated structural solutions with this humble, traditional material, he established a bold new narrative that pushed back against the Modernist movement’s machine aesthetic and its use of industrial materials such as concrete, steel, and glass.

The art of brickwork

Interplay of light and shadow

Atlantida church

Made.

The walls and surfaces are thin and folded brick laminate, designed by Dieste, and are so slim that never before had anyone been able to achieve the effect with traditional materials.

The thoroughly traditional placement of the bricks joined to each other, keeping a predetermined joint in the masonry, disappears completely in the architecture of Dieste; it adds to it a new component, "steel" in bars or wires, which is included in a regular and uniform manner throughout the plan

CHURCH OF SAN PEDRO, ROCHE

Form, light, and material resolution are also combined in an exceptional manner to produce an almost sublime experience at the Church of San Pedro in Durazno. 

Don bosco stadium

Julio Herrera Obes Warehouse, Montevideo, Uruguay 

Salto Bus terminal, 1974

Contemporary Private residences

Modern interpretations

The works of Eladio Dieste have also  inspired some contemporary architects. 290 Mulberry is a residential building designed by SHoP architects.

conclusionHis architecture was a preoccupation deeply rooted in a rigorous intellectual search for material and structural reciprocity and efficiency. Being acutely aware of the socio-cultural and economic conditions of his country, he was able to formulate an unconventional practice of architecture in tune with this context, establishing the principles of what he called a “cosmic economy”—that is, to be in accord with the profound order of the world.

As the search for new materiality in contemporary architecture advances, Dieste’s legacy and his body of work—some of the most inspiring, elegant, and functional buildings of the second half of the 20th century in Latin America—can offer renewed relevance and inspiration to designers today.