Frame and Form

Once again David P. Billington focuses its work around Swiss engineers, this time explicitly. The book is part of the exposure homonymous organized by the Princeton University Art Museum In 2003.

The four engineers race is analyzed from a general standpoint, evolutionary. The subjects in this analysis are Robert Maillart (1847-1940), Othmar Ammann (1879-1956), Heinz Isler (1926- 2009) and Christian Menn (1927).

Undoubtedly one of the peculiarities of this book lies in the fact that it faces Billington as an educational project at different levels. The first and most obvious is the book belonging to an exhibit on Swiss engineers noted for their ingenuity and consideration of the forms as an essential part of his work. The concept book exhibition allows further study of these designers highlighting their commonalities and their differences.

Toss Bridge - Robert Maillart

The dualities Maillart/ Ammann and Isler / Menn show the influence of their teachers William Knight (1847-1906) and Pierre Lardy (1902-1956). This is when the next level is presented. The education received in the ETH Zurich and its influence on the career of these four engineers brings an innovative vision of design development that rarely appears in other publications.

Verrazano Narrows - Othmar Ammann

Both graphical methods Ritter famous as aesthetic considerations Lardy seep into the work of his disciples. The figure of the teacher is represented by Billington as if it were a bridge. This bridge allows students to cross, through its own evolution, the gap between potential and performance.

Centro in Zuchwil - Heinz Isler

The final level of this educational project with a book exhibition is completed by the manner in which information is collected. Billington, inveterate collaborator, will aid the work of four of his own students to analyze these four Swiss engineers. Each student was assigned to a designer with the aim of collecting photographs and prepare models. The model appears, As we saw in Man on Wire, as an essential tool for understanding the problem to solve and check the validity of the solution.

Bridge Sunniberg - Christian Menn

There are some features common to the four engineers purpose of this book, These are enthusiasm, initiative and innovation. These qualities are found in the book itself and David P. Billington. The author's passion for this informative and innovative idea of art make structural David P. Billington makes this book a work beyond a catalog of great structures. This book is an educational project for both the creators and the reader.

The Art of Structural Design

A Swiss Legacy
David P. Billington
Yale University Press.
212 pages. English.
ISBN: 978-0300097863.

Metadata

Class David P. Billington on the occasion of the inauguration of the exhibition: