New Era of American Architectural Concrete – From Wright to SOM

Roberto Gargiani has published several works on Perret, Le Corbusier, Labrouste, Semper, and Brunelleschi. He previously taught the history of architecture in Florence, Rouen, Paris, and Rome. He is currently professor of the history of architecture and construction at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne’s (EPFL) School of Architecture.

• prologueSurface Finishes by the Book: The Accomplishments of Architectural Concretechapter one. The Self-Built Construction of Wright and Residential Fabrication SystemsWright’s Desert Concrete: Toward a Constructional PrimitivismTextile and Concrete Blocks for the Usonian Houses The Experimental Residential Constructionof Rudolph and GoldbergThe Monolithic Houses of Le Tourneau and IBEC The Lift Slab Method by Youtz & Slick and by the Vagtborg Corporationchapter two. The Primitive Frame of MiesBeauty is the Splendor of Truth: Mies’s Chicago Debut Belluschi’s Equitable Building: The CopyThe Promontory Apartments: The Degree Zeroof the New Chicago FramePrototype VariationsAffordable Housing in Chicago, or the Miesian Aestheticchapter three. Prestressing and New Structuresfor ConcretePrestressed Girders and the Walnut Lane Bridge Wright’s Butterfly Bridge and Soleri’s Tubular Bridge The Helio-Laboratory Tower in RacinePei and Severud’s Structure for the Helix Apartment Towerchapter four. Kahn’s Space FrameThe Tetrahedron Floor System and Béton Brutof the Yale Art GalleryGrowth, Stratification, and Groove: The Impossible MonolithA Space Frame for the City Hall Buildingchapter five. Effects of Scale and Prestressing: Works by SOM and MiesGoldsmith: Superstructure and Bracing Learning from NerviSOM’s Quest for an Expressive StructureThe Bridges and Prestressed Girders of SOM and Khan New Paths of Gravity: Goldsmith and LinMies’s Reinforced Trilithchapter six. The Skyscrapers of Mies, Kahn, and WrightThe Unclear Structure of Mies and Severud for the Seagram BuildingJohnson and the Enigma of Diagonal Bracing Kahn’s Tower of Triangular Concrete Frames The Richards Laboratories: Prefabrication and Post-TensioningWright’s Tripod Frame Construction and Molded OrnamentThe Illinois Mile-High Cantilever Sky-Citychapter seven. Architectural Concrete Variations, from Breuer to SaarinenMo-Sai Precast Concrete Cladding PanelsThe Bush-Hammered Concrete of Breuerand the Sandblasting of Anshen & AllenThe Ineffable Material Substance of Saarinen’s ConcreteSOM’s Experiments for a Concrete Skyscraper Rudolph, Pei, Harrison & Abramovitz,and Prefabricated PanelsSaarinen’s rubble aggregate concreteApplied ornament versus texture: plastic and transfers