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Robert Maillart's Bridges: |
"Robert Maillart was one of the heroes of the 1930s; his Swiss bridges in reinforced concrete were among the most admired artifacts of those years. They combined structural innovation with the creation of pure, intelligible forms whose aesthetic refinement all could recognize. . . . [Billington] rightly presents the bridges as structures and illustrates the loading diagrams and reinforcement systems that lie behind their simple geometrical contours, but he subtitles his book 'The Art of Engineering' and leaves the reader in no doubt that Maillart was fully conscious of the aesthetic implications of his search for economy and efficiency. The book is a model of what such a monograph should be."--J. M. Richards, The Times Literary Supplement "A brilliant, highly readable essay on the interplay between art and science in engineering design. Maillart . . . Built bridges of such breathtaking beauty that they have become cult objects among avant-garde intellectuals. . . . Maillart was, in Billington's view, an artist-engineer; the expression of engineering design at its best. . . . This is a beautiful book. It is lavishly illustrated, and written with remarkable clarity, insight, and wisdom."--Edwin T. Layton, Jr., Isis "A welcome and penetrating study of a wonderful man, and a valuable contribution to the history of ideas."--Scientific American Other Princeton books by David P. Billington:
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