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analysis, so that appropriate assumptions could be made based on common sense. The second was to consider carefully the construction process of the structure, not just the final product. The last principle was to test a structure always with full-scale load tests. All these principles are an adaptation of the available techniques, but with an emphasis on the careful study of previously built structures.
158:. The concrete was cast in its crudest form, a huge mass without reinforcement. Later in the nineteenth century, engineers explored the possibilities of reinforced concrete as a structural material. They found that the concrete carried compressive forces, while steel bars carried the tension forces. This made concrete a better material for structures.
299:, and knowledge of material strengths had been achieved. As the nineteenth century neared its end, the major factor contributing to the need for scientific design of bridges was the railroads. Engineers had to know the precise levels of stresses in bridge members, in order to accommodate the impact of trains. The first design solution was obtained by
168:. He embedded an iron-wire mesh into concrete. He was a gardener, not a licensed engineer, and sold his patents to contractors who built the first generation of reinforced concrete bridges in Europe. He also perfected the technique of pre-stressing concrete, which leaves permanent compressive stresses in concrete arches.
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Robert
Maillart had an intuition and genius that exploited the aesthetic of concrete. He designed three-hinged arches in which the deck and the arch ribs were combined, to produce closely integrated structures that evolved into stiffened arches of very thin reinforced concrete and concrete slabs. The
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Maillart is known also for his revolutionary column design in a number of buildings. He constructed his first mushroom ceiling for a warehouse in Zurich, together with treating the concrete floor as a slab, rather than reinforcing it with beams. One of his most famous is the design of the columns in
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and nationalizing of assets caused him to lose his projects and bonds. When the widower
Maillart and his three children returned to Switzerland, he was penniless and heavily in debt to Swiss banks. After that he had to work for other firms, but the best of his designs were still to come. By 1920 he
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At the time of
Maillart and Ritter, other designers preferred that their designs evolve from previously successful structures and designs. German engineers and scientists had developed elaborate mathematical techniques, and were confident that they did not need practical load tests of their designs
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These designs went beyond the common boundaries of concrete design in
Maillart's time. Both of the bridges mentioned above are great examples of Maillart's ability to simplify design in order to allow for maximum use of materials and to incorporate the natural beauty of the structure's environment.
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By the early twentieth century, reinforced concrete became an acceptable substitute in construction for all previous structural materials, such as stone, wood, and steel. People such as Monier had developed useful techniques for design and construction, but no one had created new forms that showed
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in 1847. His major breakthrough was that truss members could be analyzed as a system of forces in equilibrium. This system, known as the "method of joints," permits the determination of stresses in all known members of a truss if two forces are known. The next advance in design was the "method of
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on graphical statics forming part of the curriculum. Maillart did not excel in academic theories, but understood the necessity to make assumptions and visualize when analyzing a structure. A traditional method prior to the 1900s was to use shapes that could be analyzed easily using mathematics.
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Robert
Maillart learned the analytical methods of his era, but he was most influenced by the principles developed by his mentor, Wilhelm Ritter, mentioned above. Maillart studied under Ritter, who had three basic principles of design. The first of these was to value calculations based on simple
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This overuse of mathematics annoyed
Maillart, as he greatly preferred to stand back and use common sense to predict full-scale performance. Also, as he rarely tested his bridges prior to construction, only upon completion would he verify the bridge was adequate. He often tested his bridges by
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Many of his predecessors had modeled by this method using wood and steel, but
Maillart was revolutionary in being the first to use concrete. He used concrete because it could support a large mound of earthen material for insulation against freezing. Since concrete is very good in compression
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sections," developed by
Wilhelm Ritter in 1862. Ritter simplified the calculations of forces by developing a very simple formula for determining the forces in the members intersected by a cross-section. A third advance was a better method of graphical analysis, developed independently by
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Maillart also flared the bottom of the columns to reduce the pressure (force per area) on a certain point of the soil foundation. By flaring the bottoms of the columns, the area of the load was more widely distributed, therefore reducing the pressure over the soil foundation.
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developed using those techniques. However, these techniques did not encourage designers to think of unusual shapes, because those shapes could not be completely analyzed using the available mathematical techniques. Ritter's principles did allow for uncommon shapes.
184:(1933) are classic examples of Maillart's three-hinged arch bridges and deck-stiffened arch bridges, respectively. They have been recognized for their elegance and their influence on the later design and engineering of bridges.
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220:. Maillart decided to abandon standard methods in order to create "the more rational and more beautiful European method of building". Maillart's design of the columns included flaring the tops to reduce the
49:(1933) bridges changed the aesthetics and engineering of bridge construction dramatically and influenced decades of architects and engineers after him. In 1991 the Salginatobel Bridge was declared an
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By 1902, Maillart established his own firm, Maillart & Cie. In 1912 he moved his family with him to Russia while he managed construction of major projects for large factories and warehouses in
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Selected from among 19 entrants in a design competition in part because of the low cost of his proposal, Maillart began construction of the
Salginatobal Bridge in
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with such designs as the three-hinged arch and the deck-stiffened arch for bridges, and the beamless floor slab and mushroom ceiling for industrial buildings. His
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in the beams between the columns. With the flare, the columns formed slight arches to transfer the loads from the ceiling beams to the columns.
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Maillart returned to Bern to work for three years with Pümpin & Herzog (1894–1896). He next worked for two years with the city of
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crossing them himself. This attitude towards bridge design and construction was what provided him with his innovative designs.
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as a major bridge construction material was in 1856. It was used to form a multiple-arch structure on the
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His technique was used to build the Ponte Del Ciolo (Ciolo's Bridge), which is located at
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Laffranchi, Massimo and Peter Marti. "Robert
Maillart's curved concrete arch bridges",
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declared the Salginatobel Bridge an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
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International Database and Gallery of Structures. Short biography of Robert Maillart
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situations, it was the perfect material to support a large, unmoving mass of earth.
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voted Maillart's Salginatobel Bridge "the most beautiful bridge of the century".
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By the second half of the nineteenth century, major advances in design theory,
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Maillart's first mushroom slab in the warehouse Giesshübel in Zurich (1910)
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476:"#353, Robert Maillart, Engineer, June 24 - October 13, 1947"
478:, Exhibit History, Museum of Modern Art, accessed 2 Nov 2010
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Space, Time and Architecture: the growth of a new tradition
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123.10 (1997): 1280 Academic Search Elite. 8 February 2007
457:, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967, p. 475
610:"Robert Maillart e l'emancipazione del cemento armato"
636:"Maillart's Bridges" documentary by Heinz Emigholz
568:Robert Maillart and the Art of Reinforced Concrete
172:the full aesthetic nature of reinforced concrete.
108:, then for a few years with a private firm there.
561:Robert Maillart’s Bridges: The Art of Engineering
51:International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark
265:in New York featured his bridges and design work
65:Robert Maillart was born on 6 February 1872 in
575:Robert Maillart: Builder, Designer, and Artist
393:Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
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30:(16 February 1872 – 5 April 1940) was a
512:The Art of Structural Design: A Swiss Legacy.
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582:The Art of Structural Design: A Swiss Legacy
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268:Salginatobel Bridge was designated a Swiss
261:1947, an exhibit on Robert Maillart at the
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554:Robert Maillart Bridges and Constructions
547:History and Heritage of Civil Engineering
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207:Mushroom slab on the third floor of the
37:who revolutionized the use of structural
570:, Architectural History Foundation, 1991
209:Grain storage of the Swiss Confederation
16:Swiss civil engineer and bridge designer
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641:Structurae web page with list of works
556:, Verlag für Architektur, Zurich, 1949
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192:in 1929; it opened on 13 August 1930.
256:Royal Institute of British Architects
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543:Notable Engineers - Robert Maillart
277:American Society of Civil Engineers
55:American Society of Civil Engineers
589:Context for World Heritage Bridges
584:, Princeton University Press, 2003
577:, Cambridge University Press, 1997
563:, Princeton University Press, 1978
132:moved to an engineering office in
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603:Journal of Structural Engineering
282:2001, the British trade journal,
284:Bridge – Design and Engineering,
69:, Switzerland. He attended the
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71:Federal Institute of Technology
216:the water filtration plant in
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517:. Princeton, USA, 2003, p. 60
686:20th-century Swiss engineers
596:"The Engineering Profession"
254:1936, elected as Fellow to
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616:, Borgo San Lorenzo, 2007.
591:, ICOMOS and TICCIH, 1996
387:Hugh John Flemming Bridge
61:Early life and education
23:Robert Maillart, c. 1925
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527:"Salginatobel Bridge
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190:Schiers, Switzerland
129:Communist Revolution
453:Siegfried Giedion,
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