2 The innovative uses of concrete by engineers and architects

Concrete as originally exploited has little tensile strength, but with the development of reinforced concrete at the end of the 19th century, a composite material capable of taking tensile stresses was available to engineers. Taking an international view, this chapter looks at the way in which engineers and architects chose to exploit this and the later developments such as prestressed concrete, illustrating innovative structural and architectural uses in a historical context.

• Synopsis

• Introduction

• Plain concrete

• Development of reinforced concrete in Europe

• Development of reinforced concrete in the USA

• The work of Robert Maillart, 1872–1940

• The work of Eugène Freyssinet, 1879–1962

• The architect and the new material — reinforced concrete

• Eduardo Torroja, 1889–1961

• Pier Luigi Nervi, 1891–1979

• Postwar construction in Europe

• The work of Felix Candela (b. 1910)

• Long-span bridges and tall buildings

• Conclusions

• References