Eladio Dieste was born in Artigas, Uruguay, in 1917. He received his engineering
degree in 1943 from the University of the Republic in Montevideo, where he taught structures from 1943 until 1973. In 1953 Dieste begin his association with the engineer Eugenic Montañez. For almost half a century, Dieste conducted research and worked with reinforced brick. He developed structural masonry techniques using brick for water tanks, factories, horizontal silos, churches, towers, and bus stations.
Dieste recognized that the conditions that generated modern architecture in Europe and North America were distinct from those in Latin America. He reasoned that the design opportunities presented in Latin American countries did not demand that solutions resemble those produced in developed nations. He therefore understood that each culture could integrate technological change in its own manner, according to its own reality.
Dieste relied on the rational economic use of construction materials and methods, a respect for natural resources, and a knowledge of materials’ properties. Convinced that development results from using regional techniques and technologies, he proposed construction methods and materials that considered the social and economic conditions of his country and the regions where he worked. Because Dieste used brick, one of the oldest and most humble construction materials, his work proved that it is possible to combine austerity and beauty and to understand local conditions while experimenting rigorously.
Dieste employed the principles of simple and double curvature in concrete and transferred it to brick and reinforced ceramic. This structural innovation allowed him to benefit from the characteristics of the new material. His use of brick, as opposed to concrete, offered lightness, responded to deformations, sustained the test of time, and minimized maintenance. Because ceramic brick is more resistant to temperature changes than concrete, it offers excellent thermal insulation. It is also inexpensive, acoustically resilient, and easy to repair or modify.
Dieste experimented with two principal structural types: the Gaussa vault and the self- supporting vault. The Gaussa vault contains a double curvature that combines brick, iron, and mortar. The word Gaussa, coined by Dieste, refers to vaults that he employed to cover large spaces using a minimal amount of reinforcement. The second type of vault that he often employed was designed to be completely self-supporting. In both cases, he relied on skills of regional workmen and used machinery that he designed and assembled.
One of the best examples of Dieste’s work can be seen in the celebrated Atlántida church (1960, formerly a rectilinear warehouse. Dieste conceived a series of linear brick walls that are straight at the base and begin to undulate in the middle as they approach a double-curvature, continuous membrane roof. The conoidal-shaped walls and the Gaussian vaults create a monolithic and powerful form. The spatial light recalls Le Corbusier’s Notre-Dame-du-Haut, Ronchamp, yet its conceptual distinction is seen in the changing brick textures and sculptural lightness. The bell tower is constructed with reinforced brick.
Dieste’s search for structural expression and formal richness is also achieved in the Church in San Pedro, Durazno (1971). This church was built over the ruins of a parish church that had been destroyed by fire. The old parish followed the traditional layout of a central nave and two aisles separated by columns. The new structure consists of three folded slabs, two walls slanting toward the interior, and the roof, all of which are constructed of reinforced-brick membranes. The church follows the plan of the former parish but eliminates the columns between the nave and the side aisles, achieving a unified space. The interior is sober, enriched only by an altar and a rosette that is made up of a five-centimeter-thick hexagonal screen that is unified by iron spokes. The brick bell tower can be climbed to admire the landscape.
In the late 1960s, Dieste collaborated with the Brazilian government to build a series of markets, the most significant of which is the enormous structure for the market at Porto Alegre. Its central pavilion spans 47 meters and contains double-curved vaults and skylights. Dieste designed other areas of the complex with self-supporting vaults.
While exploring structural innovations with the Gaussa vault, Dieste began to experiment in the early 1960s with self-supporting vaults. He first used these light, supporting structures in his home (1962). Later, in Salto, Uruguay, he designed several buildings: the Municipal Bus Terminal (1974), the factory for the soft drinks “Refrescos del Norte” (1978), and the Turlit Terminal (1980) for a private bus company. He continued to develop these vaults at the Production Halls of Massaro Industries (1978) in Joanicó, Uruguay, where he constructed pre-stressed vaults for the roof structure that spanned 35 meters between pillars. One of these self-supporting vaults, only 10 centimeters thick, cantilevered 16 meters out from the entrance of the building. His explorations culminated with works at “Lanas Trinidad” (1979–91) in Alta, where he constructed vaults spanning up to 40 meters. In the Shopping Center of Montevideo (1985), his explorations resulted in the reinterpretation of the thematic ideas vested in the Atlántida church. An undulating line in the middle of the wall mediates the wall’s form, which this time is straight at the base and the top. The undulating characteristic in the wall expresses structural pressure exerted by the set of two self-supporting ceramic vaults of the roof. This characteristic further absorbs lateral thrust and wind pressure. The floor slab is part of the entire structural system. It illustrates Dieste’s ability to integrate his formal sensitivity and material knowledge with structural demands.
Since the 1960s, Dieste’s work has been seriously studied in Latin America. His ideas inspired those interested in the development of an architecture that responds to a Latin American context. Outside Latin America, both his structural innovations and his poetic approach to construction received only peripheral attention. He remains lesser known than other Hispenic structural innovators, such as Felix Candela or Eduardo Torroja.
A refined and subtle beauty characterizes Dieste’s work. It embodies sophisticated yet simple structures that combine varying brick-changing tonalities and patterns with technical rigor. His projects reflect three major considerations: an expressive force of local tradition, an integration of artistic and moral issues, and a knowledge of material property and capabilities.
JOSE BERNARDI
Sennott R.S. Encyclopedia of twentieth century architecture, Vol.1. Fitzroy Dearborn., 2005.
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