Engineers : a history of engineering and structural design

256 Pages·2010·8.262 MB·English

by  Matthew Wells

Engineers
This innovative new book presents the vast historical sweep of engineering
innovation and technological change to describe and illustrate engineering design and
what conditions, events, cultural climates and personalities have brought it to its
present state.
Matthew Wells covers topics based on an examination of paradigm
shifts, the contribution of individuals, important structures and influential disasters to
show approaches to the modern concept of structure. By demonstrating the historical
context of engineering, Wells has created a guide to design like no other, inspirational
for both students and practitioners working in the fields of architecture and
engineering.
Matthew Wells, a chartered architect and engineer, has taught at various schools
of architecture including Nottingham School of Architecture as a unit tutor. He is an
external examiner at Liverpool University School of Architecture and has been a
technical tutor at the Bartlett School of Architecture for 10 years. He is best known
as the founder and director of Techniker Ltd, Consulting Structural Engineers and has
worked with leading architects such as Lifschutz Davidson and Eva Jiricna on
footbridges, glass staircases and many contemporary leading edge projects.

Engineers
A history of engineering and
structural design
Matthew Wells
First published 2010
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2010 Matthew Wells
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to
the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any
legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN 0-203-35818-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–32525–0 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–32526–9 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–35818–X (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0-415–32525–7 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0-415–32526–4 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0-203–35818–4 (ebk)
Contents
List of illustration credits vii
Preface xi
Introduction 1
1 Prehistory and ancient times 11
2 Rome and the East (220 BC–AD533) 25
3 Byzantium and the European Dark Ages (476–1000) 41
4 Light (1000–1600) 55
5 Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) 75
6 Early modern engineering (1580–1789) 89
7 Encyclopaedia (1750–1860) 105
8 The American reconstruction (1860–1890) 121
9 Classical analysis and reinforced concrete (1890–1920) 135
10 Flight and the World Wars (1900–1950) 149
11 Early contemporaries (1945–1960) 165
12 The continual present (1950–2000) 187
Notes 208
Bibliography 227
Index 235
v

Illustration credits
Archivio Pier Luigi Nervi, PARC/MAXXI Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo,
Collezione MAXXI Architettura ©, 11.4
The Art Institute of Chicago ©, 12.0
BAE Systems via Brooklands Museum ©, 10.0
Dr Marco Baldari, Grosseto, Italy ©, 4.6
Bibliotheque Nationale de France ©, 4.3
Robert Cortright/Bridge Ink ©, 5.2
Robert Cortright/Bridge Ink ©, 5.4
Collections/John D. Beldom ©, 7.2
Collections/Gena Davis ©, 11.9
Constance Tipper: personal papers, Newnham College Archives C, 10.5
Copyrights have expired ©, 9.3
Yann Arthus-Bertrand/CORBIS ©, 1.0
Alinari Archives/CORBIS ©, 1.5
Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS ©, 1.8
G.E Kidder Smith/CORBIS ©, 2.2
Bettmann/CORBIS ©, 2.3
Owen Franken/CORBIS ©, 2.6
Galen Rowell/CORBIS ©, 3.0
Murat Taner/CORBIS ©, 3.2a
Christophe Boisvieux/CORBIS ©, 3.5
Reuters/CORBIS ©, 3.6
Kevin R. Morris/CORBIS ©, 4.0
Paul Almasy/CORBIS ©, 4.1
Christie’s Images/CORBIS ©, 4.2
Bettmann/CORBIS ©, 4.5
Alinari Archives/CORBIS ©, 4.7
Nick Wheeler/CORBIS ©, 5.0
Bettmann/CORBIS ©, 6.4
Annebicque Bernard/CORBIS SYGMA ©, 6.5a
Martin Jones/CORBIS ©, 6.6
Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS ©, 7.5
Bettmann/CORBIS ©, 8.3
CORBIS ©, 8.4
Bettmann/CORBIS ©, 10.1
vii
Illustration credits
Museum of Flight/CORBIS ©, 10.3
Museum of Flight/CORBIS ©, 10.4
Michael S. Yamashita/CORBIS ©, 11.2
Yann Arthus-Berttrand/CORBIS ©, 11.3
Joseph Sahm/CORBIS ©, 11.5
Charles & Josette Lenars/CORBIS ©, 11.8
Courtesy of Water Resources Centre Archives, University of California,
Berkeley ©, 9.7
Courtesy of gmp Architekten ©, 12.10
Courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Photographer Hickey ©, 12.4
Courtesy of Richard Rogers Partnership ©, 12.3
Courtesy of the Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum ©, 2.1
Courtesy of the Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum ©, 6.0a
Courtesy of the Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum ©, 6.1
Richard Dietrich ©, 8.2
Mary Evans Picture Library ©, 9.6
Flickr ©, 1.1
Flickr ©, 1.4
Flickr ©, 9.0
Jochen Binn/Flickr ©, 4.4
Frank Scherschel/Time & Life Picture/Getty Images ©, 11.0
Julius Shulman Photography Archive/J. Paul Getty Trust ©, 12.1
Institution of Civil Engineers ©, 7.3
Institution of Civil Engineers ©, 7.4
iStockphoto.com/Dmitriy Yakovlev ©, Cover photo
Loyola University Chicago Special Collections ©, 5.3
Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, bequest of Dr Walter
Auburn 1982 ©, 2.5
Adrian Mann ©, 11.10
Barry Mason ©, 12.7
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London ©, 7.6
Naval History & Heritage Command/NH97357–23-K ©, 8.7
NYT/Redux/eyevine ©, 8.0
David Robert, Lithograph, Copyrights have expired, 1.3
Techniker Ltd ©, 1.2
Techniker Ltd ©, 1.6
Techniker Ltd ©, 1.7
Techniker Ltd ©, 3.2.b
Techniker Ltd ©, 3.4
Techniker Ltd ©, 5.1
Techniker Ltd ©, 6.0.b
Techniker Ltd ©, 6.5.b
Techniker Ltd ©, 7.1
viii
Illustration credits
Techniker Ltd ©, 8.1
Techniker Ltd ©, 8.6
Techniker Ltd ©, 9.1
Techniker Ltd ©, 9.5
Techniker Ltd ©, 9.8
Techniker Ltd ©, 10.2
Techniker Ltd ©, 12.2
Techniker Ltd ©, 12.5.b
Techniker Ltd ©, 12.8
Techniker Ltd ©, 12.8.b
Techniker Ltd ©, 12.9
Tiefbauamt Graubunden, Switzerland ©, 9.4
Howard Norfolk, My Drive Around Jamaica/www.aquarticles.com ©, 6.3
www.imageshack.us©, 11.6
Jacques Mossot/www.structurae.de ©, 9.2
Mark R. Freese/www.structurae.de ©, 12.11
Nicolas Janberg/www.structurae.de ©, 2.4
Nicolas Janberg/www.structurae.de ©, 11.7
Yoshito Isono/www.structurae.de ©, 11.1
Wikipedia.de/Dantla ©, 2.0
Wikipedia.org/Jon Anderson ©, 12.5
www.wikimedia.org©, 6.2
www.wikimedia.org©, 7.0
www.wikipedia.org ©, 3.1
www.wikipedia.org ©, 12.6
Rolf Müller/www.wikipedia.org ©, 3.3
The Yorck Project: 10,000 Meisterwerke der Malerei/www.zeno.org ©, 8.5
ix