Eduardo Torroja. The habitat of his revolutionary research models

Abstract

Eduardo Torroja Miret (1899-1961) was one of the most relevant engineers of the history of civil engineering and architecture. He played a major role in the scientific and technical revolution of reinforced and pre-stressed concrete in the first half of the twentieth century. He is internationally acclaimed not only for his innovative works, but also, like the Spanish engineer Agustín de Betancourt, for his many-faceted professional activity: designer, scientist, researcher, manager, and teacher. This paper reveals the research result on the path he followed to design and build the most suitable habitat for his revolutionary and timeless research model which allowed him to bring together the most relevant international protagonists of avant-garde engineering and architecture of the Modernity, and create international associations that, like the International Association for Shell Structures, have remained active since then, leading the advancement of new structural types.