Eladio Dieste and structural brick in Uruguay

Abstract

Eladio Dieste’s personality is reflected in the honesty of his architecture and engineering, created in keeping with his “cosmic economy”, a conceit consisting essentially in the use of brick as an inexpensive construction material. Applying ingenious reinforcement techniques and revolutionary innovations, he conquered space with forms designed to deploy the least possible energy in building. The authors of this article had the privilege of knowing this unique genius during their own careers. For the present study, they gleaned the essence of Dieste’s “structural brickwork” from his published works, focusing on two singular buildings (the oldest church in Atlantida and Durazno Church) illustrative of the engineer’s key concern in his oeuvre: to build the most economic and expressive spaces imaginable with civilization’s oldest construction material. The walls and roofs of Dieste’s ruled and fluted thin surfaces are more slender than any built ever before with traditional materials. This he achieved with ingenuity and construction skill, using techniques that contrasted starkly with the reinforced concrete approach preferred by his contemporaries (Le Corbusier and Candela, to name but two). For his efficient use of materials, Dieste can be justly viewed as a forerunner of Sustainable Architecture.