Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile

In this lovely book, MIT Professor John Ochsendorf chronicles the architectural legacy of Rafael Guastavino, who arrived in New York from Spain in 1861 and brought with him a technique for building vaults and domes without using formwork, from multiple laminations of flat ceramic tiles. His system was soon being used by the foremost architects of the time. His work is strong visually as well as physically, and ethereally beautiful. None of his many constructions has ever failed structurally, and most are still in service, as fresh and bright as the day they were completed. Ochsendorf's insightful writing about the technical virtuosity and business sense of the Guastavinos, father and son, is coupled with stunning color photographs by Michael Freeman that reveal for the first time th full glory of their aesthetic achievements. The author gives us delicious surprises throughout the book: In a 1900 poll of U.S. architects to designate the ten most beautiful building in the country, all but two employed Guastavino construction. The 70-foot dome he built for a church in Lowell, MA is proportionally half the thickness of an eggshell. The floor structure of Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, though not by Guastavino, was spanned with a similar system that is totally out of character with the iconic building that it supports. This book is a must-read for architectural historians and structural engineers as well as anyone who appreciates beautifully crafted buildings. It is especially recommended to Manhattanites and Bostonians, who have easy access to hundreds of the Guastavino buildings listed in the appendix.

Prof. Ochsendorf has provided us with a book to treasure. It is a meticulously researched and carefully written account of a fascinating father and son team, the Guastavinos. The book starts with the Catalan origins of the laminated vaulting technique and the author shares his expertise with us as he draws from all the scholarship available on the Guastavinos while he tells the story of their designs and the impact they had on architecture in the United States. This book uses archival material from Avery Library to show us Guastavino's drawings, patents and some graphic statics as well. The photographs are stunning and make me want to visit all of these sites! Many people may have seen the Oyster Bar in Grand Central or the dome in St. John the Divine, but how many people knew about the miraculously thin masonry spiral staircases or fantastic crypts that are documented here?The author's excitement and enthusiasm are contagious and he has given us a wonderful book that is truly the definitive word on the subject. And that subject, the amazing Catalan vaults of the Guastavinos, is a story that every architect and structural engineer should know about!

As a fan of architecture, I was surprised to hear about Guastavino vaulting. I started searching the internet and came upon this book. I bought it as a Christmas present to myself. It is a wonderful book. Anyone interested in architecture should enjoy this book!

After seeing a PBS special on the Art Schools of Cuba, I Googled around and came upon this book. It's a treasure. Ochsendorf is a professor who lectures and gives hands-on workshops on building Guastavino vaulting, and there is enough detail given in the book to actually build such a vault, though it would be impractical in the U.S. for a number of reasons (also discussed). However, the pictures give the wonderful feel of architectural spaces defined in free-flowing tile, and there is a long list of existing structures, mostly in New York but scattered through the United States, that define an architectural tour for timbrel vaulting groupies who can't make it to Barcelona to see Gaudi's wonderful buildings.For the hands-on types, there is a Rhinoceros plug-in called RhinoVAULT that makes it possible to design funicular (compressive) structures using the Thrust-Network-Approach [...] and there are a number of sites showing modern timbrel vaults in short-term construction, and its use with earth blocks in the Third World [...]. What is old may yet be new again.

Good quality product, thank you!

Guastavino vaulting is one of those magical construction assemblies that seems to defy gravity and easy explanation. How do you span great distances with a system that doesn't need formwork or heavy shoring and end up with something that is both beautiful and extremely strong? As a preservation architect, I have worked in and around Guastavino vaulting for many years, but never completely understood how it went together or it's full capabilities. John Ochsendorf, through his own hands on experience, describes how the system is designed and built. The father and son tile company changed from the largely empirical genius of the father to a more rigorous engineering basis, but ultimately more conventional (and cheaper) structural systems superseded Guastavino. The lucid text is beautifully complemented by new photography that captures the amazing spatial quality of the vaulted spaces.

Ochsendorf relates a fascinating and untold story of the "boveda catalana" or Catalan vault in the United States. Structural engineering, building technology, architectural design and history are woven together seamlessly in what is also a remarkable story about the most innovative ever of family businesses.

A valuable history with excellent photos and drawings which could have been better if there was more technical analysis. The technology was developed without the engineering analysis that is possible today and it is now obsolete. At least one building was torn down because it could not be shown that it met modern building codes. But the question remains: Is the technology viable in modern terms? There are no failures documented in this book, so one could argue that it is viable. But the book, by an MIT professor, leaves the question hanging.

Magnificent

GUASTAVINO VAULTING.Muy interesante para estudiantes y profesionales de arquitectura y arquitectura técnica.Bien editado y de fácil lectura.Recomendado también para historiadores del arte.

Un ouvrage très étendu sur les détails de l'oeuvre de Guastavino, mais techniquement superficiel. J'espérai avoir plus d'information sur la voûte catalane et le How to.