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thanmy barehandsandnofurtheradditionto my academicbackground. Afterseveralyears

of generalpracticein Mexico,as draftsman,designerandcontractor,I recalledmy oldfancy

withshellsandbeganto collectagainpapersonthesubject. Whatever I learnedfromthenon

was to be thehardway, workingalone,withnodirecthelpfromany university or engineering

oce.ButI amindebtedto many peoplewhodidhelpmethroughtheirwritingsandMaillart

was oneof theforemost.

I discoveredhimin Giedion'sSpace,TimeandArchitecture;andthenI gotMaxBill'sbook

withitsinvaluablecollectionof Maillart'sessays. I devouredhisarticlesabout"Reinforced

ConcreteDesignandCalculation"(hewas verycarefulto dierentiatethemeaningof such

wordsandto avoidthemorethansemanticconfusionprevalent nowadays in English-speaking

countries).,"TheEngineerandtheAuthorities"which expresseshispositionin front of the

establishment and"MassandQuality in ReinforcedConcreteStructures."Veryshortpapers,

indeed,butwellprovidedwithopinions,somethingI couldrarelyndin otherengineeringar-

ticles.I learnedlaterthatto expresspersonalopinionsis consideredbadtasteamongtechnical

writers. Any discussionshouldbe restrictedto insignicant details,butnever touch funda-

mentaldogmas,in a fashioncuriouslysimilarto whatcouldbe expectedof thecouncilsof the

Church or themeetingsof any Politbureau.

Butmy attitudewithrespectto calculationsof reinforcedconcretestructureswas becoming

unorthodox, beingtiredperhapsof performinglongandtediousroutineswhoseresultswere

notalwaysmeaningful. Therefore,I foundMaillart'sthoughts delightfullysympatheticand

encouraging. If a rebel was ableto producesuch beautifulandsoundstructurestherecould

notbe anythingwrongwithbecomingalsoa rebel,which was besides,my onlyway to break

themysterysurroundingshellanalysis.

Thus,I started tofollow thebibliographictreadandmet,throughtheir writings,with

Freudenthal,Johansen,VanderBroek,Kist,Saliger,Kacinczyandso many otherswhoshowed

metherewas morethana singleandinfalliblemannerto approach structuralanalysis. The

discoveryof rupturemethods,withtheiremphasisonsimplestaticsandtheirbearingonthe

actualpropertiesof constructionmaterialsandtheirbehaviorin theplasticrange,allowedme

to trustin simpliedproceduresto understandandanalyzethedistributionof stressesin shell

structures. It alsohelpedmeto getoutof my naive beliefin theindisputabletruthof the

printedwordandto startreadingwitha newcriticaloutlook. NolongerdidI needto believe

whatever was in print, nomatterhow high-soundingthenameof theauthor.I couldmake my

ownjudgements aboutwhatmethods of stressanalysiswerebettersuitedformy practice.

SinceI wasworkingpracticallyalone, I couldnotaordnorhadtime forcomplexcal-

culationsanddidwelcomeMaillart'sadvicethatsimplercalculationsaremorereliablethan

complexones,especiallyforsomebodywhobuildshisownstructures. Thiswas exactlymy

caseand,sincemoststructuresI was buildingwereof modestscale,I couldcontrolwhatwas

happening,check theresultsandconrmtheaccuracyof my judgement or correctmy mistakes.

In a way, I was workingwithfullscalemodels.I understandthatthiswas alsotrueof Maillart

whoin many caseswas theactualbuilderof hisdesigns.

Followingthegeneraltrendto messupissues,therehasbeena lotof speculationaboutthe

engineeras anartistandin someinstances,like in thecaseof Nervi,abouttheengineeras an

architect(asif thetitleof architectcouldconfer,per se,artisticability to itsholder);butfew

peoplerealizethattheonlyway to be anartistin thisdicultspecialty of buildingis to be

yourowncontractor. in countrieslike this,wherethebuildingindustryhasbeenthoroughly

andirreversiblyfragmentedandtheresponsibility dilutedamongso many trades,it may be

shockingto thinkof a contractoras anartist;butit is indeedtheonlyway to have in your

handsthewholesetof toolsor instruments to performtheforgottenartof building,to produce