Guastavino structural calculations

The Guastavino Company designed and constructed thousands of incredible thin shell masonry domes, arches, and staircases in America from the 1880s to the 1960s. This thesis traces the design process of the Guastavino Company from the late 1890s to the mid-1900s through their original structural drawings held at the Avery Library Archives at Columbia University. The drawings are analyzed to reveal the Guastavino Company's innovation of graphic statics techniques, advanced calculations, and strategic designs. No one has ever studied the original drawings. The design process for Guastavino Jr.'s arches and domes is formed through the examination of the barrel vault calculation drawing for the St. Francis de Sales Church (Philadelphia, PA - 1908) and the dome calculation drawing for the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (NY, NY - 1909). The research presents the ingenuity of the Guastavino Company in their structural calculations and in particular, Rafael Guastavino Jr.'s outstanding contributions.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Zawisny, Natalia C

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John A. Ochsendorf.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99618

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/99618