Patterns and Structure

Description

This rich collection of writings and criticisms by structural engineer and Princeton University professor Guy Nordenson, brings together previously published essays on structural engineering, architecture, design, and seismic research from 1973 to 2008.

Decade by decade, Nordenson’s essays provide the unique viewpoint of the structural engineer and design collaborator, adding context that relates not only to the history of architecture and engineering, but locates these fields in a larger network of cultural relevance. Originally commissioned by publications like The New York Times, Domus, The Harvard Design Magazine, Perspecta, Lotus, Earthquake Spectra, and MoMA’s Tall Buildings exhibition catalog, Nordenson’s writings investigate a wide range of genres: from technical reports on seismicity, methods and technologies in structural engineering, architectural criticisms, the importance of collaboration in design, to the metaphor of tall buildings, design democracy at Ground Zero, and engineering history and theory. This compilation is a wonderful reflection on Nordenson’s career thus far and the changing pace and stature of structural engineering.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

• 9 Sublimating Structures—A Short Memoir

EARLY WRITINGS

• 7 Poem, 1972
• 37 In Search of Ezra Pound, 1975
• 41 Tensegrity from Greece to Cambridge, 1975
• 170 RUNE–AN MIT JOURNAL OF ARTS AND LETTERS, 1976

SEISMIC DESIGN

• 43 Aseismic Reinforcement of Existing Buildings, 1980 (with Nicholas F. Forell)
• 59 Notes on the Seismic Design of Concentrically Braced Steel Frames, 1984
• 71 Seismicity and Seismic Hazards in the New York City Area, 1986 (with C. Thomas Statton)
• 87 Wind Versus Seismic Design, 1988
• 103 Seismic Design of Suspended Boiler Structures, 1990 (with P. J. Donelan and M. Garkawe)
• 123 Seismic Codes, 1993
• 163 Built Value and Earthquake Risk, 1997
• 283 Seismic Design Requirements for Regions of Moderate Seismicity, 2000 (with Glenn R. Bell)
• 393 Earthquake Loss Estimation for the New York City Metropolitan Region, 2008 (with Michael W. Tantala, George Deodatis, Klaus Jacob)

ON DESIGN

• 113 An Inventive Nature,1991
• 119 The Spirit of Measure, 1993
• 145 Time and Section Study, 1993
• 263 Notes on Bucky:Patterns and Structure, 1997
• 371 With Great Joy and Expectations, 2006
• 433 Constellations, 2008

PATTERNS AND MATERIALS

• 147 Critical Mass, 1996
• 151 Light Construction Symposium, 1997
• 155 Notes on Light and Structure, 1997
• 367 Concrete Theater, 2006
• 379 Apocryphal, 2007
• 428 Action and Practice, 2008

COLLABORATIONS

• 271 The Lineage of Structure and the Kimbell Art Museum, 1998
• 311 Collaboration, 2000
• 319 The Daily Practice of Collaboration, 2002
• 323 City Square: Structural Engineering, Democracy, and Architecture, 2002
• 447 Duelling Partners, 2008

TALL BUILDINGS

• 327 Tall Building Structures Since the World Trade Center: Art, Craft, and Industry, 2002
• 333 Tall Building as Metaphor, 2003
• 375 Freedom From Fear, 2007
• 383 Truth in Tall Buildings, 2007

APPENDIX

• 451 Index
• 460 Publications
• 462 Biography
• Acknowledgments

464 pages, 218 illustrations / 16,5 x 24 cm / English