2021.04.06 Lecture Notes 3:00 Lecture 4 – Structural Innovations in Engineering Share Powerpoint (Check Box for Video Audio On) Turn on Captions

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2021.04.06 Lecture Notes 3:00 Lecture 4 – Structural Innovations in Engineering Share PowerPoint (check box for video audio on) Turn on captions. Mute everyone, unmute self

Welcome to 4th lecture within Guastavino Structural Tile Vaulting in Pittsburgh. Erin O’Neill co-hosting, field any questions in Chat. Q&A at break & end.

Guastavino benefitted from arriving in America at the start of a renaissance in architecture, inspired by the Beaux-Arts movement and fueled by the Industrialists new found wealth, as we saw in last week’s lecture on Architectural innovations.

Today we will be focusing on his innovations in Engineering, that coincided with the developments of new modern materials: Portland cement, steel, and concrete.

1885 Structural Clay Tile Vaults (Valencian) On October 24, 1889, as Boston Public Library was under construction, Guastavino delivered a lecture to Society of the Arts at MIT (published in 1892 as Essay on the Theory and History of Cohesive Construction: Applied Especially to the Timbrel Vault), constructing demonstration arches of plaster tile method: ordinary boards cut to proper curve as centering, on which laid course of flat brick tiles (12”x6”x1”), joints in Plaster of Paris (fast setting). First course completed, centering removed and second course laid with Portland cement (high strength), breaking joints with the first course, as with the third course, completing the arch with 4” thickness (3 layers of 1” thin tile bricks, 2 layers 1/2" mortar). [ Timbrel term invented by Guastavino, derived from drum-like nature of the thin vaults, that resonated when struck.]

Unlike traditional stone vaults, dry stacked without mortar, use gravity for stability, transferring the loads through center of stones lined as a path, Catalan cohesive tile construction strength of mortar bonding making tiles act as single cohesive material, like a board (bóveda tabicada), transferring loads downward at the end, eliminating lateral thrusts of stone vaults. 3:05 Stated in the 1889 MIT Lecture: “The flat brick was used with the idea of decreasing the number of pieces, closing the space with the least possible joints; thus, to give more strength and cohesion to the arch, they placed four rows, one on top of the other, breaking the joints, constituting through this medium an arch without joints.” Woven, not stacked.

Developed this understanding observing/emulating grotto in Spain (1871): “Within this great specimen of nature’s architecture… the thought entered my mind while in this immense room… that all of this colossal space was covered by a single piece, forming a solid mass of walls, foundation and roof… all being made of particles set one over the other, as nature had lain them. This grotto is really a colossal specimen of cohesive construction.”

In theory, if the weight (load) of the pieces (tiles) is small enough proportionately to the strength of adhesive (mortar) binding them together, then the system acts as a cohesive monolithic whole, as the natural grottos made of dust sized sediment deposited within drops of water seeping through fissures, eventually crystalizing into a solid.

However, Guastavino’s own load tests (1887) demonstrated the compression strength 10 times greater than the tensile strength in his tile vaults and subsequently, he always use brick buttressing or metal tension rings to resist the lateral thrusts. Likewise, the space above the vaults constructed of solid materials or series of diaphragm walls to counterweight the outward thrust of the vaults.

Thin vaults, consisting of little more than a surface, derives rigidity not from massiveness or thickness but rather from geometric form, the type of curvature. As with traditional stone vaults, the stability of thin tile vaults depends on the geometric form of the vaults, not on the strength of the material. If the supports move, the vaults will crack in response. The vaults survive because the form is correct and the correct form was built by Guastavino with empirical methods based on years of experience. To this day, none of Guastavino’s vaults have failed in use. 3:15 However, there is still some mystery as to precisely how and why these vaults function as they do. How could vaults of amazing thinness support such heavy loads? Modern day engineering practices have difficulty explaining the mathematics behind the vaults’ stability. As recent as a 1999 publication by Princeton Architectural Press, a study of Guastavino’s works claimed the use of steel tension rods to resist the lateral thrusts were “utterly superfluous elements”.

And in 1889, during the construction of the Library, a 2 ton stone accidentally fell several stories, puncturing through a completed tile vault, making a clean hole and did not precipitate the collapse of any adjacent arches or vaults. Which Guastavino would cite as confirmation of the ‘magical’ cohesive properties of tile vaulting.

Modern engineering has proven that increasing the slope (pitch) of a roof decreasing the lateral thrusting forces, which is why the profile of a vault (or dome) transitioning from a flat or low slope at the top to a vertical or high slope at the bottom is how the loading is transferred from lateral to downward into the supporting foundation below. However, one of the defining features of the Catalan tile vaulting is the shallowness of the vault, near horizontal and low sloped, which defies the structural logic of modern day engineering and mechanical physics.

1889 Shallow Board Vaults (Catalan) From 1889 MIT Lecture: “In some cases the ‘timbrel vaults’ were used as a ceiling and floor, having two or three thicknesses of tiles, with plaster, and the haunches were filled with pottery; this pottery was levelled over with rubbish and mortar, finishing with flooring tiles.”

Yale Memorial Rotunda (shallow dome floor; Carrère & Hastings; New Haven, Connecticut; 1900) +5 Doherty Hall (basement, bridge vaults; Henry Hornbostel; Pittsburgh; 1908-09) William Penn Hotel (bridge vault; Benno Janssen; Pittsburgh; 1928) 3:20

1890 Interlocking Flange Tiles Boston Public Library (interlocking flanged tile vaults 1890; Charles McKim; Boston, Massachusetts; 1889-1895) 1891 + 1895 Interlocking patents

1893 Long Spans Grace Universalist Church (spherical dome; William Chase; Lowell, Massachusetts; 1895)

1893 Central Dome with Adjacent Vaults Central Congregational Church (1893) from Chicago World Fair lecture; in Providence, Rhode Island (architects John Carrere & Thomas Hastings)

St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church (pendentive dome with arched wdws.; A.F. Link; Pittsburgh; 1926) +3 1895 Thin Span Domes Cathedral of St. John the Divine (132 feet span; Rafael Guastavino Jr.; Morningside Heights, New York; 1909) complexity of arches under choir loft

+10 12yrs. ago 1899 Double Dome (Exterior Weather & Interior Decoration) Gould Library (70 ft. dome; Stanford White; New York University; 1897) Buhl Planetarium (65 ft. dia. dome, long span, thin shell dome; Charles T. Ingham & William Boyd Jr.; Pittsburgh; 1938) Oct.21 – Nov. 18 (4 weeks) Zeiss II Planetarium projector with 106 lenses, producing 9,000 images of stars, the oldest operating projector in the world, moved to Carnegie Science Center in 1994. (Zeiss Optical Works, in Jena, Germany). Also, 35 ft. Foucault pendulum and 10 inch Siderostat type refractor telescope, second largest of this type. 3:25

St. Paul’s Chapel (double flying dome; Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes; Columbia University, New York; 1907) 1905 design, 1906 graphic statics

1908 Double Stacked Domes University of Virginia Rotunda (dome atop floor columns; Thomas Jefferson; Charlottesville, Virginia; 1899)

Army War College (stacked domes; Charles McKim; Washington D.C.; 1905) Elephant House (stacked domes; George Heins & Christopher La Farge; Bronx Zoo, New York; 1906/1908)

1904 Repeated Arches in Series City Hall Subway Station (series of arched vaults; George Heins & Christopher La Farge; New York; 1903)

Porter Hall (series of arched vaults; Henry Hornbostel; Pgh.; 1905-07, 1915) College of Industries??? (1931 cornice) First Guastavino vault in Pgh.

Basilica of St. Lawrence (elliptical dome; Guastavino Sr.; Asheville, NC; 1903) Much like Gaudi funding the Sagrada Familia Schools (1909)

Tiffany Building (elliptical oculus; Charles McKim; New York; 1905)

Baker Hall (elliptical oculus; Henry Hornbostel; Pittsburgh; 1914) 3:35 1909 Flying Buttresses St. Paul’s Chapel (1907) St. Francis de Sales (Henry D. Dagit; 1908) National Museum of Natural History (double flying dome; Charles McKim; Washington D.C.; 1909)

1910: Advertised Company’s success with poster of domes, after completing 1. St. John Divine dome in 1909 (132 ft. span) 2. National Museum (D.C., 80 ft. span) 10. St. Paul’s Chapel (Columbia, NY, 52 ft. span) 11. Rodef Shalom (Pgh., 90 ft. span) 12. Univ. of Virginia, Thom. Jefferson Rotunda (70 ft. span)

Staged Tile Layers: ‘mature’ system: 1. Plaster of Paris layer (fast) set without formwork 2. Upper/Outer layer (staggered joints) set in Portland Cement mortar bed 3. Under/Lower layer of Finished ‘Decorative’ Tile (staggered joints) set in Portland Cement mortar bed 4. Raised mortar joints of Portland Cement to finish (final lecture next week)

Interior Finish, no longer structural supporting floors or roof

side chapel Calvary Episcopal Church (crypt vaults; Ralph Adams Cram; Pittsburgh; 1906) DWGS + PICS Gaustavino’s first ribbed vaults in Pgh.

3:45 BREAK 3:55

Guastavino Company’s success measured by tile output, Woburn, Mass. Factory opened in 1901, ‘La Ceramica’ in 1907. Peak in 1915: 891,293 tiles produced.

Decline from WWI + Influence of Steel Industry: steel trusses, reinforcing concrete

1930 Steel Frame Supporting Tile Vaults Biltmore Estate (exterior loggia vaults; Richard Morris Hunt; Asheville, North Carolina; 1894)

Astor Courts (barrel ribbed vaults supporting steel truss; Charles McKim; Rhinecliff, New York; 1902)

Pennsylvania Station (steel truss vaults; Charles McKim; Midtown, NY; 1910) 1963 demolished (50 years) to make room for Madison Sq. Gardens. Vincent Scully (arch.hist.): "One entered the city like a god. One scuttles in now like a rat.” Catalyst for architectural preservation movement in United States.

Baker Hall (steel angle arches; Henry Hornbostel; Pgh.; 1914) Extension to Porter Hall, Catalan tile arches just 9 years earlier, now steel angles.

Stephan Foster Memorial (steel frame; Charles Z. Klauder; Pittsburgh; 1937)

Cathedral of Learning (Charles Z. Klauder; Pittsburgh; 1929 steel frame) 1937 Guastavino: Common room vaults, perimeter cloister corridors, elevator lobby 4pm +2

Rodef Shalom Synagogue (square dome; Henry Hornbostel; Pittsburgh; 1906) SKETCH 92ft. clear span with no structural steel support

+4 3/2/1906

Restoration in 1950s: facing brick was removed, inspected, returned or replaced. Took off all terracotta, replacing damaged pieces from 1940s cleaning with acid, trying to remove 50 years of Pgh. smoke/grime, only deteriorated tiles further. Re-furbished skylight, re-pointed windows. Copper roof (domes 20ft apart).

1907 Cantilevered Steel Canopy Supporting Tile Vaults Williamsburg Bridge (steel truss vaults; Henry Hornbostel; East River, NY; 1907)

1932 Steel Reinforced Rib Arches and Vaults Reinforced Dome Patent (1910)

Baker Hall (serpentine stair vaults w/o rebar; Henry Hornbostel; Pittsburgh; 1914) 4:10

By the 1930s, steel was so dominate, Guastavino took out adds comparing to tile. Sweets in 1931:

Mellon Arena (Mitchell & Ritchey; 1961-2011, 50 yrs.) Originally Civic Arena, clad in 2950 tons Stainless Steel. Madison Sq. Gardens: City of Pgh. used eminent domain to displace 8K residents, 400 businesses from lower Hill District > Neighborhood Preservation Movement.

+6 +2

East Liberty Presbyterian Church (nave/narthex, choir, bsmt., roof, aisle, steeple; Ralph Adams Cram; Pgh.; 1931-33)

1942: Last Guastavino vault laid in Pgh: Mellon Crypt) Mellon Memorial Chapel: (Richard B. Mellon 1858-1933) Stone lined crypt with bronze casket; walls of carved stone crest and ribs with Guastavino tile vault ‘fill’ (just as in 1st lecture. 1382 Monastery in Valencia, by master mason Juan Franch filling btwn. stone ribs with tile vaults, 560 yrs. later); yet, roof made of 4x12@2’o.c. long leaf dense grade pressure treated southern pine, 1 1/8” roof boarding, 5 ply roofing, 1 1/2" mortar bed, 1” quarry tile on top.

+16

Armadillo Vault (unreinforced cut sandstone asymmetric vault; Block Research Group, ETH Zurich; 2016) Venice Architecture Biennale Beyond Bending (unreinforced concrete stiffened vault; Block Research Group, ETH Zurich; 2016) Cohesive Construction has last laugh (no steel).