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An Engineer Imagines
Artemis 1994; 7.25 x 10.25, 302 illus., 208 pp., cloth, $49.95 Reviewed by Lester Korzilius
Published in Oculus, November 1995 |
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Peter Rice, a gifted structural engineer, played a major
role in some of the most prominent works of architecture of the last 20
years. He passed away at an early age in 1992. This book, written while
he was ill, is a series of recollections and thoughts on the nature of
structural engineering and architecture.
Some of the structural projects on which Rice collaborated included Jorn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House, Piano & Roger’s Centre Pompidou in Paris, Roger’s Lloyds of London, Piano’s Kansai Airport and de Menil Museum in Houston, Hopkin’s Mound Stand Cricket Stadium in London, and Fainsilber’s Museum of Science at La Villette. Rice work his entire career with Ove Arup & Partners, the London-based engineering firm. Later in his career, he formed associations with Renzo Piano and then with RFR, where he consulted on many unique glazed structures such as the roofs of the latest addition to Andreu’s Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Brosi and Orbist’s Chur bus station in Switzerland. Rice describes the design process of these projects and the intensive interaction that occurred between the architect, structural engineer, and the construction industry. He speaks of engineering solutions in a way that is interesting and informative to non-engineers. His book ought to be required reading for architects who aspire to create buildings with significant structural engineering as part of the design concept. In Rice’s words "what is needed is just courage, care, and attention to detail, and above all belief."
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