Bridging the gap : Engineer Eduardo Torroja in the post-war networks of Modern architecture

Abstract

The work of Spanish engineer Eduardo Torroja was known and admired internationally by architects and engineers after the Second World War. However, the three works that would establish his place in the world of thin shell concrete structures — Algeciras Market Hall, Recoletos Pelota Court and La Zarzuela Racecourse — had been constructed twenty years earlier, during the Second Spanish Republic. This paper explores the mechanisms that would enable their delayed dissemination in the 1950s, in particular, the post-war platforms, mass media, and networks in which Torroja participated. Torroja was first involved in engineering networks and shortly afterwards in networks of Modern architecture, where the functionalist paradigm was being fully reviewed by what is known as organic architecture. His success was closely related to structural intuition, an inner experience that enabled him to bridge the gap between advanced engineering and Modern architecture. This intuition derived from his mastering of thin shell structures and transpired in the abstract and geometric forms of his trio of works.