"Brick is a material with unlimited possibilities, almost completely ignored by modern technology". Eladio Dieste, 1996
Eladio Dieste (1917 – 2000), the eminent Uruguayan engineer and architect, contributed numerous groundbreaking inventions in designing and constructing reinforced and pre-stressed brick structures of remarkable beauty and structural capacity. While his work has received renewed interest since the late 1990s and has been analyzed in detail, concise and detailed efforts to re-examine the work with regards to its potential for contemporary architectural design have yet to take place.
To commence this effort and to introduce Dieste’s work to the Scandinavian context is the aim of the exhibition, symposium and construction experiments.
The events are organized by Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel, Michael Hensel and Birger Sevaldson and sponsored by Byggutengrenser.no, Wienerberger, Weber, and Einar Stange.
Download invitation (pdf)
Eladio Dieste Exhibition
08 – 22 October 2010
@ AHO Gallery
The exhibition focuses on the innovation of structural types by Eladio Dieste, made from reinforced and pre-stressed brick, all made from brick, and introduces related works from his substantial oeuvre to the Scandinavian context. The exhibition will open on Friday 08 October as part of the Eladio Dieste symposium and continues until Friday 22 October.
Brick Construction Experiments Workshop
04 – 22 October 2010
@ AHO Construction Hall
Directed by AHO research fellow Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel in collaboration with master-mason Øyvind Buset, the brick construction workshop will focus on a number of experiments that are informed by specific works by Eladio Dieste and develop these further to explore their untapped architectural potentials.
Brick Construction Experiments Gallery Discussion
22 October 2010 – from 10-00
@ AHO Construction Hall
On Friday 22 October 2010 there will be a gallery discussion in the AHO construction hall starting from 10-00. The discussion will focus on the various experiments that were conducted during the brick construction experiments workshop.
Eladio Dieste Symposium
08 October 2010 from 09.30 to 18.00
@ AHO Auditorium
The symposium will introduce the seminal work of the late Eladio Dieste to the Norwegian context. The symposium is organized in two sessions. The first part will examine the works of Eladio Dieste from various perspectives. Acclaimed Dieste researchers and experts will present their approach to Dieste’s work during the first session. The second session takes a broader outlook into how Dieste’s work might inform specific architectural research and further innovation potential in designing and constructing with bricks. The final talk of the second session will focus on questions of sustainability associated with designing and constructing with bricks.
Symposium Program:
09.30 Welcoming Note.
Rector Prof. Karl Otto Ellefsen
09.40 Welcoming Note.
Sponsors Representative
09.50 Introduction to the Symposium.
Prof. Børre Skodvin
Session 1 – The Work of Eladio Dieste
10.00 An Architectural Talk in Uruguay - Visiting Eladio Dieste revisited.
Prof. Einar Dahle
11.00 Keynote Lecture 1
Prof. Dr. Remo Pedreschi
12.00 Keynote Lecture 2
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gengnagel
13.00 Lunch Break
13.45 Eladio Dieste Exhibition Opening
Session 2 – Innovating through Material Systems and the various Potentials of Constructing with Brick
14.30 Performance-oriented Design from a Material Systems Perspective – Innovating with Material Systems
Prof. Michael Hensel
15.30 Complex Brick Systems
Research Fellow Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel
16.30 Solid as a brick? On Masonry and Sustainability
Prof. Marius Nygaard
17.30 Panel Discussion
Moderated by Prof. Børre Skodvin