Eduardo Torroja: Element

Eduardo Torroja was Spanish architect. Explore interesting quotes on element.
Eduardo Torroja: 58 quotes0 likes

“Bricks are considered to be the first material created by human intelligence from the four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. …The great variety of designs and effects that artists of the past, especially the Arabs… were able to create in their brickwork, assembled with an element so monotonous… can be compared only with the beauty and attractiveness a romantic poet attained by adjusting his verses to the rigidity of a formal meter.”

Eduardo Torroja

Philosophy of Structures (1958)

“Stress phenomena are… not independent of scale, as was the case pertaining to simple external static equilibrium. …with increasing dimensions of a structural element the volume and therefore the proper weight increases more rapidly than its cross-sectional areas…”

Eduardo Torroja

Philosophy of Structures (1958)

“[M]ost of our structures in the past consisted of individual members having relatively small transverse dimensions as compared with their length, and in such members stress analysis is much more simple. …[M]any modern structures consist of frameworks of this type, and frequently the word "structure" refers specifically to assemblies consisting of linear elements.”

Eduardo Torroja

Philosophy of Structures (1958)

“Concrete presents, besides a coefficient of thermal expansion, a coefficient of hygroscopic dilation which is more appreciable. While concrete is kept wet… it expands; and as it dries, it contracts, in inverse proportion to the hygroscopic degree of the ambient air. …The shrinkage …will vary with the porosity of the concrete and with the thickness used in the structural member. …Shrinkage is much greater in structures consisting of thin elements subjected to intemperateness of dry climate, and disappears or becomes negligible in underground structures”

Eduardo Torroja

e.g., foundations
Philosophy of Structures (1958)

“Equilibrium requires that the whole of the structure, the form of its elements, and the means of interconnection be so combined that at the supports there will automatically be produced passive forces or reactions that are able to balance the forces acting upon the structures, including the force of its own weight.”

Eduardo Torroja

p, 125
Philosophy of Structures (1958)

“[T]here are three different but interconnected conceptions to be considered in every structure, and in every structural element involved: equilibrium, resistance, and stability.”

Eduardo Torroja

p, 125
Philosophy of Structures (1958)

“Adobe (sun-dried clay bricks) is a material usable in regions where sandy clays suitable for fabrication are found. Adobe masonry, is, however, useful only for walls and structural elements subjected to lower values of tension and compression, and is, therefore, of little interest as a structural material.”

Eduardo Torroja

p, 125
Philosophy of Structures (1958)

“Lightweight concrete obtained with special admixtures producing bubbles throughout the mass shows lower resistance, which makes it less suitable for structural purposes; its practical application is limited to smaller structural elements adequately reinforced in which thermal insulation is required.”

Eduardo Torroja

p, 125
Philosophy of Structures (1958)

“One should become so familiar with the structure as to have the feeling of being, in full vitality and sentiment, part of it and of all its elements. …it is necessary to achieve a sincere Einfühlung [empathy] of the process of resistence… through the deformation that is always essentially united with the process of stressing. …[T]he comprehension of a structure requires intuitive knowledge of the ethology of its resistance and of its constituent materials.”

Eduardo Torroja

Philosophy of Structures (1958)