(1917-2000)

The history of structures in reinforced ceramic came to a halt on 19 July when Eladio Dieste, its principal driving force, expired in Montevideo at the age of 82. This industrial engineer, who discovered his passion for architecture through Antonio Bonet Castellana, found in the alliance of brick, iron and cement the means with which to transform each structural problem into an origami exercise. The huge spans required for sheds and water deposits nourished his search for the resistance inherent in forms, a quest which crystallized in light roofs with double curvature vaults and folded sheets. Though facilities like the hangars of Rio de Janeiro’s subway or the tank of Montevideo’s port testify to his skill at addressing functional exigencies with great material economy, it is in his religious buildings that his formal talent unfolds. Proof of the renewed interest towards his oeuvre are the replicas of his churches raised in Alcalá de Henares, the retrospective exhibition of his work set up in Spain and awards as the one he obtained for his entire career at the first Latin American Biennial of Architecture and Civil Engineering (1998).