Word: candela
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...Norton lecturer for any given year could be a man from any of a veritable potpourri of fields which the University considers to belong among music, the arts, or literature. This winter's speaker is architect Felix Candela, who entered the profession on the theory that it "sounded as good as any other" and is now one of the most skillful designers of thin-slab concrete structures in the hemisphere...
...Candela's genius has not been solely in what amounts to the "sculpture" of aesthetically pleasing structures, however; the architectural concept he has developed over the past ten years now makes possible the construction of these buildings at costs in many cases lower than those of more conventional projects...
Thin sheets of saddle-shaped concrete typify Mr. Candela's architecture; a geometrician would describe them as sections of a hyperbolic paraboloid. Their most common application is in roofs for large buildings, since an inch-and-a half thick slab shaped in this way requires only one support for every 2500 square feet, far fewer than a flat surface would require...
...Curved surfaces," Mr. Candela explains, "no matter what type, are always stronger. This is one reason why snail shells are curled, or why it is safer to design automobiles with curved pieces of steel...
...This is a very useful property, to say the least," Mr. Candela points out. "Suppose you tried something like a dome-the mathematics is simple enough, but to build the form you must twist the wood in a very difficult manner. Domes are difficult, and very expensive. I have only ever done three or four of them...