Robert Maillart

Maillart 1925

Robert Maillart

Robert Maillart (born February 6, 1872 in Bern , † April 5, 1940 in Geneva ) was a Swiss civil engineer , bridge builder and entrepreneur. With the new material reinforced concrete , he created many trend-setting arched bridges and wide-span mushroom ceilings without beams at the beginning of the 20th century .

Life

Robert Maillart attended grammar school in his native Bern until 1889. He then began studying civil engineering at the Polytechnic in Zurich , today's ETH Zurich , from which he graduated in 1894 with a diploma.

The Inn Bridge in Zuoz, an early work by Maillart

Mushroom cover in the federal grain warehouse in Altdorf

His first professional position was at the engineering office Pümpin & Herzog in Bern, after which he was employed by the civil engineering office of the city of Zurich from 1897 to 1899. From 1899 to 1902 he worked at the Froté & Westermann engineering firm in Zurich, which specialized in the construction of reinforced concrete structures, and designed the Inn Bridge in Zuoz , among other things .

In 1902 Maillart founded the construction company Maillart & Cie with partners and built, among other things, the Tavanasa Bridge over the Rhine in 1904 , his first consistently designed three- hinged box girder, which attracted a great deal of attention in the professional world; The building was in 1927 by a mudflow destroyed. In building construction, he developed the mushroom ceiling without braces , which was patented in 1908. As a result, he received a number of orders for warehouses and industrial buildings in Switzerland and Europe. In 1914 he was surprised by the outbreak of World War I while he was in Riga on business with his family . He was only able to return to Switzerland in 1918, where his construction company no longer existed.

Completely penniless, Maillart founded an engineering office in Geneva in 1919, which still exists today as a Tingénierie after various name changes . In 1923 he designed his first bridge based on the principle of the reinforced rod arch , the Flienglibach Bridge. After initial difficulties, from 1925 he planned a large number of bridges in Switzerland, which enabled the establishment of branches in Bern and Zurich.

The Maillarts bridges are characterized by an excellent architectural design and are based on consistent consideration and optimal use of the reinforced concrete load-bearing elements. They were also designed in such a way that they only required very light arch scaffolding . Among its technically and aesthetically impressive bridges, the Salginatobel Bridge near Schiers in Graubünden, built in 1930 , a three-hinged arch bridge with a span of 90 meters, was Maillart's best-known structure. The bridge was later named a World Monument by the American Association of Engineers . The oldest still preserved and unchanged tied arch bridge is the Valtschiel Bridge near Donat GR .

In 1937 Maillart became an honorary member of the Royal Institute of British Architects . At the age of 68 he died in Geneva in 1940 of the long-term effects of a traffic accident that he had suffered in 1936.

archive

The Robert Maillart estate with numerous plans, sketches, drawings, photographs and other documents is in the ETH Zurich University Archives at the ETH Library. An overview of this inventory can be found in the online list of bequests in the Research Collection of ETH Zurich.

gallery

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  Valtschielbrücke at Donat

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  Salginatobel Bridge near Schiers

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  Arve bridge near Vessy

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  Ross grave bridge Hinterfultigen

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  Thur bridge near Felsegg , Henau

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  Factory building in Giessen , Wädenswil, from 1905

Buildings

The Salginatobel Bridge from 1930

Amongst other things:

• Veyronbrücke the BAM in Pampigny , 1896
• Stauffacher Bridge , Zurich , 1899
• Innbrücke , Zuoz , 1901 (restoration 1969)
• Hadlaub Bridge of the Rigiblick Cable Car, Zurich, 1901 (demolished and replaced in 1979)
• Steinach Bridge , St. Gallen , 1903
• Thurbücke , Billwil - Oberbüren , 1904 (restoration 2009)
• Weaving building for the Pfenninger cloth factory , Wädenswil , 1904–1906
• Front Rhine Bridge Tavanasa , 1905 (destroyed by debris flow and replaced in 1927)
• Water tower , St. Gallen, 1906 (repairs 2011)
• Factory building for the fruit and wine cooperative , Wädenswil, 1906 (demolished in 2007)
• Bridge over the railway , Aach, 1907
• Bürkliplatz music pavilion , Zurich, 1908
• Thur Bridge , Wattwil , 1909
• Cable bridge over the underwater canal , Wyhlen , 1910
• Giesshübel warehouse , Zurich, 1910 (repaired in 2008)
• Felber hat factory , Wädenswil, 1911
• Old Rhine Bridge , Laufenburg, 1911 (repaired 1982)
• Aare Bridge , Aarburg , 1912 (repair and renovation 1968)
• Weir bridge , Augst –Wyhlen, 1912
• Old Rhine Bridge , Rheinfelden, 1912 (repaired 2012)
• Filter building , near Rorschach , 1912 (demolished in 2010)
• Warehouse , Petrograd , 1912
• Federal grain store , Altdorf , 1912
• Muotabrücke , Ibach , 1913 (broken off and replaced in 2001)
• Arvebrücke , Marignier , 1920 (extensive renovation 1986)
• Flienglibachbrücke , Innerthal , 1923 (demolished and replaced in 1969)
• Aqueduct over the Trepsenbach , Rempen , 1923
• Schrähbachbrücke over a bay of the Wägitalersee , 1924 (repair and renovation 1933)
• Ziggenbach Bridge , near Innerthal, 1924
• Aqueduct , at Le Châtelard , 1924
• Chancy-Pougny water tower , Chancy , 1924
• Valtschiel Bridge , Donat , 1925
• Magazzini generali warehouse , Chiasso , 1925
• Sihlpost , Zurich, 1926
• Lorraine Bridge , Bern , 1929 (repaired in 1996)
• Landquartbrücke of the RhB , Klosters , 1930 (reconstruction 1944, broken off and replaced in 1993)
• Salginatobel Bridge , Schiers , 1930 (repaired 1998)
• Spittelbrücke , Adelboden , 1931 (repaired in 1994)
• Ladholzbrücke , between Frutigen and Adelboden, 1931
• Hombachbrücke , near Schangnau , 1931 (broken off and replaced in 1988)
• Luterstaldengrabenbrücke , near Schangnau, 1931 (demolished and replaced in 1990)
• Triftwasserbrücke , near Nessental , 1932
• Rossgraben Bridge , near Schwarzenburg , 1932 (repaired in 2006)
• Traubach Bridge , near Habkern , 1932 (repaired 2004)
• Bolbach Bridge , near Habkern, 1932 (repaired in 2004)
• Sihlhölzli sports complex , Zurich, 1932
• Sihlhölzli music pavilion , Zurich, 1932
• Schwandbach bridge at Hinterfultigen (BE), 1933 (2006 restoration)
• Thurbrücke near Felsegg , 1933 (repaired in 1989 and 2005)
• Canal bridge near Felsegg, 1933 (demolished and replaced in 2011)
• Aare bridge , Innertkirchen , 1934 (broken off and replaced in 2010)
• Tösssteg , Winterthur - Wülflingen , 1934 (repaired in 2004)
• Birsbrücke , near Liesberg , 1935
• Bridge in Luzernstrasse , Huttwil , 1935 (repaired 2010)
• Twannbachbrücke , Twann , 1936 (repair 2015)
• Pont de Vessy , Veyrier GE , 1936
• Garage des Nations , Geneva , 1936 (repair and conversion 1995)
• Lütschinebrücke , Gündlischwand , 1937 (extensive renovation in 1990)
• Bridge in Weissensteinstrasse , Bern, 1938
• Wyler Bridge , Wyler , 1938 (restoration 2009)
• Simmebrücke , Garstatt , 1940 (repair 2010)
• Simmebrücke , Laubegg, 1940 (replaced by a new building in 2013)
• Bridge in Seestattstrasse , Altendorf, 1940 (repaired in 2008)
• Bridge in Churerstrasse , Altendorf , 1940 (repair and renovation 1955, repair 1995)
• Airebrücke , Lancy , 1954

Notes on the structures

1. ↑ Years relate to commissioning or the completion of the repair work. Geo-coordinates only for objects without their own article.
2. ↑ One source mentions 1894.
3. ↑ Today the building contains commercial space and loft apartments. The mushroom covers were preserved.
4. ↑ Originally tied arch, now box girder.
5. ↑ No more water is treated at this location. A high-performance pumping station was built on the neighboring parcel, which pumps the water that has now been treated in the Frasnacht lake water works to St. Gallen.
6. ↑ ^{a b} The Hombach and Luterstaldengraben bridges were replaced by new buildings, which are strongly based on the originals by Robert Maillart.
7. ↑ The round pavilion now houses a memorial for the UNHCR employees who died in action .
8. ↑ The Maillart Bridge will be retained as a feeder to a property and will be renovated.
9. ↑ In the literature, the building is also referred to as the SBB flyover near Lachen .
10. ↑ Originally a three-hinged arch, now a two-hinged arch with prestressing cables running through the floor. Last bridge built by Maillart during his lifetime.
11. ↑ Design concept still from Maillart.

Movie

• Heinz Emigholz : Maillart's bridges. Pym Films and WDR , Berlin 1996/2007 (DVD), ISBN 978-3-937045-78-8 .

literature

• Bruno Meyer: Robert Maillart. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Society for Civil Engineering (Ed.): Robert Maillart. Concrete virtuoso. vdf Hochschulverlag (ETH Zurich), Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-7281-2632-2 .
• Max Bill : Robert Maillart. Artemis, Zurich 1949.
• Jürg Conzett in: Bündner monthly newspaper . Issue 1/2010.
• David P. Billington:  Maillart, Robert. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , pp. 707 f. ( Digitized version ).
• David P. Billington: Robert Maillart and the Art of Reinforced Concrete. MIT Press, 1990, ISBN 0-262-02310-5 .
• Karl-Eugen Kurrer : History of Structural Analysis. In search of balance. 2nd, strong adult Edition, Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-433-03134-6 , p. 584, p. 701, p. 707 f and p. 1004 (biography).
• Michael D. Schmid: The bridge building pioneer and his ceilings. Robert Maillart's early industrial buildings in Wädenswil. In: Yearbook of the City of Wädenswil 2018. Stutz Medien, Wädenswil 2018, pp. 85–98.

Web links

Commons : Robert Maillart  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : Robert Maillart's Bridges  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Robert Maillart in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography Robert Maillart
• Daniel Imhof: Les ponts de Robert Maillart.
• Robert Maillart in the ETH Library's “Portrait of the Month”
• Publication The Swiss engineer who designs: Robert Maillart, Christian Menn and Jürg Conzett by Tom F. Peters
• Robert Maillart. In: Structurae
• Winter, Tilman: Robert Maillart (1872–1940). The artful designer. In: Great Engineers, 2008/2011.
• Robert Maillart in memory. Obituary in: Schweizerische Bauzeitung , volume (year): 115/116 (1940), issue 19, pp. 224–226.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Flood in Tavanasa, 1927 , Graubünden Natural Hazards (Office for Forests and Natural Hazards Graubünden)
2. ^ Robert Maillart's estate directory in the Research Collection, doi : 10.3929 / ethz-a-000482170
3. ^ Tagblatt Online , May 11, 2010, accessed on July 27, 2011
4. ^ Tagblatt Online , August 20, 2010, accessed on July 24, 2011
5. ↑ 2010, objection to the demolition ( memento of November 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
6. ^ Tagblatt Online , May 11, 2011, accessed on July 27, 2011
7. ↑ Journal de Genève ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. June 28, 1995, accessed July 29, 2011 (French)  
8. ↑ Three- joint in reinforced concrete (PDF; 394 kB), accessed on July 27, 2011
9. ↑ New bridge over the Simme ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 27, 2011.  
10. ↑ E. Schubiger, HR Wachter: Application of the prestressing technology to the renovation of the SBB overpass at Lachen . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung , Volume 73 (1955), pp. 475–478.