- En savoir plus
- L'auteur
- 13 x 21 cm
- 352 pages
- 105 black and white illustrations
- ISBN: 978-2-9092-8346-3
- Text in French only
It is rare for scholars and historians to account for the considerable material dependence of architecture. Today, statistics state that in France, 80% of the weight of construction produced annually is in concrete. But what do we know about the basis of this modern necessity? One man capitalized on the original, and partly unique, values of reinforced concrete: François Hennebique (1842-1921), who filed the patent in 1892. This book paints his portrait, and describes his business, as well as the magnetism which made him the essential experimenter with this material of architectural modernity. Gwenaël Delhumeau's story dismantles, piece by piece, the gigantic machine that this exceptional entrepreneur built to turn reinforced concrete into the walls of our spaces, the material of our horizons. Reinforced concrete, “marble of the 20th century” according to Tadao Ando, here has its authorship restored to its author.