Miracles in Concrete: Structural Engineer August Komendant

The first comprehensive tribute to Louis Kahn's and Moshe Safdie's structural engineer

The
Estonian-American civil engineer August Komendant (1906-1992) worked
with numerous famous architects and engineers on several of the 20th
century's most iconic buildings.

Concrete was Komendant's
passion through decades. He used his expertise in designing structures
as different as the Kadriorg Stadium grandstand in Tallinn, Estonia
(Elmar Lohk, 1938), the Habitat '67 experimental housing complex in
Montréal, Canada (Moshe Safdie, 1967) and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort
Worth, Texas, USA (Louis I. Kahn, 1972).

Komendant combined
technical expertise with a keen sense of aesthetics: as an engineer, he
valued the timeless and enduring qualities of architecture. He knew that
miracles require more than spreadsheets and a budget - the creative
impulse is essential.

• One of the most innovative civil engineers of the 20th century.
• Specialized in the use of reinforced concrete and various other concrete technologies
• Structural engineer to architects such as Louis I. Kahn, Moshe Safdie, and Eero Saarinen