Architettura in laterizio armato: la scuola di Eladio Dieste. L'Anfiteatro Parque Artigas a Las Piedras - Dipartimento di Canelones.

Abstract Brickwork is a material with a long history of use, together with timber it is a material that has evolved with tradition and craft. Steel and concrete became and still are the predominant structural materials. Most engineering schools focus the teaching of structures around these two materials and relatively few schools include timber and brickwork in their curriculum. However by the middle of the 20th century, many engineers and academics began to re-appraise the use of brickwork and apply the techniques of research and analysis to brickwork. Research had actually started earlier but the major resurgence in interest is largely considered to have occurred in the 1950s when load-bearing engineered brickwork was used in the construction of tall buildings upto 18 storeys high with walls only 30 cm in thickness, which took advantage of the high compressive strength of the material and a rational engineering approach to the distribution of forces. A large research community developed, mostly in Europe, North America and Australia. Major conferences, research programmes and the development of national codes of practice for structural brickwork developed. This community was largely unaware of the work of Eladio Dieste, which was underway creating structural forms, construction techniques and analysis methods considerably in advance of what the community was itself working on.