A new book, The Structure of Design: An Engineer’s Extraordinary Life in Architecture, is a firsthand account of Leslie Earl Robertson’s storied career in structural engineering—which has generated some of the most innovative and formally daring buildings of the modern era—as well as his extensive collaborations with several titans of the practice.
As a restless student from modest origins, Robertson’s first encounters with engineering were almost accidental, yet he would go on to be lead engineer of the landmark IBM buildings in Pittsburgh and Seattle while still in his early thirties. Immediately thereafter, he embarked on what would become his most renowned project, the World Trade Center, to be followed by scores of major buildings around the world.
The book is a personal and accessible chronicle of the partnerships and problem-solving that have forged classics of modern architecture. It also provides a look at how the key discipline of engineering influences design, as told by a genius and poet of structure.
Purchasing information for the book is available here.