Recognition of his Work
Dieste´s magnificent work, called in his country "the lord of the bricks", il- lustrates the importance of the design´s form as
opposed to the mass, enables structures to resist the various loads that are exerted, and provides greater structural and spatial flexibility. This is how he understood the concept of "less is more", substantially reducing the amount of material needed to create spaces. Dieste's contribution is equidistant to architecture and engineering and, in a way, dissolves the border between both disciplines, which places him at the forefront of renowned figures such as Félix Candela, Buckminster Fuller, and Frei Otto. Both his thinking and his constructed work clearly reveal the idea that traverses throughout his entire career: the search for rationality in the use of structures and the use of basic resources. He is not interested in originality, beauty, or structural flaunting "per se", but his rational search is so authentic and deep that it leads him to find a structural innovation that amazes and a beauty that thrills. Fortunately, during his lifetime Eladio Dieste had the opportunity to document and write about his work, leaving an immense legacy for future generations of architects, engineers, and artists, not only in Latin America but also in the world. In 1991, in the city of Manizales, the Latin American Architecture Seminar awarded him the America Prize for his contribution to the discipline. The Somosur Collection of Colombia dedicated its first monographic book to him in 1987. His career has been recognized by many national and international awards. Five of its churches have been replicated in Spain. In 2005, he was awarded the Felix Can- dela award in New York in tribute to the excellence of his career, and the “Year of Eladio Dieste” was designated in coordination between the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology (MIT) and the New York Association of Engineers. The Eladio Dieste Foundation has proposed a set of built works to be declared World Heritage Sites by Unesco which have already been approved on the indicative list by the World Heritage Committee. Besides the Cristo Obrero church in Atlántida, declared this year, the other works are: the San Pedro church in Durazno, the Depósito del Puerto de Montevideo, his family home in Punta Gorda, the Berlingieri house, the Canal 9 tower, the multi-sports gymnasium in San Carlos, the municipal gymnasium of Artigas, the former Salto bus station, the Ayuí Parador in Salto, the Fagar soft drink bottling plant in Colonia, the Copagran cooperative silo in Rio Negro and public school No. 27 in La Macana in Florida. After the interview we did in 1996 in his studio in Mon- tevideo over coffee, and after sharing with us criticism about the lack of innovation in brick technology even in developed countries such as France and Germany, we asked him to send a message to students and young architects in our countries. He thought for a few seconds and said: "that young people think about architectural space, that they avoid pastiche and styles, that they do not allow themselves to be seduced by computers and that they dare to innovate ...". /
↤ Depósito Julio Herrera y Obes, Montevideo, 1978.
The Julio Herrera y Obes Warehouse, Montevideo, 1978.
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Movimiento Moderno / Modern Movement
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