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CEE Guest Speaker: GiovannI Solari
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

SEB 2100

GUEST LECTURE

Giovanni Solari, PhD
Professor of Structural and Wind Engineering
Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Polytechnic School, University of Genova, Italy

Tuesday, August 9th 2016 at 1:30pm
Spencer Engineering Building, Room 2100

“Art, Engineering and Perfection:
the Endless Column of Constantin Brancusi”

Abstract: The Endless Column of Constantin Brancusi is "the most radical sculpture in the history of classical modernism", the "only building of modern times that can be compared to the great Egyptian, Greek and Renaissance monuments". It "is not only a masterpiece of art, but also an amazing feat of engineering", "the best example of the collaboration between a sculptor and an engineer throughout history."

This seminar illustrates the path that led the artist towards the column conception, its structural design and construction, the disputes and the investigations on the conservation of the monument and its restoration, the full-scale measurements, the wind-tunnel tests and the numerical simulations that have been carried out to determine the wind-excited and aeroelastic response of the column and its residual life-time. This set of results testifies that this column implies not only the principle of perfect proportions, chased by Brancusi along all his life, but also constitutes a symbol of the structural and aerodynamic perfection. The conclusions discuss the role of the column in the panorama of the great works of modern engineering and contemporary art.


 

Biography: Giovanni Solari is a Professor of Structural Engineering and Wind Engineering at the University of Genoa, where he is also Director of the Wind Tunnel Laboratory. He is Senior Adviser at the Beijing Jiaotong University, China, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and at the Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay.

He was awarded with the Raymond Reese Research Prize 2014 (ASCE), with the Otto Flachsbart Medal 2013 (WTG), with the Alan Davenport Medal 2011 (IAWE) and with the Jack Cermak Medal 2006 (ASCE).

He was President of the International Association for Wind Engineering (2003-2007), of the Italian Association for Wind Engineering (1999-2003), and of the International Panel appointed to study a new organisation of IAWE (1999-2003). He was Founding Co-Editor of Wind & Structures (1997-2005), and Coordinator of the European and African Region of IAWE (1995-2003).

He is member of the Liguria Academy of Science and Letters, Fellow of the Engineering Mechanics Institute of the ASCE, Editorial Board Member of several international journals and Scientific Board Member of several research institutions. He is author of over 100 papers in peer-reviewed international journals.


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