Abstract
Robert Osserman examines Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch in St. Louis in order to shed light on what its exact shape is, why it is that shape, and whether the various decisions made during its design were based on aesthetic or structural considerations. Research included discussions with engineers and architects who worked with Saarinen on the project. The paper concludes by noting some questions that are still unanswered.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Benvenuto, Edoardo. 1991. An Introduction to the History of Structural Mechanics. Part II: Vaulted Structures and Elastic Systems. New York, Springer-Verlag.
Billington, David. 1985. The Tower and the Bridge. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Block Philippe, Matt Dejong, John Ochsendorf. 2006. As Hangs the Flexible Line: Equilibrium of Masonry Arches. Nexus Network Journal 8,2: 13–24.
Bukowski, John. 2008. Christiaan Huygens and the Problem of the Hanging Chain. College Mathematics Journal 39,1: 2–11.
Coir, Mark. 2006. The Cranbrook Factor. Pp. 29–43 in Eero Saarinen, Shaping the Future. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Crosbie, Michael J. 1983. Is It a Catenary? New questions about the shape of Saarinen’s St. Louis Arch. AIA Journal (June 1983): 78–79.
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future. 2006. Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Donald Albrecht, eds. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Figueiredo, Vera L.X., Margarida P. Mello, Sandra A. Santos. 2005. Cálculo com Aplicações: Atividades Computacionais e Projetos. Coleção IMECC, Textos Didáticos.
Galilei, Galileo. 1974. Two New Sciences. Stillman Drake, trans. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Hartzog, George B., Jr. 1988. Battling for the National Parks. Kingston (Rhode Island): Moyer Bell.
Heyman, Jacques. 1999. The Science of Structural Engineering. London: Imperial College Press.
Heyman, Jacques. 1982. The Masonry Arch. Chichester: Ellis Horward Limited.
Huerta, Santiago. 2006. Galileo was Wrong! The Geometrical Design of Masonry Arches. Nexus Network Journal 8,2: 25–51.
Johns, Jasper. 2005. Catenary. New York: Steidel Publishing.
King, Ross. 2000. Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture. Penguin Books.
Merkel, Jayne. 2005. Eero Saarinen. London: Phaidon Press.
Osserman, Robert. 2010. Mathematics of the Gateway Arch. Notices of the American Mathematical Society 57,2: 220–229.
Thayer William V. 1984. The St. Louis Arch Problem. Module 638 of UMAP: Modules in Undergraduate Mathematics and its Applications.
Valéry, Paul. 1960. Eupalinos ou l’architecte. In Oeuvres, Vol. 2, Paris: Bibliotèque de la Pléiade/Éditions Gallimard.
The Visual Dictionary of Architecture. 2008. Lausanne: Ava Publishing.
Wolfe, Uta, Laurence T. Maloney, and Mimi Tam. 2005. Distortion of perceived length in the frontoparallel plane: Tests of perspective theories. Perception and Psychophysics 67,6: 967–979.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Kim Williams Books, Turin
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Osserman, R. (2010). How the Gateway Arch Got its Shape. In: Williams, K., Rees, J.M. (eds) Recalling Eero Saarinen 1910–2010. Nexus Network Journal. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0346-0520-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0346-0520-5_2
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel
Print ISBN: 978-3-0346-0519-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-0346-0520-5
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)