A 2010 GUASTAVINO EXHIBITION PLANNING BEGINS
Guastavino scholars at MIT, in conjunction with the Boston Public Library, have begun the planning process
for a major exhibition in 2010 called Vaulting Ambition. The event will bring together scholars from around the world who will develop an
engaging exhibit on Guastavino's beautiful work. Stay tuned for more information.
Learn more about the Boston Public Library
www.bpl.org
FIRST GUASTAVINO VAULT RISES IN THE UK
An international team including Guastavino scholars from MIT, masons from Spain and the UK completed two new Guastavino style domes in the shadows of the famous White Cliffs of Dover. The two 40 foot wide domes complete a small conference center and meeting center for the St. Margaret's Bay Trust called the Pines Calyx. (MORE)
CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING OF A VAULT
While
no english language manuals of timbrel vault construction exist, MIT student
Michael Ramage spent a weekend building a small vault of his own. Is a new treatise
forthcoming? See a few of his photos, a documentary text and a movie to find
out what he learned about the process. We are pleased, but not at all surprised
to announce a triumphant demonstration of structural form where 1/2"
of material thickness carried 8 persons. (MORE)
VAULT
CONSTRUCTION MOVIE
A movie of the two-day construction process has been added to the site.
It is an Illuminating view of the timbrel vaulting process (MORE)
A
BRIEF HISTORY OF GUASTAVINO.NET
Located just across the street from the MIT Ashdown
House, the Guastavino research project began as an effort to study
several of the buildings in the Boston area by Guastavino. It soon grew
to include the more ambitious goal of documenting all the Boston area
buildings by the Spanish architect-turned American builder. The project
has thus far been comprised of equal parts archival research, detective
work and spreading the word to others about the possibility that a Guastavino
vault may be just about anywhere. (MORE)
SECOND
WALKING TOUR UNDERFOOT
On
Friday May 14th, John Ochsendorf, MIT Guastavino project director and
Sara Wermiel, of the BSA historical resources committee led a walking
tour of three important area Guastavino sites. The itinerary included
Horticultural Hall, First Church of Christ, Scientist and the Forsyth
Institute. Additional information is available here. (MORE)
MROSZCZYK
PRESENTS THESIS ON BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY AND GUASTAVINO
Lisa J. Mroszczyk, an MIT undergraduate
senior, has been investigating the R. Guastavino Company's involvement
at the Boston Public
Library. Having completed the work, we are pleased to be able to provide
the full text here. (MORE)
GUASTAVINO'S
WOBURN FACTORY
In 1906, the Guastavino Company constructed a new factory on a different
Woburn site known as Central Square to take over the duties of the initial
church facility. The company had the capacity to mold and press 800
tiles a day and at the time of La Ceramica’s opening work commenced
24 hours a day to fulfill a 150,000 tile order for the Queensborough
bridge in New York. This was the basic manufacturing process of the
factory.
Additional information is available here. (MORE)
ONE
STAIR AT A TIME
One of the more amazing aspects of the constructions of Guastavino is
timbrel vaulted stair. Boston has at least three of them. One such project
is the Armory of the 1st Corps of Cadets. For more photos, click HERE
BIBLIOGRAPHY ADDED TO SITE
With many thanks to Santiago Huerta of the Instituto Juan de Hererra
in Madrid, we are able to post the most definitive bibliography on the
work of Guastavino to date. This bibliography was published in their
2001 work on the Guastavino Co. (MORE)
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