Miracles in Concrete

The Estonian-American civil engineer August Komendant (1906-1992) worked with numerous famous architects and engineers on several of the 20th century's most iconic buildings. Concrete was Komendant's passion through decades. He used his expertise in designing structures as different as the Kadriorg Stadium grandstand in Tallinn, Estonia (Elmar Lohk, 1938), the Habitat '67 experimental housing complex in Montréal, Canada (Moshe Safdie, 1967) and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, USA (Louis I. Kahn, 1972). Komendant combined technical expertise with a keen sense of aesthetics: as an engineer, he valued the timeless and enduring qualities of architecture. He knew that miracles require more than spreadsheets and a budget - the creative impulse is essential.