Eduardo Catalano

Eduardo Fernando Catalano (December 19, 1917 – January 28, 2010) was an Argentine architect.

Life and career Born in Buenos Aires, Catalano went to the United States on a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1945, after earning his second master's degree in architecture returned to Buenos Aires where he taught at the University of Buenos Aires and ran a private practice. Catalano then taught at the Architectural Association in London from 1950 to 1951, when he came back to the United States as a Professor of Architecture at the School of Design in Raleigh, North Carolina State University. In 1956 he began teaching in the graduate program for MIT, until 1977, when he moved on "to discover and participate in other endeavors as rewarding as teaching".

Catalano had an "understanding of the indivisible relationship between space and structure", which earned him praise from Frank Lloyd Wright, who wrote to House and Home magazine when he saw the publishing of the "Raleigh House" AKA the Catalano House to say "It is refreshing to see that the shelter, which is the most important element in domestic architecture, has been so imaginatively and skillfully treated as in the house by Eduardo Catalano".

Other buildings designed by Catalano include the US embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina and in Pretoria, South Africa, the Juilliard School of Music at New York City's Lincoln Center, Guilford County Courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Stratton Student Center at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Catalano designed the Guilford County-Greensboro Government Center, not to be confused with the Guilford County Courthouse, designed by Harry Barton from 1918 to 1920.)

The Catalano House, built in 1954 and which Catalano is best known for, was designed using a hyperbolic paraboloid roof. Here is a picture of the original House. The roof of the house, a curved structure that is built from straight elements (tongue and groove boarding) evolved from his studies on geometric and structural properties of hyperbolic paraboloids. These studies, which included testing of new materials like aluminum and thin-shell concrete, were published by the University of North Carolina in Structures of Warped Surface.

Eduardo Catalano also created the environmental kinetic sculpture Floralis Genérica in Palermo, Buenos Aires.

Architectural works + Year Building Address City State Notes Image Reference1948Ariston ClubMar del PlataBuenos Aires (Argentina)In association with Marcel Breuer and Carlos Coire100x100px 1953 House for B. Richard Jackson 1317 Westfield Ave Raleigh North Carolina 1954 House for Eduardo Catalano Raleigh North Carolina Sold by Catalano in 1957, and ultimately demolished in 2001. 1958 Juilliard School of Music 60 Lincoln Center Plaza New York New York In association with consulting architect Pietro Belluschi and supervising architect Helge Westermann. Remodeled in 2009 under the direction of Diller Scofidio + Renfro and FXFOWLE. 100px 1960 Burton-Conner House,Massachusetts Institute of Technology 410 Memorial Dr Cambridge Massachusetts Addition of the Porter Room, a student commons, to a preexisting apartment building. 1961 Julius Adams Stratton Building,Massachusetts Institute of Technology 84 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge Massachusetts 100px 1968 Springfield Civic Center 1277 Main St Springfield Massachusetts In association with consulting architect Pietro Belluschi. Remodeled in 2003 and renamed the MassMutual Center. 1970 Gorton Corporation Headquarters 128 Rogers St Gloucester Massachusetts 100px 1970 Guilford County-Greensboro Government Center 201 S Eugene St Greensboro North Carolina 100px 1971 Hampden County Hall of Justice 50 State St Springfield Massachusetts Now known as the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse. 100px 1972 One Washington Mall 1 Washington St Boston Massachusetts 100px 1975 Cumberland County Civic Center 1 Civic Center Sq Portland Maine Now known as the Cross Insurance Arena. 100px 1977 Additions to Cambridge Rindge and Latin School 459 Broadway Cambridge Massachusetts Addition of wing along Cambridge Street. 100px 1980 House for Eduardo Catalano 44 Grozier Rd Cambridge Massachusetts 1982 Embassy of the United States Pretoria South Africa 100px 2002 Floralis Genérica,Plaza de las Naciones Unidas Buenos Aires Argentina

Publications Gubitosi, Camillo, and Izzo, Alberto, Eduardo Catalano - buildings and projects, Catalogue of the Exhibition held in Naples, 1978. Catalano, Eduardo. Structure and Geometry, Cambridge Architectural Press, 1986. Catalano, Eduardo. the constant - dialogues on architecture in black and white, Cambridge Architectural Press, 2000.