ABSTRACT
During the summer of 1955, Eduardo Catalano went to work for a short period of time at Marcel Breuer’s office in New York City. During that summer, Breuer’s office was working on several projects, including a new railroad station in New London, Connecticut (unbuilt) and the Hunter College Library, Classroom, and Administration Buildings in the Bronx, New York (built between 1957–60). In these two projects, there is a clear evidence of Catalano’s influence and knowledge of thin reinforced concrete shells and the use of hypars, in structures. This paper explores how the friendship and collaboration of these two architects, Breuer and Catalano, allowed Breuer to introduce the use of hyperbolic paraboloid concrete shells and ruled surfaces in several important projects like the Library at Hunter College and, later, in the Chapel of the Annunciation Priory of the Sisters of St. Benedict in Bismarck, North Dakota, USA and in the Church of Saint Francis de Sales, among others.
