ABSTRACT
Robert Maillart’s reputation is mostly based on his reinforced-concrete bridges that can be seen as statements of a reflected, rationalized and material-efficient use of the new composite material. At the same time, in his early career Maillart found himself in an environment that was strongly dominated by the Hennebique-system. Searching for a new spatial expression inherently linked to the material’s properties he challenged the prevailing application of these systems that was based on inherited forms rooted in the principle of post and beam. During the construction of the almost forgotten masterpiece of the Queen Alexandra Sanatorium in Davos, Maillart collaborated with Zurich-based architects Pfleghard & Haefeli and used the Queen Alexandra Sanatorium in his quest for a new formal language in which Armierterbeton would be used as a horizontal material, thereby following its structural logic and creating a new aesthetic that would eventually attract Sigfried Giedion’s attention.
