The Invisible Masters

Often, the architect gets the credit for the most amazing buildings. The Sydney Opera House was the brainchild of Jørn Utzon; Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano designed the Centre Pompidou in Paris. However, we often forget the thanks owed to the engineers. With their mathematical formulas and technical knowledge, they are the ones who make it possible to erect buildings and bridges that can withstand the ravages of time and weather. The structure is shaped by the architect’s vision, but the engineer plays a crucial role. When the architect’s imagination meets gravity – that is when the magic happens and great works of architecture are created.

Author and architecture critic Holger Dahl has travelled the world to visit some of the places where architecture and engineering fuse into one sublime solution. Through twelve selected works of architecture – including the Pantheon in Rome, the Sydney Opera House, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Danish Great Belt East Bridge – he illustrates how technical insight and aesthetic vision can be combined. With this book, he hopes to draw attention to what can happen when architects and engineers collaborate – and add nuance to the simplistic perception of architects as visionary dreamers and engineers as practical problem-solvers.

THE INVISIBLE MASTERS is a tribute to engineers.