Wacław Piotr Zalewski (25 August 1917 – 29 December 2016) was a Polish construction engineer and designer, creator of innovative buildings such as "

Spodek Spodek is a multipurpose arena complex in Katowice, Poland, opened on 9 May 1971. Aside from the main dome, the complex includes a gym, an ice rink, a hotel and three large car parks. It was the largest indoor venue of its kind in Poland until ...

" in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, " Supersam" in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

from the roof of the structure funikularnej, or train station in Katowice. He was Professor Emeritus of Structural Design at the School of Architecture of

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

Early life and education

Zalewski was born on 25 August 1917 to a Polish family settled in Samgorodek, Ukraine since the seventeenth century. He took part in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

of 1944 in

Czerniaków Czerniaków () is a neighbourhood, and an area of the City Information System, in Warsaw, Poland, within the district of Mokotów. It is a residential area with high-rise multifamily housing. The neighbourhood features the St. Anthony of Padua ...

. Went to Tadeusz Czacki High School in Warsaw, where he was in the same graduating class as the poet priest Jan Twardowski. In 1947 he graduated from

Warsaw University of Technology The Warsaw University of Technology () is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors (including 145 titular professors). The student body ...

, which he began before the war, eventually graduating from the Gdańsk University of Technology.

Career

He has designed a whole range of new industrial construction. He was repeatedly sent to foreign conferences during the communist era to "proclaim the Polish technical thought." In 1962 he earned a Ph.D. at the Technical University of Warsaw. His greatest achievement in Poland was working in the Office for the Study and Design of Industrial Building Types (BISTYP) in Warsaw until 1963. and later worked as a consultant for the

Ministry of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. He designed a number of innovative structures, including buildings of hanging roofs and structures funikularne. In 1965 he was invited as a full, tenured professor at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT), where he worked full-time until 1988, when he retired. Since that time, he has been a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

of architecture. He is considered one of the pioneers of the techniques of linear – rod on the principle of

tensegrity Tensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression (physical), compression inside a network of continuous tension (mechanics), tension, and arranged in s ...

structures in light canopies without the use of load-bearing columns. He wrote the book ''Shaping Structures'' with Ed Allen. Among others streams forces were introduced as a method for the calculation of the structure. He retained his connections in Venezuela for many years, however, and continued to design structures there during academic holidays and sabbaticals. The exhibition "Shaping Structures" shown at MIT, supplemented by the Polish exhibits such as a model Supersam was also shown in Poland at the

Technical University of Łódź Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who ad ...

, then in Warsaw in the Association of Polish Architects in Foksal, then Gdańsk University of Technology, and Wrocław University of Technology. A portion of the exhibit was also shown at Roger Williams University School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation in Bristol, Rhode Island, in Fall 2006. In 1998, he received an honorary doctorate from

from the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Civil Engineering.

Death

He died on 29 December 2016 at the age of 99.

Projects

Architect/Engineer

* Department of Forest Engineering at the Universidad de los Andes (Mérida, Venezuela, 1965)

Structural Engineering

* Gimnasium Pedro Elias Belisario in

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

(Venezuela, 1965)

Engineer

* Museum of Art in

, Venezuela (1973) * Keum Jung Sports Park in Pusan, Korea (2002) *

, Poland (1972) * Supersam supermarket in Warsaw, Poland (1960) *

Torwar Hall The Central Sports Centre Torwar (formerly known as Hala Torwar, commonly referred to as the Arena COS Torwar) is an indoor arena in Warsaw, Poland. It opened in 1953 and seats 4,824 people in the stands, with up to an additional 1,480 seats avai ...

in Warsaw ( 1960) *

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n Pavilion at Expo 1992 in Seville (Spain) (1992) * Factory in

Mińsk Mazowiecki Mińsk Mazowiecki (, ) is a town in eastern Poland with 40,999 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship and is a part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is the capital of Mińsk County. Located 20 kilometers from the city li ...

* Furniture Factory in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

* Monument of the Coast Defenders (Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża) in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

(1966) Monument in honor o the defenders of the Battle of Westerplatte

Bibliography

Shaping Structures
John Wiley & Sons, New York, , 1998; pp. 416
Shaping Structures: Statics
Edward Allen, Waclaw Zalewski,
Buildings on Slopes
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1970
A simplified procedure for torsional analysis of prismatic members with open section
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1971

Edward Allen, Waclaw Zalewski

References

General references

Sylwetka Wacława Zalewskiego
w serwisie architekci.pl
Nicholas Janber's Structurae, Wacław Zalewski
International Database for Civil and Structural Engineering

External links

Structurae people - Waclaw Zalewski
Structurae International Database for Civil and Structural Engineering
SHAPING STRUCTURES, SHAPING THE FUTURE

Wacław Zalewski: Shaping Structures

WACLAW ZALEWSKI Profile
MIT School of Architecture + Planning

Wacław Zalewski Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Zalewski, Waclaw 1917 births 2016 deaths Architects from Warsaw Warsaw Uprising insurgents Warsaw University of Technology alumni MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty People from Zhytomyr Polish emigrants to the United States