Eduardo Catalano
Eduardo Fernando Catalano (1917-2010) was a notable Argentinian modernist architect whose work significantly influenced architectural design in the United States. Born in Buenos Aires, he pursued architecture at Buenos Aires University before furthering his studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University under prominent modernist figures Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. Catalano gained early recognition for his innovative designs, including his renowned "Raleigh House," characterized by its hyperbolic paraboloid roof and extensive use of glass, which earned accolades from the architectural community.
Throughout his career, Catalano held teaching positions at prestigious institutions such as North Carolina State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His designs extended beyond residential projects to include significant public buildings, such as U.S. embassies, courthouses, and performance venues. After a distinguished career, he retired in 1995 but returned to architecture in 2002 to create the Floralis Generica, a striking flower sculpture in Buenos Aires. Catalano's contributions to modern architecture and education are recognized through various honors, including an honorary doctorate from North Carolina State University. He passed away in 2010, leaving a lasting legacy in the field of architecture.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Eduardo Catalano
Argentine-born architect
- Born: December 19, 1917
- Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Died: January 28, 2010
- Place of death: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Catalano was an influential Argentine architect. He taught architecture at North Carolina State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from the early 1950’s until retirement in 1977. Catalano House, an innovative modernist design with glass walls and a large wooden hyperbolic paraboloid roof, was praised by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and named House of the Decade in the 1950’s.
Early Life
Eduardo Fernando Catalano (ehd-WAHR-doh fehr-NAHN-doh kaht-ah-LAH-noh) was born December 19, 1917, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the youngest child of a commercial artist. Little is known about his early life in Argentina. Catalano studied architecture at Buenos Aires University. He came to the United States after winning a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. Catalano continued his studies in architecture at Harvard University under architectWalter Gropius and architect and furniture designerMarcel Breuer; Gropius and Breuer are considered two of the pioneers of modernist architecture. Modernist architecture is characterized by simple, unembellished designs and buildings often constructed of glass, steel, and concrete.
In 1945, General Motors held a design competition; Catalano came in second out of more than nine hundred entries. Catalano’s design featured a hyperbolic paraboloid, basically described as a double-ruled surface being shaped like a saddle. Following graduation from Harvard with a master’s degree in architecture, Catalano taught at the Architectural Association in London, England. He married fellow architect Gloria Lauersdorf, whom he had met in Argentina. The couple had two children, daughter Alex and son Adrian, before they divorced in 1960.
After teaching in London, Catalano accepted a position at North Carolina State University’s School of Design in 1951. He was recruited by Henry Kamphoefner, dean of the design school and fellow modernist architect.
Life’s Work
It was shortly after his move to North Carolina that Catalano designed one of his most famous structures: Raleigh House, later known as Catalano House. This three-bedroom home was built in 1954 on a wooded lot at the end of a quiet street in Raleigh, North Carolina. The 1,700-foot-square home had a modern, open floor plan and exterior walls made completely out of glass. The roof was a four-thousand-foot wooden hyperbolic paraboloid, two-and-a-half inches thick, and eighty-seven feet wide, with two opposing corners anchored to the ground, and the other two curving into the air. The roof was often compared to a saddle or described as shoehorn-shaped, and it even lead to the nickname the “potato chip house.” The curvature of the roof provided privacy in some areas of the home and wide, unobstructed views of nature in others. Catalano’s house was praised by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1956 issue of House and Home magazine, which named it “House of the Decade.” Catalano sold the home in 1957 after moving to Boston to teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The house was sold over the years, unoccupied beginning in 1996, and suffered from the elements and neglect. Attempts to save the home were made too late, and it was demolished in 2001.
Catalano worked at MIT until 1977, when he retired from teaching. Catalano designed his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the 1980’s; this house featured a three-story-high glass atrium, large enough for a mature ficus tree. He retired and closed his design offices in 1995. In 2002, Catalano came out of retirement to design the Floralis Generica, an eighteen-ton flower sculpture that he donated to the city of Buenos Aires. The petals of the flower open automatically each morning at eight o’clock and close in a reddish glow at sunset. The sculpture is 75 feet tall and 85 feet wide with the petals closed, 105 feet wide with the petals open.
In 2007, Catalano received an honorary doctorate from North Carolina State University. He wrote six books on architecture and was a member of Argentina’s National Academy of Fine Arts and the Buenos Aires Academy of Science. After a brief illness, Catalano died in Cambridge on January 28, 2010, at the age of ninety-two. He was buried in Argentina.
Significance
Eduardo Catalano was an influential modernist architect, who had a long teaching career at North Carolina State University and MIT. His 1954 Raleigh House was revolutionary in modern architecture, and some consider it the most important home built in North Carolina during the twentieth century. Catalano designed the U.S. embassies in Buenos Aires and Pretoria , South Africa, the Guilford County Courthouse in North Carolina, MIT’s Stratton Student Center in 1965, and the Juilliard School of Music in New York City in 1969. He also designed several office buildings in Boston, including the Charlestown branch of the Boston Public Library. While Raleigh House did not survive, Catalano’s legacy will endure through students of architecture, the people who admire his work, and his Floralis Generica.
Bibliography
Catalano, Eduardo. The Constant: Dialogues on Architecture in Black and White. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge Architectural Press, 2000. A discussion between an architect and a mathematician about the history of architecture and the evolution of design. The two also discuss philosophy, aesthetics, and science. Aimed at students and educators of architecture but also interesting to the general reader.
Filler, Martin. Makers of Modern Architecture. New York: New York Review of Books, 2007. A series of essays on twentieth-century architecture and architects. An introductory work suitable for any reader interested in this subject. .
Lupfer, Gilbert. Walter Gropius, 1883-1969. Los Angeles: Taschen, 2005. Gropius was a father of modernism and one of Catalano’s advisors and mentors while in graduate school at Harvard University. Includes a biography and summary of Gropius’s work and more than 120 photographs and illustrations.