8 concrete shells of 15 cm, with formwork drawn at full scale with the help of a theodolite.
The San Miguel Arcángel Church is an urban landmark of La Paz. It is made up of 8 reinforced concrete shells shaped as a truncated-conical hyperbolic cosine, 15 centimeters thick, 20 meters tall and with an interior area of 530 m².
An essential part of a good shell design is the design and construction of correct formwork. The formwork drawings were made at one-to-one scale, full size, and were drawn with the help of a theodolite, which was the only way to achieve an error of less than a centimeter.
The workers, expert carpenters, built the formwork on top of the drawings on the church floor itself. The architectural conception, structural design and construction were carried out by engineer Mario Galindo Rojas as his graduation thesis to obtain his degree in civil engineering.
The engineer wanted the angel on the main façade to convey a truly imposing and powerful presence. So, together with the renowned artist Ricardo Pérez Alcalá, they decided to take inspiration from none other than the muscular, heroic body of Superman: an unexpected touch that crowns this urban landmark.
To the artist don Ricardo Pérez Alcalá, who painted several pictures of the church and designed many of its details, and to the master don Florentino López, the lead bricklayer during construction. Both were dear lifelong friends of don Mario Galindo Rojas.
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