Dr. Mario Salvadori

Mario emigrated to New York from his native Italy in 1939 after completing two doctoratal degrees, one in civil engineering and a second in pure mathematics. He first worked as a time-and-motion engineer at Lionel Trains. In 1940 he joined the faculty at Columbia University, retiring in 1990 as the James Renwick Professor of Civil Engineering and a Professor of Architecture. He was a founding partner of Weidlinger Associates, a structural engineering firm where he directed many major projects.

Mario wrote many influential textbooks, as well as books for the general public, including Why Buildings Stand Up and Why Buildings Fall Down. Both continue to be bookstore best-sellers.

More on Mario Salvadori

• Watch Mario teaching
• "Mario Salvadori: Champion of Structure Design in Architecture" - Structure Magazine, November 2005 - A laudatory profile about Mario Salvadori by Richard Weingardt. Also read Dr. Lorraine Whitman's Letter to the Editor (in PDF format) responding to a misleading statement about Mario Salvadori's work.
• "A Life in Education", by Mario Salvadori, The Bridge, Summer 1997 (PDF, 762 KB)
• "Super Mario", by Abby Bussel, Progressive Architecture, March 1995 (PDF, 572 KB)

Our founder, Mario Salvadori, a world-renowned structural engineer, believed that the built environment held all the knowledge that a person needed to be an intelligent and active member of the community. What teachers need to make this knowledge available to their students are tools with which they can "unpack" the knowledge embedded in the built environment.

The Salvadori Center gives these tools to teachers and students through a pedagogy grounded in what it calls "project-based, hands-on/minds-on activities" that employ the principles of architecture, engineering, and the design process. Through this method, teachers and their students can unlock the math, science, art, and humanities embodied in the structures and systems that surround them.