Gustave Eiffel and his optimal structures

The eponymoustower, as noted by its chief architect Alexandre Gustave Eiffel himself, overshadows his other structural marvels. It is not just the beauty of the Tower that ought to impress an onlooker but also its optimality. Eiffel, as we explain in this article, excelled in using the material in the most optimal way in many of his structures that include more than 42 bridges and many buildings built in various parts of the world. We also draw an analogy between Nature's designs and Eiffel's designs in the way the material is arranged hierarchically with different shapes at different scales. We consider the Maria Pia Bridge and the Eiffel Tower to illustrate this point and highlight their optimal characteristics. We argue that the structural designs of Eiffel & Co. have an aesthetic appeal that emerges from the economic use of material with their roots in rigorous engineering principles. © Indian Academy of Sciences 2009.