Dr. Juan Gerardo Oliva Salinas
Professor Emeritus, UNAM
Professor Emeritus, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – UNAM (2023)
Doktor-Ingenieur, Universität Stuttgart, Germany (1982)
Architect, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – UNAM (1975)
International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures – IASS, Advisory Board member, former Vice President, and Executive Council member; Chair of the annual Symposium IASS-SLTE 2008 Acapulco, Mexico; Co-chair of the annual Symposium IASS 2025 Mexico City. Chair of the Tsuboi Award Committee.
Structural Engineers World Congress – SEWC, Board Member, President Mexico Group, Chair of the International Congress SEWC 2017 Cancún, Mexico.
His doctoral dissertation was published in 1982 with the title “On the Construction of Grid Shells” at the University of Stuttgart and published as issue 63 of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 64. Here, Oliva Salinas demonstrates that the design processes applied by Frei Otto through physical models built with hanging networks can be carried out digitally on translation surfaces. Oliva Salinas developed the GEOG parametric program. A core contribution is the pioneering publication of the geometric properties of translational surfaces applied to grid-shell design. Oliva Salinas states for the first time that meshes are generated with planar rhombic quadrilaterals.
At the Lightweight Structures Laboratory – LEL, Oliva Salinas heads the Research Seminar on Mechametry, a visionary term he coined and refers to the joint action of mechanics with geometry, in other words, of the form with the forces acting on a structure. Many national and international articles and presentations have emerged from all these research projects that have impacted architectural practice and the generation of new knowledge transmitted to many generations of students. The above is primarily demonstrated by international competitions in which Mexican students have first place. Parallel to his academic development, he has designed and built several lightweight structures in Mexico and has been awarded with the following recognitions:
National University Award 2007 for Architecture and Design, UNAM.
Mexico’s City Engineering Award 2009, Mexico’s City Government.
Pioneers’ Award 2021, Spatial Structures Research Centre, University of Surrey, UK.
SEWC Roland Sharpe Medal 2023, Seoul, Korea.
IASS Honorary Member, to be awarded during the IASS 2025 Symposium in Mexico City.
Email: jgos@unam.mx