Flat slab with mushroom capitals
Losa sin vigas con capitel en seta
- Date
- 1906-1910 · confidence medium
- Place
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Credited to
- Robert Maillart and C. A. P. Turner
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A reinforced-concrete floor that bears directly on columns whose heads flare into a mushroom shape to resist punching shear. It removes beams, leaves flat ceilings and reduces storey height.
Priority is disputed: C. A. P. Turner used it in the Johnson-Bovey Building in Minneapolis (1906, patent 1908), and Maillart developed his own independently in the Giesshübel warehouse in Zurich (1910).
What it led to
- warehouses, car parks and buildings with more open floors
- the free plan of modern architecture
- slab punching-shear codes