| Author | Message | ||
     Nik |
All these art threads got me thinking. What ever happened to the Artist/Engineer? Men like Leonardo DaVinci, who created more than illustrations. Men who pushed the boundaries of science, engineering, and architecture through their genius. DaVinci envisioned not just the Mona Lisa, but robots and helicopters, SCUBA gear, and indeed many weapons of war and instruments of destruction as well. He sough to push away the boundaries of human existence. Who are our modern renaissance men and women? I don't think anyone here would disagree that Erik Buell's motorcycle are rolling works of art, even if not pleasing to everyone's personal aesthetic. I would submit Burt Rutan as well, for creating everything from super efficient homebuilt aircraft for the 'everyday' pilot, to well.. spaceships that will transport anyone who can buy a ticket to the boundary of space. Anyone else? | ||
| Ulynut |
Crusty's "Bazootie" is pretty cool. Don't know if he can paint though. | ||
| Jasonnennig |
One of the greatest Artist/Engineers of our time...  Marin County Civic Center, 1955 American Frank Lloyd Wright (Message edited by jasonnennig on December 24, 2009) (Message edited by jasonnennig on December 24, 2009) | ||
| Fast1075 |
You beat me to Burt Rutan, who would have been my personal first choice....so I will instead nominate Kelly Johnson for his contributions to the aircraft field....and Don Garlits for his innovations in dragracing... | ||
| Greg_e |
I'd like to see a Rutan motorcycle, all composite construction of the frame and wheels with some really cool suspension and power plant, the guy is a composite materials genius. | ||
| Strokizator |
Smokey Yunick was a working man's thinking man. His autobiography is very interesting. | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
R. Buckminster Fuller | ||
| Milt |
It's amazing how forward thinking Bucky was. It also mystifies me that his only invention that really saw production was the geodesic dome - and then mostly as ground radar housing. The Marin County Civic Center is beautiful. Does the roof leak? | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
+1 on Smokey Yunick. They say he thought outside the box... he was nowhere near the box. I think you have to be an artist to be a good engineer, and vice-versa. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
In certain ways, it is easier to be a renaissance man today than it was in the renaissance, and in certain ways it is not. Much more is known, and it is much easier to access the information. On the other hand, so much is known, that no single man can know a very large percentage of the worlds accumulated knowledge. I think that John Ive is one of the best artist engineers of the current day. in case you haven't heard of him, he is the Senior Vice President of design at Apple. His design credits include real game changers like the iMac, the MacBook and the iPhone. | ||
| Doerman |
I think Howard Hughes has left a legacy of beautiful flying machinery that works well. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I'd say Erik qualifies.  | ||
| Jasonnennig |
Oh yes it does Milt... Wright often had functional design problems with many of his structures. The Johnson Wax building roof, in Racine WI, also leaks a ton, but...That's the price to be paid for such beauty. Many of his buildings also have very questionable HVAC systems. You boil in one part of the house, but freeze in another. No Ones Perfect- Wright (hehehee, get it)  I don't want it to sound like he was not a skilled engineer though. Many of his designs were way ahead of his time. He did things with concrete no one else would dream of doing at the time and pulled it off. He was really one interesting guy. He lived a colorful life. | ||
| Jasonnennig |
 Johnson Wax Main Building 1936-1939 Frank Lloyd Wright Racine WI | ||
| Jasonnennig |
Hoover Dam, another great engineering feat. Beautiful as well as functional. It is one of the great wonders of the world.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
Frank Lloyd Wright, while an immensely talented architect, was not an engineer. No doubt Wright conceived some amazing buildings, but I'll bet some unknown team of structural engineers labored to make constructable designs out of his conceptual drawings. | ||
| Iamike |
The problem I have with many of these buildings (Frank Lloyd Wright's included)is that their long term functionality can be a problem. I know of several dome stadiums that cost a bundle to keep their lids on. Iowa built an office building in 1978 called the Wallace State Office Building after Henry Wallace. The original cost was $10mil. now after years of problems with leaks on the roof, from the South facing windows, etc. it is estimated to cost $31mil. for repairs. Of course the State doesn't have that type of money to blow on a nice looking but not real functional building. I could probably go on but those 3 trigger my biggest memories. | ||
| Whatever |
Stolen from Court...  | ||
| Aesquire |
For designers, Rutan, of course. Kelly Johnson, definitely. The P-38 is the first sculpture to do 400 miles an hour. Ed Heinemann. ( Skyhawk, Skyray ( on the short list for prettiest airplane ever ) Skystreak etc. ) Smokey's best stuff never got seen by the public, though the car wrapped around it did. Eero Saarinen ( furniture & house design ) Charles and Ray Eames, ( ditto ) and F.L. Wright. Even with the leaky roofs. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth. | ||
| Jasonnennig |
Frank Lloyd Wright did not have a engineering degree, but that did not stop him. He was an Engineer!!! As an example, in the previously stated Johnson Wax Building, he did all the stuctural design work himself. As he did in the VAST majority on his structures. In the Great Workroom, the dendriform columns are nine inches in diameter at the bottom and eighteen feet in diameter at the top, on a wide, round platform that Wright termed, the "lily pad." This difference in diameter between the bottom and top of the column was not according to building codes at the time. Building inspectors required that a test column be built and loaded with twelve tons of material. The test column, once it was built, was loaded with sixty tons of materials before the "calyx", or part of the column that meets the lily pad, cracked (crashing the 60 tons of materials to the ground, and bursting a water main 30 feet underground). Wright was given his building permit after this demonstration. Many then and now challenged his talent, he proved them all wrong. | ||
| Aesquire |
For the carbon fibre freaks.. http://www.laisr.com/ For metal heads. http://www.emeco.net/sitsatseat/index.htm The simplest things..... | ||
| Jasonnennig |
I know I may catch hell for posting this on a Buell forum but...I have always liked the looks of the Ducati 916. It was a nice bike in form and function.  Sorry Charlotte | ||
| Mndwgz |
Hasn't been built yet... 2 OVERSTUFFED CHAIRS AND A KEYBOARD   | ||
| Reepicheep |
Whoever designed the belt tensioner on my 05 XB9SX was an artist engineer. I have one sitting on my desk it's so pretty. | ||
| Mndwgz |
998  | ||
| Mndwgz |
These are works of floating functional art. Wally Yachts    | ||
| Doerman |
Then there is Dean Kamen.Inventor of the Segway device. He made his money inventing a dialysis machine. With that money he founded Decka, a company dedicated to bringing together young people in a facility to bring ideas to fruition. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Looks real easy to slide off that sailboat in rough seas. | ||
| 2kx1 |
The Wally 118 is my favorite. I have no idea who designs those however. |
