Steel and Speed - The new Architecture in America

Sir, On March 12th, 1928, the world was shocked, and the engineering profession humiliated by an awful disaster, the failure of the St. Francis Dam near Los Angeles, Calif. More than 200 people perished and a great property loss was suffered.

The new Science Museum which was opened by H.M. the King, accompanied by the Queen, on the 20th March, is the first stage of an important scheme which will extend ultimately from Exhibition Road to Queen's Gate, the total length of the building being 1,150 ft.

Through the kindness of Messrs. Pelnard-Considere et Caquot, the writer recently had the opportunity of making a close inspection of several remarkable bridges in reinforced concrete now under construction to their designs. One of these bridges is on the main road between Annecy and Geneva, and the others in or near to Paris. Although differing widely in type, they all show the same remarkable fertility of invention which characterises the best French engineering, and the same meticulous care in the theoretical investigation of every detail in the design.