Lifetime Achievement Award

Ing. Luis Guillermo Aycardi Barrero

 

 

Passion for structures

Luis Guillermo Aycardi sees life as an ongoing opportunity for learning and sharing his knowledge with others. He uses these great passions as a basis for growth, helping to build professionals through teaching and creating a platform for great works through structural design.

Passion is the energy that moves people to do extraordinary things and this energy can be clearly seen in Luis Guillermo Aycardi’s lifetime of achievements in building structures.

On the one hand, his love of teaching, clearly visible from the onset of his career, has allowed him to contribute to the formation of the academic structures of generations of students. This calling has enriched his vision and forged his unpretentious, agreeable personality.

On the other hand, it was his passion for structures that defined from the beginning the direction that his professional life would take, creating the structures that cannot be seen but give strength to a building in just the same way that education gives strength to an individual. He himself explains this fundamental interest: “The topic of structures is very interesting, as it uses a mathematical basis to provide safety for users and give them a better life.”

Mr. Aycardi learns, teaches, researches, writes, constructs, works with his teams and dedicates his life to everything he loves: his profession, his teaching, his other interests, his friends and, of course, his family. His prolific career is a testimony to a life full of work and dedication, and his legacy is engraved on the lives of those who have known him and on the works that, thanks to his expertise, are today safe environments for so many people to enjoy.

 

The beginning of a rich track record

“I had a very happy childhood; I was a fortunate youngster,” remembers Guillermo Aycardi, Colombian by birth and in his heart, as he talks about his start in life. “I had wonderful parents. My father was a simple man who loved studying and reading in a way that almost no one does today. He was cultured and able to discuss any topic, and he encouraged us to study and work hard. For example, at the age of six, I played chess thanks to him, and I was very good at it. He taught me from a very young age a sense of responsibility; he was my teacher and my guide. He suggested I focus on mathematics, seeing that I was good at it at school. He then proposed that I choose a career related to mathematics and, at that time, the field of engineering was the one that seemed the best and, more particularly, civil engineering.”

 

When he entered the Universidad Nacional de Colombia to study Civil Engineering, Guillermo Aycardi found an area that would define what he would do in the future: the study of structures. At the same time, he felt a great desire to be a teacher and share his knowledge. “I felt that that was what I should do. So, once I graduated, I went to Columbia University in New York to specialize in Structural Analysis and then studied the Design of Metallic Structures at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After that, I returned to my alma mater to dedicate myself to teaching,” he explains.

The first classes Aycardi gave had nothing to do with structures. “I began teaching cosmography and astronomy. In those days, these subjects were taught as general courses at the undergraduate level, but structures continued to be my area of interest and I soon found that that was what I was teaching,” he continues. His vocation led him to teach 19 different courses at his alma mater and he was the first engineer to teach seismic design there. 

His enjoyment of teaching became a passion that has motivated him over the years, and does so even today. This passion was initially inspired by many of his teachers who had left their mark on his formation. “I had one professor, José María Arango Peláez, who was such an absolutely sensational teacher that I still try to imitate him, and there were others of course. I remember Antonio Elias Gómez and Luis María Salamanca with great affection; they were university professors who were fantastic examples for me,” explains Mr. Aycardi. “What made them so sensational? Their knowledge of the topic was important, but more significantly it was the way they presented this knowledge: simply, basically, understandably and, most of all, in a way that fomented a special interest in their students. Sometimes, you don’t have to say everything; you just have to plant a seed of curiosity in the students, so that they can then investigate a given topic on their own,” he continues.

There was one particular professional area that awoke in him this passion to learn and teach: the analysis of structures. Aware that the best way to fully understand a topic is through experience, Guillermo Aycardi has dedicated much of his professional life to practicing his discipline.

On the basis of his foreign studies in Structural Analysis and the Design of Metal Structures, Aycardi opened his own seismic design office, the first in Colombia to use computers to analyze and design structures. Throughout his career he has created important structural designs both on a national and international level, working in many countries, including Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and the United States.

 

Expression of an outstanding personality

“If there is a design error, before making judgment, the first thing I think is: Would I have made that mistake? The answer is generally “Yes”. I analyze why and talk to the person who made the mistake to review it and find a solution together.”

Possessing an empathy that emanates from his modesty and spontaneity, Luis Guillermo Aycardi is a serious professional, fully aware of the responsibility implied in each work he embarks upon. “The profession of engineers in the area of structures implies many risks and great responsibilities, since the lives of people are in their hands. A mistake could turn out to be a disaster,” he respectfully submits. “Over the years, I have been asked to intervene after a structural failure, to analyze the safety of a given building, or to improve a construction’s structure. Thus, I suggest acting with supreme caution, professional responsibility and, most of all, respect for one’s colleagues.”

Something that makes Aycardi stand out in his field is his professional vision and focus, always guided by a regard and empathy for his associates, while making sure that in every project he applies his experience and at the same time enriches his knowledge. All aspects of his projects are carefully integrated and those involved are clearly assigned their place and responsibilities to assure that tasks are carried out correctly. Aycardi selects his teams, leads them or is led by them, in the conviction that synchronized teamwork is the only way that the product will be outstanding in every way.

“If there is a design error, before making judgment, the first thing I think is: Would I have made that mistake? The answer is generally “Yes”. I analyze why and talk to the person who made the mistake to review it and find a solution together. I try to avoid criticism; it is easy to criticize these days, but we have to realize that there is a continuously increasing risk of making errors, despite the extensive use of computers,” he explains, with the conviction that the technological advances we have seen over the past years are largely positive for the profession.

As a witness to great changes and a very significant evolution in the field of civil engineering and structural calculations, Aycardi has taken the best of technology and applied it to his projects. However, he has never forgotten the importance of traditional methods. “In order to be up to date, it is of vital importance to study a lot and consistently, and it also requires a great deal of review and checking. We mustn’t forget manual methods because many of them, although simple, can be used to verify and analyze the results that come out of a computer. We can use them to understand the idea of the functioning of a structure better as we did before and the processes we carry out become more logical; they are not done just because the computer says so,” he emphasizes.

His detailed vision of the world of structures takes other factors into consideration: “In structural design, mathematics is a help, a base that guides and directs, but the dimensions of the final structure are never exactly equal to the design. We have to take into account the characteristics of the materials being used, which often differ; also, shapes and forms sometimes change slightly. For example, if a structure is made of concrete, the position of the reinforcements is often different from the design. In fact, the human factor also plays a great role,” he continues.

Without doubt, a facet of Aycardi that is truly worthy of admiration is his unassuming nature. “When we have made a mistake, it is important to recognize it. I have been very fortunate in that my colleagues have noticed my mistakes very quickly. This is what keeps one humble and keeps reminding us that we do not possess the truth. Today, I see that my view is just an opinion and on many occasions there are more valuable opinions. The important thing is to understand how to choose between them.” He also explains that having spent so many years in the classroom in front of curious and questioning students has made him modest and down-to-earth and taught him on a daily basis.

Because of his leadership, continuous work and disciplined learning, his professional track record in engineering, teaching and research is very prolific. He has also reviewed and been a part of numerous projects in order to improve their safety and resistance to earthquakes. “I have been involved in many works and in all of them with great affection. I couldn’t choose a favorite one; I think I love them all like children. However, some of the special projects I remember are a curved metal bridge in Bogota which I thoroughly enjoyed and there were some metal domes based on a very different structural concept which really excited me. A challenge that was quite innovative at the time because it was done on the computer was a pipe-in-pipe structural system that was used for one of Colombia’s highest buildings; it was a real challenge,” he remembers.

 

The man behind the works

A space that covers and protects with strong structures and solid foundations may also be a description of Luis Guillermo Aycardi’s personal life. Surrounded by a family that he himself defines as the most important support in his life and by friends that are like family, the engineer lives life to the full, enjoying his people and dedicated to his passions and interests.

“Whatever I have achieved, it is a reflection of my family’s support. I am a family man and I really enjoy my friends and, in fact, I am the one who constantly gets them together. I have been offered work abroad, but have never accepted because I don’t want to leave the things I most love.”

His five children have taken diverse paths, but two of his sons are engineers who work with him and have inherited his love of teaching. Another son is a neurologist and he has a daughter who is a psychologist and another one who is a dentist. “All of them are very good at what they do and look after me well,” he jokes. “I am a champion in the area of grandchildren,” continues the engineer who is also a great fan of Colombia’s Santa Fe soccer team. “I have 11 grandchildren, of all ages, from 18 down to three, and I am already seeing which of them will go into structural design.”

Aycardi’s thirst for learning is as great as his desire to teach and even his hobbies serve to enrich his knowledge and allow him to share. “I am an opera lover, but I don’t just limit myself to listening to them and watching videos; every year, I like to travel to places where an opera is being presented and then I like to teach small groups about the opera. We listen to the opera, analyze it and discuss it,” he explains. “I also have another hobby that really interests me: studying the life of Napoleon. This pursuit came into being when I read a book by the Russian author Dimitri Merejkovsky and after that I began to read more and more about this personality. I learned French because of it, and Italian because of my love of opera. And of course, I also give classes on Napoleon.”

Luis Guillermo Aycardi bases every aspect of his life on the premise that there is always something new to learn and someone to share it with. As a result, many people have benefited from the solidity of his structural designs and many generations have learned from his teaching, shared his knowledge and, most of all, followed the example of his lifetime achievements.