The goal of this study is to assess the application of the Hardening soil model in predicting the deformation of retaining walls of excavations in 2D and 3D finite element analysis at the Ho Chi Minh Metro project. Designed as the deepest underground station in the first metro line built in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Opera House station is located in an area with a dense building zone and close to historical buildings. A summary of the input soil properties is provided using data from site investigations, in-situ tests, and laboratory tests. By numerical simulation using the Hardening soil model, the parameters of the soil stiffness modulus value are verified based on the Standard Penetration Test (SPT), and Pressuremeter test (PMT). The obtained results of the numerical analysis by 2D and 3D finite element methods, and field observations indicate that applying the Hardening soil model with soil stiffness modulus obtained in situ tests gives reasonable results on the displacement of the retaining wall at the final phase. The relationship between the SPT value and the stiffness modulus of HCMC sand is a function of depth. This correlation is obtained through the comparison of wall deformation between the simulation and monitoring at the construction site. The results of the difference between 2D and 3D finite element analysis also are discussed in this study.

A collection of nine letters from the Catholic theologian Romano Guardini to his friend Fr. Josef Weiger was published in 1927. In Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s library of several hundred items, it was a book that he used to formulate the basic principles of his own architecture. The aim of the paper is to present the content of Guardini’s book and its influence on the views and work of Mies van der Rohe. The architect’s insightful monographs, especially the book by Fritz Neumeyer, accurately document the relationship between the theologian’s statements and attempts to adapt them to the theory of architecture. The more recent analysis of these relationships presented in the article leads to the conclusion that Mies van der Rohe set himself the task of finding a pure spirit in the world of pure abstractions. His creative involvement was a form of contemplating and developing forces which, although contained in nature or technology, can also be considered transcendent.