Draft

Chapter 7

A BRIEF HISTORY OF

STRUCTURAL ARCHITECTURE

If I havebeen ableto see a little fartherthansome others,

it was becauseI stood on theshouldersof giants.

SirIsaacNewton

1 Morethanany otherengineeringdiscipline,Architecture/Mechanics/Structuresis theproud

outcomeof a of a longanddistinguishedhistory. Ourprofession,secondoldest,wouldbe better

appreciatedif we wereto developa senseof ourevolution.

7.1 BeforetheGreeks.

2 Throughoutantiquity, structuralengineeringexistingas anartratherthana science. No

recordexistsof any rationalconsideration,eitheras to thestrengthof structuralmembersor

as to thebehaviorof structuralmaterials. Thebuilderswereguidedby rulesof thumbsand

experience,which werepassedfromgenerationto generation,guardedby secretsof theguild,

andseldomsupplementedby newknowledge.Despitethis,structureserectedbeforeGalileoare

by modernstandardsquitephenomenal(pyramids,ViaAppia,aqueducs,Colisseums,Gothic

cathedralsto namea few).

3 The rststructuralengineerin historyseemsto have beenImhotep, oneof onlytwo com-

monersto be dei ed. Hewas thebuilderof thesteppyramidof Sakkaraabout3,000B.C.,and

yieldedgreatin
uenceover ancient Egypt.

4 Hamurrabi'scodein Babylonia(1750BC)includedamongits 282 lawspenaltiesforthose

\architects"whosehousescollapsed,Fig.7.1.

7.2 Greeks.

5 ThegreekphilosopherPythagoras(bornaround 582 B.C.)foundedhisfamousschool, which

was primarilya secretreligioussociety, at Crotonain southernItaly. At hisschool heallowed