emptiness that are reminiscent of empty eye sockets in a skull. This reading
corresponds with an understanding of the work as an ‘unfinished, deserted
house, a built metaphor of death’.^9 The building interior is also essentially
hollow, except for stairs and galleries on a skeletal steel framework with
contrasting scaffolding-like qualities.
Pitched portal frames consisting of two columns connected rigidly to
sloping rafters structure innumerable light-industrial and other utilitar-
ian buildings. This structural form that rarely graces the pages of archi-
tectural publications, integrates with architectural form in the Princess
of Wales Conservatory, London. In realizing a ‘glazed hill’ design con-
cept, the architect manipulates basic multi-bay portals (Fig. 3.21).
However, unlike most portal frames, the side rafters connect directly
to the perimeter foundations, successfully reducing the building’s visual
impact on its surroundings. The form-generating portals that span
transversely are geometrically simple but subtle transformations that
introduce asymmetry and volumetric complexity distance the conser-
vatory from its utilitarian cousins. An uncommon structural system, yet
similar to that at the Licorne Stadium, provides longitudinal resistance.
Concerns about the humid corrosive environment and potential aes-
thetic distractions led to roof-plane moment-resisting frames substitut-
ing for the more conventional diagonal cross-bracing usually associated
with portal frame construction.
Walls
The wall is another structural system capable of participating in the
integration of architectural and structural forms. As exemplified by the32 STRUCTURE AS ARCHITECTURE
▲ 3.20 San Cataldo Cemetery columbarium, Modena,
Italy, Aldo Rossi, 1984. Rigorous orthogonality.
▲ 3.21 Princess of Wales Conservatory, London, England, Gordon
Wilson, 1986. Pitched portal frame variations.