Structure as Architecture - School of Architecture

frail. Given a darker and monochromic background the structure might

be read more positively – perhaps perceived as a protecting mesh or a

net with an attractive fineness, rather than its current ambiguous reading

of being neither too strong nor too fragile.

The widespread practice of increasing the visual mass of columns,

particularly in multi-storey buildings, seeks to avoid similar ambivalent

reactions to structural scale. This strategy was adopted at the Cité des

Sciences et de l’Industrie, Paris (Fig. 4.23). During its conversion from

abattoirs to a museum of technology, reinforced concrete columns

were considered under-scaled relative to the long-span roof trusses

above them and the overall scale of the building. They were subse-

quently sheathed by masonry walls to bulk them out and create more

suitable monumental ‘structure’.

At the new Law Courts, Bordeaux, exterior structure typifies structure

at human scale (Fig. 4.24). Exposed five-storey high columns are relatively

slender given their height and the size of the building behind them. Their

modest diameter acknowledges the light loads from the delicate steel

trusses they support and their independence from suspended floors sup-

ported by interior columns. On the façades, as in the interior public spaces,

structural scale avoids monumentality, consistent with an architectural

goal of creating a transparent and non-intimidating environment.

Connecting the exterior to the interior

In contemporary architecture, structure that is exposed on an exterior

elevation sometimes bears some resemblance to the interior structure.

This may be a consequence of a design process that begins by attending

BUILDING EXTERIOR 65

▲ 4.23 Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, Paris, France, Adrien
Fainsilber, 1986. Scaled-up columns relate to building scale and
truss dimensions.

▲ 4.24 Law Courts, Bordeaux, France, Richard Rogers

Partnership, 1998. Human-scale rather than monumental columns.