Chapter 2
Structural design for architecture
22
2.1 Introduction
The purely technical aspects of the design of a
structure were reviewed at the end of the previ-
ous chapter. The complex relationship between
structural design and architectural design will
now be considered.
As was seen in Section 1.5 the process of
structural design may be subdivided into two
parts: there is a preliminary design stage, when
the form and general arrangement of the struc-
ture are devised, and a second stage in which
structural calculations are performed and the
dimensions of the various structural elements
are determined. In the case of an architectural
structure many of the decisions associated
with the preliminary stage of the design of a
structure are taken, consciously or uncon-
sciously, when the form of the building is
determined. The general arrangement chosen
for a building will normally determine the type
of structure which will have to be adopted to
support it and will probably also dictate the
selection of structural material.
In the case of the Willis, Faber and Dumas
building (Fig. 4.17), for example, where there
was a requirement for a large wall-free interior
and glass external walls, there was no alterna-
tive to the adoption of a frame-type structure.
The requirements for a curvilinear plan-form
and for columns which were set back from the
perimeter, dictated that reinforced concrete
rather than steel be employed as the structural
material. The outcome in this case was a build-
ing in which architectural and structural
requirements were satisfied in equal measure
and the building stands up well to both archi-
tectural and technical criticism.Fig. 2.1 Rooftop Remodelling in Vienna, Austria, 1988.
Coop Himmelblau, architects. This glazed, irregular form
required that a skeleton framework structure be adopted.
[Photo: Gerald Zugmann]The complex arrangements of the Rooftop
Office in Vienna by the Coop Himmelblau
group, to take another example (Fig. 2.1),
would have been unrealisable with any other
type of structure than a skeleton framework,
which had to be of steel to ensure that the
elements were sufficiently slender. The Hysolar
building of Behnisch (Fig. 2.2) is a similar type
of building and could only have been realised
with a skeleton framework of structural steel.
The buildings of Richard Meier (Fig. 4.18) and
Frank Gehry (Fig. 4.20), on the other hand,
required that reinforced concrete structures be
adopted.
Thus, although some aspects of the design
of structures, such as the precise geometry of a