Structural design for achitecture
Fig. 2.2 Solar Research
Institute (Hysolar),
Stuttgart, Germany,
1988-89. Gunther Behnisch
& Partner, architects. The
irregular geometry and
large areas of glazing
required that a skeleton
framework structure be
adopted to support this
building. The choice of
steel produced a particular
aesthetic quality - the
most notable aspects of
this are the slenderness of
the structural elements
and the refined appearance
of the exposed steelwork.
[Photo: E. &F. McLachlan]
beam or column grid or the dimensions of the
elements, may remain undecided until a later
stage in the design, many important structural
choices will be closed once the overall form of
a building has been determined. The initial
concept for a building, which determines its
overall form and the disposition of solid and
void within it, therefore exerts a dominating
influence on its subsequent structural make-
up. The architect is thus, consciously or uncon-
sciously, a structural designer.
The design of the structure which will
support a building is an identifiable and
discrete part of the overall design process in 23
