Strength, Stability, Stiffness, and Emotional and Aesthetic Effect
Ordered considerations of span, loading, material, and cross-sectional area have preoccupied my design thoughts and actions for the last two days. I’ve begun reading “Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down”, and in it author J.E. Gordon writes that materials and the structure that they compose must be both light and rigid to achieve their goals.
These goals are what Adam Krezel described in Tuesday’s lecture as being: Strength, stability, and stiffness. My aim, in designing the Health and Well-Being Centre is to use the large structure that is required to span the open spaces that contain the full-size basketball court and the 4-lane 25 meter pool, to meet these three structural goals while achieving emotional and aesthetic effect. I began designing this building by first exploring plan while simultaneously considering 3D structure and building form ithrough section, sketches, and maquette. This building, because of its prominent position on the DDI campus and within
The results of my main studies are posted on this blog. The large triangulated member is pre-tensioned concrete, the trusses are of 200-250 diameter tubular steel sections with bolted connections, and the columns of the colonnade are brick/masonry.
1 comment:
I’m glad that Tuesday’s information overload lecture prompted you to action Richard, and I hope that you get something out of Gordon’s book. I found it a great help as a student. If you are interested in exploring this further you might also turn to – “Structures for Architects” by B.J.B. Gauld. Nmaes to conjure with who have explored the potential of structure as sculpture – Gaudi, Eero Saarinen, Félix Candela, Pier Luigi Nervi, Ove Arup, Frei Otto, Santiago Calatrava.
If that isn’t enough you might want to check out the list of IStructE Gold Medal Winners.
Henry Adams (1922) • John Baker (1953) • Eugene Freyssinet (1957) • Hardy Cross (1958) • Félix Candela (1960) • William Glanville (1962) • John Guthrie Brown (1964) • Pier Luigi Nervi (1967) • Alfred Pugsley (1968) • Knud Johansen (1971) • Yves Guyon (1972) • Ove Arup (1973) • Henry Husband (1973) • Ing Fritz Leonhardt (1975) • Oleg Kerensky (1977) • Nathan M. Newmark (1979) • Riccardo Morandi (1980) • Alec Skempton (1981) • Alan Harris (1984) • Frank Newby (1985) • Michael Horne (1986) • Alan Davenport (1987) • Anthony Flint (1988) • Gerhard Jack Zunz (1988) • Jörg Schlaich (1990) • Edmund Happold (1991) • Olgierd Zienkiewicz (1991) • Santiago Calatrava (1992) • Anthony Hunt (1994) • Michel Virlogeux (1996) • John Burland (1997) • Frederick Burdekin (1997) • William Ian Liddell (1999) • Duncan Michael (2000) • Cheng Hon Kwan (2001) • Sam Thorburn (2003) • Leslie E. Robertson (2004) • John Roberts (2005) • Roger Johnson (2006) • Joseph Locke (2007) • Mike Glover (2008) •
Yes most of these men were geniuses. Most architects try to design largely within the limits of their knowledge and simply because if they don’t they’ll end up in jail.
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