SYNOPSIS

DISSERTATION
Structure & Architecture

done by
YOHAPRIYA.V
 STRUCTURE & ARCHITECTURE

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this report is to make a connection between architecture and structure, to
develop a deeper understanding of structures and interested in how you could make
architecture develop in better collaborations and if the structure could be expressed in
architecture.

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the history, buildings has mostly been designed and built by one person, the so
called Master-Builder. The Master-Builder was an architect, engineer and constructor, all in
one. When the industrialization started, the constructions became more and more complex,
and the demands of the buildings increased. Material and instruments developed with the
technical development. This made it harder for one person to know everything, and to think
about every factor in the constructing/ designing of a building or a bridge. The work was
divided between the architects,
The many different engineers, and the builder. With the distribution of work came other
problems. The greatest was probably that the master builder with the supreme knowledge
of architecture as well as structure was no more to formulate and think through staggering
works of art.

What in the past was one man’s work became now a co-operation between many and the
different professions grew at the same time longer apart from each other rather than closer.
In the last decade, this issue has got more and more focus, both in the universities and out
on the field. In today’s day and age the structure of the built form plays a major role in terms
efficiency, aesthetics, architecture and its built function to carry the load of the building, but
sadly it is not so in most of the cases as the former three are ignored or rather not
considered. This is mainly due to the lack there of knowledge on the architects part, but it is
not possible in today’s world to ignore structures as the scale of buildings and construction
projects have become mammoth, hence a deeper understanding is required if one has to
provide the finest marvels.

It is clear that for the technical development of

new architecture in the future and for the technical development in the construction
business shall have a constructive and important role in the future it is necessary for
architects to have an in depth understanding of structures as a whole. This dissertation and
the project chosen is about near cooperation between architecture and structure. This was
chosen to do so because of the conviction that more collaboration between architects and
 structures gives much more possibilities and is a right step to take to develop complex
architecture in the future.

STUDY

The simplest way of describing the function of an architectural structure is to say that it is
the part of a building which resists the loads that are imposed on it. A building may be
regarded as simply an envelope which encloses and subdivides space in order to create a
protected environment. The surfaces which form the envelope, that is the walls, the floors
and the roof of the building, are subjected to various types of loading: external surfaces are
exposed to the climatic loads of snow, wind and rain; floors are subjected to the
gravitational loads of the occupants and their effects; and most of the surfaces also have to
carry their own weight. All of these loads tend to distort the building envelope and to cause
it to collapse; it is to prevent this from happening
that a structure is provided. The function of a structure may be summed up, therefore, as
being to supply the strength and rigidity which are required to prevent a building from
collapsing. More precisely, it is the part of a building which conducts the loads which are
imposed on it from the points where they arise to the ground underneath the building,
where they can ultimately be resisted.

The location of the structure within a

building is not always obvious because the structure can be integrated with the
nonstructural parts in various ways. Sometimes, as in the simple example of an igloo, in
which ice blocks form a self-supporting protective dome, the structure and the space
enclosing elements are one and the same thing. Sometimes the structural and space
enclosing elements are entirely separate. A very simple example is the tepee , in which the
protecting envelope is a skin of fabric or hides which has insufficient rigidity to form an
enclosure by itself and which is supported on a framework of timber poles. Complete
separation of structure and envelope occurs here: the envelope is entirely nonstructural and
the poles have a purely structural function.
If we need to form a better understanding of structure then we need to understand the
structural requirements, the various types of loads, the structural types.
The major structural requirements are as follows:
DURABILITY-
of the structure depends entirely in the physical/chemical conditions of the structural
material and our willingness to continue using that building.
STABILITY & EQULIBRIUM-
when the structure is stable and in equilibrium it resists any load without suffering any
major change of shape or collapsing.
STRENGHT & RIGIDITY-
are reached by the adequate specification of geometry, size and the material of the
structural elements.
 The types of loads are axial and non-axial and the different types of structures are post &
beam, arches, vaulted halls & domes, portal frames, trusses, space frames, folded roofs,
shells and tensile structures. The structure as a whole is a complex system relating to and of
all the above & it is essential that we research what an architect is and what an architect
does if we are to truly understand structures.

“Architect: ‘this wall should be brick because I feel it will express what I want to say about
the nature of this building’” Alan Holgate.

An architect works with drawings, models, images and above all problem solving. An
architect has to think both about the big perspective as well to details. He has to think in
scale, proportions, rhythm, textual effects, lights, colour and hearing of architecture. He has
to understand solids and cavities in architecture, emotions and how people experience
architecture. When an architect judges a building its appearance is only one of several
factors which interest him. He studies plans, sections and elevations and maintains that, if it
is to be a good building, these must harmonize with each other. Just what the architect
means by this is not easy to explain. Architecture is
not producing simply by adding plans and sections to elevations. It is something else and
something more. It is impossible to explain precisely what it is - its limits are by no means
well defined.

Two related but distinct issues are discussed here, the architect and the structure. These are
the relationship between structure and architecture and the relationship between structural
engineers and architects. Each of these may take more than one form, and the type which is
in play at anytime influences the effect which structure has on architecture. These are issues
which shed an interesting sidelight on the history of architecture.
Structure and architecture may be related in a wide variety of ways ranging between the
extremes of complete domination of the architecture by the structure to total disregard
of structural requirements in the determination of both the form of a building and of its
aesthetic treatment. This infinite number of possibilities is discussed here under six broad
headings:

• Ornamentation Of Structure
• Structure As Ornament
• Structure As Architecture
• Structure As Form Generator
• Structure Accepted
• Structure Ignored
 A CASE STUDY- Novartis Pavilion’s Floating Roof

The reception building for the Novartis Campus in Basel is a load-bearing construction
consisting completely of glass. It has a wing-shaped roof made from glass fiber reinforced
plastic.

The building rests on an underground parking garage in the middle of an artificially created
park. The design of the architect, Marco Serra, called for a high degree of transparency and
what appears to be a floating roof.

The load-bearing façade, which consists solely of glass elements, makes it possible to do
without any additional supporting structures between the floor and the roof. The roof is a
400 m², wing-like shape made from glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP). The supporting
function, thermal insulation and waterproofing, are present in this single, seamless element.

The static and constructive form of the roof and façade takes into account the
manufacturing sequences, complex geometry and different behaviour of the materials used.
The large, self-propelled swing doors fulfil numerous requirements for operation, safety,
security and structural physics.

Ernst Basler + Partner was the general planner & ARCHITECT. This also included the
structural engineering and façade design.

More data on the FRP roof:

-400 square meters.

-tapers from 62 cm in the center to 7 cm at the edges.

- 90×90 cm blocks of PUR foam are the base material, each block is wrapped in layers of
fiberglass reinforced plastic.

-blocks were joined on site using a glue, before additional FRP lamination to concealed the
joints was applied.

- the total weight of the roof is 28 tons, all of which is supported by the glass and steel
facade.
 CONCLUSION
This section has reviewed the interaction between structure and architecture and has
shown that this can operate in a variety of ways. It is hoped that the several categories
which have been identified for this relationship, however artificial they may be, nevertheless
contribute to the understanding of the processes and interactions which constitute
architectural design. With a better cooperation you can make incredible architecture. If the
architect under stands how the engineer thinks, and how different structures work, he can
try to find solutions that will hold, but without destroying the architectural design. And if the
engineer understands what the architects want, which impressions and expressions, try to
find a solution that fits that but still is structurally efficient. This means that with a better
understanding of each other’s needs we could help each other find the best solutions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Structure and Architecture-Angus J. Macdonald
Interdependence of Form, Structure, Function & Space-Manish Jain
Detail Magazine 2008-Issue 5