The timeless charm of concrete structures

Dr. Ing Fernando Sima

ICI Chennai Centre - 07.09.2021
The beauty of structures
 Marco Vitruvio
(25 A.C.)
Firmitas Venustas
Utilitas

David Billington
“The art of Structural Engineering”

Efficiency Elegance
Economy

Basic principles of a good design

Climate crisis
Threat or oportunity?....
Basic principles of a good design (M. Schlaich, 2015)
 Lightweight Structures

Efficient Sustainable
Economic Elegant

Basic principles of a good design

 Galileo and the scale effect
The required thickness of an element in bending grows with the square
of the span!

Efficiency of the material: look for the highest resistance to density ratio

Principles of lightweight structures

 Dissolving the girder

Principles of lightweight structures

 Double curvature

Principles of lightweight structures

An order of structures
‘The resistant virtues of the structures that we make depend on
their form, it is through their form that they are stable and not
because of an awkward accumulation of materials. The is nothing
more noble and elegant from an intellectual point of view than
this, resistance through form.’

Eladio Dieste (1996)

Resistance though form

“Form follows force”
A. Gaudi (Colonia Guell, Barcelona)

Heinz Isler cloth models

Form-finding
“Form follows force”

Force Density
Dynamic relaxation
…..
Form-finding
3D graphic statics
3D printed floor system (Block Research Group, ETH Zurich)
3D printed floor system (Block Research Group, ETH Zurich)
Learn from the Masters
Felix Candela (1920-2010)
Bacardi Factory (Felix Candela)
Los manantiales Restaurant, Xochimilco (F. Candela)
Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979)
Palazetto dello sport (Rome, Pier Luigi Nervi)
Gatti wool factory, Rome (Pier Luigi nervi)
Robert Maillart (1872-1940)
Stauffacher Bridge (R. Maillart, 1899)
Suoz Bridge (R. Maillart, 1901)
Tavanassa Bridge (R. Maillart, 1906)
Salginatobel bridge (R. Maillart)
Felsegg Bridge (R. Maillart, 1933)
Schwandbach Bridge (R. Maillart, 1933)
Christian Menn (1927-2015)
Letziwald bridge (1960)
Viamala Bridge (Christian Menn, 1966)
Ganter Bridge (Christian Menn, 1980)
Sunniberg Bridge (Christian Menn, 1998)
Jörg Schlaich (1934-2021)
Autobahn A8 Wendlingen-Kirchheim (1992)
Kochenhof foorbridge (Stuttgart, 1989)
Evripos (1992)
Auerbachstrasse Bridge (Stuttgart, 2003)
Tram stop canopies, Berlin Hauptbahnhof (sbp)
Boeringer Ingelheim (sbp)
Thanks for your attention!!