Architecture as Engineering

Effect of Technology on Architecture

• Technological progress has always influenced the
architecture of any period
• Technology is the function of mathematics and the
nature of materials
• Technological changes occur due to introduction of
– new materials of construction
– new methods or processes of construction
– new conceptions, theories, calculations and design
principles
– new demands made by every sphere of human activity,
from simple protection for residential purposes to the
most complex of industrial and other structures of current
times leading to new building types
 New materials of construction
• Nature of materials often limiting factor in
architectural expression
• Until the 18th century, stone was the chief
building material, its limitations guided the
form of architecture in most parts of the world
• This limit was transcended in the 19thcentury
with the introduction of steel, concrete and
glass
 New materials of construction
• E.g. - New forms of wood
– laminated wood
– stressed skin construction from resin bonded plywood
– latticed beams which can span as much as steel beams
– joists of glued ply-wood
New methods or processes of construction
• All above structural uses are made possible by the
treatment of timber against all sorts of attack, removal of
inherent defects in the material, inventing new weather
resistant and strong adhesives and some imaginative
mathematics
 New methods or processes
of construction
• E.g. – Newer forms of
reinforced concrete - shell
concrete, prestressed
concrete, post-tensioned
concrete, precast concrete,
precast prestressed
concrete, mushroom
construction, flat-slab
construction, etc
• E.g. – With steel and
aluminum, big space
frames, geodesic domes, Material - Steel, prestressed concrete
By Santiago Calatrava, structural engineer –
latticed beams are being Alamillo Bridge
constructed -
 New methods or processes
of construction

Oceanografic, Valencia, Spain VietinBank Tower, Vietnam

Shell Concrete Post-Tensioned Concrete
 New methods or processes
of construction

Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre, Baku by Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Zaha Hadid Precast Prestressed Concrete
Precast Concrete
 New methods or processes
of construction

Flat slab is a reinforced

Metropol Parasol, Spain concrete slab supported directly by concrete
Mushroom Construction columns without the use of beams. Flat slab is
defined as one sided or two-sided support
system with sheer load of the slab being
concentrated on the supporting columns and a
square slab called 'drop panels'
 New conceptions, theories,
calculations and design principles
• Use of computers, virtual technology
– enables construction of highly complex structures
with building components being digitally modelled
– Easier testing/prediction of effects of wind load,
structural stresses, etc
– Permits optimisation while extending limits of
structural and material components
 New conceptions, theories,
calculations and design principles
Examples

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

by Frank O Gehry

Kogod Courtyard Designed by Norman Foster

 New demands
• Higher demand for work and homes forcing
cities to expand vertically
• New activities and advances lead to newer
building typologies - newer forms of
recreational buildings, metro stations, etc