Structure in Architecture

Professional and Technical Studies DESN22064

What the engineer sees as a structure, the architect sees as a sculpture. Actually, of course, it is both.
-Sir Ove Arup

Content
Types of Architectural Structure
- Post and Beam - Cantilever - Tensile - Arch and Dome - Trusses

Building System

Types of Building Structure

Post and Beam

A type of building frame in which roof and floor beams rest directly over wall posts.

Natural round columns, and glulam beams

Sawn and dressed hardwood post and beams

Glue laminated posts, beams, and wall and flooring panels

Architectural Structures

Composite steel and timber posts with timber beams, floors and screens
Architectural Structures

Portal frames Portal frames can be used in timber based commercial and industrial building construction with clear spans of 15 to 30 metres. They provide large clear spans and good height clearance for use in a range of applications.

Cantilever
A projecting structure, such as a beam, that is supported at one end and carries a load at the other end or along its length.

Tensile
A tensile structure is a construction of elements carrying only tension and no compression or bending. Tensile membrane structures are most often used as roofs as they can economically and attractively span large distances Tension roofs or canopies are those in which every part of the structure is loaded only in tension, with no requirement to resist compression or bending forces. Vandenberg; page 6

 Membrane Cable Net Paraboloid

Arch and Domes

The arch is one of the oldest

structural forms for spanning any distance. It is essentially a two dimensional structural system with all of its strength in the plane of the arch.
- Dome structures extend the principal of the arch by introducing a third dimension. The dome is a very efficient structural system for carrying vertical loads and can result in the most slender of timber structural systems.

Arch and Domes

Arch and Domes

Arch and Domes

Arch and Domes

Hand nailed green hardwood arches, framed as curved boxed trusses

Curved glue laminated arches

Arches

Bolted sawn hardwood arches

Arches

Bedford Square, London

Geodesic Dome
A geodesic dome is a spherelike structure composed of a complex network of triangles. The triangles create a selfbracing framework that gives structural strength while using a minimum of material.

Glulam softwood compression and steel tension dome elements

Monolithic Dome
A Monolithic Dome is a onepiece structure made with concrete and rebar (ridged steel rods). Monolithic Domes use half as much concrete and steel as traditional buildings. The curved shape of the dome makes it resistant to wind and storm damage.

Monolithic Dome

Trusses
- Truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight slender members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. - The long span capabilities of trusses can offer designers the flexibility of floor layouts without interior supports. Most trusses are pre-fabricated to standard designs using pressed metal nail plates, providing versatility in design, economy, fast delivery, and ease of erection.

Truss grid

Glue laminated truss grid

Tapering plywood box beam rafters, sawn timber primary trusses on hardwood posts

Heavy glulam trusses and roof

Post, beams and trusses

Glulam columns, roof frame and trussed wind posts

Thank You