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Ass Unit 3

The document discusses the relationship between structural design and architectural form. It notes that Vitruvius identified the three components of architecture as firmness, commodity, and delight. Firmness refers to a building's physical integrity and is provided by its structure. The relationship between structure and architecture can range from the structure completely determining the form to being totally disregarded. Different relationships include structure as ornament, structure as architecture, and structure as a form generator. Fully form-active structures have geometries that produce distinctive building shapes but are also more complex and expensive.

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62 views3 pages

Ass Unit 3

The document discusses the relationship between structural design and architectural form. It notes that Vitruvius identified the three components of architecture as firmness, commodity, and delight. Firmness refers to a building's physical integrity and is provided by its structure. The relationship between structure and architecture can range from the structure completely determining the form to being totally disregarded. Different relationships include structure as ornament, structure as architecture, and structure as a form generator. Fully form-active structures have geometries that produce distinctive building shapes but are also more complex and expensive.

Uploaded by

Samreen Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ASS UNIT 3

Describe the aesthetic theories of the expression of structural function in architectural form.
Write short notes on structure and form/ Geometry of form and structural function (2011, 2012)

It has long been recognized that an appreciation of the role of structure is essential to the understanding
of architecture. It was Vitruvius, writing at the time of the founding of the Roman Empire, who identified
the three basic components of architecture as firmitas, utilitas and venustas which were translated
these as ‘firmness’, ‘commodity’ and ‘delight’.

 ‘Commodity’ refers to the practical functioning of the building;


 ‘Delight’ is the term for the effect of the building on the aesthetic sensibilities of those who
come into contact with it.
 ‘Firmness’ is the most basic quality. It is concerned with the ability of the building to preserve its
physical integrity and survive in the world as a physical object. The part of the building which
satisfies the need for ‘firmness’ is the structure. Structure is fundamental: without structure
there is no building and therefore no ‘commodity’. Without well- designed structure there can
be no ‘delight’.

A building can be read as a structural object. Since structural elements are a part of architecture. They
define the inside and outside of a structure and define spaces. The relationship between structural
design and architectural design can take many forms however. At one extreme it is possible for an
architect virtually to ignore structural considerations while inventing the form of a building and to
conceal entirely the structural elements in the completed version of the building.

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:

• ornamentation of structure
o a favoured structural system has been allowed to influence, if not totally determine, the
overall form of the buildings
o the building consists of little more than a visible structural armature adjusted in fairly
minor ways for visual reasons
o ex. Parthenon of Greece was ornamentation of constructional elements(beam and
columns)

• structure as ornament
o involves the manipulation of structural elements by criteria which are principally visual.
o The structure is given visual prominence but unlike in ornamentation of structure, the
design process is driven by visual rather than by technical considerations. As a
consequence the performance of these
structures is often less than ideal when
judged by technical criteria.
• structure as architecture
o buildings which consisted of structure and
only structure, like igloo and tepee.
o eg. palazatto dello sport, italy
• structure as form generator
o The term structure as form generator describes a relationship
between structure and architecture in which structural
requirements are allowed to influence strongly the forms of
buildings even though the structure itself is not necessarily
exposed.
o In this type of relationship the configuration of elements
which is most sensible structurally is accepted and the
architecture accommodated to it.
o the form-generating possibilities of structure contribute to an architectural style.
o The vaulted structures of Roman antiquity are an example. The large interior spaces of
the basilicas and bath houses of Imperial Rome were roofed by vaults and domes.

Structure and form

Structural forms that ignores basic knowledge of the relationship between geometry and structural
behaviour results in a lack of structural efficiency. In the ‘high tech’ architecture of the 1980s for
example, the structural elements discipline the plan of the building and form an important part of the
visual vocabulary. In the early Modern buildings of Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and
others, the forms which were adopted were greatly influenced by the types of geometry which were
suitable for steel and reinforced concrete structural frameworks.

Structures that give rise to unique building forms either come under the category of semi or fully form
active structures. These structures justify the use of structural elements for the design complexities they
are faced with, and these structural elements define a new aesthetic style for the building.

 Fully form-active structures are normally used only in circumstances where a special structural
requirement to achieve a high degree of structural efficiency exists, either because the span
involved is very large or because a structure of exceptionally light weight is required.
 They have geometries which are more complicated than post-and-beam or semi-form-active
types and they produce buildings which have distinctive shapes.
 Included in this group are compressive shells, tensile cable networks and air- supported tensile-
membrane structures. Form- active shapes are frequently chosen for the compressive
elements as well as for the tensile elements (see Fig. 7.18).
 Form-active structures are almost invariably statically indeterminate and this, together with the
fact that they are difficult to construct, makes them very expensive in the present age, despite
the fact that they make an efficient use of structural material.
 Many technical difficulties, associated with
the behaviour of the structural members of
form active systems in response to dynamic
loads, arise in connection with their design.
o In the case of the compressive
version of the form-active structure,
the penalty which is incurred if it is
not given the true form-active
shape for the load is that bending
stress occurs in the membrane. If
this happens unintentionally there is
a risk of strength failure, and it is
therefore desirable that the exact
geometry of the true form-active
shape should be determined during the design process and that the structure be made
to conform to it. Eg. Fig. 7.18

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