EXAMPLES
Egyptian Temples (slide 4)
Temple of Amon, Luxor
Stone – post & beam
Heavy, thick, close spacing
Funeral Temple of Hatshepsout – Deir-el-Bahari
1470 BC
Stone – post & beam
Heavy, thick, close spacing
Place of Knossos - Crete
c1700 BC
Stone – tapered columns
Greek & Roman Temples (slide 5)
Parthenon - Athens
447-432 BC.
Theseum – agora Athens (Hephaesteum)
One of best preserved temples
Maison Carre – Nimes
1st Century
Carre d’Art – Nimes
Foster and Partners 1987-93 - Mediatheque
Roman Arches (slide 6)
Arch of Titus
Colosseum
Pont du Gard
Islamic Arches (slide 7)
Umayyad Mosque - Damascus
Arch of Ctesiphon – near Baghdad
C540 AD
25.5m span – largest arch in ancient history
pointed ovoid
mud bricks built without support
Vaults (slide 8)
Colosseum
Intersecting barrel-vaults
St. Sernin – Toulouse 1080
Romanesque
Stone - semi-circular barrel vault
Nave 21m high - Building 32.5m wide
Gothic Vaults (slide 9)
Notre Dame de Paris – 1163-1250
Gothic
Nave 34m high – wall supporting very thin
Building 48m wide
Flying Butresses span 15m. One of earliest examples
Sexpartite vault
Vaults (slide 10)
King’s College Chapel, Cambridge – 1446-1515
Gothic
Lacy stone fan-vaulting with high stained glass windows - airy
12.2 m wide
Lyons Opera – 1830/1993
Concrete barrel shell vault
Orly Hangar – 1921-3
Concrete ribbed parabolic vault
75m span - dirigibles
Domes (slide 11)
Pantheon - Rome
123 A.D.
43m span – 4m thick stone/concrete/pots
Trulli Houses – Alberobello Italy
18th C
Stone – high parabolic
Italian vernacular
Domes (slide 12)
Hagia Sophia Mosque - Istanbul
537 A.D.
31m span stone
pendentives – half-domes – large piers
Duomo – Florence
1436 - Brunelleschi
Two domes – inner and outer
Outer - Ribbed - brick – octagonal – high profile
42m span
supported by 24 stone half arches, or ribs, of circular form, 2.1 metres thick at the
base and tapering to 1.5 metres which meet at an open stone compression ring at the
top. To resist outward thrust, tie rings of stone held together with metal cramps run
horizontally between the ribs. There are also tie rings of oak timbers joined by
metal connectors. The spaces between the ribs and tie rings are spanned by the inner
and outer shells, which are of stone for the first 7.1 metres and brick above. The
entire structure was built without formwork.
Domes (slide 13)
St Peters - Rome
1546-1626 A.D.
42m span
construction and shape of the dome, first with a single masonry shell (Bramante),
then a double one (Sangallo, Michelangelo). The piers at the crossing, which were
intended to support the dome, were one of the biggest problems; too slender in
Bramante's plan, they were frequently reinforced.
The brick dome 42 m in diameter rises 138 m above the street, and 119 m above the
floor, with four iron chains for a compression ring. Four internal piers . is buttressed
by the apses and supported internally by four massive piers more than 18 meters
thick.
Tomb of Tamburlaine – Samarkand, Uzbekistan
14th C – after the Mongols
Islamic –
Astrodome, Houston
1965
216.5 m span – largest span enclosed structure
capacity: 42,217 (original), 54816 (final)
2005 – 13,000 refugees from New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina
steel
Millenium Dome, London
1997-98
>160 m span , height of dome 50m, height of masts 100m
capacity: 42,217 (original), 54816 (final) 13000 refugees from Hurricane Katrina
membrane structure, cable-suspended
PTFE-coated glass-fiber fabric (PolyTetraFluoroEthylene)
Trusses (slide 14)
Waterloo Station - London
1848
158.6 x 164.7 m area over 19 platforms (26,120 sq m) – 5 football fields
steel and glass
columns but still large open spans
Carreau du Temple - Paris
1863-5
Note tension members – lightness
Market
Air Terminal - Frankfurt
1996-9
> 50 m span
arch form
Trusses (slide 15)
Pompidou Centre - Paris
1971-7
Warren trusses support floor
Truss 2.5m deep – span 45m
Each top chord pair of 419mm dia steel tube
Inverted vees between trusses for lateral stability in short direction
Waterloo Chunnel Station - London
1992-4
span 35-50m (not equal spans) – 400m long
asymmetrical 3-hinged arch trusses – space trusses
Louvre Pyramid - Paris
1985-9
I.M. Pei – same proportions as Great Pyramid of Giza
35m width
each face a truss
Trusses (slide 16)
Hong Kong Bank – Hong Kong
1986
Foster & Partners – Ove Arup
Supported by 8 column clusters of 4 columns each (note bracing of columns)
Column clusters support trusses
Floors suspended from trusses by hangers
Columns and hangers are round steel tubes – trusses of square tubes
All structural members encased in concrete and clad in enameled aluminium cladding
Trusses (slide 17)
Telstra Stadium – Sydney
1996-9
83,500 capacity (110,00 originally)
most spectators shaded without need for grass-killing dome
roof suspended from arched trusses
translucent polycarbonate
Frame (slide 18)
Australia Square – Sydney
1961-1967
Harry Seidler
50 storeys high
42m dia. Lightweight RC frame – clear span of 11m core to perimeter
Precast quartz-faced permanent formwork for façade
Repetitive elements – fast construction
Grd floor by Nervi
Frame (slide 19)
Horizon Apartment Building – Sydney
1990-8
Harry Seidler
43 storeys – shaped to catch views of harbour
Prestressed conc structure
MLC Building – Sydney
1972-75
Harry Seidler
67 floors
Precast concrete structure with white quartz exterior
8 massive columns – change shape bottom to top
Frame (slide 20)
Hong Kong Central / Hong Kong Club – Hong Kong
1980-84
Harry Seidler
34m span prestressed concrete facade
17m internal spans
no internal columns
Frame (slide 21)
Century Tower - Tokyo
1991
Foster & Partners, Ove Arup
Grande Arche - La Defense , Paris
1982-90
rises 110m
on axis with Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees
Frame (slide 22)
World Trade Centre – NY (demolished)
1984-7 – demolished Sept 11 2001
steel frame, concrete slabs on steel truss joists
columns at 99cms crs, truss joists 84cms deep spanning 18.3m to core.
Frame (slide 23)
Walt Disney Concert Hall - LA
1988-2002
Frank Gehry
Steel frame structure – sheet metal façade
Tension Structure (slide 24)
Westcoast Transmission Tower - Vancouver
1969
pairs of high-strength steel cables – very thin
coated with layer of fireproofing material
enclosed within outer skin of building
Federal Reserve Bank - Minneapolis
Floors carried across 82m span by parabolic cables
Floor beams above supported by columns, those below by hangers
Stiffening trusses at top – resist inward component of forces
Shells (slide 25)
Tenerife Opera House – Santa Cruz, Tenerife
2003 – Calatrava
seats 1668 + 410
58m high
curved white concrete
Shells (slide 26)
Putrajaya Convention Centre - Malaysia
2001-3
Largest hall can seat 2800
Roof looks like folded origami
Thin-shell structure –large overhangs shade glass
TWA Terminal – Kennedy Airport NY
1962
Eero Saarinen
67m wide, 96m long 15m high
Shells (slide 27)
Los Manatiales Restaurant - Mexico
1958
Felix Candela
Thin-shell – hyperbolic paraboloid
31.8m span, 6.74m high at centre
17-34 mm thick shell
Geodesic Domes (slide 28)
Biosphere - Montreal
Expo 1967 - Buckminster Fuller
76m diam, 61m high
standardized steel members – quick erection
Eden Project - Cornwall
2001
‘Greenhouse’ – ecological park
Max height 50m – 23,000 sq m covered area
Steel members, ETFE foil
Cantilever (slide 29)
Lovett Vacation House – Washington
Cantilever (slide 30)
Harry Seidler House - Killara