Most orthogonal beam-column frameworks integrate well within pris- matic architectural forms. The ubiquitous medium- to high-rise office
building is a typical example, but even though exemplifying integrated architectural and structural forms the ensuing architecture may not be
meritorious. The following three rather unusual but well-regarded buildings illustrate the realization of and the potential for synthesizing
frames and architectural form.
La Grande Arche, Paris, itself a huge open frame when viewed in frontal elevation, comprises a hierarchy of frames Fig. 3.18. Along each leg of
the frame four equally spaced five-storey internal mega-frames rise to support the roof. Each mega-frame storey is subdivided into seven
intermediate floor levels. The long-span roof and the plinth structure that spans over numerous subterranean tunnels are also framed – in the
form of three-storey deep vierendeel trusses. Similar secondary roof frames at right-angles to the primary trusses form a grillage in plan from
which to cantilever the chamfered roof and plinth edges. Vierendeel truss elements are exposed within the roof exhibition areas. Although
their chamfered top-chord sections and their chord-to-web haunches depart from the orthogonality of most of the structure they do res-
onate with the overall chamfered building form Fig. 3.19.
Uncompromising orthogonal rigour characterizes the cubic form and perimeter frames of the San Cataldo Cemetery columbarium, or chamber
for remains at Modena Fig. 3.20. From both architectural and structural engineering perspectives, the exterior surfaces that are penetrated by
unglazed openings can also be considered as highly pierced walls, given their plastered smoothness and an absence of any articulation of individual beam
or column members. The frame thickness, exaggerated by the depth of the integral ossuary compartments, reinforces ideas of hollowness and
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ARCHITECTURAL AND STRUCTURAL FORM
31
▲
3.18 La Grande Arche, Paris, France, Johan Otto van
Spreckelsen, 1989. Frames within a frame.
▲
3.19 An interior vierendeel truss to the right.
emptiness that are reminiscent of empty eye sockets in a skull. This reading corresponds with an understanding of the work as an ‘unfinished, deserted
house, a built metaphor of death’.
9
The building interior is also essentially hollow, except for stairs and galleries on a skeletal steel framework with
contrasting scaffolding-like qualities. Pitched portal frames consisting of two columns connected rigidly to
sloping rafters structure innumerable light-industrial and other utilitar- ian buildings. This structural form that rarely graces the pages of archi-
tectural publications, integrates with architectural form in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, London. In realizing a ‘glazed hill’ design con-
cept, the architect manipulates basic multi-bay portals Fig. 3.21. However, unlike most portal frames, the side rafters connect directly
to the perimeter foundations, successfully reducing the building’s visual impact on its surroundings. The form-generating portals that span
transversely are geometrically simple but subtle transformations that introduce asymmetry and volumetric complexity distance the conser-
vatory from its utilitarian cousins. An uncommon structural system, yet similar to that at the Licorne Stadium, provides longitudinal resistance.
Concerns about the humid corrosive environment and potential aes- thetic distractions led to roof-plane moment-resisting frames substitut-
ing for the more conventional diagonal cross-bracing usually associated with portal frame construction.
Walls
The wall is another structural system capable of participating in the integration of architectural and structural forms. As exemplified by the
32
STRUCTURE AS ARCHITECTURE
▲
3.20 San Cataldo Cemetery columbarium, Modena,
Italy, Aldo Rossi, 1984. Rigorous orthogonality.
▲
3.21
Princess of Wales Conservatory, London, England, Gordon Wilson, 1986. Pitched portal frame variations.
Faculty of Journalism, Pamplona, walls not only dominate its façades, but also define interior spaces Figs 3.22 and 3.23. In some areas of the
building horizontal slots force the walls to span horizontally and func- tion structurally like beams, and even balustrades read as low walls.
Inside and out, walls dominate the architectural experience. Fortunately, any possible blandness arising from this architecture of walls is miti-
gated by exterior elevational and interior spatial variation, careful atten- tion to surface textures, and the lightening of the concrete colour. The
rectilinear form of the walls strengthens the orthogonal architecture they support, enclose and subdivide.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ARCHITECTURAL AND STRUCTURAL FORM
33
▲
3.22 Faculty of Journalism, Pamplona, Spain, Vicens and Ramos, 1996. Walls visually
