New Architecture and Technology

New Architecture and Technology

The drawings prepared with the application of a computer-basedprogram were made by architects Krassimir Krastev and Cornel

Prahovean under the guidance of Professor Mihaly Szoboszlai (atthe Department of Architectural Representation, Technical

University of Budapest, Dean: Professor Bálint Petró) and thisbook’s author and supported by the Hungarian Foundation for the

Development of Building.


Gyula Sebestyen

Associate Editor: Chris Pollington

OXFORD AMSTERDAM BOSTON LONDON NEW YORK PARISSAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO

Architectural Press

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First published 2003

Copyright © 2003, Gyula Sebestyen and Chris Pollington. All rights reserved

The right of Gyula Sebestyen and Chris Pollington to be identified as theauthors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataSebestyen, Gyula

New architecture and technology1. Architecture and technology 2. Architecture, Modern – 20th centuryI. Title720.1'05

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 0 7506 5164 4

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Preface vii

Acknowledgements ix

1 Trends in architecture 11.1 An overall survey 11.2 Stylistic trends in new architecture 101.3 Post-war regional survey 17

Bibliography 29

2 The impact of technological change on building materials 312.1 General considerations 312.2 Timber 342.3 Steel 352.4 Aluminum and other metals 372.5 Brick, stone and masonry 402.6 Glass and structural glass 402.7 Concrete and reinforced concrete 422.8 Plastics, fabrics and foils 45

Bibliography 47

3 The impact of technological change on buildings and structures 503.1 Some specific design aspects 503.2 Selected types of building 623.3 Structures and components 79

Bibliography 88

4 The impact of technological change on services 914.1 Ambience and services 914.2 Climate and energy conservation 914.3 Human comfort, health and performance requirements 964.4 Heating, ventilating, air-conditioning (HVAC) 964.5 The lighting environment 99

Contents

4.6 The sound environment: acoustics 1044.7 Revolution in the technology and control of services 105

Bibliography 107

5 The impact of invisible technologies on design 1105.1 Some general considerations 1105.2 The changing image, knowledge and cooperation of architects 1105.3 Fire engineering design 1135.4 New methods in structural analysis – design for seismic areas 1135.5 Heat, moisture and air quality affecting architectural design 1165.6 Technical systems of buildings: ‘system building’ 1185.7 Computers in architecture and management 1195.8 Architecture and industrialization of construction 1205.9 Management strategies 121

Bibliography 123

6 The interrelationship of architecture, economy, environment and sustainability 1256.1 Urban development 1256.2 Economy 1296.3 Environment 1306.4 Sustainability 131

Bibliography 136

7 Architectural aesthetics 1387.1 Introduction 1387.2 Size, scale, proportion 1427.3 Geometry 1437.4 Recesses, cavities, holes, canted/slanted lines and planes 1457.5 Colour, light and shadow 1467.6 Articulation 1487.7 Theory and praxis 149

Bibliography 149

8 The price of progress: defects, damages and failures 151Bibliography 155

9 Conclusion 156Bibliography 156

Index 159

Contents

The author of this book has spent most of hisprofessional life actively engaged in buildingresearch and construction technology progress.He has immersed himself particularly in theinternational aspects. Many of his publicationsdiscuss topics in these fields. One of these hasbeen his recent book Construction: Craft toIndustry, published in 1998, which surveysachievements in building science and construc-tion technology progress. Following its publi-cation the author felt the need to go furtherwith the objective of surveying trends in newarchitecture and the impacts of technologicalprogress on new architecture.

This work, then, should be seen as the contin-uation of Construction: Craft to Industry.Whereas the earlier book surveyed buildingresearch and technological progress, this onereviews the impact of technological change onnew architecture. Given its broad scope, thebook does not aim to treat individual sub-fieldsin detail; it restricts itself to highlighting generaltrends. This also serves to explain why noattempt is made to cover all or at least manyof the earlier publications about varioussubjects in the book.

It has been repeated almost ad infinitum thatarchitecture is as much an art as it is an indus-try. Regrettably, most of the books about thisform of human activity tend to focus on one orthe other aspect and seldom on their interrela-tionship. If, however, one does come across abook on this relationship, it concentrates, withcertain notable exceptions, on the past’s histor-ical styles. We may be enlightened aboutBrunelleschi´s solution for the Dome (i.e. SantaMaria del Fiore) in Florence, or the new type ofcentring for the London Blackfriars masonry

bridge devised by Robert Mylne. These casesare well documented to say nothing of manyother similar events going back several hundredyears, but where do we find literature concern-ing modern technology’s impact on present-dayarchitecture? But perhaps we are being unjusthere. There are some eminent publications (seefor example: T. Robbin, Engineering a NewArchitecture, 1996, Yale University Press and A.Holgate, Aesthetics of Built Form, 1992, OxfordUniversity Press) but the interwoven develop-ment of recent technology and architecturecertainly merits further analysis. This preciselyis the intention of this book.

Architecture has always had two seeminglycontradictory aspects: a local or domestic oneand an international or global one. Both aspectshave recently become even more pronounced.Local or domestic architecture has been cross-fertilized by international trends and interna-tional architecture has been fed inspiration bylocal traditions. Architectural and engineeringconsultancies, contractors and clients set upglobal and regional offices capable of simulta-neously servicing the global and the localmarket. On the other hand, local designers andcontractors increasingly affiliate themselveswith large national or international practices.Identification of architectural trends has beenrendered more complicated by the tremendousdiversification of functional requirements andby the architects’ ambition to design not onlyto satisfy various requirements but also tobring characteristics of the buildings’ environ-ment into harmony with the features of theirprojects. Finally, one should not forget thatarchitects themselves undergo change overtime so that their projects may reflect changingaspirations.

Preface

We commence our analysis by a survey of latetwentieth-century architecture (Chapter 1).

Chapters 2 to 4 discuss various aspects of theimpact on new architecture of technologicalprogress: Chapter 2, building materials; Chap-ter 3, buildings and structures; Chapter 4,services. Then follows in Chapter 5 the impactof invisible technologies: research and science,information and telecommunications technol-ogy. Chapter 6 reviews the interrelationship ofnew architecture, urban development, eco-nomy, environment and sustainability. Chapter7 deals with the new phenomenon of architec-tural aesthetics, while Chapter 8 outlines theprice of progress: damages and failures.Finally, Chapter 9 provides a summary.

Technology basically influences architecture inthree ways. Firstly, technical progress affectsarchitectural design directly. Architects nowmake use of computers, achievements innatural science, management knowledge, andtake advantage of assistance emanating fromvarious engineering disciplines. Secondly, archi-tects have to design buildings while taking intoaccount the modern technologies of construc-tion: prefabrication, mechanization, industrial-ization. Thirdly, architects design buildings inwhich activities with modern technologies takeplace, which means that requirements on thebuildings are formulated. This book covers allthree aspects of the interrelationship of archi-tecture and technology. On the other hand,those problems of technological progress that

have no direct impact on architecture, are not,or at least not at any length, discussed. Thebook does not contain detailed case studies butit lists a great number of realizations withexamples of the various ways technologyimpacts on new architecture.

No distinction is made between References andLiterature and both are included under the title‘Bibliography’. The Bibliography primarilycovers the publications consulted by the authorduring his work on the book and, even so, haveusually been restricted to the most recent publi-cations. The Bibliography may be considerednot only as the source of References but alsoas recommended further reading material.

The author had to limit the number of illustra-tions. Obviously, a book with such a broad scopecould feature many more illustrations than itactually does and those that are included havebeen restricted to an illustration and visualiza-tion of the book’s text. For many of the captionsa particular method has been employed. Themain text of the captions defines the illustrationand following this are the technical details andfeatures to which the author specifically wishesto draw the attention of readers. The illustrationsare positioned within the framework of thecorresponding subject matter as the illustrationswithin that chapter or section, but their numberis not generally indicated in the text because inmost cases there is no reference specific to anillustration; it is only the common subject areathat links them to each other.

Preface

The author wishes to express his appreciationto all those who contributed in their differentways to the preparation of the book by infor-mation, illustrations or other means.

The author records his gratitude to JuliusRudnay who was kind enough to read the firstdraft of Chapter 1 and to make a number ofuseful suggestions.

The author wishes to thank Christopher Polling-ton for his exhaustive revision of the draft

manuscript and for his substantial assistance infinal editing. His notable contributions toChapters 5, 6 and 8 are also gratefully acknowl-edged. Much of the final wording is attributableto him.

Highly valued editorial contributions were alsoreceived from Agnes Sebestyen, Judit Adorianand the team at Architectural Press.

Naturally, the author accepts sole responsibilityfor any remaining errors or other deficiencies.

Acknowledgements

.This Page Intentionally Left Blank

1.1 An Overall Survey

Architectural styles and trends have been dis-cerned and described ever since ancient times. Theobjective of this chapter is to build on this traditionby describing these trends while placing particularemphasis on the second half of the twentieth cen-tury. Whilst other chapters will be dealing with thetechnological aspects and diverse specific areas ofarchitecture, this one will focus on the changes inarchitectural styles, but not at the expense of ignor-ing the corresponding technical, aesthetic, socialand other influences. The intention is not to com-pile a comprehensive history of architecture, andthe chapter is restricted to aspects relevant to thesubject of the book: to the impact of technologicalprogress on new architecture. For expediency, thediscussion is divided into three 40-year periods:1880–1920, 1920–60 and from 1960 to the present.As the subject of this book is contemporary archi-tecture, the first period will be discussed only inperfunctory terms. More emphasis will be given tothe second one, and still greater detail to the finaland most recent period.

Whilst this book is devoted to the contactsbetween architecture and technology, one shouldnot forget the other aspect of architecture as beingalso an art, indeed one of the fine arts. It has in par-ticular a close affinity with sculpture. In some styl-istic trends (for instance in the Baroque and in theRococo) the division between these two branchesof art was scarcely perceivable. In modern timesarchitecture was more inclined to separate itself

from sculpture although certain (e.g. futurist) sculp-ture did receive inspiration from modern architec-ture. Later, during post-modern trends, sculptureagain came close to architecture so that somearchitectural designs were conceived as a sculpture(Schulz-Dornburg, 2000). However, in all that fol-lows in this book we focus attention on the inter-relationship of (new) architecture and technology.

On the other hand, up-to-date (high-tech) technol-ogy may be directly used for new forms of archi-tectural art. Such forms, as for example theapplication of computer-controlled contemporaryillumination techniques, are part of the subject mat-ter of this book and will be discussed at the appro-priate place.

1.1.1 The period 1880–1920

It was this period that saw the end of ancient andhistorical architectural styles, such as Egyptian,Greek, Roman, Byzantine and the laterRomanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, thuspaving the way for twentieth-century modernism.Independence was achieved by what were formercolonies as, for example, in Latin America. The ben-efits of scientific revolution and industrial develop-ment were reaped mostly by the leading powers ofthe day: Great Britain, the United States, France,Germany and Japan. Their conflict resulted in theFirst World War of 1914–18. At the end of this warit seemed that society was being impelled bydemocracy and the ideas of liberal capitalism and

1

1Trends in architecture


rationalism, and it was hoped that scientific andeconomic progress would provide the means forsolving the world’s problems.

During this 40-year period the construction industryprogressed enormously. Even earlier in the 1830s,railway construction was expanding at first in theindustrialized countries, later extending to otherparts of the world. The growing steel industry pro-vided the new structural building material. A fewdecades later, the use of reinforced concrete beganto compete with steel in this field.

The progress in construction during this period wasperhaps best symbolized by the Eiffel Tower,designed by Gustave Eiffel (1832–1923) (Figure1.1), a leading steel construction expert of his time.In fact, the Tower was built for the Paris World Exhi-bition in 1889 and the intention at the time was thatit should be only a ‘temporary’ exhibit. Originally300 metres high, it was taller than any previousman-made structure. More than a century later, dur-ing which it has become one of the best-lovedbuildings in the world, it is still standing intact.

A subsequent engineering feat was the Jahrhun-derthalle in Breslau (now Wroclaw), designed byMax Berg (1870–1947) (Figure 1.2), and completedin 1913, a ribbed reinforced concrete dome, which,with its 65-metre diameter, was at its time of con-struction the largest spanning space yet put up inhistory. In this heroic period, such technical novel-ties as central heating, lifts, water and drainage ser-vices for buildings became extensively used.

In architecture and the applied arts, there wereattempts to revive historical styles, such as the neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance. Later, the mixture ofthese historical styles and their reinterpretationgave rise to the Art Nouveau or Jugendstil move-ments, collectively known as the ‘Secession’,which literally meant the abandonment of the clas-

2

Figure 1.1 The Eiffel Tower, Paris, France, 1887–89,structural design: Gustave Eiffel, 300 m high. One ofthe first spectacular results of technical progress inconstruction. © Sebestyen: Construction: Craft toIndustry, E & FN Spon.

Figure 1.2 Jahrhunderthalle, Breslau (Wroclaw),Germany/Poland, 1913, architect: Max Berg. Thefirst (ribbed) reinforced concrete dome whose span(65 m) exceeds all earlier masonry domes.© Sebestyen: Construction: Craft to Industry, E & FNSpon.

sical stylistic conventions and restraints. A similarstyle was propagated in Britain by the designerWilliam Morris (1834–96), and in America by his fol-lowers, in the Arts and Crafts movement, whoseaim was to recapture the spirit of earlier craftsman-ship, perhaps as a reaction to the banality of massproduction engendered by the Industrial Revolu-tion. Consequently, a schism occurred amongstartists, designers and the involved public, betweenthose who advocated adherence to the old acade-mic style and tradition and ‘secessionists’, whofavoured the use of new techniques and materialsand a more inventive ‘free’ style. Also during thisperiod some architects, both in Europe and Amer-ica, began to experiment with the use of natural,organic forms, such as the Spaniard Antoni Gaudí(1852–1926) in Barcelona and the American FrankLloyd Wright (1869–1959) (Plates 1 and 2); the lat-ter; in addition, drawing on local rural traditions andforms. Amongst European protomodernists, theAustrian Adolf Loos (1870–1933), the DutchmanHendrik Petrus Berlage (1856–1934) and the Ger-man Peter Behrens (1868–1940) merit mention.Using exaggerated plasticity and extravagantshapes, the German Erich Mendelsohn(1887–1953) and Hans Poelzig (1869–1936) wereimportant figures in the lead into modern architec-ture.

1.1.2 The period 1920–60

Early modernism

The period has been defined as the period of ‘mod-ernism’, when architecture finally broke completelywith tradition and the ‘unnecessary’ decoration.With the end of the First World War in 1918, the tra-ditional authority and power of the ruling classes inEurope diminished considerably, and, indeed, insome cases was completely eliminated throughrevolutions. Even in the victorious nations, such asFrance and Britain, the loss of life and sacrifice ona vast scale amongst ordinary people fuelledresentment against the establishment.

Germany, having lost the war, was in turmoil andthe Austro-Hungarian monarchy ceased to existaltogether. In consequence, the political and eco-nomic realities of the time in Europe and elsewhere

were most conducive to breaking with tradition,and in this, architecture was no exception.

In Europe, the first focal point of the new aesthet-ics, modernism, was the school of design, archi-tecture and applied art, known as the Bauhaus,founded by Walter Gropius (1883–1969) in 1919 inWeimar, Germany. Whilst adopting the British Artsand Crafts movement’s attention to good designfor objects of daily life, the Bauhaus advocated theethos of functional, yet aesthetically coherentdesign for mass production, instead of focussing onluxury goods for the privileged elite. Gropiusengaged many leading modern artists and archi-tects as teachers, including Paul Klee, Adolf Meyer,Wassily Kandinski, Marcel Breuer and LászlóMoholy-Nagy, just to mention a few.

The early Bauhaus style is perhaps best epitomizedby its own school building at Dessau, designed byWalter Gropius in 1925, a building of a somewhatimpersonal and machined appearance. Gropius wassucceeded as Director by Ludwig Mies van derRohe (1886–1969) in 1930. Perhaps his best worksof the period were the German Pavilion for theInternational Exhibition at Barcelona and theTugendhat House at Brno, Czech Republic in 1929and 1930 respectively. Mies van der Rohe can becounted as one of those architects who genuinelyexercised a tremendous influence on the develop-ment of architecture. His Tugendhat House influ-enced several glass houses (Whitney and Kipnis,1996). We can also see his influence on the archi-tecture of skyscrapers and other multi-storey build-ings.

In the Netherlands, influenced by the Bauhaus, butalso contributing to it, Theo van Doesburg, GerritThomas Rietveld and Jacobus J. Oud were mem-bers of the ‘De Stijl’ movement, which itself wasinfluenced by Cubism. Their ‘Neoplastic’ aestheticsused precision of line and form. The culmination ofearly Dutch modernism was perhaps Rietveld’s(1888–1964) Schröder House, built in 1924 atUtrecht (Figure 1.6).

In France the most influential practitioner of mod-ernism was the Swiss-French architect CharlesEdouard Jeanneret, universally known as Le Cor-busier (1887–1965). His early style can best be seenin the two villas: Les Terrasses at Garches (1927) and

Trends in architecture

3


the Villa Savoye at Poissy (1930), where the floorswere cantilevered off circular columns to permit theuse of strip windows. Flowing, plastically-modelledspaces and curved partition walls augmenting longstraight lines characterize both buildings. Le Cor-busier also influenced the profession through his the-oretical work Towards a New Architecture publishedin 1923 as well as through his activity abroad and ininternational professional organizations. The creationof the CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’ArchitectureModerne) in 1928 underpinned the movementtowards modernism, industrialization and emer-gence of the ‘International Style’.

A realization on an international scale of this trendwas the residential complex in Stuttgart, Germany,in which seventeen architects participated. Gradu-ally, in several European countries modernismbecame dominant. Some of the countries in whicheminent representatives were to be found (e.g.France, Germany, Great Britain and the Nether-lands) receive mention later; while other countries(e.g. Italy) although not cited directly had equallyoutstanding architects.

Along with the aesthetic transformation of archi-tecture, technical progress was also remarkable,and nowhere more so than in the United States,where in the late 1920s, following the achieve-ments and examples of the Chicago School some25 years before, there was a further period of boomin the construction of skyscrapers. The EmpireState Building in New York, designed by architectsShreve, Lamb and Harmon, completed in 1931,symbolizes what is best from this period. With its102 storeys and a height of 381 metres, it remainedfor 40 years the tallest building in the world.Another construction of great symbolic value wasthe Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco, California.This is a suspension bridge with a span of 1281metres and was completed in 1937.

Meanwhile in Europe, wide-spanning roofs wereconstructed without internal support by a new typeof structure: the reinforced concrete shell based onthe membrane theory. The Planetarium in Jena, Ger-many (constructed between 1922 and 1927), with aspan/thickness ratio of 420 to 1 is a prime example.Additionally, wide-spanning steel structures (spaceframes, domes and vaults) were developed.

The promising economic progress of the 1920sreceived a severe jolt in 1929 as a result of theworldwide economic crisis that was to last forabout three years. Although by the early 1930sthere was again an upswing in the economy, newpolitical events affected the course of modernarchitecture. Germany, as had Italy several yearsearlier, became a fascist dictatorship in 1933. Mod-ernism, however, was an anathema to Nazi ideol-ogy, on both aesthetic and ideological grounds.Consequently, the Bauhaus, the leading school ofmodern architecture in Europe, was forced to closeits doors. Many of its teachers and pupils emi-grated, mainly to the United States, where theycontinued to propagate the ethos of the school,thus transferring the ideals and aesthetics of Euro-pean modernism to the United States, which forthe next 25 years or so remained the leading coun-try for modern architecture.

In Russia, after the October Revolution of 1917 theBolsheviks took power, establishing the SovietUnion, where there was a period of innovativeexperimentation in the arts and architecture (struc-turalism, constructivism). Vladimir Tatlin’s(1885–1953) Worker’s Club (1929) constitutes anotable example. However, at the end of the1920s, a totalitarian form of communism was con-

4

Figure 1.3 Airplane Hall, Italy, designer: Pier LuigiNervi, 1939–41, floor surface 100 � 40 m, vaultassembled from pre-cast reinforced concretecomponents. An early (pre-Second World War)example of prefabrication with reinforced concretecomponents. © Sebestyen: Construction: Craft toIndustry, E & FN Spon.

solidated under the leadership and terror of Stalin,which decreed the artistic superiority and impera-tive of socialist realism, a type of monumental clas-sicism. In this style, intended to be an expressionof power, both communism and fascism shared anaesthetic affinity, in spite of their manifestly differ-ent ideologies. Consequently, modern artists andarchitects found themselves isolated, and, as hadbeen the case in Germany, many elected to leavethe country.

1945–60. The post-Second World War sub-period

In Europe, the Second World War ended with thedefeat of Nazi Germany. The United Statesmarkedly strengthened its economic and politicalposition. The war itself had caused damage on anunprecedented scale in many countries. Conse-quently, the post-war reconstruction of housing,industrial stock, transport and infrastructure pre-sented a monumental task, but with it came mas-sive opportunities for the building industry, andparticularly for the architects. The first industrializedreinforced concrete large-panel housing was built atLe Havre, in France (1949). Subsequently, variantsof this system were developed all over Europe. Itsuse found particular favour in the plannedeconomies of the Soviet Union and of Soviet-dom-inated Eastern Europe. It was the aspiration enter-tained by planners and politicians alike thatindustrialized architecture would resolve the hous-ing shortage arising from war damage and the pop-ulation increase, as well as from the burgeoningexpectations of rising living standards in the post-war era.

The large-scale construction of new social multi-storey residential buildings contributed to reducingthe housing shortage. Whilst the merits of housingfactories can be debated in terms of economy andproductivity, the aesthetic and social disadvantagesof industrialized housing can seldom be in con-tention: numerous towns throughout Europe inher-ited the unwelcome legacy of large, impersonal,often unwanted and decaying housing estates. Nordid the prefabrication of family houses, applying theexperience of shipbuilding, car manufacturing andthe plastic industries, bring any general relief to

housing shortage. Nevertheless, in some countries(in Europe, Japan, USA) it did contribute positively– although in most cases only marginally – to theprovision of new housing.

Many European town centres were severely dam-aged or entirely destroyed: London, Bristol, Rotter-dam, Dresden and Warsaw, to mention just a few.These cities, especially in Western Europe, becamethe site of large-scale development and feverishproperty speculation. In spite of the many notableexceptions, the overall aesthetic effect was oftenmediocre, incongruous and soulless.

One of the more successful examples of post-warcity centre development, which has stood the testof time, is the Lijnbaan (1953), a shopping quarterin war-ravaged downtown Rotterdam, designed byJ.H.van den Broek and J.B. Bakema. The needs andopportunities of wholesale town development gaverise to the profession of town planning. It becamean important profession and discipline, exerting itsown significant influence on architectural theoryand practice. Consequently, such novel conceptsas the new towns and satellite town developmentsemerged or were revived on a worldwide scenealso.

Perhaps the most innovative and monumentalexample of such projects of the period was thenew capital. The most striking of these was Brasilia,the new administrative capital of Brazil, designed byOscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa in 1956, wheretown planning ideas went hand in hand with inspir-ing architectural style. Niemeyer’s designs realizedin Brazil, and also in France, served as an inspirationto many architects around the world.

The technology and structure of various types ofbuildings (skyscrapers, wide-spanning structures,etc.) developed in various ways. In Europe, the Ital-ian Pier Luigi Nervi (1891–1979) and the SpaniardEduardo Torroja (1899–1961), both structural engi-neers, refined the use of long-span reinforced con-crete structures, which had begun in the 1930s,with aesthetic flair. This resulted after the SecondWorld War in the design of a number of spectacu-lar reinforced concrete or steel roof structures. TheAmerican Richard Buckminster Fuller invented andpatented the geodesic dome and tensegrity struc-tures in the 1950s. Metal lattice grids with


5


ingenious nodes, fabrication and assembly meth-ods were invented and introduced. One of the firstin this category was the MERO system, originallyintroduced by Max Mengeringhausen in Germanyin 1942. Large column-free spaces are characteris-tic of certain types of buildings. Some of whichhave specific aesthetic features, such as externalmasts, lightweight filigree suspended or tensilemembers, extreme articulation of ceilings eventu-ally designed directly with a repetitive articulation ofthe structure or construction or in combination ofthe structure and lighting, etc.

As already noted, many of the teachers and pupilsat the Bauhaus emigrated to the United States.

Undoubtedly, the most influential among these wasLudwig Mies van der Rohe, the last director of theBauhaus. Soon after his arrival in America, Mies vander Rohe was appointed as director of the Armour(now Illinois) Institute of Technology, where heremained for the next 20 years. Probably his mostimportant commission was the skyscraper officebuilding in New York with a glass and bronze exter-ior, which he designed with Philip Johnson, knownas the Seagram Building (1956–58) (Figure 1.4).

The rigorous simplicity and elegance of this buildinghas inspired many contemporary architects, but,alas, has also given rise to many inferior imitationsaround the world. The style itself has becomeknown as the ‘International Style’, a phrase firstcoined in the 1930s. According to them, in this stylethe columns serve as the basic vertical load-bearingstructure, thereby providing uninterrupted space oneach floor. The building, which is of simple config-uration and geometry, is surrounded by an uninter-rupted external envelope, in which the windowsare an integral part. Such façades are now termedas ‘curtain walls’ (Khan, 1998).

An even earlier example of the International Style (fol-lowing some less notable examples during the1930s) and the use of curtain walls can be seen atLever House, New York, designed by Skidmore,

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Figure 1.4 Seagram Building, New York, USA, 1958,architect: Mies van der Rohe in collaboration withPhilip Johnson. Together with the Lever Housebuilding, a prototype of the International Style.

Figure 1.5 Cable-styled bridge, Pont de Normandie,France; main span: 856 m. Source: Freyssinet PhotoService.

Owings and Merrill (1952) (Plate 3). The style itselfhad its adherents until many years after the SecondWorld War. After 1960 it gradually came to lose itsleading position, but is still alive as a part of the neo-modernist trend. Apart from housing, skyscrapersand wide-spanning structures, modernism and indus-trialization also left their mark on schools, commercialbuildings, civil engineering structures and others.

1.1.3 The period 1960–2000. Post-modernism

and after

This period was in general characterized by eco-nomic prosperity. The arms race between thesuperpowers extended into space, stimulatinghigh-technology industries, such as electronics,communications, plastics and others, as well as themore traditional ones: the metal, glass and chemi-cal industries. Innovations and inventions in arma-ment and space research quickly found their wayinto everyday civilian use, and this applied to thebuilding industry too. Economic prosperity wasbriefly interrupted by increased oil prices. The1973–74 energy crisis spurred Western economiesinto devising new solutions for the reduction ofenergy use, for example by adopting higher stan-dards of thermal insulation and by developingengines and motors with improved efficiency.


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Figure 1.6 The Schröder Family House in Utrecht,The Netherlands, 1924, architect: Gerrit Rietveld.One of the first examples of modernist architectureduring the 1920s.

Figure 1.7 Large Panel Building, System Camus,Pantin near Paris, France. System building withroom-sized large panels became a new form ofindustrialization in certain countries and for sometime. © Sebestyen: Large Panel Buildings,Akadémiai Kiadó.

Figure 1.8 Chapel Notre-Dame-du Haut, Ronchamps,France,1950–55, architect: Le Corbusier. An organicdesign by the master of modernist architecture.


Gradually Western governments assumed respon-sibility for housing the ‘masses’ in addition to edu-cating them, which by now took in all forms ofhigher education and cultural development. Publichousing was elevated to mass production. Buildingand municipal services developed.

Architecture ceased to be restricted to a handful ofbuilding types. The increased variety and complex-ity of functions within and around buildings calledfor new structural and architectural solutions. More-over, the construction of high-speed railways andthe new facilities of air transport were of greatercomplexity than was traditionally the case. This,together with the general increase in the size ofbuildings and structures, led to the use of greatlyincreased spans. Therefore, any treatise on archi-tecture must cover a much broader range than wasthe case in earlier periods.

The notion that buildings equipped with a multitudeof modern services could serve as machines wasfirst raised in the 1920s. It was Le Corbusier whofamously said that a house is a machine for livingin. This was a statement that did not find universalfavour. Frank Lloyd Wright vented his sarcastic dis-agreement: ‘Yeah, just like a human heart is a suc-tion pump.’ It was only later in the ‘high-tech’post-modern period that the idea (i.e. that a buildingcould be considered as a machine) actually materi-alized but then only in a limited sense. The earlymodern style was grounded on rationalism and itintended to break with the historical precedents.Fired by a new aesthetic vision, many architectsbecame convinced of their ability to solve mostsocial problems by architectural means. However,disappointment with modernism soon arose in therecognition of the failure to construct cities with anadequate quality of life (Jacobs, 1961). Many feltthat a fresh start was required, which could con-tribute to urban renewal. Just to mention one of thesimilar statements about this development: ‘Therevolutionary ideal of solving societal problemsthrough design that was so vehemently proclaimedby modernism’s proponents in the heroic age of the1930s was exposed as hollow’.

Gradually, from modernism and from its deriva-tives, such as brutalism, functionalism and struc-turalism, a new and different type of architecture

evolved with some practitioners and theoreticiansaccepting and others rejecting the post-modernlabel (Koolhaas, 1978, Jodidio, 1997).

Whilst some architects were prepared to see thepost-modern style as a logical development of mod-ernism, many considered that the new style was areaction to the latter’s impersonality. According toJencks: ‘the main motivation for Post-modern archi-tecture is obviously the social failure of modernarchitecture’ (Jencks, 1996) and

Post-modern is a portmanteau conceptcovering several approaches toarchitecture which have evolved frommodernism. As the hybrid term suggests,its architects are still influenced bymodernism ... and yet they have addedother languages to it. A Post-modernbuilding is doubly coded – part Modernand part something else: vernacular,revivalist, local, commercial, metaphorical,or contextual. (Jencks, 1988)

Indeed the post-modernist style favoured the useof decoration, symbolism, humour and even mysti-cism. Unlike those favouring pastiche out of nostal-gia for the past, the proponents of post-modernismwere prepared to avail themselves of the use of up-to-date technology, as well as traditional materials.In this they recognized that technology affectedarchitecture, both in form and function. The post-modern architecture is further set apart from theothers and from late-modernism by Beedle in thefollowing polemic:

Jencks further distinguishes betweenPost-modernism in its inclusion of pasthistorical style, which root[s] post-modern buildings in time and place,[and] late modernism, which disdains allhistorical imagery. Post-modernarchitecture is eclectic in its expressionand employs ornament, symbolism,humor, and urban context asarchitectural devices. In contrast, late-modern architecture derives its principlesalmost exclusively from modernism andfocuses on the abstract qualities ofspace, geometry and light. (Beedle,1995and Jencks, 1986)

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Developments in efficient heating and air-condi-tioning services opened up the possibilities of main-taining climatic comfort in large spaces, which werecovered, or enclosed by a thin, often glazed enve-lope of minimal thermal inertia. Consequently, his-torical solutions, such as the tent or the atrium,could be revived in a new context and with the useof new materials and technology.

The atrium with glazed roof became a favourite fea-ture of many office, hotel and shopping develop-ments. Relatively recent concepts are sustainability,protection of the environment and energy conserva-tion, all of which have influenced architectural think-ing (Melet, 1999). Sustainability, in its most generalmeaning, refers to strategies in the present that donot harm or endanger future life. Various factors con-tribute to the design of sustainable buildings, whichare also referred to as ‘green buildings’. These fac-tors, among others, include attention to energy-conservation and HVAC (heating, ventilation,air-conditioning) control, thermal storage and landconservation.

The ‘new architecture’ makes use of new geomet-ric and amorphous shapes, new concepts and pro-portions, measure, colour, lighting and tech-nological aspects. Some new non-technologicalfactors, coming from the latest results of scienceand social development, also affect new architec-ture.

The original ideals of modernism were character-ized by Jencks: ‘Modern architecture is the over-powering faith in industrial progression and itstranslation into the pure, while International Style(or at least the Machine Aesthetics) [has] the goalof transforming society both in its sensibility andsocial make-up’ (Jencks, 1996). Modernism,undoubtedly, achieved great technical progress inbuilding but by the end of the modernist period(around the 1960s) disenchantment with it had setin strongly. This in turn led to post-modernism,which gradually spread throughout the world.

During the period 1960–2000 housing became amass affair to the point when tens of millions offamilies could move into well-equipped homes.However, an improvement in world housing condi-tions and city life remains a task for the twenty-firstcentury. At the same time one has to admit: ‘One

reason that the label post-modern has becomeaccepted is the vagueness and ambiguity of theterm’ (Jencks, 1982).

The 1960s introduced new thinking, which gradu-ally developed into the post-modern trend. The last40 years of the century saw how post-modernismitself became spent and began to make way fornew architecture, sometimes called super-mod-ernism. New functions of buildings and the con-centration of different functions in single versatileand flexible buildings required new buildingdesigns. New architecture does far more than sim-ply retain and renew the achievements of thepast’s architecture; it also applies new principles.

These embrace new architectural and structuralschemes, the satisfaction of new functionalrequirements and the use of modern constructionand design technologies. Some of these are thenew materials (reinforced concrete, metals, glass,plastics), tensioned structures (tents have beenbuilt since ancient times but their modern variantsoffer entirely new possibilities), long-span roofsover large spaces, retractable roofs, deployablestructures, atria and many others. In certain typesof buildings (hotels, offices) high atria have beenintroduced (Saxon, 1993).

What could we single out as symbolic of thisperiod? Certainly one building alone would notmatch all criteria for such a symbol. Despite this, letus select some outstanding models. The PetronasTowers in Kuala Lumpur (completed in 1998, twintowers with a high-performance concrete core andcylindrical perimeter frame, 450 metres high, archi-tect Cesar Pelli with associates) mark the very firstoccasion when the tallest building in the world hasbeen constructed in a developing country.

The Akashi Bridge in Japan, completed also in1998, has the longest span in the world (2022metres). Great progress has been achieved in long-span building roofs: tensioned cable roofs, etc.From the imposing number of new cultural build-ings, perhaps the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum(architect: Frank O. Gehry, completed in 1998) maybest be characterized as containing the most up-to-date design features: a cladding made from thintitanium sheet, designed by computer program(Plate 6).


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Many great masters of architecture have been iden-tified and named in this chapter. In recent yearsnew and talented architects have emerged and itcan with justification be stated that a new genera-tion has appeared on the scene (Thompson, 2000).

The speed with which functions, requirements andtechnology are changing has called for flexibilityand adaptability in the design of buildings. This hasalso been expressed as strategies aimed at mini-mizing obsolescence (Iselin and Lemer, 1993).

Returning to the socio-political events, the mostmomentous of these in the late 1980s was the col-lapse of the communist system in Eastern Europe,and, with this, the end of the centrally planned econ-omy and ideological constraints. However, from thepoint of view of architecture, the most far-reachingconsequences of the event lay in economics. Theevent assisted the acceleration of the globalizedeconomy, the penetration of multinational compa-nies into new industries and, concomitantly, therapid growth of commerce, technology, corporateidentity and the aesthetics of consumerism. Global-ization affects also architecture and construction,but globalization as an overall trend in society is stillvery much a matter of debate.

1.2 Stylistic Trends in NewArchitecture

Throughout history architectural styles, reflectingtechnological, social and aesthetic developments,have taken various directions, and the last 40 yearshave been no exception. As art historians, aes-thetes, and indeed architects themselves, like tocategorize architectural styles, they labelled thisperiod as post-modern. However, as mentioned,the label brings together very different trends, andwhilst many architects accept being classified aspost-modern, there is no shortage of others whoreject such categorization. The various ways todefine styles and trends in new architecture are notdiscussed here. For our purpose we are making useof a simplified list of trends as follows:

• metabolic, metaphoric, anthropomorphic• neo-classicist (neo-historic)• late-modern, neo-modern, super-modern

• organic and regional modern• deconstructivist.

The above is not a comprehensive list of acceptedor widely used classifications. For example, Jencks(whose classifications are the most widespread andquoted) quite recently wrote about dynamic, melo-dramatic, beautiful and kitsch architecture (Jencks,1999). Since that time, further trends have beenidentified. Indeed, there are countless other labelsfor different architectural styles, such as newexpressionism, neo-vernacular, intuitive mod-ernism, etc. We shall not attempt to make a full listof these labels, as often they would fail to defineeven a fraction of the oeuvre of a prolific architect.

1.2.1 Metabolic, metaphoric and

anthropomorphic architecture

A metaphor is an artistic device, aimed at evokingcertain feelings by creating some analogy betweentwo dissimilar entities. Usually, therefore, inmetaphoric architecture (sometimes also categor-ized as symbolic architecture, Jencks, 1985) thedesigner’s aim is to derive some association orsymbol from the function of the building or from itscontext, which then in some way is reflected in theappearance of the building. The use of themetaphor in architecture, in fact, is not new. Forexample, Gothic cathedrals often evinced mysti-cism and pious devotion. A similar purpose moti-vated Le Corbusier in the design of the RonchampsChapel. A notable example of metaphoric buildingin recent times is the Sydney Opera House (Figure1.9), architect: Jorge Utzon; structural engineers:Ove Arup and Partners (Utzon, 1999).

The location of the building at Sydney Harbourinspired the architect to choose a roof system con-sisting of reinforced concrete shell segments,which resemble wind-stretched sails. The SydneyOpera House inspired Renzo Piano to design thenew Aurora Place Office Tower, some 800 metresfrom the Opera, with fins and sails extending at thetop of the 200-metres-high building beyond thefaçade. In the Bahia temple at New Delhi, the rein-forced concrete shells bring to mind the petals of aflower. The roof of the Idlewild TWA terminal atNew York Airport (architect: Eero Saarinen) reminds

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Figure 1.9 Opera House, Sydney, Australia, architect: Jorn Utzon, structural design consultant: Peter Ricefrom Ove Arup. Metaphoric design with reinforced concrete shell roof, reminiscent of sails blown by wind.

Figure 1.10 Hungarian Pavilion at Hanover, Germany, World Expo, 2000, architect: George Vadasz. Designbased on metaphoric thinking: two hand palms? a petal?


the viewer of the wings of a bird or aeroplane,whilst the façade of the Institute of Science andTechnology in Amsterdam (designed by RenzoPiano) recalls a boat. Santiago Calatrava’s Lyon-Satalas TGV railway station building (1990–94)equally imposes on the spectator the impression ofa bird’s wings.

Some metaphoric examples by Japanese architectsinclude:

• Shimosuwa Lake Suwa Museum, Japan(designer: Toyo Ito, 1990–93): from the exteriorelevation this evinces the image of a reversedboat but, in plan, a fish.

• Museum of Fruit, Japan (designer: ItsukoHasegawa, 1993–95): here the individual build-ing volumes have been put under a cover ofearth, which could be interpreted as represent-ing the seeds of plants and fruits and so in-directly the power of life and productivity.

• Umeda Sky City, Japan (designer: Hiroshi Hara,1988–93): here skyscrapers have been con-nected at high levels thus providing an associa-tion to future space structures.

Sometimes the metaphor is related to the humanbody or face, in which case we speak of an anthro-pomorphic approach. For example, KazamatsuYamashita’s Face House in Kyoto, Japan, 1974, isdesigned to imitate a human face. Takeyama’sHotel Beverly resembles a human phallus. Somearchitects do not apply recognizable metaphorsdirectly but deduce the building’s form throughmetaphysical considerations. This approach alsocharacterized the designs of some deconstructivistarchitects (see below). Daniel Libeskind projectedthe expansion of the Jewish Museum in Berlin inthe form of a Star of David. This, however, is notimmediately obvious to the casual visitor.

Metabolic architecture derives its name from theGreek word metabole meaning a living organismwith biochemical functions. The term is applied,and not always appropriately, to non-living organi-zations or systems that react or adapt to externalinfluences and are able to change their properties inresponse to various influences. The concept of‘metabolism’ was affirmed at the international levelat the Tokyo World Conference held in 1960 onindustrial design by the Japanese Kisho Kurokawa,

Kiynori Kikutaka, Fumihiko Maki and Masato Otaka.By doing so, they wished to counteract aspects ofmodernism that sometimes adopted the approachof machine design in the context of architecture. Atthe same time this particular group of architectswere also guided by the desire to diminish theimpact of Western architecture on the Japanesetraditions, without rejecting up-to-date technologyin construction.

Subsequently, and influenced by American mobilehome unit technology, Kurokawa introduced his

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Figure 1.11 Nagakin Capsule Tower, Tokyo, Japan,architect: Akira Kurokawa. Metabolic (capsule)architecture.

‘Capsule’ theory, which was published in the March1969 issue of the periodical Space Design. A cor-nerstone of this theory was the replaceability, orinterchangeability, of the individual capsules.Kurokawa’s first such building, which immediatelysucceeded in making him known worldwide, wasthe Nakagin Tower in Tokyo (Figure 1.11), built in1972, in which capsules of a standard size werefixed to a reinforced concrete core. Whilst the corerepresented permanence, the capsules made pos-sible functional adaptability and change. The Naka-gin Tower was followed by further capsulebuildings and unrealized projects of metaboliccities. Although metabolic architecture failed to gainwider acceptance, the idea of capsules was used inseveral forms, as for example in Moshe Safdie’sresidential complex at the Montreal Expo, whichconsisted of modular, pre-cast concrete boxes.Also, mobile home manufacturers in the USA, fromwhom the idea of capsule building originated in thefirst place, gained further inspiration from the archi-tectural achievements of the concept. Kurokawa’slater designs in the 1990s (the Ehme PrefecturalMuseum of General Science and the Osaka Inter-national Convention Centre, both in Japan, and theKuala Lumpur airport, Malaysia, the last designed inassociation with the Malaysian Akitek Jururancang)do not follow the capsule theory; instead they arebased on abstract simple geometric shapes madecomplex. The Kuala Lumpur airport’s hyperbolicshell is reminiscent of traditional Islamic domes andthereby combines the modern with the traditional.

1.2.2 Neo-classicist architecture.

Traditionalism. Historicism

In theory at least modernism negated all forms ofthe historical styles, while at the same time culti-vating the idea of the building as a machine. It wasthis line of thought that later led to the idea of high-tech architecture, an early example of which is thePompidou Centre in Paris, designed by RichardRogers and Renzo Piano. By contrast, post-mod-ernism took another route, by returning to the useof ornamentation and decoration, although usuallynot by simply copying historical details, but ratherby applying the spirit and essence of historicalstyles.

Neo-classicist architecture used classical themes,principles and forms in loose associations, reminis-cent of but not identical to historical patterns. Con-sequently, the style is quite diversified and itsvariants have been labelled as freestyle, canonic,metaphysical, narrative, allegoric, nostalgic, realist,revivalist, urbanist, eclectic, etc. (Jencks, 1987).The buildings of Ricardo Bofill in Montpellier,Marne-la-Vallée (Plate 4) and Saint Quentin en Yve-lines, seem nearest to classicism in detail and com-position (d’Huart, 1989). Although his designsreflect historical architecture, he prescribed con-struction by using prefabricated concrete compo-nents. The oeuvre of several other architects alsobelongs to this trend, even if the respectiveapproaches may differ greatly. Robert A.M. Stern,Allan Greenberg, Demetri Porphyrios, James Stir-ling and Leon Krier and Robert Krier may be men-tioned as outstanding representatives of the style.A questionable application of historical models, inthe form of ‘gated communities’, appears in somecountries, imitating the castle concept with a fence,moat and controlled entrance but applying the con-cept for the purpose of elitist dwellings.

Paradoxically, a nostalgic form of architectural his-toricism happened to emerge in some of the mostadvanced industrialized countries, sometimesappealing to popular taste. In the United Kingdom,the style found an influential and high-profile advo-cate in the person of the Prince of Wales, whoseintervention led to the annulment of a competitionfor the extension of the National Gallery, London, inwhich the jury’s preference for the modernistdesign by the firm Ahrends Burton and Koralek wasset aside.

The Prince, reflecting a popular mood of the time,led his attack against modernism in defence of his-toricizing architecture at his 1984 Gala Address atthe Royal Institute of British Architects with hisquestion: ‘Why has everything got to be vertical,straight, unbending, only at right angles and func-tional?’ Under his influence, which found consider-able public support in the UK, many buildings ofcontemporary function, such as supermarkets andshopping centres, which until then were designedto resemble barns, acquired a direct, even occa-sionally out of context, visual association with his-torical, vernacular architecture. In 1989 Prince


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Charles formulated the ten principles upon whichwe can build as follows:

1. the place: respect for the land2. hierarchy: the size of buildings in relation to

their public importance and the relative signifi-cance of the different elements which makeup a building

3. scale: relation to human proportions andrespect for the scale of the buildings aroundthem

4. harmony: the playing together of the parts5. enclosure: the feeling of well-designed enclo-

sure6. materials: the revival and nurturing of local

materials7. decoration: reinstatement of the arts and crafts8. art: study of nature and humans9. signs and lights: effective street lighting, adver-

tising and lettering10. community: participation of people in their own

surroundings.

The ideas of Prince Charles certainly encouragedtraditionalists but they never became the soleinspiring force in architecture (Hutchinson, 1989).Charles’s attack on the modernist projects submit-ted for the expansion of the London NationalGallery resulted in a new project prepared by archi-tects Venturi, Scott and Brown. The new designcontains classicist but non-functional columns andit is only the architects’ high-quality work that hassaved the building from becoming pure kitsch.

In skilful hands, however, historicizing architecturecould be quite subtle. For example, the new build-ing of the Stuttgart New State Gallery, designed byJames Stirling, Michael Wilford and Partners(1977–84), alludes to Schinkel’s museum designsfrom over a century before with considerable flair,showing that old motifs can be brought back andmeaningfully transformed in harmony with modernapplication. In another example, the façade of theadministrative building in Portland, Oregon, byMichael Graves (1980–82) makes a neo-classicistimpression, without using any authentic historicaldetailing (Graves, 1982). Neo-classicism, therefore,may appear with different features. Some furtheroutstanding examples in this category are the build-ings designed by the American Robert A.M. Stern,

the Californian Getty Museum designed by RichardMeier, the New York AT&T building designed byPhilip Johnson and John Burgee. Papadakis treatsin one of his books (Papadakis, 1997) the designsof twenty architectural practices and five projects ofurbanism, all inspired by ‘modern classicism’.

1.2.3 Late-modern, neo-modern, super-modern

architecture

In spite of the popularity and success of the neo-clas-sical and historicizing architecture, the moderniststyle has never been abandoned, as many architectscontinued to be led by its principles. Following the1960s, these architects were sometimes labelled‘late-modernists’ and, later, as ‘neo-modernists’ and‘super-modernists’. However, in time and under newinfluences, modernism acquired new characteristicsand therefore the modernist design began to differmore and more from the pre-1960s’ architecture.

Other labels, such as neo-minimalism, alsoappeared (Jodidio, 1998), in which the clear andsimple lines of early modernism were evoked.

‘High-tech’ is recognized (by some) as having astyle of its own. However, its elements can be pre-sent in all categories of new architecture. High-techfeatures are common in neo-modernism anddeconstructivism, as for example at the Paris Pom-pidou Centre by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano(Plate 5) mentioned above. The use of high-techelements is even more characteristic of the BritishNorman Foster and the Japanese Fumihiko Maki.Indeed, the conspicuous use of these elementsmay impart the appearance of an industrial productto a building. The buildings as industrial productsbecome apparent in the aggressive, metallic coated‘Dead Tech’ buildings of the Japanese Shin Taka-matsu or Kazuo Shinohara’s more peaceful ‘zero-machines’ with a pure graphic architecture.

Modernism was characterized by an elimination ofdecoration and ornamentation. This resulted in theidea of ‘minimalism’ or ‘plainness’ (Zabalbeascoaand Marcos, 2000). This trend was preserved onlyto some extent in neo-modernism, which com-bined modernism with post-modernism, i.e. it didnot altogether reject decoration and ornamentationalthough it did reject the historical forms.

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1.2.4 Organic and regional modern

architecture

The forms created by organic architecture, or to citea French expression ‘architecture vitaliste’ (Zipperand Bekas, 1986), resemble those found in nature.As mentioned, some of its early masters wereFrank Lloyd Wright who combined early mod-ernism with organic elements, and Antoni Gaudíwho made use of the art and traditions of Iberianbrick-masonry (Van der Ree, 2000).

Frank Lloyd Wright often referred to his designmethodology as organic and to nature as a sourceof inspiration to him. However, he did not definethe meaning of the above. It is fair to state thatwhilst his designs were inspired by nature andindeed enhanced nature, they were highly technicaland provided with all up-to-date equipment. Never-theless, in our time we categorize as organic pri-marily styles which also in the forms of thebuildings reflect nature by their curves and curvedshapes.

The Hungarian Imre Makovecz adopted an ‘organic’approach in his entire oeuvre. He frequentlyemploys wood structures, with shingle roofs, shin-gled domes and timber members, using them intheir natural form without attempting to impart aregular shape. The buildings of Makovecz inspireda number of younger architects both in Hungaryand further afield. Their design ideology is to drawfrom the real or imaginary forms of ancient Hun-garian folk architecture, such as tents and yourts.Makovecz sometimes derives inspiration from thehuman body or face (an anthropomorphicapproach), or from trees or plants (zoomorphicapproach). Makovecz’s internationally acclaimedHungarian Pavilion at the Sevilla Expo, Spain,1990–92, is representative of his style.

A number of basically modernist, or post-modernistarchitects chose to use the style, but unlikeMakovecz, whose entire oeuvre is hallmarked by it,these architects were inspired by the organic stylebecause of the function, location or surroundings ofthe actual building. Renzo Piano’s Kanak Museum


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Figure 1.12Communalbuilding,Szigetvar,Hungary, 1985,architect: ImreMakovecz.Organicarchitecture withrevivalisttraditional,nationalisticornaments.


in New Caledonia could be mentioned as an ex-ample, where local ethnographic, technological andartistic features were utilized. Others, like ItsukoHasegawa, availed themselves of contemporarymaterials and geometry in the organic manner toevoke mountains, trees and artificial landscapes.Regional modern architecture usually draws itsinspiration from the local traditions and skills, incombination with modern or post-modern ele-ments. Because of its links with the tradition, thestyle may assimilate the local historical forms anddecoration. For these very reasons the style canalso relate to organic (but eventually to other typesof) architecture.

An individual type of organic architecture wasdeveloped by the Austrian Friedenreich Hundert-wasser who rejected all linear and angular featuresin design. He declared that straight lines are aninstrument of the Devil. His multi-storey buildings(as, for example, in Vienna at the corner of theLöwengasse and the Kegelgasse) resemble certainvernacular houses. In their construction much free-dom was granted to builders and future users.Whilst these buildings are much-visited attractions(some of his buildings may be considered asbelonging to deconstuctivism; see next section),they remained a solitary trend in new architecture.

1.2.5 Deconstructivist architecture

Deconstructivism can be considered as a group ofindependent stylistic developments within thepost-modern period (Norris and Benjamin, 1988,Papadakis et al., 1989, Jencks and Kropf, 1997). Itsorigin can be traced back to the Russian avant-garde of the 1920s as manifested in the work ofMalevich and Tchernikov and the Suprematism ofEl Lissitzky and Swetin. In Europe it had its roots inthe Dada movement. In the USA one of its birth-places was the East (primarily New York), the otherbeing California. It discontinued the historical archi-tectural language, the autocracy of horizontal andvertical elements and deconstructed the tectonicand orthogonal system (Bonta, 2001).

The partnership Coop Himmelblau designed thefirst actual deconstructivist realizations in Europe:the lawyers’ practice in Vienna, Falkenstrasse

(1983–85) and the Funder factory building in St VeitGlan, Austria (1988–89) (Plate 31). Zaha Hadid’sVitra fire-fighting station in Weil am Rein (1993)went on to world fame.

In the USA Peter Eisenman, one of the group NewYork Five, designed buildings with crossing framesand distorted building grids. A special innovationwas the use of folding applied by Eisenman atColombus University (1989) but also by Daniel Libe-skind at the Berlin Jewish Museum (1988–95).

The theoretical impact of deconstructivist architec-ture, however, only emerged after the SecondWorld War when the French philosopher JacquesDerrida defined its principles in art and literature.During preparations for the design of the Paris LaVillette complex, Bernard Tschumi contactedJacques Derrida and invited him to participate in adiscussion about deconstructivism in architecture(Wigley, 1993). As Tschumi reported: ‘When I firstmet Jacques Derrida, in order to convince him toconfront his own work with architecture, he askedme, “But how could an architect be interested indeconstruction? After all, deconstruction is anti-form, anti-hierarchy, anti-structure, the opposite ofall that architecture stands for”. “Precisely for thisreason,” I replied!’ (Tschumi, 1994). Deconstruc-tivist architects, after analysing the project brief andthe site conditions, usually reach quite unconven-tional design solutions. The main initiator of thestyle in the USA was Frank O. Gehry in Californiawho often applies the techniques of scenography,movie making and theatre, using inexpensive,stage-set materials. In Japan, Hiromi Fuji followedthe style. His buildings have been described as hav-ing a grid-based light framework, shaken out oforder by an earthquake.

The 1988 Exhibition at the New York Museum ofModern Art curated by Philip Johnson and MarkWigley promoted the deconstructivist architectureof Frank O. Gehry, Peter Eisenman, Daniel Libes-kind, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Bernard Tschumiand the group Coop Himmelblau (Johnson andWigley, 1988). Mark Wigley wrote in the prospec-tus: ‘In each project, the traditional structure of par-allel planes – stacked up horizontally from theground plane within a regular form – is twisted. Theframe is warped. Even the ground plane is warped.’

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Whilst deconstructivism never attained dominanceamongst architectural styles, it continually attractsadherents. Undoubtedly, the most spectacularexample of the style hitherto is Frank O. Gehry’stitanium-clad Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao,Spain (Plate 6). Considering the high cost of tita-nium, only the use of thin sheets made the appli-cation possible. Consequently, the individualcladding sheets move and distort, due to thermaland mechanical stresses, thus displaying a range ofcolour variations and reflections according to light-ing conditions (Jodidio, 1998, van Bruggen, 1997).Also titanium cladding was proposed in the winningcompetition project for the Beijing Opera by theFrenchman Andreu. It equally based its façadedesign on thin titanium sheet.

Philip Johnson hailed the Bilbao museum building asthe century’s greatest work and Gehry declared:‘Poor Frank. He will never top Bilbao, you only getto build one miracle in a lifetime!’ However, Gehry’sLos Angeles Disney Concert Hall (2275 seats), com-pleted after a halt and several design revisions, isalso a (deconstructivist) masterpiece (Figure 1.16).

Another deconstructivist building, Gehry’sNationale Nederlanden Building in Prague, CzechRepublic (1992–96) (Plate 7) has a curved glassfaçade, in striking contrast to the historic ambienceof its surroundings.

The use of titanium could result in the misleadingconclusion that deconstructivist architects are fondof expensive materials. The truth is rather the con-trary, they frequently use cheap materials, whichearlier would not even qualify for being used asbuilding materials. The source of this trend can befound in stage architecture, which by its very natureis accustomed to low-cost materials, even with ashort lifespan, and this also explains why suchchoices of materials have appeared first in Califor-nia, the home of movie making. It is typical thatPhilip Johnson referred to Eric Owen Moss, a Cali-fornian architect, as ‘the master jeweller of junk’.

Amongst other notable deconstructivist buildings,Bernard Tschumi’s Le Fresnoy National Studio forContemporary Art, Tourcoing, France (1991–97)and the Lerner Student Centre, Columbia Univer-sity, New York (1994–97), as well as the ArkenMuseum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark

(1988–96) by Soren Robert Lund, merit mention butthe list of realized buildings has grown immenselyand deconstructivist approaches remain, if notdominant, very much alive.

Some of the deconstructivist buildings may be con-sidered as being eccentric but the best of these are‘serious’ architecture. At the same time buildings doexist for which the central objective of the designerwas to be eccentric. These can hardly be acceptedas valid central components of architectural devel-opment (Galfetti, 1999). We do not require that func-tion define form and would even accept some slightunease in function and certain useless details (thiswould also permit the frenzied cacophony of somedeconstuctivist buildings) if architectural considera-tions dictate such a compromise, but a deliberatesearch for extravagant forms to the detriment of thefunction is usually unacceptable.

1.3 Post-War Regional Survey

A contemporary identification of global trends is noeasy matter because in our time competing trendsexist in parallel. This is also valid for regions: thereis no dominant single trend in any country. In spiteof this there do exist certain characteristic featuresin individual regions and countries. Let us quote atypical statement: ‘The aesthetics of architecturaldesign seem more and more often to be dictatednot by predetermined stylistic conventions but bythe factors that influence a given site or a given pro-gram’ (Jodidio, 1998). The picture is further blurredby the work of architects in foreign countries. Nev-ertheless, a comprehensive summing up ofregional trends is attempted below.

France

Between the two world wars, Le Corbusier was theleading practitioner and theoretician, and it was hewho introduced modernism into France. More thanthat, he also exercised considerable influenceworldwide.

After the Second World War, France excelled in theinnovation of industrialized building technologies


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for housing, schools and offices, principally by suchprefabricated large-panel systems as Camus,Coignet, Pascal, Costamagna, Balency-Schuhl, Fil-lod, etc. By now most of these have become out-dated but contemporary French architecturecontinues to be on the highest level. Moreover, thecentralized state administration contributed toarchitectural renewal by initiating and often finan-cing many grands ensembles. The Institute of theArab World (by Jean Nouvel), the Opera Bastille,the new National Library, La Grande Arche officebuilding (by Von Spreckelsen, Figure 1.13) are justa few examples of this. Among others outsideParis, the Euralille complex designed by Rem Kool-haas and Jean Nouvel, Christian de Portzampac andJean-Marie Duthilleul (1990–94), can be mentioned.Whilst some of these may not be of outstandingarchitectural quality, they all had an impact on archi-tecture and planning beyond France, by demon-strating the possibilities of urban renewal throughlarge cultural investments (Lesnikowski, 1990).

Among a number of notable realizations let us men-tion L’Avancée at Guyancourt, a Renault Researchand Technical Centre, designed by Chaix and Morel(Philippe Chaix and Jean Paul Morel). This enormouscentre, its construction inspired by similar centres ofother automotive giants, covers 74 000 squaremetres. Other architects of a new generation are,among others, Marc Barani and Manuelle Gautrand.

Much has been also achieved in social housing(HLM – flats with controlled rent) and new residen-tial complexes.

United States of America

In the USA, economic and technical progress andincreased prosperity permitted major improve-ments in housing conditions. A new phenomenonwas the appearance of tall buildings at first inChicago, then in New York and later in most majorAmerican towns. The skyscraper rising above thecity has become the widely recognized symbol ofAmerica (Stern, 1991). The modernist period culmi-nated in the ‘International Style’. As previously dis-cussed, an early example of this was the LeverHouse and a later one, the much perfected Sea-gram Building, which provided a prototype foroffice buildings all over the world. Also belonging tothis category were the tragically destroyed twintowers of the New York World Trade Center.

Since the 1960s, dissatisfaction with the oftenschematic appearance of office architecture andthe plight of inner city areas spurred architects andtheir clients to search for a new style, which even-tually acquired the collective label of post-mod-ernism. Some leading proponents of the new stylewere Gehry, Meier, Stern, Venturi, Pei, Pelli, Port-land, Graves, Moss, who had, and are still having, astrong impact on new architecture. During the1970s the group of ‘Whites’ was formed, whichincluded Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, MichaelGraves and Charles Gwathmey. They adhered tothe pure idioms of modernist aesthetics. The‘Greys’ (in the persons of Venturi, Moore, Stern),however, rejected the ‘White’ style and reintro-duced some of the historical architectural ele-ments. In time several of those listed abovebecame world famous.

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Figure 1.13 La Grande Arche (The Big Arch), LaDéfense, Paris, France, architect: Von Spreckelsen.One of the first major projects initiated by the thenFrench President Mitterand, reflecting Frenchambitions for monumental architecture: a post-modern ‘arc de triomphe’.


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Figure 1.14Climatron, St.Louis, Missouri,USA, designerBuckminsterFuller.Buckminster Fullerwas the inventorof the geodesicdome, realized ingreat numbers allaround the world.© Sebestyen:LightweightBuildingConstruction,Akadémiai Kiadó.

Figure 1.15Georgia Dome,Atlanta, Georgia,USA, 1992,structural design:Mathys P. Levy,WeidlingerAssociates. Wide-span roof, thelongest spanhypar-tensegritystructure made.

Figure 1.16 Walt Disney ConcertHall, Los Angeles, California,USA, architect Frank O. Gehry.Deconstructivist architecture, atypical F.O. Gehry design, thintitan sheet cladding (as also atthe Bilbao museum, Spain), atechnological innovation inconstruction and also with newaesthetic effect.


Following the end of the Second World War, exper-iments were launched to introduce industrializedmethods to new housing. Steel- or aluminium-framed houses or systems based on structural plas-tics proved not to be as yet economical. On theother hand, timber-framed houses, including panel-lized and modular components and mobile homeconstructions, stood their ground well. From thearchitectural point of view, these usually did notintroduce major aesthetic novelties.

In the 1980s architecture in the USA appeared tohave become somewhat ossified. However, Amer-ican architecture has always had the capacity torenew and reinvigorate itself. For this reason, thedevelopments in American architecture and con-struction techniques had always exerted a strongimpact worldwide and, therefore, in this book weshall frequently revert to discussing its innovations.

Let us mention here just some of the new suc-cessful architectural practices: Asymptote, WendellBurnett, Simon Ungers, Thompson and Rose Archi-tects.

Great Britain

After 1945, based on the earlier and successfulexamples of garden cities, the ‘New Towns’ move-ment was launched, with the aim of easing thecountry’s housing shortage. The architectural styleof the new towns, as in Hemel Hempstead andWelwyn Garden City, was often traditional, rootedin the Edwardian legacy of Lutyens and Voysey.

However, urban local authorities were moreinclined to experiment with the modernist style, fre-quently involving prefabricated system building onnewly cleared sites with, it must be said, varyingdegrees of success and durability. Notable results,even though some remain controversial, were forexample Ernö Goldfinger’s residential and officescheme at Elephant and Castle, London (1965), andalmost a decade later the Byker Estate, Newcastle.During this period, there was also much large-scalespeculative office and commercial development inthe war-damaged City of London, Bristol and otherprovincial cities, often with questionable results.One of the most prolific architects of this genre wasRichard Seifert, whose controversial London Cen-tre Point development has stood the test of timereasonably well. Another architect of the period,recognized for his high-quality modernist buildings,was Denys Lasdun whose early buildings werelabelled as ‘New Brutalist’. He died in 2001. HisNational Theatre on the South Bank in Londoneventually gained universal acceptance but onlyafter considerable public doubt and debate.

Most of the important new buildings weredesigned by British architects who had a leadingshare in post-modern architecture. The CanaryWharf high office building, completed in 1991, wasdesigned by American architect Cesar Pelli, with asomewhat late-modernist concept. In spite of, orperhaps as the result of, a popular backlash againstmodernist architecture, which was led by thePrince of Wales, a generation of younger architectssucceeded in establishing a characteristic and inno-

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Figure 1.17 Gordon Wu dining hall, Princeton, USA,architects: Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown. Façadedesigned with symmetry and simple geometricpatterns and an anthropomorphic approach.

vative type of post-modernist ‘high-tech’ architec-ture, which has achieved worldwide acclaim. Nor-man Foster, Richard Rogers (Rogers, 1985), JamesStirling (Stirling, 1975), Nicholas Grimshaw andMichael Hopkins could be cited as the leading archi-tects. In addition to the buildings designed by them,which were realized in Great Britain, they becamethe architects of spectacular buildings abroad, suchas the Pompidou Centre (Rogers with Piano), theHongkong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong(1979–86), and the Commerzbank HeadquartersBuilding in Frankfurt, Germany (1994–97), the lasttwo designed by Foster.

Germany

Following the Second World War, much effort wasexpended on the reconstruction of destroyed citiesand housing in which the art and craft of historicalbuilding restoration achieved considerable results.In the Federal Republic of Germany (Western Ger-many before the reunification) modernist architec-ture quickly replaced the somewhat pompousneo-historic style of fascist Germany. A major stepforward was taken with the construction of theOlympic Stadium in Munich, 1972 (design: Behrensand Partner with Gunther Grzimek). This reinforcedthe move in many countries towards new types oftensioned and membrane structures.

Gradually late-modernism became combined withhigh-tech trends with some examples following the‘inside-out’ style of buildings such as the PompidouCentre in Paris. A major example of this was theNew Medical Faculty Building in Aachen, 1969–84(architects: Weber, Brand and Partners) with its‘boiler-suit approach’.

The impressive development of the German econ-omy also meant that clients were in the position toinvite foreign architects to Germany. A controversialbut finally well-accepted realization was the newbuilding of the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, 1977-82(architect: James Stirling) with a neo-classicist trend.As a direct result of its fascist architectural past, his-torical trends did not readily find favour in Germany.

Another realization by a British architect is the Com-merzbank Building in Frankfurt am Main, 1994–97,designed by Norman Foster. At the time of its exe-

cution it was Europe’s tallest skyscraper (299metres). Its central atrium serves as a natural ven-tilation system. Four-storey gardens spiral roundthe curved triangular plan. Several of the foreignarchitects also designed new buildings in Berlinwhen it became once again the capital of Germany.

Initially, East German architecture, burdened by theideology of socialist realism, followed the style pre-vailing in the (then) Soviet Union. Notable new pub-lic buildings in the GDR were the Friedrichspalastand the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in East Berlin andthe Neue Gewandhaus in Leipzig, designed by R.Skoda, 1975–81.

Meanwhile in West Germany the tradition of earlymodernism enjoyed a revival in combination withAmerican influence, mostly with the neo-modernistapproach of post-modernism. An important newbuilding is Hall 26 in Hanover, 1994–96 (architect:Thomas Herzog and Partner). This 220 by 115 metrebuilding is covered by a light tensile steel suspen-sion roof whose pleasing wave-like form is emi-nently suitable for natural lighting and ventilation.

Following the reunification of the two parts, Berlinagain became the capital of Germany and veryintensive construction programmes were launched.These also included important commissions toarchitects from abroad. In Germany, as well as inother countries, a new generation of architects isincreasingly making important realizations, forinstance, Schneider and Schumacher; Otto Steidle;and Gerd Jäger (Klotz and Krase, 1985).

The Netherlands

After the war the strong traditions of Dutch mod-ernism continued. Possibly its most striking mani-festation was the rebuilding of war-destroyedRotterdam, where the Lijnbaan, designed by J.H.van den Broek and J.B. Bakema, became a modelfor modern inner city pedestrian shopping centres.As part of the Lijnbaan complex, Marcel Breuer’stimeless Bijenkorf department store merits specialattention.

N. Habraken, a Dutch professor of architecture, ini-tiated the ‘Open Architecture’ approach in whichthe primary load-bearing structure is separated


21


from the secondary structures (light partitions,equipment, etc.).

Architects of the next generation, typified by RemKoolhaas, adopted the newest trends in Americanarchitecture, at first the International Style and thenpost-modernism and deconstructivism. Notablebuildings by Koolhaas are the Euralille complex inLille, France, the Kunsthal in Rotterdam and theDance Theatre in The Hague. Other noted practi-tioners were or are Aldo van Eyck, HermanHertzberger, Jo Coenen and Erick van Egeraat. JoCoenen designed the Institute of Architecture inRotterdam, and Hertzberger the Centraal Beheeroffice complex. The Netherlands has made a pointof being open to offering architectural design con-tracts to foreign architects: Renzo Piano (Institute ofScience and Technology, Amsterdam; KPN TelecomBuilding, Rotterdam), Richard Meier (Town Hall, TheHague) as well as to its own younger architects(Group Meccano, Jo Coenen, etc.).

Scandinavia and Finland

In these Nordic countries of Europe a limited numberof buildings designed in one of the historical stylesexist. In modern times, several eminent architectshave worked in the region. Some of them emigrated,such as the Finnish Eliel Saarinen, to the USA. Hisson, Eero Saarinen (1910–61), established a practicein the USA. His New York Idlewild air terminal build-ing (1956–61), and the Dulles Airport Building(1958–61), this latter designed in cooperation withengineers Amman and Whitney, with their imagina-tive undulating forms, became well known globally.

Hugo Alvar Aalto (1898–1976), also Finnish, mustbe counted as among the outstanding modernistarchitects. His Congress Building in Helsinki andothers are rightly held to be no less than landmarksof modernist architecture.

Another Scandinavian master of the first half of thetwentieth century was the Swedish architect ErikGunnar Asplund (1885-1940).

Timber structures are extensively constructed inthese countries, as in Norwegian, Swedish andFinnish housing, and wide-span structures are alsoaccorded prominence. At the same time the use of

concrete attained high technical and qualitative lev-els. The Swedish Skanska Cementgjuteriet, theFinnish Partek and the Danish Larsen-Nielsen com-panies developed various up-to-date concrete tech-nologies, which found widespread use byarchitects in the design of various buildings.

Post-modern trends certainly did not lack enthusi-astic practitioners. The Arken Museum of ModernArt, near Copenhagen in Denmark, 1988–96, archi-tect: Soren Robert Lund, is conceived in the spiritof deconstructivism (Jodidio, 1998). Other emer-ging architects that can be singled out in this regionare: in Denmark, Entasis Arkitekter; in Sweden,Claesson Koivistu Rune, Thomas Sandell; in Fin-land, Artto Palo and Rossi Tikka.

Southern Europe

Through their designs, architects and structuralengineers in the countries of this region (Nervi, Tor-roja, Piano, etc.) contributed to the progress ofarchitecture. The Pirelli Tower in Milan, Italy, com-pleted in 1959 (design: Gio Ponti) can be countedas a notable European realization at the close of themodernist office construction period.

In contrast to traditional and historical architecture,rich with ornaments and decorative stylisticapproaches, modern architecture in this regiontends rather to be characterized by sober, geomet-ric approaches, as is the case with the Italian archi-tects Aldo Rossi (Rossi, 1987) and Giorgio Grassiand the Swiss architect Mario Botta. Their buildingsfrequently are designed with the use of bricks andstone on the external envelope. Among the newernames in architectural design the following readilyspring to mind: from Spain, Bach and Mora JesusAparicio Guisado; RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta; Estu-dio Cano Lasso; Sancho Madridejos Moneo;Miralles; Pinon and Viaplan; Garcès and Soria; Lep-ena and Torres; and from Italy, the Studio Archea.

The (former) Soviet Union and the countriesof Eastern Europe

In Russia, the constructivist movement of the earlypost-1917 years was the first during the twentieth

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century to break with ideas of classical balancedharmony and hierarchical design and to introduce ameasure of randomness (see e.g. Tchernikov’sdesigns) (El Lissitzky, 1984). In the countries of theregion various architectural trends prevailed, includ-ing modernist and neo-historic trends.

After the war, restoration of war damage preoccu-pied the building industry of the region. In new pro-jects there was a brief revival of the moderniststyle, mainly following the tradition of the Bauhausand under the influence of Le Corbusier.

However, after the Communist takeover of Poland,Hungary, Czechoslovakia and later East Germany,architects there were expected to conform to thesocialist realist style, which, as already mentioned,was characterized by a form of monumental andoften banal classicism. Despite considerablerestraint on experimentation and artistic develop-ment, some innovative and noteworthy architec-ture did emerge. During the years 1964–69 the tallbuildings of Kalinin Avenue, Moscow, designed byM.V. Posohin, were constructed following late-modernist trends. In the meantime a traditionalisttrend got the upper hand. The skyscrapers thatwere put up in Moscow bore some similarity to thebeginning of the twentieth-century New York sky-scrapers (Kultermann, 1985).

The only skyscraper in Warsaw designed by a Rus-sian architect, who followed the style of theMoscow skyscrapers, is the Palace of Culture andScience. A notable example of the monumental his-toricizing architecture is also the Palace of theRepublic in Bucharest, Romania’s capital, for whichan entire downtown district was razed. Finally,modernist and post-modernist trends took over inRussia and other East European countries.

In Czechoslovakia modernism and cubism hadstrong traditions and architecture was on a highartistic level: examples are the Tugendhat House byMies van der Rohe, at Brno, 1930 and the MüllerHouse in Prague, designed by Adolf Loos, 1928–30.After 1945 some modern designs found their wayto realization, such as the buildings by the archi-tects’ group SIAL, those by K. Hubacek and (later)by J. Pleskot; S. Fiala; M. Kotlik and V. Králicek. Inthe GDR the 365 metres-high East Berlin TelevisionTower designed by F. Dieter, G. Franke and W.

Ahrendt, 1966–69, was a remarkable result ofstructural engineering.

In Bulgaria and Romania there were many placeswhere architects succeeded in designing and real-izing excellent buildings and complexes for tourismat the Black Sea and the Adriatic Coast. One exam-ple is the Hotel International designed by the Bul-garian G. Stoilov. New hotels in Sophia are the Rilaand the Vitosha, the first designed by Stoilov, thesecond by the Japanese Kurokawa.

For new housing, mass production of large panelswas introduced. Factories each producing large-sizereinforced concrete panels for 1000–10 000 flatsannually were established. By means of such meth-ods it was possible to construct many new dwellingsbut the resulting overall quality and architectural levelsgenerally left a lot to be desired. Cultural and politicalliberalization during recent years enabled architectsgradually to join the mainstream of Western architec-ture, or in some cases even to develop their own indi-vidual style. In Hungary a number of modern hotels(the first one in 1964) and commercial buildings (WestEnd) were designed in late-modern style by JosefFinta. As mentioned earlier, Imre Makovecz, using hisindividual organic-romantic style, designed and real-ized a number of restaurants, chapels, cultural build-ings (Heathcote, 1997). T. Jankovics, G. Farkas, S.Dévényi, Gy. Csete, F. Lörincz are some of the Hun-garian followers of I. Makovecz.

In Bulgaria, during the first twenty post-war years,the socialist realist style still prevailed, for example,on the Headquarters Building of the CommunistParty designed by I.P. Popov (1951–53); the build-ing of the Institute of Technical Sciences, Sofia(1971–74), already reflects modernist influences.

Yugoslavia, to some extent, constituted a specialcase in the region because of its different relationswith the Soviet Union. In this country also, a greatnumber of Adriatic Coast hotels were built, someindeed showing remarkable architectural qualityand imaginative adaptation to challenging slopingterrains: Hotel Rubin, Porec, designed by J. de Luca(1970–72), and Marina Lucica, Primoshten,designed by L. Perkovic (1971). The new countriesof what was Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, etc.) canall lay claim to having some eminent architects andstructural engineers. A garage building type


23


designed by S. Sever was put up at 130 sites. In thecountries of this region, after 1990 large-panel tech-nologies were abandoned or greatly diminished inuse, and new housing now adopts Western trends.

Asia and the Pacific Rim

The world’s largest continent has always producedsome fine architecture, for instance in China,Japan, India, the Middle East and elsewhere. Asthe twentieth century progressed traditional(regional) national architecture has been increas-ingly combined with Western architecture. Duringthe colonial period Western architects were activebut gradually domestic architects occupied a grow-ing – and ultimately a dominant – share of designwork. The region has today evolved into a show-place of fine designs, not least as exemplified bythe work of Western architects: earlier Le Cor-busier, Louis Kahn, Frank Lloyd Wright and in ourtime Norman Foster, Renzo Piano and others aswell as national architects from these countries.This book does no more than to sketch a survey.

India (formerly including Pakistan andBangladesh)Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi (born 1927) studied inIndia, worked with Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn and

later independently. Doshi developed outstandingarchitecture, an important realization of which is theHussein-Doshi Gufa Art Gallery in Ahmadabad(1993) (Figure 1.18). Several of its interlined circularand elliptical spaces are concealed under an undu-lating earth surface. Charles M. Correa (born 1930)studied in the USA. Having founded his own firm, hedesigned many housing complexes (New Bombay,Delhi) and other buildings: museums, offices, etc.Uttam C. Jain (born 1934) studied in India andArgentina. Most of his buildings are for educationalpurposes (universities) and hotels. Usually he wasconstrained by the restricted financial resources ofthe clients and so made much use of cheap, localmaterials (sandstone, etc.).

PakistanNayyar Ali Dada, chief of an architectural designfirm, incorporated Islamic elements in his designs.Yasmeen Lari (born 1942) who studied in Europe atOxford designed housing complexes in severalplaces (Karachi, Lahore).

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Figure 1.18 Gufa Art Gallery for the works of M.F.Hussein, Ahmadabad, India, 1993, designer:Balkrishna Doshi (Stein, Doshi and Bhalla).Overlapping circular and elliptical spaces formedunder earth mounds, reminiscent of cave dwellings;a mixture of traditionalism and post-modernism(inspired by Portoghesi).

Figure 1.19 Sapico office building, Islamabad,Pakistan, 1990, architects: BEEAH and Naygar AliDada with partners: Abdul Rahman Hussaini and AliShuabi. Modern architecture combined withtraditional (Mogul) ornaments; dark blue claddingtiles on the façade.

JapanKenzo Tange was the first Japanese architect of themodernist period to gain worldwide recognition. Hismajor ‘megastructure’ designs had a modern aswell as a uniquely Japanese flavour.

Following Tange, Arata Isozaki, Fumihiko Maki,Kazuo Shinohara and Kisho Kurokawa became thebest known architects of the country. TheMetabolist Movement, which was launched in the1960s, was the first Japanese initiative to embarkon an independent path. Members of the next gen-eration, all born after 1940, have been Tadao Ando(Futagawa, 1987), Toyo Ito, Itsuko Hasegawa, Kat-suhiro Ishii, Riken Yamamoto, and Shin Takamatsu,and they have been instrumental in raising Japan-ese architecture to international prominence.

Their approach is characterized by a combination oftradition, modern technology, sophistication andsimplicity, which is sometimes referred to as ‘con-structed nothingness’. Japanese architects displaya different approach to the site and the surroundingenvironment (the genius loci) from their Westerncolleagues.

On occasion the approach seems to ignore theexisting milieu, or perhaps the design is not afraidto emphasize the contrast of the new. Another dif-ference in approach is the avoidance or even rejec-tion of the use of historical forms in preference to


25

Figure 1.20 NTT Makuhari Building, Makuhari,Japan, 1993. Late modern building with large-scalecomponents, central atria, filled-in middle floors,100 per cent air-conditioning.

Figure 1.21 Spiral Wacoal Media Center, Minato,Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan, 1982–85, architect: FumihikoMaki. Dominant geometric forms (square, cone, etc.)and articulation, characteristic of Japanesearchitecture.


pure geometry such as the circle or the square,geometrical patterns and modules.

However, at the same time, Japanese designs canincorporate very refined and articulate forms, oftenreflecting industrial age methods, or, according toFumihiko Maki, ‘industrial vocabulary’. Japan’srapid economic and technical development also hadother consequences for its architecture, resulting ina vast number of new buildings, great diversity and,sometimes, chaotic complexes. Also, there doestend to be an element of the temporary in some ofthe new urban developments.

In spite of, or perhaps because of the difference inapproach, Japanese architecture gained interna-tional recognition. Thus, self-confidence and thedemand for Japanese architects abroad converselyopened the door to extend invitations to Westernarchitects to work in Japan. The Italian RenzoPiano, the Dutch Rem Koolhaas, the British NormanFoster, the French Christian de Portzamparc andthe Swiss Mario Botta are only some of those whohave been engaged in the country.

China(Mainland) China’s architecture was based on prin-ciples similar to those in other ‘socialist’ countries.Hong Kong’s architecture (before unification with

China) followed Western trends. Tao Ho (born1936) studied in the USA and modernism (the‘International Style’) through Walter Gropius, andBuckminster Fuller influenced his early designs. Hispractice later expanded to mainland China.

IraqSeveral architects, including Mohamed SalehMakiya (born 1917) and Rifat Chadirji (born 1926),studied in England and other Western countries butwere engaged mostly in Iraq and also abroad(Kuwait, Bahrain).

IranBoth Nadar Ardahan and Kamran Diba studied inthe USA. In partnership with Anthony John Majorthey designed the Teheran Museum of ModernArts.

TurkeySedad Eldem (1908–87) designed his buildings byapplying local technologies (timber frame, high-pitched roof). This applies also to Turgut Canseverwho attempts to combine modernism with vernac-ularism.

JordanPerhaps the best known end-of-twentieth-centuryarchitect is Rasem Badran, who studied in Ger-many and whose active practice extends beyondJordan to other Arabic countries (Abu Dhabi, etc.).

Malaysia and SingaporeMost architects are of Chinese origin, for example,William S.W. Lim (born 1932). He studied in Eng-land and the USA and designed (in various partner-ships such as with Chen Voon Fee, Lim CheongKeat, Mok Wei Wei) large-size complex buildingsand shopping centres in Singapore and KualaLumpur. Other successful architects in the regionare Tay Kheng Soon, Ken Yeang and TengkuHamzah (the two latter in partnership).

ThailandSumet Jamsai (born 1939) designed buildings inBangkok and Pattaya that follow the principle of theinseparability of people and machines (‘robot archi-tecture’) and, together with modernist trends,reflect an interest in local architectural traditions.

26

Figure 1.22 Nunotani Headquarters Building,Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan, 1991–92, northelevation, architect: Peter Eisenman. Deconstructivistarchitecture.


27

Figure 1.23a and b. Telekom Malaysia HQ, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1998. Two elliptical wings and centralcore, 77 floors full height (55 occupied). © Harrison et al.: Intelligent Buildings in South East Asia, E & FNSpon.

(a)

(b)


Korea (South)Both Swoo Geun Kim (1931–86) and Kim-Chung-up(1922–88) worked at the outset of their careers forLe Corbusier and designed a number of buildings inKorea. Now a new generation (Kim Wou, Kim Sok-chol and Zo-Kunyong) have taken over their place.

The PhilippinesLeandro V. Locsin (born 1928) achieved interna-tional fame through the forceful dynamic effects ofhis designs.

IndonesiaAmong several eminent architects Tony Candraw-inata (born 1946) and the Atelier 6 Group of sixarchitects can already lay claim to a number ofnotable realizations.

Latin Americas

Pre-Colombian cities were mostly destroyed, withthe exception of some major complexes of monu-ments. During the twentieth century, Latin Ameri-can architects attempted to introduce traditions intomodern architecture.

BrazilThe oeuvre of Oscar Niemeyer (born 1907) hasacquired global fame, including the planning anddesign of Brasilia, the new capital (urban planning incooperation with Lucio Costa (born 1932)). JoaquimGuedes (born 1932) designed various modernistbuildings. In Bahia the construction of the city ofCaraiba was commenced during the late 1970s.

MexicoFelix Candela (born 1910) contributed to the inter-national development of shells by his reinforcedconcrete shells. Gonzales Gortazar (born 1942)designed several buildings in Guadalajara, whichclearly reflect his double education as architect andsculptor.

ArgentinaArgentina’s most famous architect is M.J. Testa,born 1923 in Italy and who emigrated as a child toArgentina. His buildings (partly designed in partner-ship with others) have strong visual undertones.

Africa

Africa ranks as the world’s most problematic conti-nent. The wealthiest state is South Africa, whichkeeps abreast of the world’s architecture. Here it isonly the minority that enjoys high living standards.Major programmes are afoot to improve the hous-ing conditions of the poor population. In someNorth African countries (Egypt, Tunisia, etc.) newarchitecture is progressing, for example in Morocco

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Figure 1.24 Wave Tower, Bangkok, Thailand, 1988,building with a central core, 27 floors. Late modernoffice building with post-modern curved façade, in adeveloping country. © Harrison et al.: IntelligentBuildings in South East Asia, E & FN Spon.

where Elie Azagury (born 1918), the partnership ofFaraoui (born 1928) and Patrice de Maziere (born1930) have designed some remarkable buildings.Here it can be stated that a new generation of archi-tects is emerging.

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Jencks, Charles (1985) Symbolic Architecture, Acad-emy Editions

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Jencks, Charles (1988) The Prince, the Architects andNew Wave Monarchy, Academy Editions

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Jencks, Charles (1990) The New Moderns from Lateto Neo-Modernism, Academy Editions

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Jencks, Charles and Kropf, Karl (1997) Theories andManifestos of Contemporary Architecture, Acad-emy Editions

Jodidio, Philip (1995) Contemporary European Archi-tects, Volume III, Taschen

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Jodidio, Philip (1997) Nieuwe Vormen in de Architek-tur, De Jaren ’90, Taschen/Librero


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2.1 General Considerations

Construction earlier was based on practical experi-ence. Gradually, more and more has come to begrounded on science: strength of materials, devel-opment of new and improved building materials,structural analysis and design, heat and moisturetransfer, acoustics, natural and artificial illumination,energy conservation, fight against corrosion, fire,smoke, wind, floods, environmental protection,information and telecommunication technology,mathematical methods and application of comput-ers, management and social sciences.

Several of these affect the architectural appearanceof buildings, although not all changes in architec-ture can be explained by technical progress. Inwhat follows an analysis will be made of techno-logical progress and changes in architecture. Thiswill not be restricted to perceptible changes; thehidden influences, which affect the design andcharacteristics of buildings without their visiblemodification will also be examined.

The central science of mechanics of building mate-rials itself has undergone basic progress. The col-lective knowledge about elastic and plastic state,stress and strain, micro-cracking and fracturing, sta-bility, buckling, ductility, probability influences, risk,ultimate states and others has resulted in the com-plex science of present-day mechanics of materi-als. Parallel to the progress in materials sciences,the technology of construction and manufacturing

of building materials have also evolved tremen-dously.

Architectural design at all times has had to reckonwith the available technology: materials andprocesses. These, however, have never completelydefined the work of designers. The ideas and objec-tives of society, of the clients and of the architects,have also always exercised a significant impact onthe product of design. The different architecturalstyles developed as a sum of technical develop-ment and ideas of architects. The ambition of archi-tects together with developing requirements ofclients had a repercussion on technological devel-opment. As a consequence, architectural trendscan be explained not merely by changes in tech-nology but also by changes in architectural ideasand requirements of clients. This will be done in thefollowing. Technological progress has always hadits impact on architecture. However, so massivehas been the progress of science over the recentpast and so continuous the changes in architecturaldesign that the question has now arisen as towhether we are not standing at the dawn of a com-pletely new era. Is new science not evoking a com-pletely new architecture?

Are the new computer-based design techniquesand the new curved buildings not heralding theperiod of a new, non-linear architecture? The ques-tion has indeed been raised (Jencks, 1997) but couldnot be answered definitively, for no definitiveanswer can ever be provided concerning the future

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2The impact of technological changeon building materials


as affected by social and human factors. What, how-ever, is certain is that technological progress has anincreasing influence on architecture.

Engineers, as has been stated in previous contexts,are partners of architects; while some are them-selves designing structures with architectural ambi-tions, others are active partners in providing a solidbasis for architectural dreams and ambitions. PeterRice, an English structural engineer, having cooper-ated with architects on several important objects(Pompidou Centre, Sydney Opera House, Paris LaVillette, etc.) declared that whilst the architect’swork is creative, the engineer’s is essentially inven-tive (Rice, 1994). This may sound like an oversimpli-fication but it does come somewhere near to thetruth. Similar declarations were made by a numberof other cooperating architects and engineers.

In the following we commence with a discussion ofthe impact on architecture of the changing buildingmaterials and, following this, examine the influenceof other factors.

Building materials and their potential performancehave right from the very outset formed the startingbasis for shaping buildings. Thus, the available tech-nologies in stone, timber and bricks in earlier his-torical periods; in iron/steel and concrete since thenineteenth century and, very recently, in glass andplastics, have all influenced the appearance ofbuildings.

Traditional materials (such as timber, stone andbricks) find their application in new architecture. Asa matter of fact such materials are much favouredby individual architects and some groups of archi-tects. The science of materials has, however, goneforward by leaps and bounds for traditional materi-als also. Traditional materials have been perfected;new types and composites of materials developed.Now, the new fabrication and jointing methodsequally affect the design work of the architect.

Steel sections are hot- and cold-rolled, welded orbent. Aluminium sections are extruded, aluminiumpanels cast. Glass sheet is manufactured by differ-ent continuous automated methods with differingcompositions of the glass. Plastics componentsare extruded, thermoformed. New sealants andfasteners have been invented. Concrete and rein-

forced concrete have opened up new vistas formanufacturing and construction, including thedesign based on up-to-date technologies. For con-crete and other materials, prefabrication (off-siteprocesses) provides novel opportunities (Gibb,1999). There exist various components which maybe prefabricated: wall panels (cast as a whole orunitized from elements), volumetric units (modulesor boxes), floor, ceiling and roof panels, sanitaryblocks (WCs, bathrooms, kitchen units), partitionsand others. Fabrication methods have to beselected; those for example for reinforced con-crete panels include casting in horizontal position,casting in vertical position individually, or in batter-ies (i.e. in group forms). The design of prefabri-cated components must solve new problems,such as transportation in the factory, on the road orby rail, on the building site.

Adequate structural design must not neglect prob-lems of building physics: avoidance of thermal andsound bridges. Building materials have certain prop-erties, which depend on their composition (type ofalloy, etc.), and the conditions surrounding them(polluted urban or seashore air, or clean natural air).Weathering, corrosion, thermal expansion, durabil-ity may be of decisive importance. The perfor-mances of traditional and new building materials,their new fabrication and jointing methods are to agreater or lesser extent known by the architect.Formerly, new knowledge about modern manufac-turing methods tended not to be included in thestock of architectural education or the architect hadto rely on the experience of industrial technologists.In many cases the role of the architect is to be apartner to the industrial engineer and to participatein the development of fabrication methods and ofmaterials with new or improved properties. A num-ber of major industrial manufacturing companies(for instance, Hoesch and Thyssen in steel, Alu-suisse and Alcoa in aluminium, Pilkington and SaintGobain in glass, Höchst and Dow in plastics) havecreated their own research and development units,eventually with the participation of architects,engaged on product development adjusted to up-to-date manufacturing methods. This is a processthat continues to flourish.

The choice of building materials for façadesdepends to a great extent on the functions of the

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building. Industrial and agricultural buildings areusually large premises without a need for windowsto the outside. Therefore, façades may be designedas uninterrupted large surfaces and these may beassembled from identical components suspendedon a frame. What results are claddings assembledfrom corrugated steel or aluminium sheet, eventu-ally from reinforced concrete components. Façadesof buildings requiring windows are designed frommasonry or panels made from steel, aluminium,concrete or timber and recently from glass.

The properties of building materials (strength, ther-mal and sound characteristics, corrosion, behav-iour in fire, durability, etc.), economic dataconcerning them, as well as their impact on struc-tural and architectural design have long beenextensively documented and detailed repetition isunnecessary. Concise references to such proper-ties are provided in cases where their impact ondesign is of great importance. However, there is anew area that greatly affects architectural design:aspects of the environment, ecology and sustain-ability. These will be discussed in a subsequentchapter because they require a more general intro-duction and analysis. Prior to that later analysis,this chapter will concentrate on a comprehensivesurvey of the environmental effects of buildingmaterials. In this we are taking account of a surveypublished in The Netherlands (Anink et al., 1996).It is essential to bear in mind that it is not only theenvironmental aspects of the production of build-ing materials that are important, but also the mate-rials’ impact in use and after use (demolition,recycling).

Natural resources for stone, brick and glass in gen-eral exist in abundance although their geographicaldistribution is uneven and the actual availabilityaffects the selection. For most of the materials inthis class, energy requirements for fabrication arereasonably limited, with the notable exceptions ofglass and binding materials (cement, lime, and gyp-sum). Cement production not only requires consid-erable energy but also is the source of a substantialamount of CO2 emission. The energy content ofreinforced concrete structures is increased by thesteel reinforcement. Pollution created by the use ofmaterials in this class is limited. Durability is (withsome exception) satisfactory, with recycling possi-

ble without being excessively expensive. Excep-tionally, contamination may cause problems.Extraction or quarrying may have displeasing nat-ural consequences, a situation that is beingaccorded increasing attention. Materials in thisgroup are bulky and moving them to the buildingsites requires substantial transport activities (withmuch energy consumption) on roads, railways andwaterways. Glass production also consumes muchenergy although it must be said that glass can berecycled with relative ease and at reasonable cost.Iron and some other metals (copper, lead, etc.)have been used in construction since ancient timesbut their wider application is a modern phenome-non. Ore mining precedes transformation into met-als and their alloys. Mining ores may cause seriousdamage to nature. Much energy is necessary formetal fabrication (metallurgy, etc.) and processescause extensive pollution, but the required coun-termeasures are now feasible.

The prevention or reduction of corrosion is a prob-lem for several metals (steel, etc.). Reuse of met-als is technically and economically feasible, whichis of course of environmental benefit. Lead is avail-able in limited quantity and it is the source of vari-ous health hazards. The basic raw material forsynthetics is petroleum. Whilst only a small part (4per cent) of petroleum consumption is attributableto the production of synthetics, the overall conse-quences of the use of petroleum have to be takeninto account. The extraction and transport of petro-leum repeatedly causes disasters and its consump-tion depletes a limited natural and non-renewableresource. Production, use and demolition (or recy-cling) of plastics (synthetics) may be technicallycomplicated and expensive while also giving rise topollution, contamination, harmful emissions andvarious health hazards.

Polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) are wellsuited for recycling. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), one ofthe most common plastics, on the other handentails a number of negative environmental effects:in production, use and recycling. Polyurethane(PUR) is also the source of different health hazards.The use of CFCs (contributors to the depletion ofthe ozone layer) in the production of foamed PURand polystyrene (PS), in cooling and refrigeration isgradually being replaced by other agents.

The impact of technological change on building materials

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Timber also has long been used in construction andremains to this day a basic material in some regionsalthough mostly in an industrialized form. Timber isan important renewable raw material for construc-tion but with the attendant condition to realize sus-tainable forestry. This is easier for softwoods, moredifficult for hard ones, and extremely difficult forspecial tropical ones. Most of the paints andsealants contain additives harmful to human healthand the environment and these could exercise anadverse influence during production (e.g. topainters) and during use. Environmental aspectshave been mentioned somewhat cursorily above.At the present time detailed analytical studies onassessment methods and their results exist (Berge,1992, in Norwegian, 2000, in English).

2.2 Timber

Timber and other natural organic materials wereamong the very earliest building materials and in itsmodern form timber continues to serve as a basicbuilding material. Its properties greatly affect archi-tectural design (Actualités, 1998/99). Timber has ahigh strength to weight ratio. Its strength and stiff-ness are dependent on the direction of load in rela-tion to the grain. It is strong and relatively stiffparallel to the grain. However, it is prone to cleav-age along the grain if tension stresses are perpen-dicular to it. It has low shear strength and shearmodulus. Higher moisture content reduces boththe strength and elasticity, and a part of the originalstrength will anyway be lost over time. Under load,timber creeps and deforms. Serviceability thereforeoften governs structural analysis.

Structural analysis, detail design and processes oftechnology take care of a number of the specific prob-lems of timber structures, such as buckling, behaviouraround notches, prevention of interstitial condensa-tion, protection against moisture, insect and fungalattack, and fire (Sebestyen, 1998). Technical progressin the use of timber has some major repercussions onarchitecture. Apart from those in organic architectureas described in Chapter 1, these concern the:

• selection of the type of timber• transformation of the basic timber material into

one with new properties

• new timber products, for example, stressed skinpanels and various types of boards (plywood,fibreboard, particleboard, oriented strandedboard, waferboard, flakeboard), tapered, curvedor pitched cambered beams, glued thin-webbedbeams, sandwich panels, portal frames andarches

• new types of organic adhesives, including thoseable to withstand outdoor exposure

• improvement of properties and performances(e.g. improving behaviour in fire)

• enhancement of the structural performance ofsoftwoods for use in glued structures (Gilfillan etal., 2001)

• use of new fasteners, hangers, connectors(Bianchina, 1997)

• new principles in structural analysis and design,including adequate consideration of the interac-tion between loads and material properties.

Gluing opened up new possibilities for timber.Glued laminated timber (Glulam) and adhesive-bonded timber components (boards and others) arethe basic materials for a great variety of products.The first type of fasteners are those where the loadis transferred along the shank, such as dowels, sta-ples, nails, screws and bolts (Larsen and Jensen,2000). A second category of fasteners are thosewhere the load is transmitted over a large bearingarea at the surface of members, such as split-rings,shear plates and punched metal plates. One of thenew connectors is a sectioned steel tube embed-ded into the end grain of heavy-timber structuralmembers using a vinyl-ester-based mortar(Schreyer et al., 2001). The new types of fastenerslead to more efficient structures. The performanceof attachments has a particular importance inregions with high winds and/or seismic action.Low-rise timber-frame structures fail rapidly underhigh wind loads after the failure of the first fastener(Rosowsky and Schiff, 2000, Rosowsky, 2000,Dolan, 2000, Stathopoulos, 2000). Therefore, thetributary area of the single fastener should be smallenough (e.g. less than 10 square feet). Deformedshank nails (such as ring shanks, or threaded nails)have a greater uplift capacity than smooth shanknails. Screws offer more uplift capacity than is usu-ally assumed. Specially shaped connecting hard-ware is also used for mechanical timber jointing.

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Fasteners designed in a specific form and appear-ing in some pattern (articulation) on the surface pro-vide new sorts of decoration.

New types of timber applied in building are on theone hand hard (tropical and other) woods such asteak and sequoia and, on the other hand, soft-woods solidified and identified. The use of hard-woods is limited by environmental protection and,due to their high price, to up-market applications:de luxe residential housing and prestigious offices.Stressed skin panels consist of webs in the direc-tion of the span connected with wood-based

sheets forming the skins on one or both sides. Theycan be produced by gluing or with mechanicaljoints. The webs are usually of solid timber and thepanels improve stability and resistance to strongwind and earthquake. The stressed skin principle,introduced in the previous century, enables theinclusion of the panels in the structural calculations.Naturally, family houses can be designed not onlywith a timber frame but also with a metallic (pri-marily steel) frame and stressed skin panels. WithGlulam and mechanically connected timber compo-nents long-span structures covering large spacesmay be constructed. One of the largest timber-structured buildings is the Olympic Stadium inHamar, Norway, which was completed in 1992(Architect: Niels Torp). It houses no fewer than13 000 seats, and 2000 cubic metres of glued lam-inated timber were used for its construction. Itsvaulted roof is supported by arched timber trusses.Another important timber building is the Dome inIzumo, Japan, which was also completed in 1992(design: Kajima). The diameter of the building is 143metres. In appearance its dome gives the impres-sion of being shaped like an open umbrella but itsstructure is based on quite another principle. Thirty-six half-arches were assembled, each 90 metreslong and these were then raised to their final posi-tion. As a general principle, it can be stated that thescope of applying timber in construction is widen-ing, including to multi-storey buildings (Stungo,1998). Over recent years fire research has also pro-duced results (including such specific topics as theself-ignition of insulating fibreboard panels), whichhave increased the fire safety of timber structures(Buchanan, 2000, Mehaffey et al., 2000).

2.3 Steel

Iron (cast and wrought) has long been utilized inbuilding but steel was introduced only in the courseof the second half of the nineteenth century (Blancet al., 1993). Its introduction resulted in the con-struction of tall structures (skyscrapers and towers)and long-span structures in the form of bridges andspaces covered by domes, shells and spacetrusses (Seitz, 1995) but it has been used in all sortsof standard buildings as well as industrial halls,


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Figure 2.1 Gang-Nail steel plates for timber trusses(Sanford).


agricultural buildings, etc. Carbon steel is the basemetal used for most steel products. An increase inthe amount of carbon improves the hardness andtensile strength of steel. Carbon content, however,inversely affects the ductility of steel alloy and theweldability of the metal. Various elements – phos-phorus, manganese, copper, nitrogen, sulphur andothers – modify the properties of steel. Some of themost important product categories are hot-rolled,cold-rolled and cast steel products. Welding,mechanical jointing, painting, coating, enamellingare some of the technologies transforming basicsteel products. New fabrication methods, newalloys, new structural schemes and new fasteningswere invented, all of which exerted varying impacton architecture:

• high-strength steel• stainless steel and weathering steel• high-friction grip bolts, shot pins, welding• hot rolling and automatic welding of sections• cold forming (cold working): rolling, bending,

pressing• various sections: sheet and strip, open and tubu-

lar, corrugated and others• protection against corrosion and fire• tensile (tensioned) structures, suspended and

stressed cable structures• various systems of framing, diagonal bracing,

dampeners• surface treatment methods: coil coating, enam-

elling and others.

The American architect Frank O. Gehry declaredthat for him ‘metal is the material of our time’ andthat ‘metal is sculptural allowing for free-form struc-tures inconceivable in any other material’.

The first metals to be used in building were iron(wrought and cast), copper, bronze (copper and tinalloy), brass (a copper alloy containing zinc), zincand lead. In our time new metallic alloys based onsteel, aluminium and titanium have been intro-duced. Steel alloys containing chromium in excessof 10 per cent are known as the stainless steels(Zahner, 1955). Stainless steel alloys may containalso manganese, chromium, nickel, molybdenum,silicon, carbon, and nitrogen. Stainless steel wasdeveloped in the nineteenth century, and broughtto architectural applications in the first half of the

twentieth century. The same products as in normalsteel can also be produced in stainless steel but thethickness of plate and sheet can be reduced andsurface finishing can be different. The ChryslerBuilding in New York (designer: William Van Allen),built in the late 1920s, was one of the first majorarchitectural projects constructed with a primearchitectural surface. Notable early realizations instainless steel were the roof of the Pittsburgh PlateGlass Company Plant in 1924 and the GatewayArch in St Louis, 1966, designed by Eero Saarinen.

Since that time many other important buildingshave been designed with a stainless steel enve-lope, such as the 36-metre diameter sphere of theMuseum of Science and Technology in Paris (archi-tect: Adrien Fainsilber). Metals may have differenttypes of surface finishing: polishing, embossing,metal or paint coating.

Hot-rolled steel sections (eventually also in weldedform) were the first to be used in construction on alarge scale. Then, cold forming brought new forms,first of all with corrugated sheet and also with hol-low profiles. Codes for various types of steel struc-tures were introduced. There exist simple butaccurate methods to be selected by the engineerdepending on various circumstances. For example,there are proposals for the simplified design ofsteel trusses with different types of joints. Thesecan be applied in less complex cases or as a firstapproximation to a later and more precise analysis(Krampen, 2001).

The simplest building form with a steel frame is thesingle-storey building and within this category thesingle-bay and the multiple-bay buildings (see alsoChapter 3). They are commonly designed with apitched or flat roof, columns, portal frame or aspace frame and roof lights. In many countriesthere are firms (steel and aluminium manufacturersand enterprises constructing halls with a metallicframe) that specialize in offering and constructingindustrial halls and storage buildings (Newman,1997). Such standard halls are designed based onup-to-date codes and analysis methods, includingfinite element (FE) methods (Pasternak and Müller,2001).

For multi-storey buildings appropriate frames anddifferent types of floors were developed, eventually

36

also making use of concrete. Suspended (hanging)ceilings and double deck floors were introduced.The lower surface of hanging ceilings and of roofswas frequently shaped in a highly articulated pat-tern. Structural design took care of bracing, hereagain in steel alone or in combination with concrete(shear walls and cores). The structure interactedwith services, which themselves acquired increas-ing sophistication. The heights of multi-storey build-ings have shot up from about 100 metres to about500. The high-rise or tall buildings became knownas skyscrapers and those with a height of over 500metres as super-scrapers. Architectural conse-quences have been manifold.

Whilst the lightweight claddings dominated themarket, heavyweight (traditional) external wallsoccasionally found application. A new developmentwas the structural glass façade. The frame waspositioned in its relation to the cladding or the glasseither externally or internally, sometimes in a mixedway. The progress achieved in technology preparedthe way for the super-scrapers as described above.The world’s newest tallest buildings are thePetronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the (planned)580 metre-high MTR Tower in Chicago and the 609metre-high 7 South Dearborn Tower, also inChicago (both the latter were designed by SOM).Cold rolling and coil coating resulted in corrugatedsheeting, which is eminently applicable for indus-trial buildings, but which can be somewhat prob-lematic for multi-storey office buildings. For thelatter, individually pressed panels have been exten-sively used, in particular for skyscrapers. In recentyears enamelled steel sheet panels have been usedby architects in New York and elsewhere, the ini-tiator and best-known proponent being the Ameri-can architect Richard Meier. Coated metal (steel,stainless steel, aluminium, and copper) constitutesthe basis of a multitude of thin sheet products. Thebasis of these in most cases is thin sheet in coilform, which is then roll-formed and coated, i.e. coilcoated (Oliver et al., 1997). Prior to coating, steelsheet may be galvanized. A great number of coat-ings have been developed including, at first PVCplastisols, and later, in view of the deficiencies ofplastisols, PVF2 resins, polyurethanes, plastic filmlaminates, thermoplastic polyamide incorporatingpolyurethane and polyester, powder coatings and

others. Developments in design include the use ofcurved sheet, ribbed profiles, laminated and com-posite panels, secret-concealed-fix systems withstanding seam and tapered curves (Oliver et al.,1997). The products are manufactured by majorsteel and aluminium companies and increasinglyused for metal cladding and roofing purposes.There also exist a number of companies specializedin manufacturing and assembling such claddingsand roofing. Some companies went on to developspecific products based on coated metal sheet(Hunter Douglas, Robertson, etc.). Design detailsare the fixings (fastening), roof lights, edge solu-tions and it must be noted that earlier these havebeen the source of many failures. The present situ-ation is that correct solutions have been devised.Considering the increasing use of coated metalsheet cladding and roofing and also the wide varia-tions in potential appearance, architects mustbecome familiar with performance and aestheticpossibilities and design details or take steps toensure close cooperation with experts in thesetechnologies (Eggen and Sandaker, 1996). Furtherapplication of steel (and aluminium) will be dis-cussed in Chapter 3.

2.4 Aluminium and Other Metals

Steel and aluminium (in the USA aluminum) are themost commonly used metals (not as chemicallypure metals but in the form of alloys) as structuralbuilding materials. Copper, lead, zinc, titan (tita-nium) and their alloys are applied for specific pur-poses and various surface finishing, primarilymetallic or paint or plastics coatings (Zahner, 1995).Aluminium was introduced in building later thansteel but its use is increasing. The first spectaculararchitectural application of aluminium was the castaluminium pinnacle of the Washington Monumentin 1884. The architectural use of aluminium accel-erated after the First World War. The range of appli-cation is broad: curtain walls, suspended ceilings,claddings, windows, louvres, space frames, domesand others.

The two basic classes of aluminium and its alloysare cast and wrought aluminium. The modulus of


37


aluminium is about one third that of steel. The con-sequence is that the deflections of aluminiummembers under load are greater than those ofsteel. Aluminium’s thermal conductivity and ther-mal expansion also exceed those of steel. On theother hand the corrosion behaviour of aluminium issuperior to that of steel. These and some otherproperties have an impact on structural and archi-tectural design. Aluminium products can be fabri-cated partly by similar methods as steel (casting,hot and cold rolling, machining), and partly by extru-sion, the latter providing specific potentials fordesign. Specific fabrication methods are used forvarious shaping purposes and to achieve differentsurface patterns and properties. A wide range ofjoining methods are available for aluminium (andsteel), such as mechanical fastening (bolting, pin-ning, riveting, welding, gluing and others (Lane,1992). For surface finishing, anodizing, coating(including coil coating), enamelling and lacqueringare the main possibilities. The three basic anodizingprocesses are integral curing, two-step colouringand impregnated colouring. The electrolyticprocess of anodizing thickens the thin protectivesurface of the aluminium oxide layer and simulta-neously is used to provide a coloured surface. Avariety of anodizing processes has been inventedproducing various colours and visual quality. Paintand lacquer coatings are also increasingly applied.Different metallic alloys have different properties,but at a price. Usually steel is corrosive but certainalloys, like stainless steel, are protected from cor-rosion. Metals may be coated to prevent corrosionand also in order to obtain a certain colour and sur-face, e.g. lead-coated copper. Aluminium basicallydoes not corrode but a higher level of protectionmay be required and attained through the use ofspecial alloys or by coating. Aluminium windowsare often designed with a thermal break, for exam-ple, by containing a solid strip of insulating plasticsuch as polyamide. Aluminium curtain walls haveundergone many innovations over the years as wasdescribed earlier for steel curtain walls. Corrugatedsteel and aluminium sheets are very common build-ing components used for claddings, roofs, sus-pended ceilings and permanent shuttering. Mostspace frames are designed with steel members(MERO, etc.) but some are based on aluminium.One of the best-known aluminium space frames is

Triodetic, which features aluminium tubular mem-bers coupled together using specially shaped joints.Various forms such as flat structures, vaults anddomes have been built with Triodetic with spansranging from 50 to 100 metres. The Shah Alammosque at Selangor, Malaysia, is one such dome.

Architectural and structural design must take careof certain specific failure modes of aluminium struc-tures. Aluminium, for instance, is more prone tofatigue (the consequence of loads repeated manytimes) than steel. Various forms of buckling alsoplay an important part in the failure of aluminiumstructures (Dwight, 1999). There exist adequatecodes for the analysis of aluminium structures,such as the Eurocode 9. Aluminium joints in partic-ular (bolted, riveted, welded, adhesively bonded)require careful consideration (Kosteas, 2001,

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Figure 2.2 Sinusoidal, trapezoidal and othercorrugated, cold-rolled aluminium sheets(Alusuisse). © Sebestyen: Lightweight BuildingConstruction, Akadémiai Kiadó.

Meyer-Sternberg, 2001). The various fabricationsand connecting techniques affect the design ofsteel and aluminium structures. The results arespecific frameworks, trusses, vaults, curtain walls,space frames, domes, sometimes developed assubsystems available commercially for any newproject. Several uses of aluminium in building arethe equivalent of those in steel but certain fabrica-tion processes are specific for aluminium, forexample extrusion of sections and casting of alu-

minium panels. The architectural consequences fol-low from the specifics of fabrication. Practically allmajor producers of aluminium possess equipmentand plant to produce corrugated sheet from coils bycold-forming sheet (Alucolux, etc.). The two majoraluminium companies producing large-size cast alu-minium panels are the Japanese Kubota and theSwiss Alusuisse.

In the wake of steel and aluminium, titanium maybecome an architectural metal. Cost and the prior-ity of aerospace and military uses earlier consti-tuted an obstacle to its extended architectural use.Titanium has an extremely low rate of thermalexpansion and has excellent strength properties.Japan was the first country to use titanium in con-struction; the United States followed. A significantnovelty has been the construction of the Guggen-heim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, designed by FrankO. Gehry with an external titan (titanium) cladding.Titanium is resistant to corrosion and it has a lowthermal expansion coefficient. Its yield strength issimilar to that of stainless steel. Titanium sheet canbe formed, joined and welded by conventionalsheet-metal methods (Zahner, 1995). Seaming is acommon form of joining. Earlier, the high price oftitan meant that it was prohibitive for the construc-tion of buildings. However, the gradual reduction inprice and the use of much thinner sheets haveplaced it within the reach of designers.

Titanium is not supposed to tarnish, so that it wasan unpleasant experience when its sheen partlyfaded at the Bilbao Museum. The probable causehas been the oxidization of chemicals used to fire-proof the steel structure beneath the titanium shin-gles, which leaked into the cladding duringconstruction. Various attempts had to be made(cleaning or partial replacement of sections of thecladding) to restore the sheen. The case furnishesfurther proof of just how much caution is recom-mended when introducing new materials into con-struction.

Titan increasingly finds application in the construc-tion of façades. The prize-winning design by PaulAndreu, a French architect, for the new BeijingOpera House envisaged titan cladding. The spec-tacular new Glasgow Millennium Natural Sciencecomplex, on the River Clyde, consists of three more


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Figure 2.3 Aluminium cladding components(Reinhold and Mahla, Germany). © Sebestyen:Lightweight Building Construction, Akadémiai Kiadó.


or less independent buildings: a three-dimensionalIMAX cinema, the Glasgow Tower, and the NaturalScience and Technical Centre. The IMAX cinemaand the Glasgow Science Centre are the first build-ings in Great Britain to have a titanium cladding. The7600 square metres roof area of the Centre (archi-tect: Building Design Partnership, structural design:Buro Happold) has an isolated titanium sheetcladding. The 127 metre-high Tower is innovative inthat the whole building can turn around its verticalaxis and not only the top level as is the case formany other tall buildings and towers. The ScienceCentre and other buildings provide new potentials tocombine education and entertainment and willgreatly contribute to a renewal of Glasgow, a phe-nomenon that is a specific feature of new architec-ture and urban development: other examples (Lille,etc.) are mentioned elsewhere in the book.

2.5 Brick, Stone and Masonry

Brick and stone are among the oldest materials hav-ing been used in ancient Babylon and Egypt. Theyare still a material for masonry, or are used by pre-fabricating large panels with a thin exposed bricksurface and backed by a thin reinforced concretelayer and, finally, gluing also provides a solution.The Wilbrink House, Amersfoort, The Netherlands,designed by the Dutch architect Ben van Berkel,1992–94 (incidentally also the designer of the strik-ing Rotterdam Erasmus Bridge), has a not entirelyvertical wall consisting of bricks glued together. TheEurocode 6 is the new European standard formasonry structures.

Mario Botta, a Swiss architect, likes to design large-surface façades with exposed brick surfaces.Several other features characterizing new architec-ture’s different trends can also be identified onBotta’s buildings: large plane surfaces uninter-rupted by windows or other openings thereby alsocamouflaging the number of floor levels behind thefaçade; a strong brick-red colour contrasting withblack and white coloured surfaces on other parts ofthe façade; simple geometric contours: rectangles,circles, articulation of the façade by parallel or radiallines. All these features characterize, for example,the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art created

by Botta during the first years of the 1990s (seephotograph in Philip Jodidio, Contemporary Euro-pean Architects, Volume III, Taschen, 1995, page56) and the Evry Cathedral, France, another designby Botta, 1992–95. These buildings may also bementioned as containing certain new characteris-tics in Botta’s designs. The large circular forms arein a slanted plane and occur not only as forms forstructures but also for openings.

Masonry uses various types of bricks and concreteblocks. In recent times innovative new types ofmasonry products have been introduced, such asflashing block, moisture control block, dry stackmasonry systems, thin brick systems, new mortaradditives and new masonry ties (Beall, 2000).Masonry for low-rise buildings usually suffers muchin earthquakes, although various ways to improveresistance to seismic actions are known(Casabonne, 2000).

In modern, post-modern and contemporary archi-tecture stone has relinquished its position as astructural (load-bearing) material. However, it ismuch favoured in specific functions, such ascladding for curtain walls, floor paving and sculp-tural and decorative purposes. In curtain walls it isused as thin slabs suspended on a steel frame. InSaudi Arabia stone (marble veneer) has seenincreasing application over the last 30 years (Idris,2000).

2.6 Glass and Structural Glass

Glass performs a significant function in space divi-sions and heat and light control. It has been knownsince early times so it fully justifies being consid-ered as a traditional material. Glass, however, wasexpensive and so enjoyed only restricted use up tothe nineteenth century. Mass production of sheetglass, the development of steel frames, cablestructures, fixing devices and systems as well as ofelastic and elasto-plastic sealant changed this andresulted in a number of innovative solutions andsystems. During the twentieth century the curtainwall emerged with new types of glazing. However,on the façades of the skyscrapers, linear glass fix-ing components were still present. The ambition

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was to develop all-glass façades with uninterruptedglass surfaces. Gradual progress in materials andsystems achieved this objective (Wigginton, 1997).

The basic glazing material used for externalenvelopes is the glass pane, which may be clearwhite, body tinted, photosensitive, or photochro-matic. For glass roofs with increased safety lami-nated glass may be used. The low tensile strengthof glass can be improved by its thermal or chemicaltoughening. Thermally toughened glass (temperedglass) fractures into small pieces and therebyreduces risk in the case of glass breakage. Suchglass is referred to as ‘safety glass’. Glass coatedby one or by several thin coating layers may be heatand light absorbent and/or reflective. These proper-ties affect the appearance of buildings and eveneventually their colour. The glass is usually trans-parent or translucent and these are properties thatthe designer may wish to make use of. Heat insu-lation may be increased by insulating glass, whichis composed of two or more panes separated by acavity (filled by dehydrated air or inert gas) andglued together and sealed along the edges. Thesolution most widely applied (with alternatives inthe details) is the system that fixes the corners ofthe panes to a structure that itself is fixed to themain load-bearing structure, and ensures adequatetolerances and movements in space as a conse-quence of various actions, such as wind and otherforms of deformation. The expression ‘structuralglass’ is used for glazings that (when used in theexternal envelope) can withstand certain actionssuch as bending and buckling.

If the façade is shaped as an uninterrupted glasssurface, we use the expression ‘all-glass’. In the1920s Le Corbusier and Mies van der Roheattempted to develop all-glass systems but thetechnology evolved only gradually and at a laterdate. For such façades tempered or toughenedglass is needed, which is produced by heating theglass panes in a furnace, having first cut them totheir final shape, and then chilling them with cold airfrom a jet system. The result is that the outer sur-face is placed in compression and the inner partunder tension. All-glass glazing systems evolvedfrom earlier curtain wall systems in which the glasspanes were fixed between linear frame compo-nents: glass beads, gaskets or pressure profiles.

Later, systems were developed where the glasspanes were fixed at the corners only, either indi-vidually, or with two or four panes being fixed by asingle fixing device. The glass façade is suspendedby stressed cables to the structure. All-glassfaçades have a different aesthetic appearance fromframed curtain walls, as a consequence of theabsence of external metallic frame sections. One ofthe first buildings constructed with bolted corner-plate fixing points (so-called patch fittings) was theFaber and Dumas building in Ipswich, Great Britain,1975 (architect: Norman Foster, glazing systemdeveloped in collaboration with Pilkington). A sub-sequent development was the countersunk ‘Planar’fixing system where bolts flush with the glass panewere applied. It was first applied to the RenaultCentre in Swindon, Great Britain, 1982 (alsodesigned by Norman Foster, the glazing system in


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Figure 2.4 City of Science, La Villette, Paris, 1986,designer: RFR Partners and Adrien Fainsilber.Structural glazing. © P. Rice and H. Dutton:Structural Glass, E & FN Spon.


collaboration with Pilkington). In 1986 the bolted fix-ing system with swivel joints (RFR system) wasdeveloped. This still forms the basis for severalpresent-day structural glass systems. The RFR sys-tem was developed in 1986 by Adrien Fainsilberand the specialists Rice, Francis and Ritchie andfirst used at the La Villette complex in Paris (Figure2.4). The main designer of the glazing system wasthe Briton Peter Rice (1935–92) who regrettablydied at an early age.

An alternative solution for all-glass façades is toglue the panes at their corners to the load-bearingframe. However, this has not developed into a gen-erally applied solution for the reason that move-ments of the components can cause problems. Thesolution most widely applied (with various alterna-tives in the details) is the one with fixing points inthe glass façade as demonstrated in some earlyrealizations, as in Ipswich, Swindon and Paris.Some notable additional realizations are:

• the Glass Pyramide at the Louvre, Paris, 1988,architect: I.M. Pei and Partners

• The Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotter-dam, The Netherlands, designer: Jo Coenen,1988–93 (Plate19)

• Waterloo International Railway Station, London,1994, architect: Nicolas Grimshaw and Partners

• Western Morning News, Plymouth, England,1992, architect: Nicolas Grimshaw and Partners

and many other buildings in various countries.

Big halls, lobbies and entrance halls on the groundfloor may have a glass wall assembled from sus-pended thick and large-size panes, as in the cen-tral building of the Radio in Paris. Originallybuildings usually had one façade skin (single-skinfaçades) even if the single skin itself is comprisedof several layers. A new concept is the construc-tion of multiple-skin façades in which the spacebetween the two layers can be utilized for ventila-tion and other purposes. Such a principle wasused at the new building of the Dutch Ministry forHousing (VROM). In recent times glass envelopes(façades and roofs) have developed into high-techcomponents: ‘polyvalent’ or ‘intelligent’ (smart)envelopes. These have a role to play in the controlof heating, ventilating, cooling, air conditioningand lighting.

The intelligent façade may also contribute to theimprovement of environmental conditions byenabling the designer to plan green areas on vari-ous floors, as at the Commerzbank Headquarters,Frankfurt, Germany (architect: Norman Foster andPartners). Paul Andreu of the Paris Airportsdesigned the 1200 tonne glass and steel dome ofthe Osaka Maritime Museum (engineering designby Ove Arup and Partners). The shell ‘emerges’from the sea, access to it is through an under-ground tunnel. The 70-metre diameter hemisphereis one of the largest ever built and it acts as a cas-ing for four floors of the museum. Its structure is adiagrid of tubular membranes connected by nodesand prestressed rods to resist earthquake action.The hemisphere was manufactured by KawasakiHeavy Industries.

Almost all glass façades are assembled from planeglass sheets. A notable exception is the Hermesstore building in Tokyo designed by Renzo Piano.Its skin is a continuous curtain of glass brickassembled from nine-piece panels. Each block ismanually mirror-varnished along its edges and pol-ished on its smooth side, the opposite side beingcorrugated. The bricks are encased in a tubularmetal grille with fire-retardant rubber protected bya ceramic cord. The unit is then sealed on site withsilicone. The 22 millimetre joints guarantee a toler-ance of 4–5 millimetres for each block in the caseof an earthquake.

Glass structures provide a most important field ofcooperation between architects and engineers withconsequences for the architectural design and theappearance of buildings.

2.7 Concrete and Reinforced Concrete

Research and innovation resulted in various new orimproved types and properties of heavy and light-weight concrete, new production technologies suchas prestressing, and new structural analysis anddesign methods for various loads and actions, pre-stressing, etc. Relatively recent is the intelligent andhigh-performance concrete (see below). The use ofglass, polypropylene and steel fibres (including tex-tiles and fabrics made from such fibres) in concrete

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(more generally, in cementitious materials) hascome a long way over recent years (Sadegzadeh etal., 2001). Enhanced composite properties havebeen the result. Cladding panels have been devel-oped, which utilize the new potentials.

Self-compacting concrete was first developed in1988 in order to achieve durable concrete struc-tures. To produce a self-compacting concrete,requirements are a high deformability of the pasteor mortar and a resistance to segregation between


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Figure 2.6 Exposition Hall, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, 1952–53, designers: M. Nowicki, W.H. Deltrick andF. Severud. Structure suspended on two inclined intersecting reinforced concrete arches by cable nets.© Sebestyen: Construction: Craft to Industry, E & FN Spon.

Figure 2.5 Apartment block,Expo ’67, Montreal, Canada,1966–67, architect: MosheSafdie. Modular, three-dimensional reinforcedconcrete box architecture.


coarse aggregate and mortar when the concreteflows through the confined zone of reinforcing bars.

To achieve these, a limited aggregate content, a lowwater/powder ratio and the use of a superplasticizerare recommended. By now, the process has beenexecuted in several countries and self-compactingconcrete is becoming a standard type of concrete(Okamura et al., 2000). Structural analysis anddesign have certain principles common to all typesof concrete but some deviations are necessary forspecific types of concrete (CEB and FIP Recom-mendations, 1998, 2000). The EN 206-1:2000 is thenew European standard for concrete, reinforcedconcrete and prestressed concrete structures. High-strength concrete has a higher compressivestrength and usually also has other attributes super-ior to normal concrete, such as durability. Such con-crete is then considered high-performanceconcrete. High-performance concrete has a com-pressive strength exceeding 60 N/mm2 and, with aspecial composition mix, over 100 N/mm2: tentimes stronger than ordinary concrete. High-perfor-mance concrete is prepared with special cement,mineral and chemical admixtures (fly ash, super-plasticizers, polymers, silica fume, granulated blastfurnace slag, high-reactivity metakaolin) and is rein-forced with fibres instead of steel rods (Nawy, 1996,Shah and Ahmad, 1994). Structural design must fol-low the general methods applied to normal rein-forced concrete but some specific characteristicsrequire additional considerations (for example, slab-column and beam-column intersections), partly withsome impact on the appearance of structures.Some of the realizations with high-performance con-crete are high-rise buildings, such as:

• Lake Point Tower, Chicago, total height aboveground 197 metres, 1966–67

• Water Tower Place, Chicago, 76-storey concretebuilding, 1976

• Texas Commerce Tower, Houston, 75-storeycomposite steel and concrete building, 1981

• South Wacker Drive, Chicago, 70-storey, 295metres-high reinforced concrete building, 1989.

For buildings, high-rise is the principal field of appli-cation of high-performance concrete and this hasmade it possible to construct concrete tall buildingswith increasing height. Another application is for

bridges. The Americas cable-stayed bridge nearVancouver, Canada, completed in 1986, has a max-imum span of 465 metres and has a high-perfor-mance concrete deck. High-strength lightweightaggregate concrete also finds some fields of appli-cation although on a much more limited scale thanhigh-performance normal concrete.

New developments in concrete are concrete withresins and concrete with fibre-reinforced polymer(FRP) reinforcement. Both, eventually in a combinedform, are used in repairing damaged or cracked con-crete structures (rehabilitation and strengthening) aswell as for some specific types of new construc-tions. As structural reinforcement, fibre-reinforcedpolymers are based on armada (AFRP), carbon(CFRP) or glass fibres (GFRP). The resin matrix isbased in most cases on epoxy or vinyl-ester. A mostrecent innovation is the twin application of FRP rein-forcement and fibre optical sensing, which pro-duces ‘smart structures’ automatically monitoringstructures. Among the new technologies, concretewith exposed surfaces has developed and thesesurfaces have an influence on architecture. Blemish-free surfaces of uniform colour can be producedwith adequate mix, careful compacting and curing.Pre-cast components can be produced with sculp-tured surface. For such purpose, various materials(concrete, timber, steel, and plastics) can be usedfor the formwork. To obtain a coloured surface,either the top layer has to have a coloured mix, orthe surface has to be painted (Sebestyen, 1998).

Prefabrication affects the morphology and geometryof the buildings but also has an impact on designprinciples and organization. The primary effect ofprefabrication on forms is to favour shapes advanta-geous for shuttering forms and industrial produc-tion. Although this in itself is a rather vaguerequirement it does acquire importance in actualdesign. It should not be identified with the simplis-tic rule to design simple shapes. Ricardo Bofilldesigns all of his buildings with neo-classicist com-ponents (see Bofill-designed buildings in Montpellierand elsewhere). However, he realizes such histori-cizing forms from pre-cast concrete components.

If a façade wall panel is manufactured in a horizon-tal position, the decision must be made as towhether the external surface should be formed on

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the upper or the lower surface of the panel. Thelower surface is better suited for producing a relief-like surface. On the upper surface this is possible bypressing, a technique that is seldom applied, how-ever. Hammering the surface may produce differentreliefs. Embedding special decorative aggregates(coloured glass, stone or porcelain) is possible intoeither the lower surface of the panel or the upperone. Washing out or brushing the cement from thesurface within a certain time is also applied and forthis purpose a retardant may be added to thecement mortar. Internal wall panels have a smoothplane surface on both sides and may be manufac-tured either horizontally or vertically. For castingpanels in a vertical position, the manufacturing floorspace in the production hall may be reduced by cast-ing two or more panels in a vertical position in a sin-gle form: twin-forms for two panels or a battery offorms for casting several panels. This technologywas introduced for large-size wall panels. Some pre-fabrication firms specialize in the casting of concretecomponents with quite intricately sculptured forms.

Exposed concrete surfaces were applied quite fre-quently during the modernist period, for example,by Le Corbusier. After 1945, for some years,exposed concrete was applied in many construc-tions. Buildings with large surfaces of exposed con-crete even received the label of ‘New Brutalism’.Several British (and other) architects adhered tosuch a trend for some time and indeed New Bru-talism appeared in many countries but the trend didnot last for too long. After some time the percep-tion was that an excessive use of concrete surfacesmight lack sufficient appeal.

Architects in recent times do not adhere to the ear-lier principle to let forms reflect their structural func-tion. For instance, when designing columns linkedto beams above them, architects and engineersfavoured quadratic cross-sections for the columnsand higher cross-sections for the beams. Thisdesign principle has lost its validity and beams maybe designed with similar widths to columns; seesome buildings designed by the Japanese architectArata Isozaki (the Museum of Modern Art, GammaPrefecture, Takasaki, Japan, 1974 and the TeamDisney Building, Orlando, Florida, USA, 1991).Another example is the Museum of ContemporaryArt, Chicago, Illinois, USA, designed by Josef Paul

Kleihaus, 1992–96; the number of similar realiza-tions is virtually limitless.

To produce an exposed concrete surface, a carefulcomposition of the mix, of the shuttering and of thewhole technological process is required. In certaincases the joints between the shutters and endpoints of the distance-holding components of theshutters are left visible. This equally requiresadvance planning and strict adherence to theplanned technological process. This can be seen,for example, on several buildings designed by theJapanese Tadao Ando (for example, the KoshinoHouse, Ashiya, Hyago, Japan).

One of the most common trends of industrializationin building is the development of ‘systems’, i.e.‘system building’. Such systems were developed inhousing (Camus, Coignet, Larsen-Nielsen, etc.), ineducational constructions (CLASP, etc.) and inindustrial and other buildings. Systems are charac-terized by some kind of load-bearing structure (insteel or concrete) and a façade system with eitherlarge panels manufactured from reinforced con-crete or a lightweight system (with a timber or steelframe). Research on structural concrete focusseson certain topics, such as:

• designing for durability• developing a uniform and balanced safety concept• bridging the gap between material science and

structural design• designing with new materials• quality of construction and production• consistency between calculation methods• minimum reinforcement and robustness• external prestressing• redesign of existing concrete structures• aesthetics of concrete structures• various individual topics, such as lightness of

structures, corrosion of prestressing steel• fire resistance of complex structures as a whole• design by testing• the growing role of information technology (IT) in

design and education (Walraven, 2000).

2.8 Plastics, Fabrics and Foils

For structural and space-enclosing purposes, syn-thetic materials, mostly polymers and polymer


45


composites, are also used to produce building com-ponents. Their properties are so different fromthose of traditional materials that design from themcalls for specialized knowledge and care. Their fab-rication processes usually favour curved surfaces,which in themselves result in new forms, unfamil-iar in former construction. The main groups of poly-mers are: the thermoplastics (polyvinyl – PVC,polyethylene – PE, polypropylene – PP, polystyrene– PS, etc.), the thermosets (polyurethane – PU,epoxies, etc.) and the elastomers (synthetic rub-bers). Plastics and the composites manufacturedfrom them have low moduli of elasticity. Therequired rigidity of a structure must therefore bederived from the shape rather than from the ma-terial. Shapes with high rigidity are three-dimen-sional surface structures such as domes, shells, orfolded plates. To achieve or increase rigidity, fibre-reinforced sheets in appropriate forms are used,e.g. by troughing, ribbing or supporting the sheet ina sandwich structure. Corrugated sheets are rigid inone direction but not in the other. In sandwich pan-els, the polymer foam (or another material with sim-ilar properties e.g. rock wool, softwood-based layer)constitutes the core; the two faces may be metalsheet or some form of hardboard. The use of a softcover layer such as paper is also possible. The mostproductive technology for making sandwich panelsis continuous manufacture. The two cover facesare produced from coated steel or aluminium sheetcoils, which are corrugated with rollers. The foam isproduced, equally continuously, between the twometal faces of the future sandwich panels. Follow-ing heat treatment and a hardening of the foam, thethree-layer sandwich is cut to its definitive length.Such sandwich panels are used for both walls androofs.

In designing structures from plastics, deformationand temperature (even if only slightly higher thannormal) are of paramount importance. Severaltypes of plastics do not weather well, i.e. theychange under the influence of outdoor circum-stances. Some are susceptible to crazing, which isa network of fine cracks on or under the surface ofthe material. Crazing may have different causes,one of which originates in stresses caused byexcessive loading. Most plastics are combustibleand special compositions are required to protect

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Figure 2.7 Vacuum-formed impact-resistant hardPVC cladding components (Hoechst, Germany).© Sebestyen: Lightweight Building Construction,Akadémiai Kiadó.

Figure 2.8 Plastic impact-resistant hard PVC andfibreglass reinforced polyester façade components.© Sebestyen: Lightweight Building Construction,Akadémiai Kiadó.

them from fire. Full account should also be taken ofpotential hazards to health. Jointing and sealingjoints have been developed with special considera-tion to the properties of plastics (Montella, 1985).Due to the properties listed as well as others, thedesign of components from plastics must take anumber of criteria into account, such as:

• structural requirements: types and distributionof actions and loads (static and dynamic, regularor random distribution, dead and live, wind, seis-mic, snow, stresses, strains, deflection, elasticand plastic properties)

• environmental conditions: service temperaturerange, thermal insulation and movement, mois-ture, fire hazards, behaviour to light (transparent,translucent, opaqueness, colour, discoloration,dust and other air impurities)

• fabrication methods and consequences:mechanical (cutting, piercing), casting, welding,extrusion, thermoforming (free blowing, vacuumforming, strip heat bending, drape forming, ridgeforming), combinations with other materials

• detail design: size, shape, quantity, colour,edges, ribs, laminations

• tolerances: jointing, sealing, fastening, rein-forcements.

Obviously, the above is not a complete list and it isnot only in the design of plastics components thatmany of the parameters occur. In addition to havingcertain basic aspects in common, componentsfrom plastics, or from any other material, have theirown specific requirements as well. Plastics areapplied in construction for many purposes: glazing,skylights, roofs, heat, sound and water insulation,enclosures and claddings, windows and doors,lighting, etc.

Roofs are frequently covered by plastics. Suspendedroofs (membranes) are made from coated fabrics orfoils: PVC or Teflon-coated glass fibre, polyester fab-rics, or ETFE foils. PVC-coated polyester fabrics weremostly used in Europe: some realized buildings thatare covered by such materials are:

• Covered Tennis Court, Gorle, Italy, 1991• Trade Fair Stand, Frankfurt, Germany, 1994• Recreational Clinic, Maserberg, Germany,

1993–94• Auditorium Roof, Tarragona, Spain, 1993.

In North America PTFE-coated glass fibre is morewidely used. Elsewhere two applications are theAmenities Building of the Inland Revenue Centre inNottingham, Great Britain, completed in 1995(architect: Michael Hopkins and Partner) and the Cli-mate-Controlled Parasols in Medina, Saudi Arabia,1992 (architect: Kamal Izmail, structural consultant:Buro Happold). In some cases nets, shade fabricsor grid fabrics are applied, eventually without anywater insulating layer, their objective being purely avisual separation of space (Schock, 1997). Varioustypes of plastics serve as sealants in joints betweenbuilding components. The rate of curing of sealantaffects their performance under movement. Sili-cones and the two-part sealants are superior topolysulphide and polyurethane, for sealing jointsthat are subjected to high movement stressesimmediately upon installation (Chew, 2000). Vari-ous experiments were undertaken into the produc-tion of whole buildings to be assembled fromcomponents made from plastics. In many casesthese were successful for small buildings (kiosks,one-family houses) but not so for larger buildings.Larger buildings invariably require a frame or otherload-bearing structure made of concrete, steel, orother non-plastic structural material. A great num-ber of buildings with a combination of differentmaterials, including plastics, have been assembled.A special class of lightweight long-span structuresis the buildings covered by air-inflated (pneumatic)structures; see also Chapter 3. A globally knownearly realization was the one constructed for theOsaka, Japan EXPO. A more recent example is thePneumatic Hall ‘Airtecture’, Esslingen-Berkheim,Germany, 1996 (architecture and structure: FestoKG).

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Gibb, Alistair G.F. (1999) Off-site Fabrication: Prefabri-cation, Pre-assembly and Modularisation, Whit-tles Publishing

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Buchanan, Andrew H. (2000) Fire Performance of Tim-ber Construction, Structural Engineering and Mater-ials, Vol. 2, No. 3, July-September, pp. 278–89

Cramer, S.M. (2000) Expectations Regarding Fire Per-formance and Building Design, Focus, A Journalof Contemporary Wood Engineering, Vol. 11, No.2, summer, pp. 7–12

Dolan, J.D. (2000) Mismatched Expectations Pertain-ing to ‘Designed to Code’ for Seismic Design,Focus, A Journal of Contemporary Wood Engi-neering, Vol. 11, No. 2, summer, pp. 3–6

Gilfillan, J.R. et al. (2001) Enhancement of the Struc-tural Performance of Glue Laminated Home-grown Sitka Spruce, Using Carbonfibre-Reinforced Polymer, The Structural Engineer, Vol.79, No. 8, 17 April, pp. 23–28

Gutdeutsch, Götz (1996) Building in Wood. Construc-tion and Details, Birkhäuser

Larsen, H.J. and Jensen, J.L. (2000) Influence of Semi-Rigidity of Joints on the Behaviour of TimberStructures, Progress in Structural Engineeringand Materials, Vol. 2, No. 3, July–September,pp. 267–77

Mehaffey, J.R. et al. (2000) Self-Heating and Sponta-neous Ignition of Fibreboard Insulating Panels,Fire Technology, Vol. 36, No. 4, November,pp. 226–35

Rosowsky, D. (2000) Mismatched Expectations,Objectives, and Performance Requirements forWood Frame Construction in High-Wind Regions,Focus, A Journal of Contemporary Wood Engi-neering, Vol. 11, No. 2, summer, pp. 13–16

Rosowsky, D. and Schiff, S. (2000) Performance ofWood-Frame Structures Under High Wind Loads,Focus, A Journal of Contemporary Wood Engi-neering, Vol. 11, No. 1, spring, pp. 14–18

Schreyer, Alexander et al. (2001) Strength Capacitiesand Behaviour of New Composite Timber-Steel

Connection, Journal of Structural Engineering,Vol. 127, No. 8, August, pp. 888–93

Sebestyen, Gyula (1998) Construction: Craft to Indus-try, E & FN Spon

Stathopoulos, Th. (2000) Wind Loads on Low Build-ings: Research and Progress, Focus, A Journal ofContemporary Wood Engineering, Vol. 11, No.1,spring, pp. 18–24

Stungo, Naomi (1998) The New Wood Architecture,Calmann & King/Laurence King Publishing

Steel

Blanc, A., McEvoy, M. and Plank, R. (Eds) (1993) Archi-tecture and Construction in Steel, E & FN Spon

Chan S.L. and Teng, J.G. (1999) Advances in SteelStructures, Elsevier

Eggen, Arne Petten and Sandaker, Bjorn Normann(1996) Stahl in der Architektur: Konstruktive undGestalterische Verwendung, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt

Krampen, Jürgen (2001) Bemessung von Fachwerkenaus Hohlprofilen (MHS): Leicht Gemacht,Stahlbau, Vol. 70, No.3, March, pp. 153–64

Newman, Alexander (1997) Metal Building Systems:Design and Specification, McGraw-Hill

Oliver, M.S., Albon, J.M. and Garner, N.K. (1997)Coated Metal Roofing and Cladding, British Boardof Agreement, Thomas Telford

Pasternak, H. and Müller, L. (2001) Zur FE: Model-lierung Leichter Hallenrahmen, Stahlbau, Vol. 70,No. 1, January, pp. 53–8

Seitz, Frédéric (1995) L’architecture métallique au XXesiècle

Toma, T. et al. (Eds) (1992) Cold Formed Steel in TallBuildings, McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Zahner, William L. (1995) Architectural Metals: AGuide to Selection, Specification and Perfor-mance, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Aluminium and other metals

Dwight, John (1999) Aluminium Design and Construc-tion, E & FN Spon

Lane, J. (1992) Aluminium in Building, AshgateKosteas, Dimitris (2001) Aluminiumverbindungen,

Methoden und Normen, Stahlbau, Vol. 70, No.2,February, pp. 116–20

Meyer-Sternberg, Menno (2001) Aluminiumverbindun-gen: Berechnung nach Eurocode 9, Stahlbau, Vol.70, No.2, February, pp. 121–5

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Zahner, L. William (1995) Architectural Metals: AGuide to Selection, Specification and Perfor-mance, John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Brick, stone and masonry

Beall, Christine (2000) New Masonry Products andMaterials, Structural Engineering and Materials,Vol. 2, No. 3, July–September, pp. 296–303

Casabonne, Carlos (2000) Masonry in the SeismicAreas of the Americas: Recent Investigation andDevelopments, Structural Engineering and Mater-ials, Vol. 2, No. 3, July–September

Idris, Mahmoud, M. (2000) The Use of Marble Veneerin Building Façade in Riyadh: Materials, Adapt-ability and Construction, Architectural ScienceReview, 43.1, March, pp. 5–11

Glass and structural glass

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Compagno, Andrea (1995) Intelligent Glass Façades,Artemis

King, Carol Soucek (1996) Designing with Glass: TheCreative Touch, PBC International, Inc.

Rice, Peter (1993) An Engineer Imagines, EllipsisRice, P. and Dutton, H. (1995) Structural Glass, E & FN

SponWigginton, Michael (1997) Glas in der Architektur,

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Concrete and reinforced concrete

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Plastics, fabrics, foils

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Hall, C. (1989) Polymer Materials, Macmillan EducationMargolis, James M. (1985) Engineering Thermoplastics:

Properties and Applications, Marcel Dekker, Inc.Montella, Ralph (1985) Plastics in Architecture: A

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Schock, Hans-Joachim (1997) Soft Shells: Design andTechnology of Tensile Architecture, Birkhäuser

Sebestyen, Gyula (1998) Construction: Craft to Indus-try, E & FN Spon


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3.1 Some Specific Design Aspects

In the previous chapter we examined the impact ofbuilding materials on new architecture. Other tech-nological factors affecting architecture are thefunction of buildings, the structures, componentsand equipment of buildings. Non-directly techno-logical factors are computer-aided design, manage-ment, and the changing requirements of users,artistic aspirations, ambitions and fashion. In whatfollows, let us look at the role of the factors: build-ings, structures and components. It will not be pos-sible to deal in detail with various building types,structures and components but to the extent thatthey affect architectural design, they will be men-tioned. Partitions, floors and foundations will not bediscussed and façades, which are after all ofextreme importance in designing the exterior of abuilding, were discussed partly in the sections onmaterials (on steel, aluminium, brick, glass andplastics) in Chapter 2.

For all types of building the positive satisfaction ofusers is important. This can be ensured in thedesign phase by involving future users. In buildingsin which a great number of people work or whichare used for other purposes, thorough studies arecontinuously being carried out to ascertain whetherthese do adequately respond to the users’ require-ments (Beedle, 1995).

3.1.1 Function and form

In the following some specific characteristics ofnew architecture design are identified. The archi-tectural design and form of buildings is influencedby the type of the building and by its function.Buildings such as residential, commercial, indus-trial, transport, educational, health-care, leisure andagricultural buildings are designed with featurescharacteristic for the individual building type. Struc-tural systems also have an interrelation with thetype and function of the buildings. As a conse-quence there exist school-building, residential-building and other systems. Technical progress(prefabrication, mechanization, etc.) resulted in theindustrialization of building and, as a specific formof this, ‘system building’. Early on, the various defi-ciencies inherent in system building (such as inad-equate architectural quality and others) broughtsystem building into discredit. Consequently it hasceased to be considered as the basic panacea forthe problems of building. Nevertheless, the systemconcept may contribute to the combination of up-to-date technology and good architecture.

Basically we can differentiate two types of mega-system. The first of these is the technical systemof buildings (Ahuja, 1997), which consists of:

• the structural system• the architectural system• the services and equipment (lighting, HVAC,

power, security, elevators, telecommunications,functional equipment, etc.).

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3The impact of technological changeon buildings and structures

It was frequently claimed that ideally the form of astructure should correspond to the type of a struc-ture and that the function of a building should har-monize with the structure form. Many realizedexamples seem to confirm this assumption; excep-tions, however, already existed in historical archi-tecture (e.g. hanging stucco ceilings in the form ofvaults). In modern and post-modern architecturethe use of steel and of reinforced concrete made iteasy to design structures whose form did not reallycorrespond to the type of the structure. The princi-ple of the harmony of form and structure was infact undermined by this development.

The second mega-system is composed of:

• the process of architectural, structural and engi-neering design and their documents

• economic analysis, data and results includingquantity surveying, feasibility studies, risk analy-sis

• management of design, construction and use ofbuildings and structures (facility management)including cooperation of various organizationsand persons involved in the constructionprocess.

The architectural profession may rely on systemsfor buildings that are typical and occur withrestricted variations in great numbers, but for anymajor commission individual approaches arefavoured.

3.1.2 Bigness (mega-buildings)

The concept of megastructures had already beenintroduced during the modern period. KenzoTange’s justification for megastructures wasgrounded on the idea that functions may changeover the lifetime of a building and therefore mega-structures might provide convenient bases toaccommodate the altered internal functions.Another Japanese architect, Fumihiko Maki definedthe megastructure as a large frame in which allfunctions of a city or part of a city may be housed.

In recent times new functions have appeared onthe scene such as computer rooms, clean rooms,telecommunications premises and many others. Anew type of building is that with flexible uses and

with a combination of functions. Such buildingsmay be extremely large and beyond a certain scaletheir architecture acquires the properties of big-ness (Koolhaas and Mau, 1995). Rem Koolhaasdefined a latent theory of bigness based on fivetheorems (Jencks and Kropf, 1997):

1. Beyond a certain critical mass, a buildingbecomes a Big Building with parts that remaincommitted to the whole.

2. The elevator and its family of related inven-tions ‘render null and void the classical reper-toire of architecture’.

3. ‘In Bigness, the distance between core andenvelope increases to the point where thefaçade can no longer reveal what happensinside.’

4. Through size alone, big buildings enter a newdomain, beyond good or bad.

5. One of the consequences of Bigness is thatsuch buildings are no longer part of the urbantissue. Bigness transforms architecture andgenerates a new kind of city.

A 1998 survey on outstanding European architec-tural realizations (Jodidio, 1998) demonstrated big-ness by pointing to some recent buildings, such as:

• the Commerzbank Headquarters, Frankfurt amMain, architect: Norman Foster, 1994–97

The impact of technological change on buildings and structures

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Figure 3.1 Dome spans: 1 = St. Peter’s, Rome; 2 =St. Paul’s, London; 3 = Pantheon, Rome; 4 =Astrodome, Houston, USA; 5 = Superdome,Louisiana, USA. Following the Pantheon dome inRome, in the early second century AD, it was notuntil 1700 years later that domes of similar sizewere built and it was only in the twentieth centurythat the span of the Pantheon was surpassed.


• Hall 26, Deutsche Messe, Hanover, Germany,architect: Thomas Herzog and Partner, 1994–96

• Velodrome and Olympic Swimming Pool, Berlin,Germany, architect: Dominique Perrault,1993–98.

The Commerzbank Building was at the time of itsdesign and construction the tallest office building inEurope (298.7 metres with its aerial). Norman Fos-ter described it as the ‘world’s first ecological highrise tower – energy efficient and user friendly’. Thecentral atrium, together with the four-storey gar-

dens, serves as a natural ventilation chimney. Theoffices are column free.

The Hall 26 of the Hanover Messe has a 220 by115 metres structure and rises 25 metres aboveground. It is composed as a complex of three steelsuspension roofs with timber composite panels,which provide heat insulation covering the roof. Acarefully thought-out ventilation system reducesmechanical ventilation needs. The wave-like shapeof the building makes it attractive to users andvisitors.

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Figure 3.2 Suspended stressed roof from PVC-coated textile.

The Velodrome and Olympic Swimming Pool hasas its visible feature the Velodrome’s 115 metresclear-span 3500 tonnes spoked roof structure. Thecomplex extends 17 metres below ground level,which renders the building extremely energy effi-cient.

A special category of large buildings are extensivecovered spaces (Wilkinson, 1991). These servegreatly differing purposes: market halls, sports sta-diums, auditorium halls, exhibition halls and others.We will discuss these not as buildings but as wide-span structures.

Following the construction of many large buildings,it can confidently be predicted that many more willbe built in the future. Due to their ‘bigness’ and thevast number of users and visitors, they generatedevelopment around them, the implications ofwhich have to be part of the architectural design.

For certain civil engineering works, for instancebridges, silos, telecommunications towers, thestructural solution lies in determining the overallappearance. In other cases (for most buildings) thestructural solution is only one factor that affects

appearance and other factors exercise an impor-tant influence.

3.1.3 Tall buildings

Structural design development has resulted in newtypes of structure. The new potentials in structuraldesign were, on the one hand, results in scienceand engineering knowledge and, on the otherhand, new demands of clients. This was the case,for example, with building higher buildings andwith longer spans. The overall pattern of architec-tural design has been the interrelation of tech-niques, construction technology, artistic ambitionand functions. Tall buildings required new façadesystems. Underground premises and atria equallycalled for new architectural and engineering solu-tions.

Hal Iyengar wrote that ‘The ability to form andshape a high-rise building is strongly influenced bythe structural system. This influence becomes pro-gressively significant as the height of the buildingincreases’ (Blanc et al., 1993: 227–8).


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Figure 3.3 Olympic Stadium, Munich, Germany, 1972, designer: Frei Otto. Following the German Pavilion atthe Montreal Expo, 1967, the next major cable and membrane structure was the Munich Olympic Stadium.


To build higher and higher has been an ambition ofmankind ever since time immemorial. With tradi-tional materials (stone, brick, timber) and technol-ogy, heights of 150 to 200 metres were achieved.It was in the twentieth century only that structureswith heights exceeding 200 metres could berealized.

Tall buildings were first built in Chicago and theChicago architects strove for modern design. InNew York neo-classicist features characterized thefirst period of tall buildings. All through the history

of skyscrapers, architects and structural engineersstruggled to find more and more appropriate archi-tectural and structural expression for the buildingsand also to devise solutions regarding their adapta-tion to the surrounding urban environment. Duringthe 1930s buildings climbed to 300 metres andabove and, following the Second World War, the400 metre mark was passed.

A novel phenomenon is that at the present timethe tallest building is not in the USA or anotherindustrialized country but in a developing country:

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Figure 3.4 Façade with one- or two-part box-typebracings, eliminating thermal (cold) bridges, single,or thermal (double) insulating glazing, zipped-inplastic gasket sections (Pittco T-wall, USA).© Sebestyen: Lightweight Building Construction,Akadémiai Kiadó.

this is the twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.From the ten tallest buildings in the world four onlyare in New York and Chicago with the others beinglocated in cities in developing countries (KualaLumpur, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, HongKong). On 11 September 2001 the twin towers ofthe World Trade Center in New York fell victim to aterrorist attack by hijacked aeroplanes. In themeantime the Tshinmao Building in Shanghai wascompleted (in 1998) with its tower 420.5 metreshigh. The construction of the Global Financial Cen-ter was commenced in Shanghai; it is planned toscale the height of 466 metres. In China’s capital,Beijing, several new tall buildings are also envis-

aged. In 2001, the majority of buildings exceeding90 metres were still in New York, followed byHong Kong and Chicago, but it can be predictedthat the share of the developing countries willgrow.

It has become the prerogative of the twenty-firstcentury to build higher than 500 metres. In the racefor the world’s highest building Hong Kong, Shang-hai and Chicago are participants and others will cer-tainly enter the competition. Buildings will soonclimb to 600–800 metres in height (Campi, 2000).

To build that high, a number of technical problemshad and have to be solved (Vambersky, 2001). In


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Figure 3.5 Façade system (two variants) withaluminium frame sections, fixed insulating glazingand plastic spacers (Mesconal, Germany).© Sebestyen: Lightweight Building Construction,Akadémiai Kiadó.


the forefront of these stands structural safety. Thisincludes not only sufficient compressive strengthof the superstructure and foundation but alsosafety against earthquake, strong wind, impactaction (aircraft crash, explosion, etc.), human dis-comfort from vibration and horizontal movement.Some of the solutions involve a strong influence onthe design of buildings. A conspicuous new com-ponent is the diagonal bracing appearing on thefaçade, such as the stiffened tube of the John Han-cock Center in Chicago and many others sincethen. Another mostly hidden device is the passiveand active damping system applied to reduce vibra-tion of the structure.

The evolution of the vertical (lateral) systemresulted in the following systems:

• shear (or ‘Vierendel’) frame with rigidly jointedcolumns and beams

• shear truss with diagonalized bracing betweencolumns

• shear truss and frame with both shear frameand shear trusses and added knee braces

• shear-truss-frame outrigger and belt trusses:two-dimensional planar framework with thefloor slab providing the lateral tie between them

• framed tube: closer spacing of columns and acontinuous frame over corners

• truss tube with a form as framed tube but withwider spacing of columns and tied across by asystem of diagonals

• bundled or modular tubes (diagonalized tube):grouped together framed or trussed tubes

• super-frame or mega-frame: a shear framewhere horizontal and vertical members arelarge, several storeys deep and several bayswide

• composite systems: mixed reinforced concreteand steel systems with concrete shear walls orconcrete framed tubes combined with steelframing.

For tall buildings many components had to beadapted to the specific conditions of such build-ings, including frame connections, floors, ceilings,partitions and foundations. These also affected theaesthetic solution of the tall buildings.

Elevators and the supply systems are a source of aseries of problems. Water pressure restrictions

require zoning in height: many tall buildingsdemonstrate the zones on the façade; how thiswas to be solved became a design problem to bereckoned with. Water supply in case of fire, pre-vention against smoke propagation, safety of lifts,HVAC, lighting, communications in case of calami-ties call for planning in advance for all eventualities.

A survey on the history of skyscrapers defines thefollowing periods (Bennett, 1995):

• the functional period, 1880–1900• the eclectic period, 1900–20• the ‘Art Deco’ period, 1920–40• the ‘International Style’, 1950–70• the period of giant towers, 1965–75• the period of social skyscrapers, 1970–80• the post-modern period, 1980 to date.

It is not the aim of this book to delve into anydetails about the history of architecture and we arealso keeping the story of skyscrapers brief. TheEmpire State Building, New York, completed in1931, originally 381 metres, remained the world’stallest for 40 years. Following the Second WorldWar the Lever House, New York, completed in1952 (architect: Gordon Bunshaft from Skidmore,Owings and Merrill) and the Seagram Building,New York, completed in 1958 (architect: Mies vander Rohe with Philip Johnson), served as modelsfor all subsequent International Style skyscrapers.Within the long list of subsequent skyscrapers wewould mention the John Hancock Center, Chicago,completed in 1969, design by Fazlur Khan. It hasexternal diagonal bracing since imitated with vari-ous alternatives. For some time the Sears Tower,Chicago, completed in 1974, ranked as the tallestbuilding in the world. It is 443 metres high and iscomposed of nine rectangular prisms. This hasfinally, or rather temporarily, been topped by thetwin Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,completed in 1998, architect Cesar Pelli with asso-ciates. These and all others realized or to be real-ized have been designed with a strong interrela-tionship with technological developments.

New skyscrapers were designed with new con-cepts. One such concept is the design of ‘flat’buildings, which spread out the loads in the subsoiland can more efficiently withstand horizontalforces; one such project is the planned Swiss Re

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building in London. However, the terrorist attackagainst the twin towers of the New York WorldTrade Center may well prompt a searchingreassessment of many planned future skyscrapers.

For the sake of completeness we must note withinthis section tall engineering structures: towers,silos, bunkers. These also constitute a new class ofarchitectural design problems, see for example thestructures by Calatrava, bridge pylons for suspen-sion and for cable-stayed bridges and water towers.

3.1.4 Atria and elevators

Atria are defined as spaces within buildings sur-rounded by premises of the building and indeedhave been built since ancient times. However, untilthe nineteenth century there was no solid roof overthem.

The introduction of mass production of sheet glassenabled constructors during the nineteenth centuryto build large city atria (‘galleries’) with a glazedcover (Paris, London, Milan, etc.). During the twen-tieth century a wave of atria were built mainly in tallbuildings. Whilst atria are today usually also in theinterior of buildings, sometimes they are linked tothe entry from the exterior and the lobby but in allcases they have a glazed roof and extend severalstoreys high. Nowadays atria are most commonly(but not exclusively) used in multi-storey hotels.They pose new challenges for the designer: struc-tural safety, climate, fire, smoke, security andsound control, new types of internal contacts (cor-ridors open to the atrium, eventually room win-dows overlooking the atrium), placing plants in theatrium space, positioning elevators in new ways(panoramic glass elevators). Assistance in thedesign of the structures, of the services and thebuilding physics conditions is being rendered byvarious, sometimes quite complicated models,which may be analysed and solved by computers(see the AIRGLAZE model in Voeltzel et al., 2001).For fires, there exist different models, the best ofwhich is based on computational fluid dynamics(CFD) (Yin and Chow, 2001). Where atria possessgreat height and dimensions new possibilities pre-sent themselves (lush garden restaurants, foun-tains, changing internal decorations and arrange-

ments) and there are spectacular new views withinthe building. Atria, just as entries and lobbies, haveto provide good orientation for visitors or personswishing to meet.

Atria offer a panoramic view, quite different fromthe usual perception of hotels. This also applies toentries and lobbies of large buildings whatevertheir destination. Elevators are one of the buildings`services. This book concentrates on the impacts ofservices on architectural design and not on engi-neering aspects. It is elevators that cause certainproblems in the design of tall buildings. Even withincreased speeds, travel to higher levels takes con-siderable time. The sudden change in speed cancause a sense of uneasiness. In large buildingswith a number of elevators, complex control of thelifts is being introduced (So and Yu, 2001).

In tall buildings elevators may become a focal pointfor tension due to fear of crime or fire, or a feelingof claustrophobia. Rapid air pressure changecauses discomfort or even pain. In the ChicagoSears Tower elevators had to be slowed downconsiderably.

In tall buildings used by very many, a great numberof elevators is needed. Often the principle of zoningis applied. In such a case some of the elevatorsserve the lower storeys only, others the mid-rangeand others, at high speed, exclusively the upperfloors. Ground, intermediate and sky lobbies are builtfor the convenience of those waiting for elevators.

3.1.5 Windows and curtain walls

Buildings in earlier periods usually had some basicstructures: foundation, wall, roof, door and win-dow. Windows were part of the wall and theirform, size and framing had an impact on architec-tural design. In modern times windows underwentmajor technological changes. Their material couldbe wood, but also metal, concrete or plastic. At thesame time performance requirements becamemore sophisticated. Finally, designers integratedwindows into window walls: curtain walls, windowstructural glass façades or wall claddings. The vari-ous types of window wall, curtain wall and claddinghave been discussed together with their basicmaterial in Chapter 2.


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Windows fulfil a number of functions, such as:

• provide daylight to premises• provide solar energy• produce a therapeutically positive effect• insulate sound• provide heat insulation and ventilation (Muneer

et al., 2000).

The basic parts of a window are the frame, glass,shading and sun directing construction, and ventila-tion device. Each has its function and also itsimpact on architectural design. The properties ofglass and their performance have been discussedearlier in Chapter 2. Heat and sound and reaction tosunshine depend on the number of glass layers,their sealing, the property of the glass panes, coat-ing on the glass and the type of filling in the airspace between panes.

Daylight has an impact on the design of windowsand buildings. This includes study of glare, which is

the excessive brightness contrast within the fieldof view. The frame also has an influence on theseproperties. In new architecture designers try tokeep the frame sections as narrow as possible. Anextreme result in this respect is structural glazingwithout any external visible frame sections.

Windows being part of the external envelope, anumber of computer-based window and windowwall design programs have been worked out andare in use.

Window frames may be produced from two differ-ent materials, for example, wood and plastics,steel or aluminium. In recent time plastics havegained considerable headway and developed intothe most common material for window frames.

Today windows also impact on the aestheticappearance of buildings through their form, struc-ture and colour. A colour may be imparted to steelwindows by coating or painting them. Aluminiumwindow sections may be treated by various meth-ods of coloration thereby obtaining brown, red,gold, or other colours. The most frequently appliedplastic for manufacturing windows is the impact-resistant PVC and the colour most in use is whiteor grey although now other colours also can beapplied.

The window walls were designed with a stick sys-tem, with a spandrel system or with individual pan-els made from steel or aluminium (coated or cast).The window wall itself progressed to the curtainwall and various cladding systems. Claddings wereassembled either from lightweight metal panels ormulti-layer panels or from pre-cast reinforced con-crete panels.

During the period of the International Style the ‘cur-tain walls’ were developed. The earliest curtainwalls in tall buildings had a ‘stick’ system, verticalmullions, and transoms, frames and insulated pan-els. From 1950 onwards, panel systems with pres-sure equalization were applied and later, steel oraluminium panels were pressed like a car body.The Japanese Kubota and the Swiss Alusuissecompanies developed the manufacture of cast alu-minium panels. The post-modern period saw theappearance of structural glass façades, which werediscussed previously in Chapter 2.

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Figure 3.6 Curtain wall frame, insulating doubleglazing (Alusuisse, Switzerland). © Sebestyen:Lightweight Building Construction, Akadémiai Kiadó.

3.1.6 Roofing

Traditionally the selection of roofing material anddetailing of roofs was a consequence of the avail-ability of natural materials and local tradition. Roof-ing materials were shingle, reed, clay and concretetile, stone slab (these were used for rain-sheddingsystems), copper, lead, and zinc sheet. In moderntimes metal (primarily aluminium) has been used inlong strips joined with ingenious clips and mechan-ically assembled. Under the top layer frequently anadditional weatherproofing layer was applied.These old materials are actually still in use but newmaterials have been added: stainless steel and alu-minium sheet, asphalt, bituminous felt, plastics,


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Figure 3.7 Façade with cast aluminium panels,Kubota, Japan. © Sebestyen: Lightweight BuildingConstruction, Akadémiai Kiadó.

Figure 3.8 Façade from vacuum-formed hard PVCcladding panels, Hoechst, Germany. © Sebestyen:Lightweight Building Construction, Akadémiai Kiadó.

Figure 3.9 Barrel vault with semi-spherical domicalends.


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Figure 3.10 A type of a Schwedler dome.

Figure 3.11 Prefabricated three-pinned arch-ribbed dome.

composites, and built-up structures. High-pitchedroofs with hard roofing are still to be found but low-pitched and flat roofs are increasingly coming to beused.

The range of plastic (elasto/plastic systems) hasbeen considerably expanded; they may now be‘single-ply’ or elasto-plastic systems, modified bitu-minous systems, or ‘multi-ply’ but ‘single-layer’systems. Tent roofs are making an appearancewith new forms and are treated as part of mem-branes and tensegrity structures.

Among the technical solutions a new principle hasbeen introduced with the inverted roofs in whichthe heat insulation is laid on top of the load-bearingstructure and is protected against wind uplift andsunshine effect by gravel or concrete paving.

The selection of the type of roofing has become pri-marily a consequence of architectural and structuralform: technical roofing solutions have been devisedfor all kinds of roof forms. This means that moderntechnology no longer restricts the architectural designof the building and specifically the design of roofs.


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Figure 3.12 Basic forms of braced timber dome andvault.

Figure 3.13 Stadium with timber roof structure, Hamar, Norway.

Figure 3.14 Timber structure dome, Izuma, Japan,designers: Kajima; Masao Saitoh.


3.2 Selected Types of Building

3.2.1 Housing

The requirement for housing is truly an ancient oneand the earliest known man-made residential struc-tures are more than 5000 years old. It is notewor-thy that within building, residential constructionsare the most numerous when compared to otherbuildings, such as commercial, cultural, educa-tional, etc. Among this great mass only a certainpart is designed with such a degree of architectural

care as to justify their being accorded a mention inarchitectural literature.

Whilst most residential buildings are anonymousproducts, on the other hand there do exist carefullydesigned and constructed social or prestigiousunits that warrant careful study and record (Priceand Tsouros, 1996, Gottdiener and Pickvance,1991).

Houses and flats are the most expensive consumeritems in the lives of most families. They serve notonly as shelter but also as investment. The manner

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Figure 3.15 Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo, Shibuya, 1990, designer: Fumihiko Maki. The diameter ofthe main sport area 120 m, steel truss roof: seam-welded stainless steel, 0.4 mm, on cement board backing,2.5 mm + 2.5 mm urethane/fibreglass insulation sheet.

in which the expenditure on housing is met is of sig-nal importance. Tenure is the expression used tocover various forms of housing, the most importantcategories of which are private ownership, rentalhousing and cooperative housing.

These are supplemented by intermediate forms ofownership including ownership of the residentialunit but only rental of the land. The architecturalcharacteristics comprise factors of tradition, localhabits, lifestyle, ethnic and religious customs,


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Figure 3.16 Covered Tennis Court, Gorle, Italy, 1991, architects: Merlini and Natalini. Five self-supportingarches, roof membrane: PVC-coated polyester fabric; translucency: 15 per cent (sufficient for daylightillumination).


family composition, special requirements of chil-dren, adults, aged and handicapped persons. Inshort there are a great many components and theconsequence is that houses and flats themselvesdisplay a varied diversity.

A common problem but one that is met by alterna-tive solutions is the need for privacy without fore-going social contacts. Both of these have to beassisted by architectural solutions. All over theworld the size of households and families isdecreasing. Smaller families require other types ofdwelling than do larger ones. Growing children setup their own dwelling at an earlier age. Old peopletend to live increasingly on their own and not asmembers of the family, as was general practice informer periods. These trends affect architecturaldesign and standards for housing.

Housing has a number of characteristics in com-mon with other types of building. Its architecture,materials and construction technologies are influ-enced by the style and technology of its era andgeographical conditions. The users of housing, i.e.the human population itself, cannot afford expen-sive solutions. Consequently, it is primarily localmaterials and technologies established locally thatare used. Design is often not the work of profes-sional architects and the execution is frequentlycarried out by informal means: by the future user’sfamily, perhaps with the assistance of neighboursor individual craftsmen. If we make a distinctionbetween informal and formal construction meth-ods, then housing is the largest construction sub-sector of informal building. This is still true todayfor less-developed countries and informal buildinggoes on even in industrialized countries (Lawrence,1987).

In addition to technology, the lifestyle of the occu-pants as manifested in the functions of a dwelling,has an impact on architecture in housing. Some ofthe characteristics are general over time and loca-tion. Others change with time and place and manyare quite individual. Therefore, there exist studiesand commentaries about housing functions in gen-eral, over functions concerning certain groups ofthe population: large or small families and house-holds, young or aged persons, requirements forchildren, women, singles, couples, ethnic minori-

ties, religious communities, and individually, con-cerning one specific client or user. Studies of thiskind are referred to as housing or sociological stud-ies. An overall survey on housing shows that basi-cally there are two types of residential unit: themajority consisting of units for individual house-holds, including families, and the minority with liv-ing premises for groups of people, not formingcomplete households or families. The individualresidential units may be:

• one-family houses and• multi-storey blocks of flats.

There are certain intermediate types:

• two-family houses (twin houses)• terraces (row houses, i.e. low-rise buildings con-

taining from 5–15 houses united in a single row)• other types of densely grouped low-rise

dwelling units• various types of low-rise building (town houses)

with staircases providing access to several flatsand buildings with direct access to flats.

Multi-storey blocks may be:

• low rise (with 2–5 levels)• high rise (with 6–16 levels)• tall buildings (16–100 or more levels).

Flats may have an entrance from:

• a staircase• an external side corridor• an internal corridor.

Flats are usually planned on a single level butsometimes may be on two or three levels. A spe-cial arrangement is the one of ‘scissors’ where theflats are combined in space, either with an accessto the flat on each level or on each second level.The number of ground-floor arrangements, thecontacts between rooms and their sizes, and thetype of equipment are infinite but certain typicalsolutions within a given area and period havebecome rather general. In multi-storey buildingswith large floor space access from a staircase ismore justifiable; if the flats are small, accessthrough a corridor is used frequently.

If walls bear the vertical loads, transversal walls arecalled for if the flats are small, longitudinal walls are

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applied if the flats are large. Load-bearing wallsmay be designed as masonry or from reinforcedconcrete, steel frames or timber. The decisionsconcerning the listed parameters are dependent ontradition, climate, habits and cost restrictions andhave to be selected by the architect in consultationwith the client and future users. The decisionsmade affect the overall architectural design and area source of research and experimentation.

Experiments in housing usually attempt to considernot only technological aspects but also sociologicalones and experiments are devised and executed inmost cases not on one single building or house,but on a smaller or larger group of dwellings orhousing. Experimental housing, realized for a longtime in many countries, occurred on a large scale,during the 1930s (e.g. in Stuttgart, Frankfurt/Main,Vienna, etc.) and later, after the Second World Warthe practice also spread to developing countriesand countries with central planning (ExperimentWohnen, 2001). One orientation of such experi-ments was the so-called ‘Satellite Town’ in Swe-den and the ‘New Town’ initiated in Great Britainand carried forward in other countries: France,Sweden, USA, etc. The idea of New Towns was tostimulate the creation of new housing not byexpanding existing major cities but rather bymeans of creating new towns with a limited size,for example, a population of 40 000 per new town.The rationale was that this strategy would relievethe pressure on existing cities and promote betterhousing conditions. The idea did prove to be tosome extent successful but it achieved rather lessthan originally envisaged. The New Towns grewbeyond the originally planned population and pro-vided only a very limited solution to the large hous-ing shortage. Other experiments, as for example,Operation Breakthrough in the USA during the1970s, and one in what was West Berlin, calledIBA (Internationale Bau Ausstellung), all yieldedlimited results. Internationally renowned architects(Aldo Rossi, Herman Hertzberger, Zaha Hadid,Peter Eisenman) participated in IBA. Many otherexperiments focussed on technical innovations andsocial aspects, for example, some on ‘intelligentdwellings’, others on ‘growing residences’.

A very important specific area of studies is urbanplanning, which concerns communities in an urban

or rural environment and optimum strategies todevelop healthy and attractive communities.

This also resulted in greatly differing solutions (asan example let us cite complexes by Ricardo Bofill,Lucien Kroll and others).

In most periods of history, new housing was cre-ated in single-storey or low-rise buildings. Multi-storey was rather the exception (in ancient Romeand Yemen). Its importance has grown only duringthe last centuries. High rise is more frequent forlow-cost social housing but is also used for high-income households. In any case, large families notsurprisingly favour medium- or low-rise blocks offlats. The characteristic two structural orientationsseen throughout history – heavy (constructionswith stone, clay or burnt brick walls) and light-weight (with various types of timber structure,bamboo, reed, palm leaves) – are encountered innew housing also.

The low income of the masses resulted in residen-tial stocks providing inadequate and crowded livingconditions. Various, partly utopian, projectsattempted to improve housing conditions, untilrecently with only a modicum of success (plansand buildings by Le Corbusier and Ernst May). Thehousing units and estates planned by architects ordevelopers in most cases proved to be too expen-sive, and usually failed to become self-sustainingand perished. Income levels have risen in several(but not all) countries during the twentieth century.This enabled interested developers and institutionsto introduce technologies corresponding to con-temporary standards of industrial manufacturing.Most of these were based on ideas of industrializa-tion, prefabrication and system building.

The technologies applied in low-rise and in high-rise construction have been markedly different. Inthe low-rise category, lightweight systems primar-ily or partially based on timber structures evolved,as for instance in the Scandinavian countries, inGermany, North America and Japan. Some of thesystems have a lightweight steel frame and someare designed with a combination of an antiseismicstressed-skin panel structure. Whilst the light-weight systems found an adequate market in manycountries, the systems attempting to apply fullyautomated manufacturing methods, based, for


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example, on experience in ship or car manufactur-ing, in almost all cases failed. Success in thisbranch of construction, i.e. automatized manufac-turing of new houses, lies still in the future. How-ever, factory-constructed housing accounts forabout 25 per cent of single family homes con-structed annually in the USA (Albern, 1997). Thesame source claims that in the USA in 1995 therewere no fewer than 18 million people living in 8million (at least originally) mobile homes. In theUSA within the category of factory-constructedhousing – all factory-built or those with some sem-blance of assembly line – some special categoriesare distinguished, such as modular houses con-structed from room modules (three-dimensionalboxes), and panelized houses using factory-builtpanels. In Japan some large factories producingfactory-constructed homes are operating, each ofwhose output can run into thousands of homes perannum (Sekisui, etc.).

Industrialization for multi-storey residential con-structions has taken another direction. One of thenew technologies has been the cast-in-situ con-crete, called by the French: béton banché. This hasbeen applied successfully but only to a limitedextent. It still finds application not as an overall butas a partially applied technology combined, forexample, with concrete prefabrication and/or light-weight components. Efforts in some countrieswere concentrated on the development of systemswith large prefabricated, and in many cases room-sized, reinforced concrete panels. Such systemswere developed in Scandinavia (Jespersen, Larsen-Nielsen), France (Camus, Coignet, Costamagna,Pascal), in the former Soviet Union and several EastEuropean countries between 1960 and 1990. Thesesystems produced a great number of new residen-tial units and provided decent housing conditionsfor millions of families. In the beginning such (large-panel) buildings contained a number of defects:driving rain penetration through the façade paneljoints, surface and interstitial condensation, insuffi-cient heat insulation and for that reason excessivehumidity in the internal air and mould in corners andbehind furniture, spalling of façade slabs, andothers. These faults were eliminated over a period.

Driving rain penetration was caused earlier by(unsuccessfully) attempting to stop the rain imme-

diately on the façade surface by watertight joints.However, dimension change and movements ofthe panels caused cracks, which allowed the rainto penetrate. This was stopped by the so-calledvide de décompression (decompression chamber).The principle of this is to create behind the façadesurface in the joints of the panels an increased airhollow in which the pressure of the driving rain isreduced and the intruding raindrops can be led tothe outside at the bottom of each joint. Interstitialvapour condensation is prevented by a correctorder of layers, i.e. by putting the vapour insulationon the internal side of the heat insulation. Surfacecondensation is eliminated by more effective heatinsulation and ventilation. As a consequence thetechnical inadequacies were removed. Neverthe-less what often remained was an unattractiveappearance and the situation whereby the exces-sively fast tempo of construction, together with atoo heterogeneous composition of the users,resulted in neglect of the buildings and vandalism.

A final adverse result of the various system build-ing approaches in housing was the much lower (ifindeed there was any at all) economic advantageas against more traditional forms of construction(Russell, 1981). Finally, many (or even most) of thelarge-panel system manufacturing plants closeddown, or switched to more profitable mixed andmore flexible (i.e. more ‘open’) technologies.

During the concluding decades of the twentiethcentury we have witnessed new trends in experi-mentation, for example by the French Jean Nouveland by Japanese and other architects includingsome in developing countries. These experimentsreadily accept affordability as a constraint but at thesame time strive to plan dwellings with betterequipment and human comfort than was the caseearlier. The homes with top-level technical equip-ment and automation have been called ‘smarthomes’.

This section of the book cannot ignore some spec-tacular (and expensive) houses usually designedfor wealthy clients by internationally renownedarchitects. Let us cite selected examples:

• Frank Lloyd Wright designed a number of‘organic modern’ houses, perhaps the bestknown of these being the Waterfall House.

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• Richard Meier designed the Raschofsky House,Dallas, Texas, 1991–96, applying his white, puregeometric style to a 1000 square metrestructure.

• Thom Mayne together with Morphosisdesigned the Blades Residence, Santa Barbara,California, 1992–96, a 750 square metre house.

• Michael Rotondi with his partner Clark Stevens(RoTo) designed the Teiger House, New Jersey,1990–95, a 600 square metre house.

• Robert Stern designed a number of new orreconstructed apartments and houses, all with amuch larger than average surface.

Each of the architect-designed large residentialunits and houses applies the architect’s style andaesthetic orientation to this specific area.

The examples quoted represent the applications ofmodern and post-modern architecture to thehouses of the wealthy. A small number of individ-ual, architect-designed housing projects have beenfocussed on helping people in need: Sambo Mock-bee and the Rural Studio (architectural students atthe time of design) were authors of:

• Bryant House, Mason’s Blend, Alabama,1995–97, an 80 square metre house built at lowcost using among other materials hay and corru-gated acrylic.

Yancey Chapel, although not a residential object, ismentioned here because its authors are the samepersons who were responsible for the previoustwo buildings; it was built from scavenged materi-als: tyres, rusted I-beams, pine from a 100-year-oldhouse, sheets of tin from an old barn and riverslate.

As has been seen, housing, despite its peculiari-ties, is also a field of construction in which the ruleis valid that technology has a strong impact onarchitecture. Housing, however, must alwaysreckon with the input of disciplines that differ fromthose in architecture and technology: human healthresearch, sociology, physical planning, demo-graphic and lifestyle changes.

Economics is an important aspect of housing. Itdeals first of all with the cost of building a unit andthe cost of structures and equipment of a unit.Many studies discuss the factors of total cost and

others provide simple functions for quick cost esti-mates. Financial relations include the comparisonof the cost of rental with owned housing. Con-structing new residential buildings is assisted bysubsidies, loans and mortgages. The final result ofvarious schemes depends also on the level of inter-est rates and on the conditions for credit andmortgage.

These differ on any given date but are also subjectto changes in time and, hence, involve a risk aboutfuture interest rates.

Whilst an architect does not need to be a financialexpert when it comes to financial conditions andefficiency calculations, he may have to be a partnerin such investigations, whose outcome may affectthe design.

3.2.2 Public (cultural, leisure and other)

buildings

In our era, a prime cause of change in architecturestems from alterations in the functions of andwithin buildings. We shall restrict ourselves toidentifying some basic changes in certain cate-gories of buildings only (Myerson, 1996).

Over the last hundred years the construction ofbuildings in the category of public buildings hasincreased tremendously (Konya, 1986). This hasbeen the consequence of increasing wealth, highereducation standards and more free time for leisure.This trend was further strengthened after the Sec-ond World War, and the construction of new orrenovated churches, museums, schools, libraries,theatres, cinemas, sports facilities and others hasbecome the focal point in many urban develop-ments. Among the new buildings, churches (cathe-drals, mosques, etc.) in certain cases have alsoacquired a special place in the evolution of archi-tecture, as with the Ronchamps Chapel, theEvreux Cathedral and some others.

The new functions of certain buildings enabledarchitects to seek out new forms, volumes, coloursand aesthetic qualities. Function has a varyingimpact on architectural design. Office, school andlibrary buildings must satisfy well-defined require-ments of users.


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Libraries originally were repositories of written andprinted publications. The growth of the populationand of reading brought a commensurate increasein the demand for libraries. More publicationsmeant calls for more space requirements. In mod-ern times electronic services have appeared on thescene. So libraries had to cater for the needs ofelectronic services and for the future growth ininformation to be stored in different forms (Bazil-lion and Braun, 1995, Brawner and Beck, 1996Multi-media libraries, 2001). The architect who isdesigning a library has to receive as clear a brief aspossible not only concerning current stocks andservices but also detailing probable future growth,the type of users and services. The provision ofthis data then enables the architect to design thespaces for stocking information, for informationsearch and retrieval and for optimal working in thelibrary. Among the grands projets of the late Presi-dent Mitterand, the Bibliothèque Nationale deFrance in Paris, 1992–95 (architect: Dominique Per-rault), is the one that comes closest to modernismor late-modernism. It is composed as a complex offour vast open books. Regrettably, this is not idealfor a library and what is worse, some high-techideas (e.g. the use of ultraviolet-resistant glass)have also been dropped.

Theatres are among the most ancient places of

assembly and entertainment. Many of the ancienttheatres were open-air establishments, often in theform of an amphitheatre. Much later, in fact duringthe last four centuries, new characteristics of the-atres were developed. This applies as much to thestage as to the space for spectators. The technicalequipment has developed into complex and auto-mated machinery. The function of a theatre diversi-fied, some remained all-purpose, others specializedaccording to size, audience, profile (prose theatres,opera houses, concert halls, and others). Acousticshas become a sophisticated field of science asmuch for the spoken word as for music.

Increased space above the stage and wings hasincreased the total volume of theatres and influ-ences the form relations of building volumes. Thepurely theatrical function is often combined withothers: premises for actors and external persons,so that theatres have assumed various functions ofdowntown area entertainment and meeting.

Versatility for the rapid transformation of a theatreinto different arrangements has to be ensured bythe design (Breton, 1989). During the last twentyyears a considerable number of new theatres havebeen built (for example the Dance Theatre in TheHague, Netherlands, 1987, architect: Rem Kool-haas, the new Bastille Opera in Paris, 1985–89,

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Figure 3.17 Mobile theatre,Hamburg, Germany, 1994,architect: Latuske. Five steel trussarches (span 55 m), roof: foursaddle-shaped membranes.

architect: C. Ott and associates), all proving thenotable impact of technological progress on archi-tecture and, simultaneously, the changes in archi-tectural and urban development principles (Mon-nier, 2000).

Auditoria, along with theatres, can be countedamong the technically progressive establishmentsof culture and entertainment (Boulet et al,. 1990).They have increased in size and sophistication inacoustic and other respects. From among themany new concert halls, the one in Luzern,Switzerland, 1999 (design by Jean Nouvel) ranks asone of the most remarkable.

The construction of hotels was already proceedingapace during the nineteenth century. Following theFirst World War, a real hotel boom commenced(Rutes and Penner, 1985, Fitoussi, 1992). Hotelsdiversified and specialized, thereby satisfying differ-ent needs. Some of the hotel types are the down-town hotel, the residential hotel, the health hotel,the sport and holiday hotel and within each categorythere is further specialization. The locations, naturalenvironment and local building materials and habitsinfluenced design and construction technology. Dif-ferent design patterns emerged, for example, onthe guest room floor (of multi-storey hotels) single-loaded and double-loaded arrangements, some kindof standardization of guest room sizes, lobbieswhose size depended on the function of the hotel(downtown, convention, airport or other), atria withcorridors to the atrium and double-loaded arrange-ments with part of the rooms oriented towards theatrium, glass-walled lifts, meeting rooms and con-vention halls, partly utilitarian and partly elegant, andmany other design characteristics.

Typical functional requirements, size of the variousrooms and premises, general and specific designarrangements (for example for restaurants, bars,shopping, fitness facilities, swimming pool, etc.)were worked out and serve in the design and con-trol of hotel plans. Many details in hotel construc-tion developed into applicable inputs (subsystems,standardized components and equipment): thisalso occurred for office buildings and other types ofbuilding.

Offices can be subdivided into a number of sub-classes: headquarter and branch offices, low rise

and high rise, one level and multi-storey officeblocks, downtown and non-urban offices. In thecase of high-prestige offices (such as headquartersof multinational corporations and major banks)direct economic efficiency may not be of primeimportance. For most office buildings, however,economic considerations do have relevance. Thisincludes an analysis of the relation of the propertysize to the total office surface, the cost per workplace and the payback period of the investment.There is in existence a vast literature on economicfeasibility investigations (e.g. Hensler, 1986 andmany others).

Office buildings (headquarters and branch officesof large companies and smaller office buildings) areamong the buildings typical of our time. The intro-duction of large workspaces without internal floor-to-floor partitions and more recently, interlinkedworkspace groups and, naturally, a high technicallevel of equipment with double-layer floors andsuspended ceilings to house electrical wiring andcabling, telephone connection, lighting, ventilation,fire control and others, are among new trends inthis category of buildings. Traditionally, offices (inparticular, large ones) were built primarily in down-town areas, or linked to places of manufacturing,transport or commerce. In recent times, increas-ingly, offices are built outside the city centre, oftenas a cluster of offices (office parks), or in the formof a campus. This entails advantages from cheaperland prices, improved access and parking facilitiesfor cars.

Cultural, educational and leisure buildings (the-atres, auditoria, museums, sports halls) have tocater for various events and for that purposerequire the facility to alter the seating configura-tion, partitions and other parts of the building.

Museums sometimes provide a rather free oppor-tunity to exercise imagination in architecture. Thelast decades of the twentieth century were wit-ness to a particularly vivid wave of new museums.

Some of these went on to acquire internationalfame, for instance, the Guggenheim Museum in Bil-bao, Spain, designed by Frank O. Gehry, the MihoMuseum, Shigaraki, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, by I.M.Pei, the new Groningen Museum in The Nether-lands, the National Museum of Australia (architects


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Ashton, Raggatt, McDonald) and others. In muse-ums strictly defined levels of lighting, and air humid-ity must be ensured. On the other hand the architectenjoys considerable freedom to invent the appear-ance of the building and its internal spaces. WhenRenzo Piano designed the building for the Menil col-lection in Houston, Texas, he required a special dif-fuse lighting in the museum spaces. Steel-mesh-reinforced baffles moulded in special shapes,hanging from ductile iron trusses provide the lightand also help to control the internal temperature.

In the design of a new museum, there are twobasic situations as concerns the future objects tobe displayed. The first is when these objects, or atleast the most important ones and those with aspecial arrangement requirement, are known inadvance. This, for instance, was the case when theQuai d’Orsay rail terminal building had to be trans-formed into a museum. The architect in such acase can shape optimal premises for housing theobjects. However, when during the design andconstruction of a museum the objects are not asyet known, a certain flexibility of the futurepremises is needed. This was the situation duringthe creation of the Jewish Museum in Berlin (archi-tect: Daniel Libeskind). Museums sometimesbecome focal points of fundamental city renewal.

Cinemas are clustered (with perhaps six to fifteenfilms running in parallel) thus enabling manage-ment to automate projection. Such multiplex cine-mas require new design arrangements concerningthe distance between the rows of seats, inclinationof the floor, access to individual cinemas, ticket-selling lobby and projection spaces as well as firesafety. Such cinemas are sometimes linked toshopping centres (shopping malls, hypermarkets,shopping arcades), themselves new types of build-ing, which may have, in addition to shops (for cloth-ing, food, household articles, books, electrical andelectronic equipment and furniture), various facili-ties for catering and leisure (Internet cafés, skatingrinks, swimming pools, gambling premises, etc.)(Northen, 1984, Maitland, 1985, Mauger, 1991,MacKeith, 1986). Such shopping centres requirecareful preparatory actions: market analysis, siteselection, car and pedestrian connections, dialoguewith local authorities and, naturally, specific archi-tectural considerations.

In the construction of buildings for sport andleisure, open and covered sport stadiums andrecreational facilities (swimming pools, rock-climb-ing structures, artificial ski slopes, etc.) have animportant function (Konya, 1986, Lemoine, 1998).They provide space not only for various outdoorand indoor sports (soccer, basketball, boxing, gym-nastics, hockey, wrestling, tennis, swimming, fen-cing and others) but also for activities outside therealm of sport: concerts and meetings with a largeattendance. Designers have reacted to thisdemand with structural innovations, for examplewith domes and membranes with wide-span andretractable roofs. The different sports also requirespecific arrangements concerning the material ofthe floor, the space necessary and its compart-mentalization equipment, accessories, lighting,temperature and other parameters. Design mustprovide versatility in switching from one type ofactivity to another.

The great numbers of new types of building gener-ate a renewal of city centres and urban structure.

3.2.3 Hospitals

The growth in population, the enhanced human lifeexpectancy, the more efficient and more sophisti-cated healing technologies, all resulted in consider-ably broadening the demand for health care facili-ties, such as hospitals and others (James andTatton-Brown, 1986, Jolly, 1988, Marberry, 1995,Wagenaar, 1999, Krankenhäuser, 2000, Wörner,2001). Throughout the first half of the twentiethcentury very many hospitals were designed andconstructed, many of them in the form of clusteredpavilions for different branches of healing. Then inthe second half of the century large multi-storeyhospital complexes began to appear. Whilst thesebelonged to the most expensive and most volumi-nous investments in public life, they usuallyretained a degree of self-containment and did notassociate themselves with the ongoing renewal ofthe central downtown areas. Hospitals retain someindependence, which is a distinctly specific fea-ture, in contradistinction to the development ofmuseums, libraries, hotels, town halls and officebuildings.

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During the 1960s and the 1970s requirements forhospital investments grew significantly, not only inabsolute terms but also when expressed as a ratioper bed. Even increased wealth was unable to sat-isfy the increasing demands. This conflict becamethe starting point for rationalizing demands.

This included a revision of the number of nightsspent on average by a patient in the hospital whichin turn also reduced the total number of bedsneeded and, as a consequence, lowered health carecosts. The three basic zones of a hospital – thenursing, the clinical and the support zones – allunderwent changes, creating a pressure to increasethe areas in each of the three zones and, togetherwith this, the investment and running costs. Therapid changes in medical technology and in the rela-tive occurrence of various maladies pushed thoseresponsible for preparing the briefs for hospitaldesigns to ask for more flexibility to enable hospitalmanagers to rearrange the hospitals according tochanging requirements. Various actions attemptedwith varying measures of success to put a brake onthis pressure for higher investments. The demandfor more large and expensive hospitals was slightlyalleviated by constructing smaller, less expensivedistrict hospitals and by establishing alternativemeans for convalescent patients outside the expen-sive central hospitals. The struggle for more in allsectors of health care facilities was marginallyreduced by various measures aimed at economies.In any case a marked development has been toreduce the average number of night stays in hospi-tals by patients, which to some extent has beenachieved by replacing full hospital stays by day-careperiods. The result of the above and other changeswas a noticeably more flexible network of healthcare facilities and a restriction on rising health careexpenditures. Let us quantify the above changes byquoting some tentative data:

• Prior to the First World War hospitals had agross area of approximately 20 square metresper bed; this grew during the interwar period to40 and, by the end of the twentieth century hadreached 75–80 square metres, but in mostcountries was kept to 20–45 square metres.

• Earlier the average duration of a hospital staywas 15–20 days; by now this has been cut backto 8–10 days.


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Figure 3.18 Sundsvall Hospital, Sweden. A total of19 operating suites, arranged in six banks served bya single corridor system.

Clinical zone: key todrawings1 Plaster suite2 Plaster suite3 Equipment4 Anaesthetic room5 Exit bay/recovery6 Transfer, reception,

bed park7 Operating room/bay8 Sterilising

9 Post-operation recov-ery

10 Staff base11 Clean utility/supplies12 Dirty utility/sluice13 Stores14 Trolleys/wheelchairs15 Staff changing/toilets

/rest


• The total floor area of operating theatres grewduring the twentieth century from 60 to about300 square metres and they contained moreexpensive equipment. In large hospitals com-plex units of operating theatres are establishedwith at least three theatres per unit. Operatingsections are set up in an interdisciplinary way soas to enable management to switch over fromone medical field to another, including the com-bination of septic and aseptic processes. Indi-vidual operating units may share common auxil-iary premises.

• Large open wards have been broken up intosmaller rooms though each is better equipped.

• Wards with two beds have become the mostcommon, although there are some deviationsfrom this solution. Twelve square metres perbed in two-bed wards and 8 square metres perbed in multi-bed rooms have become widelyapplied.

• The equipment of patient rooms comprisesshower, toilet, telephone and television connec-tion.

These guidelines are intended to highlight trendsbut in actual practice there are substantial devia-tions in different countries.

Despite applying certain cost reductions, hospitalsbecame more up-to-date, but obsolescence set inmore quickly, which again called for greater flexibil-ity in design and management. Precautions to pre-vent infections in hospitals have, in the meantime,become a matter of urgency, both in the nursingzone and even more in the clinical zone. In operat-ing theatres a supply of ultra-clean air, for exampleclean air blown down from the ceiling over theoperating area, has provided only a partial solution.

For architects designing hospitals, the increasedsize, sophistication and cost of hospitals broughtwith it the need to become intricately acquaintedwith modern medical technologies, hospital equip-ment, materials and structures best adapted tohospitals and different health requirements.

3.2.4 Schools

Following the Second World War a great demandfor schools (primary and secondary schools, univer-

sities) arose. This meant a large number of verysimilar buildings and resulted in the developmentof school ‘system buildings’. These had in commonthe modern education requirements stipulatingbuildings with premises easily adaptable in size,movable (eventually separate chairs and desks) fur-niture and equipment arrangement (Müller, 2001.)Today, consideration has to be given to facilities forthe use of computers by students.

From the point of view of construction technology,‘industrialized’ approaches were applied with stan-dardized prefabricated components. In the UnitedKingdom the first such systems were the SCOLA,SEAC and CLASP (Figure 3.19) systems. They usu-ally enabled the architect adopting one of thesesystems to design buildings with two to fivestoreys. Basic components for these buildingswere the columns, girders, floor panels, claddingand partition wall panels. A similar French system

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Figure 3.19 School ‘system building’, CLASP, UK.Industrialized school system buildings weredeveloped after 1945, a period of high demand fornew schools.

was the Fillod system. In the USA, in California andother regions single-level school building systemswere developed. While conceding that the varioussystems did not give rise to extraordinary architec-tural levels it is fair to say that they did ensure anacceptable quality level.

Higher (university) education saw even morerapidly increasing enrolment figures than primaryand secondary education. The number of differentlearning orientations (faculties, etc.) witnessed sig-nificant growth. However, together with greaterspecialization, a new requirement emerged: thewish to facilitate changes in and combinations ofthe fields of study. This itself has an impact on thedesign of university complexes. Other factors arethe bringing together of education and researchand education and practice. Traditional universitieshave been expanded and updated, e.g. polytech-nics transformed into universities, while new uni-versity campus complexes, laboratories and otherfacilities have been designed and realized.

3.2.5 Buildings for manufacturing

The profile of industrial production has undergonesignificant change over the last 50 years. Themanufacture of heavy machinery, for which hallswith a strong framework and heavy overheadcranes are necessary, has been shrinking as asector within total manufacturing. The industriesthat have gained ground are those that requirelight structures and spaces with a high degree oftransformability (flexibility). Some industrialbranches (electronics, biogenetics, etc.) requirespaces with a high degree of super-clean air(clean rooms). The technological changes,

automation and robotization in manufacturing,transport and storage affect the design of indus-trial buildings (Lorenz, 1991).

Buildings for industry must satisfy the require-ments of manufacturing (Ferrier, 1987) and bedesigned and constructed in an economic way.Various companies have specialized in industrialconstruction: designers, contractors, steel, alu-minium, timber and concrete manufacturing firms.Such specialists have developed systems forindustrial architecture enabling the system ownerto apply their system for various commissions forindustrial constructions.

The architecture of industrial buildings may havefor some companies a marketing value. Somecompanies developed a specific image for thecompany, as did IBM. In such cases the companyrequires that its buildings be designed with thatspecial feature, which for IBM means horizontallystriped façade claddings; see the IBM complex inBasiano, 1983, designed by the Italian Gino Valleand the IBM Corbeil complex, Corbeil-Essonnes,France, 1982, designed by Vaudou and Luthi.Where external daylighting is not needed, industrialbuildings may be designed as closed boxes withsome kind of external cladding. Modular coordina-tion is universally present. Flexibility and variabilityof internal space enables management to carry outchanges in manufacturing processes. Overheadtravelling cranes and rail connections (as men-tioned above) are rarely required in contemporaryindustrial plants.

Industrial architecture embraced modernism andduring the post-modern period retained this prefer-ence, a phenomenon that naturally is in harmonywith industry’s somewhat conservative character.


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Figure 3.20 SCSD (SchoolsConstruction System Development)System for the California Schools,Los Angeles, California, USA,leading designer: Ezra Ehrenkrantz.A system composed from foursubsystems: a structural ceiling,air conditioning, lighting andpartitions, an early USAindustrialized school buildingsystem.


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Figure 3.21 Aurora Place Office Tower and Residences, Sydney, Australia, 1996, height 200 m, architect:Renzo Piano, in cooperation with Lend Lease Design Group and Group GSA Pty, structural design: Ove Arupand Partners. The fins and sail form an extension of the curved cylindrical façade beyond the enclosure ofthe building and serve as protective screens to the winter gardens.

A great number of excellent late-modernist and neo-modernist industrial building complexes have beendesigned by British architects: Richard Rogers,Michael Hopkins, Nicholas Grimshaw and others inindustrialized countries are among those who cometo mind. These apply new construction features:masted buildings, suspended roof structures, etc.,asis the case with the Inmos complex, Newport, GreatBritain, 1982, designed by Richard Rogers.

A particularly novel appearance of certain buildingswas the consequence of suspension structures putoutside the roof or even outside the main volumeof the building. An example of this is the RenaultDistribution Centre, Swindon, UK, designed byNorman Foster (Plate 10). The masts and cablesare positioned outside the building. This, furtheraccentuated by the conspicuous yellow colour ofthe structure, created a model for many otherbuildings. A similar principle has been applied atthe Imnos factory, Newport, Gwent, Wales,designed by Richard Rogers (mentioned above),although its structure seems to be slightly clumsierthan the one at the Renault building. Another build-ing, the Schlumberger Research Centre, Cam-bridge, Great Britain, designed by Michael Hopkins,is equally characterized by its external suspensionsystem but here its roof is covered by textile. Sincethese realizations a great number of designershave followed the above solutions.

3.2.6. Railway stations. Air terminals

The nineteenth century’s rail construction boomproduced grand terminals in large cities. This stim-ulated economic well-being. Then, during the firsthalf of the twentieth century, rail transport cededsome ground to road transport. However, in thesecond half of the twentieth century, rail transportregained a new significance marked by intercitytrains, high-speed trains (the TGVs, after theFrench expression), urban railways, undergroundrailways (metros) and city tramways (Edwards,1997, Ross, 2000). Different (public, private, com-bined) partnerships evolved for railways, rollingstock and stations. Over the past 50 years manynew railway stations have been built. These weredesigned to comply with new functions: a proce-dure to allow large numbers of passengers toboard and alight from trains without delay, automa-tion of various functions, integration of rail and road(car, taxi, bus) transport. Functional developmentwent hand in hand with new structural schemesand new architectural shapes. In our time, high-speed train lines are gradually being expanded withtheir stations seen as important economic cata-lysts. When the high-speed train connection wasplanned between Paris and London a fight brokeout between Amiens and Lille for the hub stationlinking the line on to Brussels, Amsterdam andCologne. Lille emerged as the winner thanks in


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Figure 3.22 Waterloo International Railway Station, London, UK, architects: Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners.Integrating rail, car, bus and taxi services.


part to the energetic intervention of its mayor.Since then the actual development has proved thatsuch a decision serves as a major incentive for acity’s development. In Lille, Eurolille and Cong-expo, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Kool-haas, were built.

A further development in railways has been thecombination of major air terminals with the railwaynetwork, for example in Zurich and Amsterdam.Various types of railway station appeared: bridgestation, square station, island station, rural andunderground station (Edwards, 1997). In the down-town centres of large metropolises undergroundstations with multi-storeyed underground malls(Tokyo, Osaka, etc.) were constructed. Noteworthyamong underground metro stations are those inMoscow. Whilst stylistically questionable, without

doubt these are impressive structures with lavishsculptural and other decorations, and top-qualitybuilding and cladding materials. Rail stations dopresent certain special problems requiring solution:platforms, tunnels or bridges to provide a trouble-free change from one line to the other. Stations arenot only buildings but increasingly complex struc-tures, in part designed with picturesque canopiesand other structures. These are well illustrated byCalatrava’s structures, e.g. the Lyon–Satelas sta-tion (Figure 3.24)

The development of domestic, international andintercontinental air traffic has resulted in majorinvestments in air terminals (Blow, 1991). The ini-tial system of linear terminals with direct arrivalswas changed into terminals with finger access cor-ridors, satellites with piers and various combina-

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Figure 3.23 Dean Street Station, CrossRail, London, UK, architects: Troughton McAslan. A simple outlay tofacilitate movement of masses.


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Figure 3.24 Lyon-Satelas TGV railway station, France, designer: Santiago Calatrava. 120 m long, 100 m wide,40 m high structure.

Figure 3.25 Platform canopy, architects: Ahrends Burton and Koralek. They should satisfy functionalrequirements and provide potential for imaginative architectural and structural forms.


tions of arrangements (Edwards, 1999). The newairports not only catered for the needs of passen-ger traffic and moving cargo but also became focalpoints for new clusters of buildings and infrastruc-ture for services, commerce, hotels and restaur-ants. Recent realizations include such impressivecomplexes as the ones serving Tokyo, Osaka, Lon-don, Hong Kong, Paris, Denver, Chicago, NewYork, Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur (Figure3.28 and Plate 22), Shanghai and others (Binney,1999, Zukovsky, 1996). Obviously, this is a trendthat will continue in the future. Already in our timesome architects and architectural firms haveacquired specific experience in designing air andrail terminals and outstanding architects acceptcontracts for rail station and air terminal projects bythemselves acquiring additional specialized knowl-edge or liaising with specialists. This situation inci-

dentally is one that is taking place in variousbranches of design.

The design of airports reflects the technologicalprogress both in air travel (movements of passen-gers and cargo), and in construction. The basicalternatives for major airports serving a great vol-ume of air traffic (several tens of millions of pas-sengers per annum) are those with one central ter-minal and those with several terminals, separatedfor domestic and international connections and,eventually, for different companies. Some metrop-olises have several airports serving sectors of theair traffic (New York, London, Paris). In most majorairports there are separate levels for departuresand arrivals, the departure level usually being situ-ated above the arrival level. In some airports, how-ever, both are on the same level. Some recent air

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Figure 3.26 Sondica Airport, Bilbao, Spain, designer: Santiago Calatrava

Figure 3.27 Inchon International Airport, Seoul, Korea, designers: C.W. Fentress, J.H. Bradburn andAssociates, with BHJW (project).

terminals have double air bridges for departure andarrival served from the same level (Paris Charles deGaulle, Terminal 2F and Chek Lap Kok in HongKong). In order to reach the aircraft with the mini-mum of walking distances, satellites, finger-corri-dors, or ‘bastion’-piers are constructed.

The large number of persons arriving at, staying in,or leaving airports, requires spacious lounges thatalso have facilities for shopping and catering. Suchlounges provide the architect with ample opportu-nities for imaginative designs. The wide-spanhangars for aircraft are principally a design task thatfaces structural designers. The main passenger ter-minal buildings usually have a large surface glasswall oriented towards the area of aircraft arrivalsand departures and a wide-span roof. The roof hasbecome a major feature of these buildings, severalwith metaphoric or allegoric meaning, reflecting insome way the flight of birds or aeroplanes. Thewide-span roof of air terminal buildings is sup-

ported by various structures, for example tree-likesupports. The various functions in and around air-ports (baggage handling, check-in, access from theoutside and departure by car, bus, high-speed train,provision of facilities for telecommunications, etc.)turn the airports into sophisticated complexes thatrequire careful functional and technological designand facility management. These comments onbuildings for air travel do serve to drive home theireconomic, managerial, technological, artistic andfunctional diversity.

3.3 Structures and Components

As for building types, it is not the purpose here toprovide a full survey of structures and components.We are restricting ourselves to a selection of thosethat exercise a determinant impact on architecturaldesign, the more so because certain structural


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Figure 3.28 Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, architect: Kisho Kurokawa.


details have been discussed in Chapter 2 (such asframes, curtain walls, structural glass andcladdings).

3.3.1 Wide-span structures

Spaces with a large surface with or without internalcolumns (supports) and bridges with long spanshave been constructed since ancient times.Domes, up to the nineteenth century, had a maxi-mum span of 50 metres and it is only relativelyrecently that the progress in technology hasallowed this restriction to be exceeded to theextent that in the twentieth century space cover-ings with spans of 300 metres and suspensionbridges with a span of 2000–3000 metres werebeing constructed.

Wide-span hall roofs have some kind of supportingstructure, which may bring the loads down into thesoil, or be supported by separate supports such asmasts, columns, frames. They also have a weathershield, which may be a membrane, panels laid ontop of the supporting structure or a unified load-bearing and weather-shielding structure. As a con-sequence wide-span structures may be classifiedaccording to one of the three types of structure.This leads to overlapping classification systemssince each of the three types of structure may becombined with various classes of the other twotypes of structure. A dome, for example, has onesingle structure with a load-bearing and weather-shielding function and may be supported in variousways. A membrane may be self-supporting or sus-pended from masts.

The last 150 years have not only brought with thema gradual increase in span (and height) but also aconsiderable number of new structural schemesand architectural forms for covering spaces: shells,vaults, domes, trusses, space grids and mem-branes (Chilton, 2000). A great variety of domeshave been developed: Schwedler (see Figure 3.10),Kievitt, network, geodesic, and lamella folded platedomes.

Steel trusses were developed beginning in thenineteenth century. In the first half of the twentiethcentury reinforced concrete came on the scene asa competitor to steel for long-span structures, for

instance in the form of braced or ribbed reinforcedconcrete domes and roof structures (designs byPier Luigi Nervi, Eduardo Torroja and Felix Can-dela). During the 1920s and 1930s thin reinforcedconcrete shells were constructed. Shells may benot only domes but also cylindrical and prestressedtensile membrane structures. Then up to the pre-sent time, a great variety of new structures wereadded to the list of wide-span structures: steel, alu-minium, timber, membranes, space trusses (withone, two or three layers, polyhedra lattices) andtensile (tensioned) structures (Karni, 2000).Another aspect of categorization is the way inwhich vertical loads are transmitted to the ground:directly by the structure, as is the case with somedomes, or by special supports: pylons, masts orcolumns. In this second category are the ‘mastedstructures’ (Harris and Pui-K Li, 1996). A mastedbuilding may have one, two or more (four, eight,etc.) masts and these can be placed interior orexterior to the building. A special category isformed by rotational structures, which may haveone mast, or several within the building envelopeor, alternatively multiple masts may be arrangedaround the perimeter of the building. Some of suchrotational structures may be designed for grand-stands. It is obvious that the masts not least due totheir conspicuous appearance influence greatly theoverall architectural design and its details.

Some of the load-bearing roof structures require anexternal layer on top for water and heat insulationpurposes. Competitors to traditional roofing materi-als (wood shingle, reed, clay tile, stone slab, lead,copper) made their presence felt: corrugated coil-coated steel or aluminium sheet, plastics, foil ortextile, factory-built-up composite panel (Selves,1999). Some of these are also applied as wallcladding or suspended ceilings.

As mentioned earlier, stadiums are increasinglybeing constructed with a retractable roof, whichmakes sports events feasible in any kind ofweather: typical are the stadiums designed by theJapanese Fumihiko Maki and others. The year2002 saw the USA’s first retractable football sta-dium completed in Houston. Here the travellingmechanism of the roof rides on rails along the topsof exposed structural steel super-trusses and dur-ing retraction the two trussed panels part in oppo-

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site directions. The wheels of the mechanism rideon a single rail. Each of the two 287 metre-longsuper-trusses is borne on two reinforced concretesuper-columns, which are nearly 210 metres apart,thereby eliminating the need for columns in theseating stands (Engineering News-Record, 2000).Plans have been put forward to rebuild the LondonWembley Stadium with a retractable roof and witha capacity of 90 000 seats. Other recent designs ofretractable roofs demonstrate a number of innova-tive solution possibilities (Ramaswamy et al., 1994,Levy, 1994).

3.3.2 Membranes. Tensioned structures

Membranes and other similar products (suspendedstructures, hanging roofs, membrane roofs, tensilestructures, etc.) were initiated by some eminentstructural designers, architects and builders: FreiOtto, Horst Berger, Ted Happold and others (Otto,1954, Drew, 1979, Schock, 1997, Robbin, 1996).Following some smaller and experimental sus-pended roofs, the Olympic Stadium in Munich in1972 was the first major realization of a long-spanhanging roof. This had a roof assembled from acrylicpanels, which, however, was an inappropriatematerial in view of the required lifespan of roofs.


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Figure 3.29b Market Hall, Royan, France.

Figure 3.29a Restaurant, Cochimilco, Mexico, structural designer: Felix Candela. Eight thin hyperbolicparaboloid reinforced concrete shells.


The next step was the introduction by the Ameri-can Horst Berger of Teflon-coated fibreglass. Thisopened the way to a broad application of mem-brane roofs. The first such structural membraneroof was built in 1973 at the University of La Verne,California, USA. The most important membraneroof hitherto has been the Haj Terminal at the KingAbdullah International Airport, Saudi Arabia, 1981(Figure 3.31). Its Teflon-coated fibreglass mem-

branes were designed by Horst Berger in coopera-tion with David Geiger and Fazlur Khan of Skid-more, Owings and Merrill. This roof covers460 000 square metres and is up to now thelargest roof structure in the world. It comprises 210tents, each of them with a surface of over 2000square metres. As could be expected, it requiredthe elaboration and realization of complex struc-tural design, fabrication and assembly plans.

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Figure 3.30 Fujisawa Municipal Gymnasium, Japan, 1984, designer: Fumihiko Maki. 0.4 mm thin stainlesssteel sheet roof; colour affected by weather conditions.

Figure 3.31 Haj Terminal, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1981, structural designer: Fazlur Khan. Tent roof system,460 000 square metres in area.

Besides tents, tensioned roofs often follow insome way the form of umbrellas (Rasch, 1995). Anequally important building covered by Teflon-coated fibreglass membranes was constructed atthe Denver International Airport. The major design-ers were Horst Berger, Severud Associates andJames Bradburn (Robbin, 1996). The roof isextremely light at 2 pounds per square foot. This isvividly illustrated by noting that if it were built fromsteel, its weight would be 50 times more and iffrom steel and concrete, yet more. In spite of itslightness, it bears the large snow loads of theregion and it permits the passage of daylight suffi-cient for the requirements of the space below theroof. The roof consists of a series of tent-like mod-ules supported by two rows of masts with a totallength of 305 metres (Berger and Depaola, 1994).Along with the American firm Birdair, the JapaneseTaiyo Kogyo Corporation may lay claim to being

one of the world’s leading fabricators and installersof architectural membranes.

In the major components of tensile or tensionedstructures, tension stress only is present. Theimportant components are the masts (pylons, etc.),the suspending cables or other supports (arches,trusses), suspended roofing: metal sheet, foil, orfabrics and specially designed and constructededges (clamped edges, corner plates, rings andothers). Two basic surface forms are mostly used,individually or in combination: the synclastic andthe anticlastic shapes. Spheres and domes areexamples of synclastic surfaces. Saddles (hyper-bolic paraboloids, i.e. hypars) are common for anti-clastic shapes.

A special class are the tensegrity (tensionalintegrity) domes (Buckminster Fuller, 1983,Kawaguchi et al., 1999). Tensegrity structures have


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Figure 3.32 Balloon roof of the Stadium, Pontiac, Michigan, USA. Planned for 84 000 spectators, balloon roofconsisting of large plastic membranes, stiffened by steel cables, curved by low air pressure.


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Figure 3.33 Double-layer space frame from prefabricated elements, readily transported (Space Deck, USA)© Sebestyen: Lightweight Building Construction, Akadémiai Kiadó.

a geometry in which there are relatively few com-pression members and a net of pure tension mem-bers. The compression members do not touch,making a ‘tensegrity’. Richard Buckminster Fuller(1895–1983), an American inventor, was the first todevelop the tensegrity structures. His invention(and patent) was also the geodesic dome in whichthe bars on the surface of a sphere are geodesics,i.e. great circles of the sphere. Fuller based hisdomes on the geometry of one of the regular poly-hedra (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahe-dron, icosahedron). Other designs were usingsemi-regular poyhedra that comprise more thanone type of regular polygon and other forms. Oneof the first geodesic domes was built at the Fordplant in Detroit in 1953 with a 28-metre diameter inwhich bars were connected to form triangles andoctahedrons were built up from these. Followingthis, a great number of such domes were built allaround the world, among them the ‘Climatron’Botanical Garden, St Louis, Missouri (1960), andthe one assembled in Montreal, Canada, 1967,with a height of 50 metres. Many variants of thegeodesic dome have been developed during theyears since its inception.

3.3.3 Space structures

The development of space trusses led to the cre-ation and application of truss systems with specifictypes of node: MERO, Unistrut, Triodetic, Modus-pan, Harley Mai Sky, Catrus, Pyramitec, Nodus andothers. The MERO system in fact was one of thefirst space grid systems and it was introduced inthe 1940s in Germany by Dr Max Mengering-hausen. To this day it remains one of the most pop-ular in use. It consists of prefabricated steel tubes,which are screwed into forged steel connectors,the so-called MERO ball. Up to 18 members can bejoined with this system without any eccentricity.

The two basic types of these systems are the flatskeletal grid and the curvilinear forms of barrelvaults and braced domes. In the flat skeletaldouble-layer grids two parallel lane grids are inter-connected by inclined web members. The gridsmay be laid directly over one another (direct grid) orbe offset from one another (offset grid). Thesebasic relations lead to different geometries of the

system. Lamella domes and vaults consist of inter-connecting steel or aluminium units. An importantinnovative step was the invention by BuckminsterFuller of the geodesic domes, to which referencehas been made earlier.

The space grid systems mostly use circular ortubular members and their nodes may be charac-terized as solid or hollow spherical nodes, cylindri-cal, prismatic, plates, or nodeless. Most of thesesystems are double layered in that a top and a bot-tom layer composed from linear bars are intercon-nected by vertical or inclined, equally linear, mem-bers. The bars of single-layer space grids areusually positioned on a curved surface. A recentlyproposed new type of space grid is the ‘nexorade’,which is assembled from ‘nexors’. Nexors havefour bars (eventually scaffolding tubes) and theseare connected at four connection points, two at theends and two at intermediate points by swivel cou-plers (Baverel et al., 2000). The various space gridsprovide abundant inspiration for creating differentstructures including domes, vaults and irregularstructures and, thereby, have an important role inarchitectural design.Domes and vaults assembledfrom space trusses have taken on a great variety.One of the world’s largest is the hypar-tensegrityGeorgia Dome (structural designer: Mathys Levy incooperation with his co-workers at WeidlingerAssociates, 1992). It has a sophisticated structuralscheme (see Figure 1.15). Its ridge cables makerhombs and its cables lie in two planes.

Deployable structures make temporary scaffoldingunnecessary. Mamoru Kawaguchi designed thePantadome system employing a series of hinges sothat the completed dome can be raised all at once(Robbin, 1996). Kawaguchi’s first Pantadome wasbuilt in Kobe in 1985. He also designed theBarcelona Pantadome (Figure 3.34) in cooperationwith architect Arata Isozaki, which was at first pre-assembled and then raised with jacks and temporarysupport towers. Tensile structures may be twodimensional (suspension bridges, cable-stayedbeams or trusses, cable trusses), three dimensional(cable domes, truss systems), or membranes (pneu-matically stressed surfaces, prestressed surfaces).

Structural design must deal with specific risksrelated to thin, tensile structures: non-linearity,


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wind uplift, buckling, stiffness, horizontal instabil-ity, temperature conditions, boundary conditions,erection methods.

3.3.4 Air-supported and air-inflated structures

Air-inflated structures (already mentioned earlier)have a fabric membrane, serving simultaneously asroof structure and as weather shield. The mem-brane is stabilized against flutter by the permanentair pressure being about 20 per cent higher thanthe atmospheric pressure outside. These find lim-ited application due only to their energy require-ments. Another category of air-inflated structuresare those where the enclosure of the building isfully or partly assembled from air-inflated closedstructures (structural ribs, sausages). The pressuredifferential in this case is considerably higher than20 per cent (Vandenberg, 1998). Air-supportedstructures are mainly applied to buildings with onesingle main hall, such as covered tennis halls,swimming pools, or exhibition halls.

One of the realized buildings in the first categorywas also mentioned above. This is the ‘Airtecture’Hall in Esslingen-Berkheim, Germany, completed in1996. This consists of approximately 330 individualair-inflated elements in six categories (wall compo-nents, windows, etc.) The elements have differentvolumes and internal pressures (Schock, 1997).

3.3.5 Morphology

Morphology has extremely wide fields of applica-tion in architectural and structural design. First ofall, it is the general study of forms in nature andhuman life including arts and architecture. A newdiscovery in this respect is the theory of fractalsand chaos (Mandelbrot, 1977, Gleick, 1987). Inspite of novelties in morphology and their broadpotentials for applications, the direct relevance forarchitectural design remains to be investigated inthe future. Then, morphology comprises a descrip-tion and characterization of forms in various archi-tectural styles and architectural realizations. This infact has been practised for a long time and is a keypart of the contents of this book. It also could beconsidered as the discipline for the study of the

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Figure 3.34 Palau Sant Jordi, Pantadome, Barcelona,Spain, design: Mamoru Kawaguchi and ArataIsozaki. The space frame was built in the arena floorbowl, then raised with jacks and temporary supporttowers; in total 12 000 parts, specified with only 40Formex expressions.

aesthetics of forms. Next, morphology is the col-lection of methods for devising optimal forms fordesign. This is practised in particular for findingforms of thin curved surfaces, such as domes,shells, vaults, membranes, but also for space grids.In this section we concentrate on form finding.

Structural morphology is the discipline for studyingthe requirements for a structure in order to decideupon the characteristics and the form of the struc-tural system. It is partly architectural and engineer-ing design, which, however may be preceded byand founded upon a special branch of mathemat-ics, geometry and topology (Motro and Wester,1992). Morphology finds applications in chemistry,biology, astrophysics and other disciplines quiteremote from construction but analogies betweenmorphological properties in such differentbranches have proved to be useful in catalysing fur-ther progress.

In structural morphology the material, system,form and other characteristics of masts and othermain load-bearing and load-transmitting compo-nents (cables, rods, tubes, trusses) have to bedecided upon. For form finding, physical modelling,geometric (morphology) calculation and equilibrumcalculation may assist the designer (Nooshin et al.,1993). The Formex algebra processes configurationwith particular emphasis on the generation of pat-terns, surfaces and curved shapes, configurationsmodelled on polyhedra and various geodesicforms, and Formian is the structural morphologymethod comprising structural analysis require-ments and applying Formex (Nooshin, 1984). InChina a more sophisticated application of Formex(called SFCAD) was worked out and applied in thedesign of space frames (Robbin, 1996). Many othermethodologies have been developed for general orspecific form-finding purposes (Kneen, 1992).

Another program for generating polyhedra by rota-tion of polygons and other action is CORELLI,worked out in the Netherlands (Huybers and vander Ende, 1994). In this and other methods ‘thegoal is to enrich architecture and engineering withmodern geometries’ (Robbin, 1996).

Whilst most of the early form-shaping programsare based on some kind of regular geometric prop-erties, some new methods can cope with arbitrar-

ily chosen forms. This was the case for theGuggenheim Museum in Bilbao designed by F.O.Gehry. The computer program for the design of the museum’s façades was adapted from space


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Figure 3.35 Sakata gym, Japan. The beam-and-string systems were prestressed at ground level andthen hoisted into place.

Figure 3.36 King Abdul Aziz University, Sports Hall,Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, design: Buro Happold. Cablenet roof; new types of structures enhance the rangeof architectural design. © Courtesy of Buro Happold.


technology. Its titanium cladding envelope wasmodelled by using the CATIA program developedby the French Dassault firm for the design offighter planes (Jodidio, 1998).

The progress in morphology, fabrication methodsand new ambitions by architects induce manyresearchers to seek for new types of form and,specifically, new types of curve. Such complicatedcurves have been defined as hyperstructures, anddesign with them, as hypersurface architecture(Perrella, 1998 and 1999).

Meta-architecture is the name given by architect-morphologist Haresh Lalvani to a technique tomodulate sheet metal into a wide range of newconfigurations that can be easily manufacturedusing a patent fabrication process developed byLalvani with Milgo-Bufkin (Lalvani, 1999).

The large long-spanned space enclosures (cover-ings) are characteristic new structures of architec-

ture. Due to the diverse structural schemes theyoffer many new design possibilities for architectsand structural designers.

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Figure 3.37 Mosque, Saudi Arabia. Super-light structures are applied increasingly.

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The impact of technological change on new archi-tecture is discussed in this book in three chapters:Chapter 2 on building materials, Chapter 3 on build-ings and structures and this one, Chapter 4, onservices. Chapter 5 discusses the impact of ‘invisi-ble technologies’, e.g. research, use of computers.The contents of what follows on in Chapter 6 willdeal with factors that are not primarily technologi-cal: urban planning, the economy, the environ-ment, and sustainability. However, in the presentchapter we include matters relating to climate andenergy: whilst these are in the category of ‘globalvalues’, or ‘global commons’ (meaning in our caseresources, which are threatened by human activityand on which we all depend in various ways), theydo have a direct impact on technology and, as aconsequence, on architecture.

4.1 Ambience and Services

The ambience around and in buildings is the result ofnatural and of man-made causes: the climate,HVAC, lighting, etc. Whatever the nature of thecause, the responsibility falls squarely on the archi-tect to reckon with it (Flynn et al., 1992). The extentand contents of the requirements concerning theambience in buildings has grown ever more com-plex in recent times and embraces, for example,heat, moisture, mould, corrosion, water supply,energy control, fire, smoke, pure air and odour, nat-ural and artificial illumination, sound, protectionagainst lightning, vibration, security, electromagnetic

radiation and various telecommunication services.Technical services cater for performance to satisfythe various requirements: HVAC equipment, watersupply, telephone and telecommunications services,elevators, security and anti-fire equipment, etc. Eachservice may be and often is designed as a systemand such systems increasingly are complex embra-cing two or more systems together with their inter-action (Aspinall, 2001). For example, lighting may becombined with ventilation or may be incorporated infurniture. As a consequence, comprehensive envi-ronmental systems may be applied and the buildingas a whole may be considered as a comprehensiveenvironmental system. When the architect designsa building, he/she must decide whether a new sys-tem or systems will be applied or whether existingsystems will be incorporated in the design. Special-ized firms develop their own (lighting, heating, etc.)system and system developers may develop com-plex systems to be applied by various designers(Flynn et al., 1992). Architects do not themselvesdesign energy systems and services but have to beactive partners with those who do design themsince the dialogue must end up with comprehensivearchitectural-engineering solutions and the interrela-tion of services and structures results in specificaesthetic consequences.

4.2 Climate and Energy Conservation

An architect is not and in fact does not need to bean expert in climatology, which in itself is a sophis-

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4The impact of technological changeon services


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Figure 4.1 Performance requirements for buildings. Performance requirements serve as a basis for the designof buildings, compliance with codes and standards thus ensuring quality.

ticated discipline. Over the past 40 years muchnew knowledge was added to the existing stock ofknowledge on meteorology and climate. The mostdramatic recognition has been that human activi-ties commenced to influence our climate in a sig-nificant way and this would justify new strategiesin order to forestall or at least delay serious climaticchanges. This has a signal importance for thedesign of buildings, which in many respects werenot designed to cope with certain new conditions.

To acquire a better insight into what is going on,record taking was increased and models have beendeveloped and observations carried out to verifythe trends in climate changes. The internationalumbrella organization, the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change, has sponsored substantialresearch in this area and published much of itsresults. It has been thought that measurementshigh up in the atmosphere would eliminate defi-ciencies inherent in ground-level measurementsand contribute to the development of more perfectglobal and regional models.

The most important climatic change concerns theair around us. Air consists primarily (over 99.9 percent) of nitrogen, oxygen and argon but it is othergases, primarily carbon dioxide (0.036 per cent vol-ume in the air) that seem to lie at the heart of thechanges. Carbon dioxide is important because itsabsorption and re-radiation of energy helps to main-

tain earth’s surface temperature (the so-calledgreenhouse effect) and it is the source of carbonhaving a dominant function in various processes ofthe earth (Berner and Berner, 1996). AtmosphericCO2 has increased in the course of the last centuryand this has been caused primarily by theincreased burning of fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil)and, to a lesser extent, by the production ofcement. Based on this recognition, several interna-tional conferences attempted to work out andimplement some kind of international agreementbinding countries to introduce measures to reduceCO2 (and methane) in the air. In 1992 in Rio deJaneiro the statement was made that human activ-ities contribute greatly to the warming of the cli-mate. Five years later, in Kyoto, Japan, it seemedthat most of the countries would accept certainmeasures. However, several countries, mostnotably the USA, disagreed. Their position hasbeen that the essence of the problem lies in thefact that many countries use energy in an ineffi-cient way so that, proportionally, they consumemuch more energy than, for example, the USA forthe production of comparable products. Energyconservation may be best achieved not by impos-ing restrictions on those countries that alreadymake efficient use of energy, but by improving thesituation in other, less efficiently working coun-tries. The hope was that subsequent conferences,in The Hague, 1999 and Bonn, 2000, would yield

The impact of technological change on services

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Figure 4.2 Developmentof total energyrequirements during thehistory of mankind.© Sebestyen:Construction: Craft toIndustry, E & FN Spon.


common views. This turned out not to be the caseand the conferences concluded without the muchhoped for agreement. The conflict was furtheraggravated by the presentation of new ideasaccording to which the main wrongdoer is not somuch the CO2 emission but other substances, pri-marily methane and soot. The chief proponent ofthis theory has been James Hansen, the Directorof NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies inNew York and chief advisor to the US government.Then, in 2001, a panel consisting of eleven ofAmerica’s top atmospheric scientists and oceanog-raphers declared that global warming is still a wors-ening problem and therefore the USA also shoulddecide to participate in actions to combat it. Finally,recent climatic observations confirmed the contin-ued warming of the global temperature. Thewarmest years have occurred during the lastdecade. At the 2001 UN climate conference inMarrakesh this brought nearer an international con-sensus and agreement on climate and measures tocounteract it.

A recent report of the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that thechanges in the climate are very much the conse-quence of human activities: the main causes ofthe rise in air temperature are the emissions ofgreenhouse gases and deforestation. Increasedconcentration of greenhouse gases (CO2,methane, nitrous oxide and others) causes anenhancement of the greenhouse effect and thusglobal warming. The European Union decidedthat the production of ‘green energy’ shouldgrow by 2010 to 12 per cent of the total. Greenenergy is understood to be energy producedfrom all forms of renewable sources: thermalsun-energy, wind, biogas, biomass, biologicalfuel. Despite much new recognition about CO2 inthe air, its exact movement and transformationare still not fully understood. Air pollution andaerosols (i.e. small solid or liquid particles) alsohave an impact, which, however, again requiresmore detailed clarification.

Whilst it has been generally acknowledged thatthere is (probably) an overall warming of the cli-mate raising the global mean atmospheric temper-ature, the cause of the climatic warming, the sizeand the rate of this change, as well as its impact on

wind and precipitation (rain) and the (eventualunevenness of the) regional changes are not clear.In several regions the occurrence of strong winds,rain and cold winters is on the increase. Climaticchanges are interrelated with the pollution ofatmospheric air, with growing energy consumptionand with the greenhouse effect (Ominde andJuma, 1991).

By now, most of the scientists agree that the maincause of the climate’s warming is the so-calledgreenhouse effect, i.e. the increasing emissions ofthe greenhouse gases, first of all, of CO2. Adecreasing number of scientists, however, acceptthe warming but still express doubts about the rea-sons and claim that it is rather caused by certainaerosols, methane and soot. The change of climatemay have a drastic impact on certain parameters ofour environment and industrial strategies, therebyaffecting design values, standards, regulations,design models and programmes for heat, precipita-tion, wind and other phenomena. We must act toeliminate or at least retard and slow down thesechanges including weather change. ‘We’ means inthis case institutions (governments, internationalorganizations, research and design institutes) andpersons (architects, structural and mechanical engi-neers, facility managers or institutions having therole of the above-mentioned persons) (OECD,1993). Policy instruments are manifold (Convery,1998):

• energy conservation and replacement of fossilfuels by other renewable energy carriers

• grants and subsidies provided to support energyconservation

• information, training, supervision, auditing topromote energy conserving knowledge andmethodology

• research and experimentation related to energyconservation including simulation, laboratorytests, architectural and engineering designmethods based on up-to-date knowledge (archi-tectural forms favourable from the point of viewof energy conservation as, for instance, thedesign of sunspaces)

• regulation: standards, codes• demand-side management (DSM)• institutional development to engender ‘bottom

up’ conservation initiatives.

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Architects do not prepare institutional (public or pri-vate) strategies but they work within their contextand may make good use of such policies: grants,subsidies or other. It is, therefore, their task tostudy institutional policies and to apply those partsthat may have relevance for the building they actu-ally design. Among the actions to achieve theobjective are those to reduce energy (fossil fuel)consumption and to reduce greenhouse gas emis-sion, which is a great contributor to climatechange. Fossil fuels are globally available althoughin differing quantities. Coal and natural gas aremore plentiful than oil. Among the strategies rec-ommended is to switch from coal to natural gas,which entails the added benefit of reducing carbondioxide emissions. As far as possible renewableenergy sources should be applied: sunshine, wind,geothermal energy, tidal and wave energy, bio-mass. In particular the use of energy from the sun(solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, louvres, etc.)directly affects the exterior of buildings. Solar col-lectors are now at a mature stage and there are anumber of manufacturers producing and installingthem on buildings. Photovoltaic systems are some-what less common. Even allowing for the fact thatthe electric energy that they have hitherto pro-duced is more expensive, they do have a brightfuture. Photovoltaic modules can be designed inany shape; they have no moving components, donot cause pollution, can be adapted to differentparts of the building (wall, roof, etc.) and mustgradually become cheaper.

Energy-conservation strategies are different forinstitutions and for individuals. There are numerousadvisory services geared up to counsel individualsabout energy conservation. This issue, however,lies outside the scope of this book. Nevertheless,architects are frequently approached by individualsseeking advice. With this in mind, we emphasizethat usually some 70 per cent or more of energyconsumption in homes is spent on heating so thatthe primary actions to be advised are: increaseheat insulation, improve heat equipment, controlventilation and internal air temperature and switchoff all equipment unnecessarily consuming energy.

In order to plan optimal strategies and actions forenergy conservation, it is necessary to study thecomposition of energy consumption, the technical

appliances affecting such consumption and theways to achieve energy conservation. In buildings,usually, an increase of heat insulation and top per-formance windows are among the most importantenergy-conserving methods (Hestnes et al., 1997,Hensen and Nakahara, 2001). Heating, cooling,ventilation, artificial lighting and electrical appli-ances make up the main consumers of energy.Measures to improve energy economics in variousareas should be continued by integrating measuresinto a complex energy-related system.

During the past 30 years, a great number of experi-mental buildings have been erected to measureenergy conservation achieved and to serve aslessons for future design (Hestnes et al., 1997).These experiments demonstrated that buildingshaving a very low energy consumption can certainlybe designed and constructed but that this requiresadequate knowledge, attention and control.

Decisions concerning energy systems and servicesaffect the design of buildings. Codes, regulationsand standards are modified according to newknowledge and these changes have to be reckonedwith in architectural design. Climate not only affectsindividual buildings but also influences phenomenaover a larger territory, unbuilt and built. The study ofurban climate shows certain peculiarities (such asthe heat-island and canyon effect, radiation and pol-lution distribution, effect of green spaces), whichaffect architectural design (Santamouris, 2001).

There is a specific danger of which account mustbe taken and that is the depletion of the ozonelayer in the upper stratosphere. Its existence isalso essential for many life-support systems tofunction. This layer shields the surface of the earthagainst much of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation.The depletion is caused by the increasing use ofcertain materials (CFCs and HCFCs) in cooling, air-conditioning and refrigerating equipment and con-tainers of sprays. It is catalysing an increase of skincancers to say nothing of the damage to someecosystems: land vegetation and the phytoplank-ton of the oceans. A switch to certain other materi-als and processes does reduce the harmful deple-tion process. Whilst this is not a direct task forarchitects, they have to beware of this problem sothat buildings that they design satisfy this require-ment.


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4.3 Human Comfort, Health andPerformance Requirements

Human comfort in buildings comprises appropriateconditions of heat and moisture of the internal air,sound, light and others (e.g. odour, vibration).Developments resulted in a more elaborate systemof human requirements or users’ requirements andthis is also known as the performance concept orthe system of performance criteria. These haveresulted in the development of technical devicesand systems that enable us to control human com-fort and avoid human discomfort. Human comfortis affected by unpleasant temperature and mois-ture conditions (an ambience too hot or too cold,too dry or too wet/moist), too much noise, inade-quate lighting (too dark, excessive illumination,strong sunshine, glare disturbing shades andcolour effects), vibration (caused by earthquake,strong wind, functioning of elevators or othermachines), smells and smoke, some sorts of radia-tion and any other internal or external conditionsthat are perceived to cause discomfort or to affecthealth. Environmental health is a consequence ofthe natural and man-made environment (Moeller,1992). The adverse ambience in many buildingsresulted in unpleasant and unhealthy conditions forthe users, i.e. the so-called ‘sick building syn-drome’. According to Godish (1995) we havebecome increasingly aware that human health andcomfort complaints expressed by occupants ofoffice, institutional, and other public access build-ings are in many cases associated with poor indoorquality. When a building is subject to complaintssufficient to convince management to conduct anIAQ investigation, it may be characterized as a‘problem’ or ‘sick’ building. Health complaintsassociated with a problem building may have aspecific identifiable cause (building-related illness)or, as is true for many problem buildings, no spe-cific causal factor or factors can be identified (sickbuilding syndrome).

Among the various causes contributing to a sickbuilding feeling are:

• people-related risks: health factors, job stressand job dissatisfaction, occupant density, workenvironment, tobacco smoke, contaminant con-centrations

• environmental conditions: thermal conditions,humidity, airflow, air movement and ventilation,lighting, noise, vibration, air ions, electrostaticcharges, electric and magnetic fields, radon

• office materials, equipments and furnishings:video-display terminals, computers, copy paper,photocopiers, copying machines, printers, floorcovering (carpeting, vinyl floor)

• gas, vapour and particulate-phase contaminants:formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds,dust, asbestos fibre

• contaminants of biological origin: hypersensivitydiseases, legionnaires’ disease, asthma, chronicallergic rhinitis, allergy and allergens (dustmites), mould, bacteria, microbial products,insects, rodents

• combustion by-products.

Many of the problems listed above and other fac-tors materialize in polluted air, which adverselyaffects human health. To control air pollution acombination of strategies is applied: ventilation,source removal or substitution, source modifica-tion, air purification and behavioural changes. Thearchitect has to tackle the expected air-qualityproblems and the strategies to achieve adequateair quality.

The multifactor causes of such problem cases arecomplex but in fact most have been identified andcan be eliminated by proper design and functioningof the buildings. In order to achieve agreeable or atthe least acceptable ambient conditions, appropri-ate building materials and structures have to beselected and various measures (for example, heatand moisture insulation, protection against noiseand vibration) have to be applied. The range of pro-tective measures against discomfort has becomevery wide and constitutes components of impactof technical progress on buildings and on architec-ture and construction in general.

4.4 Heating, Ventilating, Air-Conditioning (HVAC)

The two main groups of heating are direct sys-tems, in which the heating is realized directlywithin the space to be heated, and indirect sys-

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tems, in which heating energy is produced outsidethe space to be heated and then transferred toequipment in that space for use. The nature of theenergy source may be solid, liquid, gaseous, orelectrical. The terminal heating elements may beprimarily radiant or primarily convective.

The leading trends in HVAC are: spreading of cen-tral heating (including district and city heating), theswitch from some types of fuel (wood) to others(oil, gas and electricity), energy conservation andprotection of the environment (reduction of air,water and soil pollution/contamination), introductionof up-to-date control devices and systems (con-densing boilers, thermostats, programmable elec-tronic control), automation and integration of sys-tems, reduction of the size of equipment (smallerboilers and boiler rooms), more efficient appliances(consuming less water and electricity). All this ismanifested in the cost increase of HVAC equipmentrelative to the total cost and a need for more intel-lectual concern in its design, realization and opera-tion. CO2 emissions and, consequently, energy con-sumption, may for example be reduced by:

• more effective heat insulation of buildings,including walls, windows and other buildingparts

• better airtightness and ventilation• improving the performance of glazing• enabling façades to react to weather changes

by increasing or reducing heat insulation (anddaylighting)

• more efficient hot water boilers and householdappliances

• use of solar energy (Hestnes et al., 1997)• economic incentives and management mea-

sures (certification of energy consumption,billing of energy on the basis of actual con-sumption, regular inspection of boilers, energyaudits and third-party financing for energy-effi-cient investment) (Fee, 1994).

The selection of an HVAC system depends on thetype of the climate and of the building (Boben-hausen, 1994, Faber and Kell, 1989). Houses usu-ally have individual systems. Large residentialbuildings may have a central heating plant withindividually controlled and metered HVAC systemsincluding mechanical ventilation for interior kitchen

and bath areas, or small systems for each residen-tial unit. The heating may be provided by warm orhot water, steam, air, electricity. Ventilation, cool-ing and air-conditioning systems may or may notbe required. Open fires and closed stoves providesolid-fuel direct heating. Closed stoves and indus-trial air systems provide primarily convective directheating. Luminous fires, infra-red heaters and radi-ant tubes provide primarily radiant gaseous fuel (orradiant electrical direct) heating. Natural convec-tors, forced convectors, domestic and industrialwater air systems are primarily convective gaseousfuel heatings. Quartz lamp heaters, high- or low-temperature panels, ceiling and floor heating areprimarily radiant electrical direct heating. Finally,natural convectors, skirting heaters, oil-filledheaters, tubular heaters and forced convectorsmay serve as primarily convective electrical directheating. Electrical off-peak storage systems do notfall within the category of either direct or indirectheating systems.Indirect systems comprise a heatdistribution system and terminal equipment. Low-,medium-, or high-temperature hot water andsteam indirect heating systems have as terminalequipment exposed piping, radiators, metal radiantpanels or strips, natural or forced convectors, pipecoils embedded in the structure, metal panels insuspended ceilings, skirting heaters, unit heaters,air/water or heat/air heat exchangers for ventilationsystems. Any decision on these will affect thedesign of buildings.

In order to assist in the design of energy-conserv-ing buildings, various methodologies and com-puter-based design programs have been workedout. One of these is the Energy PerformanceIndoor Environmental Quality Retrofit. This wasworked out within the framework of a Europeanresearch programme, supported by the EuropeanCommission. Whilst primarily aimed at diagnosingand retrofitting existing buildings, it may also beused in the design process of new buildings (Jaggsand Palmer, 2000) with the objectives to produce agood indoor environment, optimize energy con-sumption, use renewable (solar) energy and becost-effective.

A new approach to increasing heat insulation istransparent heat insulation that utilizes the energyof sunshine (Wagner, 1996). It is applied on the


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external façade side, its material is polymethyl-metacrylate (PMMA, Teflon, acryl- or plexiglass)and polycarbonate (PC). A honeycomb or capillarystructure made of extruded clear acrylic tubesserves to capture the sunshine’s heat.

One should keep in mind that objectives and mea-sures to achieve these may be complex and inter-related. The shading of façades is contributingtowards protection against excessive sunshine, toenhancing human comfort by limiting the warmingof internal spaces, to reducing disturbing glare andto energy conservation by eliminating or reducingair-conditioning requirements. These objectives areattained by adequate sunshading devices (see alsobelow, under Daylighting). They may be placed onthe outside of the façade as independent devicesor internally, linked to the windows or as indepen-dent curtains or shutters. This exemplifies thecomplexity of the architect’s task in making a deci-sion that will have a profound effect on the look ofthe building.

Transparent heat insulation equally affects thefaçade design. The use of translucent fabric roofshas an overall impact on the internal ambience ofbuildings. Another new factor in the architecture ofthe exterior of buildings is the use of sunshine for

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Figure 4.3 External sun-shading elements rotating around vertical axis (Mesconal, Germany). a) rotatingmechanism at the bottom, b) rotating mechanism at the top, c) and d) countersunk layout with the rotatingmechanism at the bottom and the top respectively. © Sebestyen: Construction: Craft to Industry, E & FNSpon.

Figure 4.4 Vertically mounted external sun-shadingstructure rotating around a horizontal axis, with180 mm wide extruded aluminium lamella.© Sebestyen: Construction: Craft to Industry, E & FNSpon.

energy conservation and energy productionthrough the application of solar collectors or photo-voltaic cells.

Photovoltaic cells usually produce expensiveenergy but intensive research promises to improvethis. In Japan the application of photovoltaics isincreasing and it is expected that by 2020 10 percent of all energy will be produced by photovoltaics(Yamaguchi, 2001).

The solar collectors may be arranged vertically onthe façades, on high- or low-pitched roofs or sepa-rated from the plane of the façades and roofs. Solarcollectors usually have a black colour all over theirsurface and the resulting contrast between theblack colour of the solar collectors and the enve-lope’s differently coloured surfaces again providesnew potentials for architectural design.

Solar systems may be:

• individual collector panels assembled on theroof

• prefabricated large collector modules assem-bled into complete roofs or other componentsof the external envelope.

The solar systems may be combined with heatstorage systems, which store heat in water orsolids (gravel or concrete).

Natural and artificial ventilation are sometimesunderestimated because it is assumed that they donot exert any major impact on architectural designand that, being mostly concealed behind surfacesand ducts, their design is primarily the responsibil-ity of mechanical engineers. In real life, however,they may be closely linked to lighting, energy con-servation, heat and noise insulation and thereforetheir technical solution may have important reper-cussions on overall design. Various solutions maycomprise natural or mechanical or combined sys-tems depending on specific circumstances. Forexample, the Yasuda Academia Building in Tokyo,Japan (architect: Nihon Sekkei Inc., 1994) has anatrium that is naturally ventilated. In warm weatherair enters at ground and intermediate levels, risesin the atrium and is expelled through the atriumroof. Air is also drawn to the atrium from the upper-floor bedrooms. A heat-reclaiming plant is locatedat the top of the atrium (Jones, 1998). A very pecu-

liar solution has been applied to traditional Baghdadhomes: inclined towers direct air into the heart ofthe buildings (Jones, 1998). In the Vice Chancel-lor’s Office, Académie des Antilles et de la Guyane,Martinique, French West Indies (architect: Christ-ian Hauvette and Jérôme Nouel, 1994) the strongwinds of the hot, humid climate were utilized fornatural ventilation (Jones, 1998). The high-techCommerzbank Headquarters building in Frankfurtam Main (architect: Norman Foster, 1997) hasbeen mentioned. Where heating requires energy,heat recovery from used air is a resulting economy.

An innovative ventilation system is displacementventilation, usually combined with cooled ceilings.In this, fresh air is supplied at the lower part of therooms. Displacement ventilation ensures goodventilation levels, low cost and adequate humancomfort and affects the interior design of the build-ings. Displacement ventilation may be designed byother arrangements: in Hall 26, Hanover Messe(architect: Herzog and Partner, 1996) the air isintroduced via large glazed ducts 4 metres abovethe ground floor. The fresh air flows downwardsdistributing itself evenly over the floor. The air thenrises upwards transported by the effect of the heatgenerated in the hall space.

The above examples demonstrate the attentionthat architects must devote to matters of ventila-tion. HVAC and other technical services areincreasingly integrated into a system, whichrequires a careful supervision during the designprocess in order to integrate the technical systemwith the architectural concept. We will revert tothis in Chapter 5.

4.5 The Lighting Environment

The two basic ways of lighting, daylighting and arti-ficial lighting, both progressed enormously duringthe twentieth century and in doing so theyacquired significance in architectural design. Light,both natural and artificial, with its volume, intensity,colour, the control over it and planned changes inits parameters, may become a decisive factor inthe design of buildings and in the effect that those


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buildings have on users and visitors (Millet, 1996).This also explains why the satisfaction with spe-cific types of lighting requirements, such as theatri-cal lighting, museum lighting, light in religiousbuildings (see for example, the Ronchamps Chapelby Le Corbusier), and shop lighting has led to spe-cial types of light-orienting and shading devices andlight sources.

The basic knowledge concerning the visual envi-ronment and lighting were put together during thetwentieth century (Hopkinson, 1963). It was statedthat:

• visual conditions improve with increasing illumi-nation up to a point

• light must be free from damaging or discomfort-ing glare

• various characteristics of bright, contrasting,dull, uniform, colourful, accented or other light-ing affect visual conditions. Lighting conditionsdepend also on the performance of materialsand light sources.

All these and further parameters have a major influ-ence on architectural design. In the following thebasic stock of knowledge concerning lighting ispresumed to be known and we restrict discussionto new objectives. Light is an important source andconsumer of energy and, therefore, several lightingdesign methods assess simultaneously lightingand energy aspects. The Light and Thermal (or LT)method has been developed for the purpose ofoptimizing both light and energy factors (Baker andSteemers, 1994).

4.5.1 Daylighting

Traditionally, most daylighting (Baker et al., 1994) inbuildings was provided through windows with ver-tical glass panes (sidelighting). Daylighting fromabove tended to be the exception, for example inthe Pantheon in Rome. Shading devices may bepositioned on the external or the internal side ofwindows. External devices that have long been inapplication take the form of blinds, shutters, lou-vres, sun breaks, verandas, and new constructionshave been developed (Egan, 1983, Ander, 1995,Kristensen, 1994; Verma and Suman, 2000).

Light shelves shade the premises and redirect day-light into the room and up to the ceiling. They (andthis is true in general for horizontal linear shadingdevices) are best suited for southern façades,whereas for eastern and western façades verticalshading elements are more appropriate. Atria arefashionable and by their nature they have specialillumination conditions. Heat insulation and shadingmay be provided by double glass, heat-reflecting(infrared-reflective) and heat-absorbing glass. Theoptimal design and use of shading devices requiresa special knowledge of their optical and thermalproperties, including the variations depending onthe angle of solar radiation’s incidence. Models topredict properties and performance have beendeveloped (Breitenbach et al., 2001).

Daylighting appears in combination with artificialillumination, heat insulation, ventilation and energycontrol. For this reason, whilst daylighting may bediscussed individually, systems and realizationsusually can be best described in combination withthe other services listed above. This also explainswhy realizations are discussed only in one of thesections on services even if they also affect otherservices.

A spectacular daylighting and shading system hasbeen designed and realized for the Arab WorldInstitute Building in Paris (Sebestyen, 1998),designer: Jean Nouvel with partners (Pierre Spriaand Gilbert Lézènès). The building has 30 000 shut-ters, which are activated by an electropneumaticmechanism and photoelectric cells, thereby main-taining natural lighting levels constant. The shuttersare placed between the exterior insulating glassand an interior single glass pane. The façade withits 62 � 26 metre surface contains 27 000 alu-minium shutter elements. The building took itsinspiration from Arabic architecture but technicallythe traditional type of shading was realized by up-to-date structural solutions and a sophisticatedbasis.

In the case of the Menil collection in Houston(designer: Renzo Piano) (Figure 4.6) daylight is dis-tributed in the museum premises by means ofhanging baffles.

In several buildings daylight is conducted from thetop of the buildings’ atria: such a situation is to be

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Figure 4.5 Town Hall, Emsdetten, Germany, horizontal shading elements. © Courtesy of Shüco, Bielefeld.

Figure 4.6 The Menil collection, Houston,Texas, USA, 1981–86, architect RenzoPiano. Cross-section of exhibition spacewith light-directing ceiling components.


found in the Berlin Reichstag building (architect:Norman Foster), the Hongkong and Shanghai Bankin Hong Kong and hotels designed by John Port-man. Sunshine can be utilized actively, by photo-voltaic elements producing electrical energydirectly or in a passive way by collecting and stor-ing heat in solar collectors for the purpose of elec-tricity generation or hot water. Passive solar sys-tems and active photovoltaic devices have aconspicuous impact on the appearance of buildings(Hestnes, Schmind, Toggweiler, 1994). The archi-tect may decide whether sun collectors and photo-voltaic elements should be integrated and blendedwith the building or, on the contrary, acquire animportant aesthetic impression.

The daylight performance of 60 European buildingshas been treated in a publication (Fontoynont, 1999).A selection (about a third) of the buildings describedare listed below together with their main character-istics abstracted from the publication cited:

• Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II, Milan, Italy, adaylit gallery with a glazed roof and a decoratedfloor.

• Chapel Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamps,France, a sculptured mastery of daylightdesigned by Le Corbusier playing with wallthickness, daylight and colours.

• Sainte-Marie de la Tourette Convent, Eveux,France, vivid colours under sparse but focusseddaylight.

• Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany, aglazed attic with a sophisticated control of day-light and sunlight penetration.

• Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Museum Ludwig,Cologne, Germany, more than 1 kilometre ofnorth-facing rooflights filter and control daylightpenetration.

• Byzantine Museum, Thessaloniki, Greece, avariety of daylighting solutions.

• Musée de Grenoble, Genoble, France, awningscontrolled by 27 light sensors, oriented accord-ing to the operation of each daylighting system.

• Waucquez Department Store, Brussels, two-stage daylight transmission admits light to deepareas of the building.

• Modern Art Centre, Lisbon, Portugal, four seriesof north-facing clerestories designed to bringdaylight without sunlight to a museum.

• The ‘Sept Mètres’ Room, Louvre Museum,Paris, France, three successive translucent lay-ers adjust daylight penetration for display ofpaintings.

• Sukkertoppen, Valby, Denmark, an atriumserves as a daylight link between new and ren-ovated buildings.

• Domino Haus, Reutlingen, Germany, daylightfrom a large atrium benefits occupants in sur-rounding offices.

• EOS Building, Lausanne, Switzerland, 160metres of aluminium light shelves serve todirect sunlight over one entire façade.

• Reiterstrasse Building, Berne, Switzerland, four-teen courtyards and a network of glazed streetsdistribute daylight thoroughly in a large-scaleoffice building.

• Kristallen Office Building, Uppsala, Sweden,more than half the windows of the building usesecondary daylight for energy conservation.

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Figure 4.7 Some daylighting technologies.

• CNA-SUVA Building, Basle, Switzerland, pris-matic external panels in double skin can betilted to deflect sunbeams to the desired angle.

• Gothenburg Law Courts Annex, Gothenburg,Sweden, south-facing clerestory directs sunlightinto the atrium on winter days.

• At Dragvoll University Centre, Trondheim, Nor-way, daylight is directed deep into a universitybuilding.

• APU Learning Resource Centre, Chelmsford,Great Britain, a four-storey library lit from a cen-tral atrium and façade windows with semi-mir-rored indoor light shelves.

These examples illustrate the great variety ofclients’ requirements concerning daylighting andresponses by technologists and architects to theserequirements.

4.5.2 Artificial light sources and illumination

Artificial electric light sources and light effects havebeen available for less than 200 years and in factmany of these only for a quarter of a century(Steffy, 1990). The principal electric light sourcesare:

• incandescence• cold cathode• fluorescence• high-intensity discharge (HID).

The construction and performance of luminairesprovide the effect of light and are powerful tools inarchitectural design. The light sources (shaped intoluminaires) may be combined with architecturalcomponents, for example suspended ceilings withthe light sources hidden behind them. Light ser-vices also play a substantial role in energy conser-vation. Incandescent lamps emit light from aheated object (bulb, etc.) and therefore convert tolight a smaller percentage of energy than other(fluorescent, mercury, metal halide or high-pres-sure) lamps. Cold cathode lamps have a cathode,i.e. a filament-like device installed in a tubular glassstructure, usually filled with some type of gas(argon, neon or another). Fluorescent lamps emitlight from an ultraviolet radiated phosphor coatingmaterial, while high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps

discharge electricity through a high-pressurevapour.

Different types of lamp render colour in differentways and this enhances the choice of the architectin selecting the lamp type.

The partial or complete reflection of light from areflective surface (including mirrors and polishedmetal surfaces) have been used in artificial lightingand illuminating buildings. In the heart of the BerlinGaleries Lafayette (1996, architect: Jean Nouvel) agiant mirror serves to reflect and enlarge every-thing (Schulz-Dornburg, 2000).

The designer of the extension of the Lyon Operawas also Jean Nouvel. Here a sophisticated lightsystem is connected to a set of cameras. The sys-tem controls a range of coloured lights according tothe flow of people coming to the performance(designer of the light system: Yann Kersalé).


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Figure 4.8 Luminous efficacy of various lightsources. The selection of light source affects notonly the design of illumination but also the designof the façade, the ceiling and the shading devices.


The glass façade of the Central Headquarters ofthe Affiliated Gas Company Network in Leipzig,Germany, 1997 (architects: Becker, Gewers, Kühnand Kühn) glows as dusk falls in a range ofcoloured lights (designer: James Turrell).

In the above examples modern computer-con-trolled lighting systems enhance new architecture.

4.6 The Sound Environment:Acoustics

In our noisy contemporary world sound and noisecontrol is assuming increasing importance(Gréhant, 1996, Cavanaugh and Wilkes, 1999,Chadderton, 2000). Acoustics studies provide com-prehensive answers to problems in this field. Whileit would hardly make sense to attempt to discussacoustics in a brief section of this book, the signifi-cance of acoustics in architectural design must berecognized, so it is necessary to at least drawattention to some salient aspects of buildingacoustics.

The design of certain types of buildings (manufac-turing halls, residential buildings, etc.) and theirpremises must ensure that noise levels do notexceed specified levels: insulation against thepropagation of airborne and impact sounds (air-borne sound transmission and structure-bornesound transmission) takes care of this. This can bemore easily achieved with heavy surroundingenclosures and it is naturally more difficult withlightweight partitions and floors. Neverthelesssolutions are to hand for effective sound insulationin such cases also. Noise may be controlled at thesource through different methods of reduction byenclosing it within solid heavy structures, bymounting the noise source on vibration isolatorsand by installing a resilient floating floor. Open-cellfoams (polyurethane, polyester) are efficient soundabsorbers, standard polystyrene is a bad soundabsorber. Sound moving through walls and floors isreduced by these structures, this reduction beinggreater if the mass of the wall/floor is higher. Thisis the so-called Mass Law. Insulation for airbornesound transmission can be improved with compos-ite structures, which are composed from two lay-

ers, one from highly absorbent material, the otherfrom a heavy viscoelastic material. Sound insula-tion reduces the noise along the path from thesource to the listener (with particular attention tominimizing flanking noise, e.g. by eliminatingcracks and openings) and by protecting the listenerin some form (Harris, 1994). Recently considerableattention has been paid to noise control from mov-ing equipment (window shutters, sunshadingdevices) and motorized or other noise-generatingequipment. In particular mounting them on theinner surface of external walls may cause disturb-ing noises but this is the case also specifically withHVAC and plumbing equipment.

In some buildings the task extends far beyondmerely preventing excessive noise and takes inthe prime requirement of ensuring the reproduc-tion of sound with certain qualitative characteris-tics. This is the objective in concert halls, auditoria,lecture and music halls, recording studios and oth-ers. In concert halls appropriate sound reverbera-tion and diffusion are the basic criteria for goodenjoyment of classical music. Combined multi-pur-pose halls are more widespread in our time. Theirdesign is possible through a combination of realis-tic simulation and accurate calculation (Sendra,1999). Up-to-date electro-acoustical means com-prise better digital equipment and better transduc-ers, i.e. loudspeakers and microphones. Toachieve good acoustics adequate sound absorp-tion has to be ensured. For this purpose sound-absorbing materials (granular or fibrous porousmaterials) or resonant materials are used andsound absorbers in the enclosures (air, people,seats) have to contribute. Acoustical panels (res-onators) have been developed. These are made upof an airtight material fixed at a distance from arigid surface, thereby forming an airtight gapbetween the two layers. The resulting soundheard by listeners in concert halls and auditoria isdefined by the strength of relative sound level,which can be measured at individual measure-ment positions or calculated as a mean value. Inaddition there is also an element of personaljudgement including the level of ‘auralization’ ofthe sound (3-D sound) which counts. Whilst it isstill a matter of conjecture as to how in ancienttimes spaces with good acoustics could be cre-

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ated, nowadays large spaces with high acousticalrequirements are designed by utilizing all know-ledge available. Some such large halls are:

• Boettcher Hall, Denver, volume 42 450 cubicmetres

• Salle Wilfried Pelletier, Montreal, volume 32 100cubic metres

• Philharmonie Am Gasteig, Munich, volume31 000 cubic metres.

The foregoing does illustrate some of the problemsin the architectural design of spaces with highacoustical performance.

4.7 Revolution in the Technology andControl of Services

Services and the technology of information andtelecommunications have developed since thenineteenth century. Early progress was achievedby the invention and general introduction of a cen-tral supply of hot and cold water, heating, cooling,electricity, gas, telephone and radio. Later camethe telegraphic, telex and fax service, black andwhite and colour television, the thermostat andothers. The next step was to integrate the variousexisting and new services and to build up inte-grated electronic systems such as the Internet,telecommanding of home services, work from thehome, telefinancing and the widespread applica-tion of computers and robots. As has been noted inprevious sections, modern equipment in buildingsis integrated into functional computer-control sys-tems. These control heating, ventilating, air condi-tioning, refrigerating and other equipment (New-man, 1994). Most of the controls are performeddigitally, some by pneumatic or electronic analogcontrols. Sensors measure actual data or changesof electrical or physical properties, such as temper-ature and pressure and issue commands to com-ponents of the system, usually through actuators.The brains of control systems are computers andmicroprocessors and it is these that make up thehardware for the system. The software, consistingof components sometimes called modules, tellsthe hardware what to do.


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Figure 4.9 Commerzbank Building, Frankfurt/Main,Germany, architect: Norman Foster. A tall officebuilding with natural air ventilation encouragedthrough the centre of the building.


Architects do not design technical equipment sys-tems but they must be fully aware of their implica-tions and cooperate with those responsible fordesigning the systems. Architectural design has toprovide adequate space and location for the hard-ware of the system including the communicationsnetwork. The operator(s) also must have a suitableworkplace in order to be able to establish ongoingcontact with these systems. In view of the rapiddevelopment of technical equipment systems,potentials for changes have to be foreseen in thedesign of the building.

Home automation has the objective to build ‘smarthomes’ that not only require an integrated systembut also appliances capable of responding to andacting on remote control and commands. Mostprogress in home automation has been attained in

the USA, Japan and France. In France the expres-sion domotique is used for ‘home automation’ and,usually, a distinction is made between several sys-tems (Chemillier, 1992):

• the security system: surveillance of homes,detection of intrusions and technical faults, sur-veillance of people (children, elderly people),medical advice from a distance

• the control system monitoring operating para-meters of HVAC, gas, electricity

• the domestic help system to facilitate cleaning,washing clothes, cooking, watering, openingand closing shutters and blinds

• the communication and information systemrelated to the telephone and other telecommu-nication media, audiovisual equipment.

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Figure 4.10 Yacuda Academia, Tokyo, Japan, 1994. Natural ventilation of atrium.

A special system concerns administrative tasks:rent payments, etc.

The latest developments aim at introducing remotecontrol appliances. The Swedish Electrolux com-pany has brought on to the market the Screen-Fridge refrigerator which, with its flat computermonitor affixed to its door, will serve as the controlcentre for household management including oper-ating as the interface between appliances and ser-vices in the home and external services such asthe Internet, building management and controlfrom outside the home. A similar development isunder way at the Japanese Panasonic and the USFrigidaire companies. Other appliances, such asthe vacuum cleaner, the microwave oven, the CDplayer, will be equipped with electronics enablingusers to control them from a distance. The techni-cal problems are solved; the basic questionremains one of affordability.

Smart or intelligent buildings are built first of all forthe handicapped and the elderly, that is for thosepeople needing care. Among the buildings alreadyconstructed, let us mention a building with 126flats in the Kungsholmen district of Stockholmequipped with basic information technology ser-vices:• the front door can be checked, opened or

locked by care staff without a key and by fingerpressure by the user

• central switch for cooker and iron• leakage alarm plus automatic disconnection of

water or gas• videophone• lighting can be turned off with a switch from the

bed

• guide lights come on when the person gets outof bed, etc. (Swedish Building Research, 2000).

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Figure 4.11 Académiedes Antilles et de laGuyane, ViceChancellor’s office,Martinique, French WestIndies, 1994. Ventilationof atrium in a hot,humid climate withstrong winds, air fromwind is used forventilation withoutcausing irritatingdraught.


edn rev. P.L. Martin and D.R. Oughton, Butter-worth

Fee, Derek (1994) ‘SAVE’ Programme Proposal toLimit Carbon Dioxide Emissions, European Direc-tory of Energy Efficient Building, James & James(Science Publishers)

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Hensen, J.L. and Nakahara, N. (2001) Energy andBuilding Performance Simulation: Current Stateand Future Issues. Preface, Energy and Build-ings, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. vii–ix. Special Issue.Building Simulation ’99, Proceedings of IBPSAConference, Kyoto, Japan, 13–15 September1999 (in total: 183 papers)

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5.1 Some General Considerations

Architectural design has acquired and retained cer-tain common features since earliest times. Indeedsome architects go about their business in virtuallythe same way as did their colleagues in formerdays. On the other hand tremendous changes havealso occurred. Some architectural firms numbertheir staff in the hundreds and operate globally,perhaps with design teams or complex practices inseveral cities in various regions of the world.

Contemporary architects cooperate with designersactive in other fields: structural, HVAC and otherengineers, with manufacturers of building materi-als, components, equipment and clients, whosometimes themselves have competent teamsproducing briefs for controlling, supervising andengaging in design and construction. In the previ-ous chapters we have looked into the impact oftechnology on architectural design. In the followingsections we will examine other factors, for exam-ple, research, application of computers – the so-called ‘invisible technologies’.

5.2 The Changing Image, Knowledgeand Cooperation of Architects

When studying the oeuvre of an architect, a certainimage may become apparent. Often each designby a specific architect reveals common featuresthat enable the viewer to identify that architect. A

similar process of recognition is well known inother branches of art; one may pick out, purelyfrom the style, the music of Tchaikovsky or a pic-ture by El Greco. For certain architects, however,this is not the case; each design is quite differentand is itself largely determined by the actual cir-cumstances of the project. I.M. Pei when asked inan interview whether his designs comprise somecommon features, replied that the only commonfeature was the fact that he was the designer. Onthe other hand, Richard Meier is well known for hisstrong preference for clear, simple forms andwhite metallic cladding sheets. Other examples areabundant. We can state that the designs of certainarchitects may have an individual image solelycharacteristic of that particular architect, althoughthis image itself does change over time, with itsspecificity occurring in given periods.

The individual image is developed by the architecthimself. However, another type of image is the cor-porate image, which is developed by large nationalor international companies, for example, IBM,Philips and others. These large companies areclients for a number of buildings and complexes ofbuildings and wish to project a common corporateimage through each of their buildings. Such majorclients usually have their own architectural andconstruction organization and these, though notcarrying out the full design, take care to requirethat the architects working for their company actu-ally incorporate the corporate image in their design.This is, for example, expressed for railway stationdesign, by the following (Edwards, 1997: p.128):

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5The impact of invisible technologieson design

To achieve consistency four conditionsneed to apply:The client (the railway company) needs tovalue design and be conscious of thebenefit of corporate imageA single coordinating architect is required,armed with the ability to produce designguides and influence briefsAll design skills (from graphics tostructural layout) need to subscribe to thesame basic aesthetic idealsOver time, the changes required ofstations need to be carried out insympathy with the original aesthetic aims.

The corporate image may allow the architect suffi-cient freedom to shape a building quite differentfrom others built for the corporation. For smallbuildings, with a strictly defined function, the entirebuilding may be more or less standardized: kiosksfor fast food chains, petrol (fuel) stations of big oilcompanies (Shell, etc.).

A common image may also have other sources,such as the influence of a style, of a domestic tra-dition of construction, or of a metaphor.

The overall lesson to be drawn from all this is thatarchitectural design must in one way or other per-mit the influx of various factors and aspirations butthe final outcome must be that any decision con-cerning those external factors being allocated aplace in the design process should be an indepen-dent one.

Many architects practise on their own or in a purelyarchitectural firm; others, however, are active inarchitectural-engineering firms or are employed by‘design-build’ or engineer-construction companies.Such combinations certainly influence the manage-ment of architectural design and may also befavourable for the cooperation of architects withengineers and construction practitioners, but theyshould not have any adverse impact on the creativ-ity and inventiveness of the architects.

In the family-home market, catalogues of houseson offer have long been in use. With the assistanceof the computer the different house types may bevisualized on the monitor screen and as a resultindividual wishes may be incorporated in the

design directly on the monitor. The designs of suchcatalogue houses may be worked out by an archi-tect independently or by one related to a home-builder or the services of an architect may be dis-pensed with entirely. Understandably, architecturalassociations are not in favour of design work exe-cuted without an architect, concerned by eventualaesthetic or technical deficiencies in the designs.This is increasingly becoming a bone of contentionin the field of private housing, which in many West-ern European countries nowadays accounts formore than half of all housing bought and sold. Tomany people the low quality of this stock providescompelling proof of the inability of society to com-prehend architecture.

Architects build up for themselves through theirwork a certain degree of recognition. This candevelop into national or even global fame andcelebrity status. The components of such famehave been discussed in various ways (Dunster,2001) and, understandably, to achieve such fame ispart although not the final objective of an archi-tect’s career. Celebrity status helps the architect inwinning new important commissions.

An equally important change in the practical pro-fessional life and position of architects is that theirexpertise now increasingly comprises the resultsof science and research. Building design in the pastwas primarily based on empirical experience. Sincethe scientific and industrial revolution during theseventeenth and eighteenth centuries, construc-tion acquired a stock of new knowledge, partly inbasic science (mathematics, physics, etc.), partly inspecific building science (structural design, buildingphysics, etc.). This progress affected architecturaldesign. Without the knowledge acquired during thelast centuries, skyscrapers, long-span bridges andmany other buildings could not have been built.The advances in mathematics (finite elementsmethod, etc.), strength of materials, analysis ofstructures and the appearance of computers con-tributed to a more accurate analysis of structuresand their design.

The new methods in mathematics and computinghave been increasingly applied in structural analy-sis and also in studying other engineering prob-lems: in building physics, heat and moisture trans-

The impact of invisible technologies on design

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fer, acoustical problems, fire and smoke propaga-tion and control. Progress in mathematics wascombined with enhanced potentials in computa-tion, for example in structural dynamics (Buch-holdt, 1997), aerodynamics, fluid dynamics and thenew analysis methods were applied in structuraldesign, airflow control, design of heat and ventila-tion systems. The new knowledge and methodsrequire that when involved in complex problemsthe architect broadens his or her knowledge andcooperation with experts in various engineeringdisciplines.

The architect in our time must have the ability tocooperate constructively with other specialized par-ticipants in the design process. This applies first ofall to the structural designer but also to those work-ing on the services, acoustics, lighting and others.A special word is needed for the structural design.There have been and are engineers who them-selves design buildings and structures, such asstadiums, grandstands, railway terminal canopies,which satisfy users’ requirements. Engineers whofall into this category are Nervi, Torroja, Candela

and, more recently, Calatrava. Another set of engi-neers is willing to enter into cooperation with thearchitect and to contribute to the architecturaldesign by innovative structural solutions. Amongthese Peter Rice and Anthony Hunt merit mention.The former was a major initiator of the structuralglass systems. The latter has been an importantauthor of present-day steel frames and mastedstructures with cable structure. The work done byHunt and others contributed to replacing rivetedand bolted steel structure joints by welded connec-tions and cast steel couplers. New and future archi-tecture has gained and stands to gain much by cre-ative cooperation between architects and structuralengineers (Macdonald, 2000).

Whilst the work of architects retains many of itshistorical features, contemporary design processeshave become more abstract and experimental.However, one of the recognizable results of com-puters has been to accelerate the rate of reactionof architecture. The representation of the designhas been sometimes transformed into conceptualdiagrams developed with the aid of high-end

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Figure 5.1 Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, architect: Frank O. Gehry. The complex forms of the ‘metalflower’ envelope could be designed only with the assistance of a computer: the CATIA software developedby the French aircraft company Dassault was used; the material of the envelope is thin titan sheet.

computer software packages (ContemporaryProcesses in Architecture, 2000). The participationof the client and future users, as well as the interimreview of design is taking new forms (Jones,2001). Although design reviews are not expectedto select, and even less to create, an optimaldesign, they may prevent serious mistakes. At thesame time there is a risk that they themselves maybecome sources of errors.

The changes concerning the knowledge require-ments of architects must be reflected in their edu-cation as is proven by a number of publications onthis subject (Denès, 1996, Harris, 2001).

Modern education for architects must reconcileseemingly contradictory requirements: a reasonableselection from increasing traditional and new knowl-edge (artistic, technical, economic, environmental,social, information and computing technologies) andassistance to creative, artistic work, comprising alsomodern methods of assistance in design work.

5.3 Fire Engineering Design

Research established the new discipline of fire sci-ence and fire safety engineering (Bickerdike Allen,1996). At the present time there exists a solidstock of knowledge on fire in and around buildingsand the design principles to ensure safety. Thisincludes knowledge of internal and external growthand spread of fire and smoke, requirements con-cerning the means of escape in case of fire andaccess and facilities for the fire service.

The essence of fire safety engineering lies in theknowledge of the movement of fire includinggases and smoke created by fire. This was helpedby progress in fluid dynamics and advances in themathematics of complicated computational prob-lems. Much of the theoretical analysis of firebehaviour has been represented by zone model-ling, which incorporates modelling of heat transferand fluid flow in different zones in premises andbuildings. It is now possible to compute in advancewhat could happen in a fire and by using the resultsof the analysis, to design buildings with a predeter-mined safety. This must also comprise a sufficientnumber of safe escape routes that are accessible,

clearly recognizable and usable when needed.

Fire catastrophes have often been caused by incor-rect management methods, e.g. unauthorized clos-ing of exits. Management and foresight deficien-cies were the underlying causes of a major recentfire in Volendam, Netherlands with attendant highmortality. Clothing has also been the subject ofintensive study to clarify the differences in ignitabil-ity of different textiles and flame spread.

The extreme importance of fire safety obligesarchitects thoroughly to master matters of firesafety and to allocate adequate attention to it in thearchitectural design of buildings.

5.4 New Methods in StructuralAnalysis – Design for Seismic Areas

Structural analysis underwent a tremendous devel-opment during the twentieth century (Sebestyen,1998). Probability-based models were offered inorder to perfect deterministic models.

Strictly elastic and linear models gave way to plas-tic or partly plastic and non-linear models. Macro-molecular structural models remained to dominatestructural analysis but fracture mechanics com-menced investigating better models of structures.More accurate models were also introduced toanalyse the impact of dynamic actions, the impactof earthquakes, wind and other forms of vibration.Devices to reduce the damages to buildings duringearthquakes have now reached the position whenthey include structural and dynamic tools for pas-sive and active dampening. The structural designthat formerly was carried out with models of per-missible stresses has been succeeded by ultimatestress models in which the structure was pre-sumed likely to fail when it could no longer meeteither the ultimate limit states causing failures, orthe serviceability limit states comprising deforma-tions. Ultimate limit states correspond to the fol-lowing adverse states:

• loss of equilibrum of the structure or a partthereof

• attainment of the maximum resistance capacity


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Figure 5.2Municipalgymnasium,Odawara, Japan,designer: KiyoshiTakeyama. Therectangular spaceframe wasdesigned with theassistance of acomputerproducing the bestdeformation forstructuralpurposes.

of sections, members, or connections by rupture,fatigue, corrosion, or excessive deformation

• transformation of the structure or part of it intoa mechanism

• instability of the structure or part of it • sudden change of the assumed structural sys-

tem into a new system• unacceptable or excessive deformation.

The two basic models for structural analysis are thepartial factor method and the full probabilisticmethod, the first being considered as a simplifica-tion of the second. Whilst both models may beapplied (as stated, for example, in the ISO 2394International Standard), in practice it is the partialfactor method that finds practical application, thisbeing abundantly supported by calculation meth-ods, characteristic values, partial factor values andload combinations. Research is faced with the cleartask to elaborate all necessary help for the full prob-abilistic method in order to make it also operational.

The most important progress in structural analysishas been the advent of electronic computation.Eminent civil engineers (Torroja, Nervi, Arup, Iyen-gar, Rice and many others) and architect-engineers(Frei Otto, the late Ted Happold) figure in the list ofstructural designers who have contributed to thedevelopment of innovative structures (Rice, 1993).Various forms of cooperation between architectsand structural designers were experienced andsuch cooperation was often a decisive factor inprogress, for example, in the cooperation amongseveral of the designers listed above. Special com-puter-based methods were developed for protec-tion against earthquakes, wind, fire, smoke andbuilding physics (heat, moisture, light, noise). Elec-tronic computation enabled designers to solvelarge-size calculations and design new types ofstructure, such as skyscrapers, long-span bridgesand wide-span roofs.

Earthquakes are attributed to fault movementwithin the earth’s crust. They are a natural phe-nomenon occurring as a result of sudden rupture ofthe rocks, which constitute the earth (DynamicAnalysis and Earthquake Resistant Design,1997).Throughout the history of mankind they havebrought catastrophic results in their wake. It wasnot so long ago that scientific research into their

causes commenced, which has evolved into a solidscience over the last hundred years. Vibrations,surface waves and ground motion of differing mag-nitude and intensity are generated by an earth-quake. Serious earthquakes cause damage to orfailures of buildings and structures and can alsoresult in heavy loss of life. Strong motion observa-tions have been recorded since the last century. Bynow much data on strong motion is available andtheoretical models of strong motion could be cal-culated. As a consequence, earthquake hazard canbe analysed, risk indices can be calculated andseismic zones; in which construction should beavoided or at the least special design guidelinesshould be applied, could be established. Buildingdesign profited from this progress so that currentlydesign can assess in advance probable seismicforce. For this purpose dynamic analysis methodswere worked out.

The behaviour of a structure in an earthquakehinges on the intensity of the earthquake and thequality of the structure (Jeary, 1997). The quality ofthe structure in turn depends on the configurationof the building (very much a result of architectural


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Figure 5.3 Denver International Airport, USA,designer: Severud Associates, New York (Edward M.DePaola, principal), principal design consultant:Horst Berger. The tensile roof structure covers428 000 square metres, it consists of a series oftent-like modules, supported by two rows of masts:the roof mesh’s design was generated by computerusing non-linear analysis methods to take accountof possible maximum deformations.


intentions), the characteristics of the building ma-terials, the architectural and structural design solu-tions and the quality of the construction’s execu-tion (Penelis and Kappos, 1997).

The seismic design principles comprise the follow-ing guidelines:

• Structures must resist low-intensity earth-quakes without suffering any structural damage,which means that during such earthquakes allstructural elements should remain in the elasticrange.

• Structures should withstand moderate-intensityearthquakes with very light and repairable dam-age.

• Structures should withstand high-intensityearthquakes (whose frequency of occurrenceshould not exceed calculated periods) withoutcollapsing.

The above-listed principles are formulated in EC8‘Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures’ bysome fundamental requirements, compliancerequirements and some specific measures. Earth-quake-resistant structural analysis and design arebased on the requirements. Methods based onstructural dynamics are necessary for importantbuildings with a considerable height, wide span orother sensitive characteristics. For simpler build-ings static analysis may be satisfactory (Browning,2001). In well-defined and limited cases seismicdesign may be restricted to structures with con-trolled inelastic response, assuming primarily elas-tic behaviour in earthquakes (CEB, 1998).

Traditionally, seismic design relied mostly on theductile behaviour of the structure. The ductility ofan element is its ability to sustain inelastic defor-mations without substantial structural reduction instrength and the capacity to absorb and dissipateseismic energy (Penelis and Kappos, 1997). Mod-ern design comprises the (static or dynamic) analy-sis of the superstructure and, very often, seismicisolation and passive and/or active dampening(Kelly, 1997, Soong and Dargush, 1997; Wada etal., 2000). The essence of the concept of seismic(or base) isolation is that uncoupling the super-structure by some type of support would allow thebuilding to slide in the event of an earthquake. The

isolation system may be a system of elastomericbearings (usually natural rubber) or sliders. The lowhorizontal stiffness of the seismic base isolationreduces the superstructure’s fundamental fre-quency below its fixed base frequency and thepredominant frequency of the ground. Most often,multi-layered laminated rubber bearings with steelreinforcing layers are used for seismic isolation. Itis also possible to combine sliders with elastomericbearings. Excessive displacement of the structuremay be controlled by active damping counteractingthe forces during the earthquake.

The seismic design is different for tall buildings andfor light wide-span structures. Rubber-metal lami-nated bearings as seismic isolation proved to be agood solution for tall buildings and, therefore, findincreasing application for such structures. Spacestructures do in general perform outstandinglywhen subject to severe earthquakes (Moghaddam,2000). Translational pendulum and paddle isolatorsprovide a better protection for wide-span struc-tures (Tatemichi and Kawaguchi, 2000). However,they are difficult to apply for lightweight structures.

Structural dynamics is applied also when designingbuildings and structures to withstand strong winds(Simiu and Scanlan, 1996).

Seismic design, especially of important, tall orwide-span structures, requires specialized knowl-edge and experience, which means that the archi-tect’s and the structural engineer’s skill and workshould be combined.

5.5 Heat, Moisture and Air QualityAffecting Architectural Design

In a limited way architects have always been con-fronted with the need to solve problems of physicssuch as (not counting statics and dynamics ofstructures): natural light and shading, acoustics intheatres, heat and moisture in public baths, etc.The complexity and sophistication of such prob-lems have grown enormously in our time. Togetherwith this, it was recognized that the expression‘building physics’ does not cover all problemsrelated to human comfort, internal and externalambience and behaviour of structures and build-

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ings. The new term ‘environmental design’ hasbeen coined covering also chemical and biologicalproblems (corrosion, fire, mould, etc.) but buildingphysics (heat, moisture, sound, light) remains animportant component of knowledge (Thomas,1996).

The traditional way of designing and constructingbuildings took care in some empirical way of heat,moisture and air quality problems. However,human comfort conditions have not been alto-gether favourable. At the present time, despitestricter requirements the heat and moisture condi-tions of buildings have often deteriorated. Evenwith increased heat insulation, mould, surface andinterstitial condensation appeared and only follow-ing widespread damage and extensive researchhave we arrived at the position where we have thecapability to develop adequate means to ensureappropriate heat, moisture and air quality condi-tions. Architects must be aware of the measuresthat need to be taken to ensure adequate internalambience. In particular, multi-layer externalenvelopes of buildings give rise to concern. Inthese, heat and moisture find their way throughthe structure from the inside to the outside. Thetemperature sinks from the inside towards the out-side. The lower-temperature air can retain a smallerquantity of vapour than the warmer inside air.Where the vapour pressure reaches the dew point,i.e. the saturation level, condensation occurs. Anobvious requirement is that the resistance tovapour penetration should be greater at the insidepart of the structure where the temperature is rela-tively higher. A more refined analysis not onlyinvestigates static temperature and moisture con-ditions but examines whether a relatively limitedamount of condensed vapour lacks the possibilityof evaporating during drier and warmer periods.

Serious defects of the innovative façades assem-bled from large-size prefabricated reinforced con-crete panels became evident. Driving rain pene-trated through the joints between the panels andso a new detailing was developed. Instead of tryingto stop the driving rain at the outside of the enve-lope, a ‘decompression space’ was inserted behindthe wind barrier. The water barrier was placedbehind the wind barrier and the decompressionspace. The horizontal joint received a threshold to

prevent the wind attempting to force the waterthrough the joint. The new solution became gener-ally applied and proved to be successful. Anotherexample of a new technical solution, this time toprevent surface or interstitial condensation, was


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Figure 5.4 The standard new solution of a façadejoint between large-size pre-cast concrete panels.Decompression space in the vertical joint reducesthe pressure of the driving rain; a threshold in thehorizontal joint has a similar influence on upwards-oriented driving rain. © Sebestyen: Construction:Craft to Industry, E & FN Spon.


the inverted low-pitched roof in which the heatinsulation (polystyrene with closed cells) wasplaced above (and not, as was usually the case,below) the water insulation. The general practicefor multi-layer structures (walls, ceiling or roof) is toplace a vapour-resistant layer on the inside and theheat insulation more on the outside. Technologi-cally, however, this may cause problems, which incommon with other factors may finally determinethe order of layers (Bojic et al., 2001).

Heat and moisture transfer has been elucidatedalready in the course of the first half of the twenti-eth century but with some major limitations,assuming stable conditions and simple geometricparameters. The second half of the twentieth cen-tury saw an expansion in analysis of dynamic con-ditions and complex geometric parameters. Inorder to deal with these, new models andadvances in mathematics and computation capaci-ties were needed.

The finite elements method, the boundary condi-tions analysis and the use of computers enabledprogress in analysis as much in structural theoryand analysis as in branches of building physics:heat and moisture analysis, airflow, sound andlight.

The heat flows through the external envelope notin parallel straight lines but is more intensive wherethere are thermal bridges, i.e. places with reducedheat insulation (window frames, reinforced con-crete or steel girders). This increases the totalamount of heat (or energy) losses. The actual flowcan now be analysed thanks to progress in mathe-matics and computing. The architect must beaware of such problems in order to avoid subse-quent damage.

5.6 Technical Systems of Buildings:‘System Building’

The development of technical systems goes back avery long way in construction. Systems weredeveloped for timber houses, steel members andothers. In modern times, the industrialization ofbuilding induced designers to create systems. JeanProuvé, Buckminster Fuller, and others attempted

this during the first half of the twentieth centurybut in general met with only limited success. Thefailures meant that the expression ‘system build-ing’ was brought almost totally into disrepute. Dur-ing the third quarter of the twentieth centuryanother step towards industrialization and systemsyielded more durable results but they were stillonly on a restricted scale. The various attemptscomprised:

• school building systems: in the UK CLASP,SCOLA and others; in the USA the Californianschool building systems

• industrial hall and agricultural building systemsinitiated by steel and steel structure manufac-turers and constructors (Butler, etc.) but also bythe concrete prefabrication industry

• industrialized housing systems including thereinforced concrete large-panel systems:Larsen-Nielsen, Camus, Coignet, the systems inthe Eastern European countries

• systems of building components: windows,doors, ceilings, floors, partitions

• systems of services: HVAC, elevators, bath-room units, etc.

As an example let us have a glance at the systemsof the Butler Manufacturing Company:

• Widespan structural system: single-storey build-ings with steel frame, straight or taperedcolumns, several alternatives for the frame,cladding and roof

• Landmark 2000 structural system: single-storeysteel frame, open web truss purlins, single ordouble slope and offset ridge roof, straight ortapered columns

• Multi-storey structural system: steel frame forlow-rise buildings

• Hardwall structural system: a combination ofmasonry or concrete walls and steel structure

• Self-storage building system• Re-roof system: for repairs• MR-24 roof system: steel panels joined with a

double-lock standing seam and fastened to thepurlins with clip formed into the seam

• CMR-24 roof system: as MR-24 but with a layerof rigid heat insulation

• YSR roof system: a standing-seam roof systemfor high-level appearance of buildings

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• Butlerib II roof system: for wide-span structuralsystem buildings

• Butler wall or fascia systems: for cladding ofbuildings.

The selected list of technical systems is only anexample. Many others exist, and the decision onwhich one to accept depends on many circum-stances.

The most devastating critics of systems remark thatmost of the systems for complete buildings endedup with an unattractive architectural appearance,often low-quality housing slums, and in additionbrought with them no real economic advantages.System thinking, however, retains advantages,which should not necessarily be downgraded by thedeficiencies in the systems themselves. In particu-lar it is worth considering systems of individual ser-vices (heating, elevators, fire control, etc.) andstructures (partitions, ceilings), which have beendiscussed in previous chapters.

Many recent buildings, however, have beendesigned with integrated systems of services andsuch buildings are sometimes referred to as ‘high-tech’ buildings. Let us take one building as a model.The building selected is the RWE Headquarters,Essen, Germany, 1996 (architects: Ingenhoven,Overdiek, Kahlen and Partner). The company itself isengaged in energy-conservation strategies and thisis reflected in its headquarters building. The buildingcomprises 30 storeys and is 163 metres high. Inter-nal environmental conditions are managed by Build-ing Management Systems (BMS). In every roomthere is a single control panel through which light,temperature and sun protection can be controlled.The building is encased in a double glass skin withthe external skin being made from strengthenedsafety glass. The material used as inner glazing isheat-insulated Climaplus white glass. The 50 cen-timetre void between the two glass layers functionsas a thermal buffer. Electronically controlled alu-minium lamellae provide protection from the sun. Airbaffle plates control the inflow and outflow of air inthe glass corridor. The concrete floors contribute toheat storage thereby reducing energy consumption.Some of the building’s energy is generated by pho-tovoltaic panels incorporated into roof-level loggiaelements (Jones, 1998).

This brief account of just one building’s integratedservice system is evidence of the growing impor-tance of the design of service systems within theoverall architectural design of buildings.

5.7 Computers and Robots inArchitecture and Management

Complexity characterizes architecture and con-struction. This is an inevitable result of the diversityof their products but it also stems from the compli-cations inherent in the commissioning of differentdesigners, manufacturers and contractors. Com-plexity is defined in different ways by variousauthors (Jencks, 1997).

Following the Second World War the computergradually penetrated all the traditional fields of archi-tecture, construction and management of buildings.Moreover, it created new activities and enabledarchitects, structural and other designers and man-agers in the building industry and facility manage-ment to carry out new types of activities (Sanders,1996, Howard, 1998). For architects the use ofcomputers initially meant no more than assistancein their work. Over the recent past this has beenextended to providing new design potentials. Onenew field worthy of mention is structural shape-finding of long-span structures, such as for bridges,tensile structures, shells and others. Programs havebeen either of an architectural character or com-bined with structural analysis and other designtasks (structural and architectural morphology).

Architectural and engineering designers have to beaware of the many codes, standards and other reg-ulations affecting their work. In order to assistthem, special search programs have been workedout.

Computer-assisted architectural design may beopen-ended or system-oriented. In open-endeddesign, programs have to be applied that enable thearchitect to create any possible form. In system-related CAD, the program is restricted to forms andstructures that have been designed earlier, enablingthe architect at a later stage to design individualbuildings that fit into the overall structure of the sys-tem. Understandably, present-day systems, for


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example, school and hospital building systems, con-tain computer-assisted design systems. For hospi-tals a complex CAD system was worked out at theArchitectural Faculty of Leuven University, Belgium.Another hospital designing system, the GADES sys-tem, is described by Bentley (1999).

Computers provide the new possibility of designthrough creation of Virtual Reality (VR) (Bertol andFoell, 1997). Virtual Reality is the computer-gener-ated representation, visualization and simulation, inwhich the architect or other players can participatein real time interaction.

‘Animation’ is yet another new method for visualiz-ing and representing architectural work. To animatemeans to impart life and vitality to something. Forthis purpose cinematographic technologies areapplied (More, 2001). A common application is forthe purpose of so-called ‘walk-throughs’ within abuilding or in the city. A notable example is theWalk Thru Project, which is executed by a team ofcomputer scientists at the University of NorthCarolina (National Science Foundation News,2001). This helps architects and engineers to cre-ate extremely detailed virtual structures thatdesigners can ‘walk through’ and thereby eliminatepotential problems before any work starts. The pro-ject is developing new algorithms and software foradvanced prototyping with the aim of producingsafer and more cost-efficient buildings and spaces.

One author, Tim Cornick gave the following answerto the rhetorical question that he had himself posed:

The architect working at his or her CADstation and electronically linked to otherco-designers (which now include theclient and construction manager)generates alternative building forms andmaterial concepts. Immediate access tocost, time and performance standarddata, as well as regulations andstandards, gives immediate feedback onhow targets are met. The total projectprocess is now under control withoutarchitectural creativity and innovationbeing impaired. (Cornick, 1996: p.123)

Predicting the future has always been a risky busi-ness but in this case, undoubtedly, the future hasbeen correctly assessed. Small practices may still

be able to stay in business without the use of com-puters but the trend is towards a general accep-tance of a certain role for computers and, for largepractices, computer-assisted design has become anatural part of the work. For architects, the use ofcomputers is, and increasingly will be, a normalpart of life and an important impact of moderntechnology on architectural design.

Computers are increasingly finding application inurban life. Information technologies are applied incity urban management such as urban transport,municipal services and public and private residen-tial management. Information networks are pro-vided for telework and other telecommunicationsservices, including services for the aged and hand-icapped, anti-burglary, fire protection and defectsannouncement services (OECD, 1992). Some ofthese networks are integrated in homes (‘smart’ or‘intelligent homes’), others are serving institutionsonly and some have an interface, for example,between individual users and housing organiza-tions. There is no need to prove that this develop-ment affects the design of buildings.

Research is in progress for the use of new glassfibres that would help to establish an all-opticalregional or metropolitan-area network.

One of the fields in computer research is the model-ling of architectural and engineering activities byadaptation of neural networks. Artificial neural net-works (ANN) have the ability to learn from experi-ence and examples to adapt to changing situationsand to be used where input data is fuzzy, discontin-uous or incomplete (Rafiq et al., 2001). ANNs arecomputing systems made up of a number of simple,highly interconnected processing elements thatprocess information by their dynamic state responseto external inputs (Rafiq et al., 2001). Several appli-cations have been published (El-Kassas et al., 2001).Neural networks and other computing innovationsaffect architectural and engineering design.

5.8 Architecture and Industrializationof Construction

Various parts of this book demonstrate the enor-mous influence of construction’s technical

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progress on architecture. This technical progress isoften described as the industrialization of construc-tion, which encompasses, in addition to the alreadydiscussed introduction of new building materials,structures, services and the use of computers andnew knowledge, the mechanization, prefabricationand automation of construction (Bock, 2001).Automation is also referred to as the appearance ofrobots (i.e. robotization) in construction.

Warszawski defines the industrialization process‘as an investment in equipment, facilities, andtechnology with the purpose of increasing output,saving manual labour, and improving quality’(Warszawski, 1999). Whilst we would agree withthe components listed, the application of up-to-date knowledge about achievements of scienceand research may be added. This might also com-plete the features listed by Warszawski as beingprerequisites to successful industrialization:

• Centralization of Production• Mass Production• Standardization• Specialization• Good Organization• Integration (Warszawski, 1999).

One should not forget that in the subtitle Warsza-wski defines his book as being a managerialapproach. This book, on the other hand, discusseseven industrialization from the point of view ofarchitecture and, as far as possible, the entire build-ing process .

Mechanization is to a limited extent a concern ofthe architect. Provided it strives towards a moreefficient execution of the ideas of the architect, itcauses no problem. However, it may interfere withthe design process, require a change to the archi-tectural concept and the details due to some kindof restriction of the machines. Prefabrication alsoaffects the design, and particularly so when theprefabricated parts are not concealed but visible onthe surface. The distances between emphasizedjoints on the surface form a different scale fromthat of joints between bricks or other buildingblocks destined for manual handling. The proper-ties of joints are also different. The great distancesbetween them cause deformations due to shrink-age or other causes and the design has to foresee

these. Architects have to learn to design with pre-fabricated components. While this situation con-fronts them with new problems, it also furnishesthem with new design potentials.

Industrialization enhances the possibilities for cre-ative design but it also imposes restrictions. It isthe responsibility of the architect and the engineerto reconcile seemingly contradictory requirements.This has been solved by most architects and engi-neers through amicable professional cooperationand by reaching mutually acceptable designs.

The use of robots is also not without its difficulties.These arise to only a slight extent with single-taskrobots (concrete finishing robots, spray-paintingrobots, inspection robots, material-handling robots,etc.) but extensively when it comes to automatedconstruction methods. It is primarily in Japanwhere such systems have been developed andwhere a number of individual buildings were con-structed by these methods. Without going intodetailed discussion, we list the companies andtheir ‘automated’ systems below (Cousineau andMiura, 1998):

Takenaka Push-UpShimizu SMARTObayashi ABCSTaisei T-UpMaeda MCCSFujita Akatsuki 21Kajima AMURAD

Several automated and robotized production meth-ods were devised for family homes, such as Sek-isui and others (Kashino, 1992).

While it is obvious that robotized construction ofbuildings will only claim a relatively small share oftotal construction, at least in the foreseeablefuture, it is certainly a field that also calls for atten-tion on the part of architects.

5.9 Management Strategies

Architecture (and construction itself) has becomean important branch of human activities. In ourtime a great variety of architectural practices func-tion, some quite large. Not surprisingly, certain


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studies and publications devote their attention toarchitectural firms and their management (Lods,1976, and Gauch and Tercier, 1980). One publica-tion describes the activities of almost 40 importantarchitectural practices (Zabalbeascoa, 2001).

Management is an umbrella term for widely differ-ent types of activity such as:

• management of design: architectural, structural,interior, engineering, urban

• management of construction including activitiesof clients, designers, builders, contractors andsubcontractors

• management of the use of buildings, facilitymanagement

• management of economic and financial affairsin architecture and building feasibility studies,quantity surveying, cost control

• management of information matters: data stor-age, communications, computer applications.

Management forms and methods have changedtogether with technological progress. The archi-tect’s position in management affairs depends onthe size and type of the architectural practice andon the way in which the various activities are con-tracted, i.e. the procurement methods. Whereas intraditional procurement the architect receives hiscontract from the client to whom he is responsible,in new procurement methods his position may bedifferent. The main new procurement systems are:

• Design and Build (or Design and Construct)• Turnkey Method (or Package Deal)• Build – Operate – Transfer (BOT)• Management Construction (in management

construction a contractor is appointed at thepre-construction stage and is paid a fee to man-age and deliver the project)

• Construction Management (construction man-agement is a particular form of project manage-ment; the construction manager acts as theclient’s agent, issuing contracts for a fee)

• Project Management• Relational Contracting, Partnering.

According to their function in the design process,firms can have different orientations. In the USAdesign firms may be classified as engineer-con-structors, engineer-architects, architect-engineers

and architects. Builders, contractors, developersand other firms may also assume a design func-tion.

In each of the procurement and design methods,the architect may be able to identify for himself aprofessionally acceptable position, but in generalpreference should be given to those forms thatguarantee in practice a sufficient degree ofintegrity for the architect. In all forms the architectbears a high degree of professional responsibility,which may be regulated in different ways and ineach form its scope should be clear and unambigu-ous. Splitting the architectural responsibilitybetween the client, the contractor and its subcon-tractors and the architect, may put the very qualityof the architect’s work at risk.

Architects have always had to manage their ownaffairs. In modern times this obligation has alteredless for small but more for large architectural prac-tices (Kaderlan, 1991). The tasks have beenexpanded for major design practices, which mayhave a staff of a hundred or more (in some casesover a thousand) persons (Harrigan and Neel,1996). The architect must himself or herself be pre-pared to assume management tasks or liaise insome way with a manager. Some large architec-tural practices have become more sophisticated bytaking on a number of additional tasks.

Large practices may take the legal form of partner-ship. Partners in an architectural practice may beresponsible for a certain area in which each partnerbears the responsibility for a number of projects,eventually with the owner of the partnership or asenior partner overseeing all work. In large prac-tices there may also be a professional specializa-tion, with partners or sections specialized in certaindisciplines, for example, structural engineering,services, heat insulation, acoustics, or others.Architectural practice may be combined with engi-neering design and/or contracting activity. Global-ization results in establishing regional offices,sometimes in partnership with local practices.

Some architectural practices also accept projectmanagement commissions (Tavares, 1999). Pro-ject management would not in general be consid-ered as a responsibility of an architect but fre-quently it does become one and indeed there are

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architects who specialize in project management.Anthony Walker writes that this involves:

The planning, co-ordination and control ofa project from conception to completion(including commissioning) on behalf of aclient, requiring the identification of theclient’s objectives in terms of utility,function, quality, time and cost, and theestablishment of relationships betweenresources, integrating, monitoring andcontrolling the contributors to the projectand their output, and evaluating andselecting alternatives in pursuit of theclient’s satisfaction with the projectoutcome. (Walker, 1984: 124)

The burgeoning but already well-established disci-pline of facility management includes systemdevelopment for various types of buildings andtherefore provides basic information to the archi-tect within the design process. Offices may becited as an example: earlier a new idea was to havea large office space, but more recently the conceptof interlinked workgroup spaces (such asHertzberger’s Centraal Beheer in Apeldoorn andthe NMB Bank Building in Amsterdam, both in TheNetherlands) has gained favour (Boyd, 1994).

Several authors have attempted to predict thefuture forms of building design and constructionprocurement. These prophesies endeavour todefine the role of modern information technolo-gies, networking, partnering, up-to-date technolo-gies and other factors. Whilst these predictions dodescribe evolving methods and procurementforms, it is easy to realize that any possible futureform will not be without its antecedents. In thepast also relations of client, architect, contractorand others took various forms although they lackedthe experience of current and future technologies.

The core of purely architectural design work may atfirst sight seem unchanged, but the new stock ofknowledge and management requirements cer-tainly affects various aspects of the work of archi-tects. Architects have always the dual task of pro-ducing optimal designs for their clients and othersand, on the other side, functioning in an optimalway for their own firm. This dual task may even beconsidered as constituting a dilemma, which, how-

ever, must be solved in a complex way (Spector,2001).

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6.1 Urban Development

One must turn the pages of ancient history to findout just when construction activities first exerciseda pivotal role in influencing human society. Theyshaped human settlements, villages and cities, res-idential, industrial, commercial, leisure and culturalbuildings and architecture played an active rolethroughout.

The first groups of buildings for human social lifeappeared at the least some 5000–10 000 years agoand some towns in the Middle East date back 5000

years. Most of the population continued to live fora long time in rural communities but some of thegreat cities that we know today (Xian in China andRome) had already developed into major conurba-tions one to two thousand years ago. For a longperiod the population growth was slow but then itaccelerated. As industrialization proceeded sometowns grew to large mega-cities: London, Paris,New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Los Angeles, othersbecame large or medium-sized cities: Manchester,Lyon, Marseille, Frankfurt/Main, Miami, Madrid.Urbanization spread from the industrialized to the

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6The interrelationship of architecture,economy, environment andsustainability

Figure 6.1 Avenue de l’Opéra, Paris, cut through the Paris street structure, according to the city plan byGeorges Eugène Haussmann. Radical transformation of medieval Paris street structure into one of a modernmetropolis.


developing countries with the result that MexicoCity, São Paulo, Cairo, Bombay, Calcutta, BuenosAires, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok,Jakarta, qualified for inclusion in the category of thelargest cities of the world. Indeed, most of thelarge towns are already now located in developingcountries and this shift towards mega-cities indeveloping countries is inexorable.

Their success, their equally obvious degradationproblems and finally their future have been thefocus of much attention (Geddes, 1997, Duffy,1995). New concepts were worked out, for exam-ple, the garden cities and the self-sustained satel-lite towns but as time went on it became evidentthat their capacity to alleviate the problems ofurban growth and large cities was limited (UN ECE,1996).

Global population growth has pushed ahead onlyduring the last 200–300 years. Urban population insome industrialized countries reached more thanhalf of the total and even touched 75–90 per centin some. The spontaneous growth of urban settle-ments has been gradually replaced by consciousurban planning, which liaised with the profession ofarchitecture. In our time architects contribute in amassive way to the renewal and development ofcities.

The growth of cities was primarily caused by popu-lation growth but also by development of certainfunctions (administrative, touristic, cultural, com-mercial, industrial) of individual settlements. Politi-cal power, geographical location, commercialimportance and other factors exercised differingdegrees of importance for settlements. As a resultcities came into existence, partly with similar,partly with different characteristics within theregions of the world.

Investment in buildings and infrastructure, theirmaintenance and renewal, necessitated an activeinput on the part of architecture and construction.In our time new functions and moving forces havejoined the old ones. Industrialization was one of thegreat causes of urban development. The demo-graphic explosion was another. The appearance ofnation states and their administration contributedto the establishment of administrative (governmentand municipal) centres. More affluence, higher pro-

ductivity, education, culture, more free time forleisure were all factors that stimulated the con-struction of buildings serving the demand for newforms of buildings. Cities with specialized functions– harbour and transport hub cities and tourist set-tlements – were built. The shift from earlier eco-nomic sectors, such as mining and heavy manufac-turing, towards light industries, such as informationtechnologies and biogenetics, led to new types ofclusters: technopoles and science parks. Services,including health care and telecommunications andmedia services, all oriented the development ofcities and the structure of the built environment innew directions (Hall and Hay, 1980).

The new functions called for new technical andarchitectural characteristics, such as super-clean airand controlled internal ambience. Technopoles andscience parks are typical for such new characteris-tics. Following the first ones in Silicon Valley in Cal-ifornia and Sophia Antipolis in France, very manymore were established in numerous countries(Bailly et al., 1999, Quéré, 1998, Scott, 1998,Lacour and Puissant, 1999, Horvath, 2000, Dunfordand Kafkalas, 1992). Technopoles and scienceparks attract smaller businesses ambitious in high-tech fields, various forms of structural fragmenta-tion of larger firms, organizations availing them-selves of the facility to outsource activities to largerfirms. Science parks through the firms investing inthem have operational links with university andresearch centres.

In many countries concerns about unemploymentincreased the desire of city administrations toattract to their territory firms offering employment.Globalization increased the size of multinationalsand thus turned them into important employers.Through subsidies or the offer of other advantages,cities seek to induce multinationals to select themfor new locations of their factories.

Urban life inevitably became complex and thisbrought with it new disciplines: urban economicsand urban public policy emerged (Heilbrun, 1987).

In the late 1920s architectural functionalism orrationalism became the modern movement in Euro-pean architecture and the International Style inAmerican architecture. It was confidence in humanprogress that inspired Le Corbusier to visions like

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the Ville Radieuse and Plan Voisin, and Hilber-sheimer to his New City (Le Corbusier, 1935, Hilber-sheimer, 1944). The Athens Charter, initiated withothers by Constantinos Doxiades, an internationalplanner, was an outstanding document that set outthe vision of future architecture and urban develop-ment. Eminent architects and town planners werewell to the fore in the production and its paragraph92 self-confidently proclaims that architects presideover the destiny of the city and that architectureholds the key to all within the development ofhuman settlements. In Europe the modern move-ment already had a significant impact before theSecond World War, but in America where individualhousing units and low-density residential suburbscontinued to be dominant, only during the post-warperiod.

The over-optimism as regards architecture’s omnipo-tence was gradually shattered by the crisis of cities.The book by Jane Jacobs, Death and Life of GreatAmerican Cities (1961) had a massive influence.Whilst her proposed solutions were not always ofthe optimal calibre, her critical analysis compelledmany to rethink the situation. Interdisciplinarityemerged, in which while architecture and city plan-ning did not have a monopolistic function, they didnevertheless fill a relevant and significant role.

A new wave of thinking was ushered in with theenvironmental movement. It also brought areassessment of history, which modernismrejected. Whereas the modernists were inclined todiscard the architectural heritage, the recognitionof the continuity in urban development paved theway for contemporary new architecture and urbanconservation and rehabilitation.

Adaptation of old buildings to new functions, forexample, the transformation of the old railway sta-tion of La Gare d’Orsay into a museum, the mod-ernization of old warehouses at the London Dock-lands, Hamburg, Marseille (Villes portuaires, 2001),combinations of old and new, as in Nîmes at theMaison Carré, by Foster (Plate 25) or the LyonOpera, by Jean Nouvel, were great successes. Fornew constructions, size (‘megastructures’) wasthought to be the new magic panacea. KenzoTange was one of the pioneers, others followedincluding Rem Koolhaas, John Portman and Cesar

Pelli. Not that megastructuralism is the solution forall ailments of cities; it is one possible approach butin its proper place.

Architecture is moving towards balanced andenhanced approaches where design can avail itselfof different and tried solutions but it has always toevaluate what is best suited to actual circum-stances. It also has to adapt itself to the ups anddowns of economic conditions. During the pastdecades architects and clients were sometimesfaced with relatively abundant funds for construc-tion; at other times they had to operate undersevere constraints.

World cities or mega-cities are characterized bycertain indices, such as population, number of vehi-cles, headquarters of international organizationsand multinationals, international air and other trans-port connections, good urban transport, researchand higher education institutes, major cultural,leisure and health care establishments, high-technetworks of telecommunication, information tech-nology, media services and sophisticated infra-structure for services. The quality of life in mega-cities is increasingly coming under scrutiny: greenareas, parks, security, air and water quality (Knoxand Taylor, 1995, Timberlake, 1985). It would bequite unrealistic, however, to confine attention tomega-cities given that the urban system is madeup of large, medium-sized and smaller cities. Inaddition, dispersed small communities merit atten-tion also. The quality of life in all types of humansettlements may and frequently does go intodecline. Urban pollution is increasing; dirtiness,lack of greenery and of health care institutions,noise, waste and the absence of cultural, educationand leisure facilities contribute to this deterioration.There is a demand for improvement in all types ofcommunities. Social conditions also must be tack-led: the elimination of slums and squatter settle-ments should be the objective, and that part of thebuilding stock that is in bad condition should berepaired. Urban transport that is in poor conditionshould be modernized. The recognized deficienciesled in many cities to massive renewal programmesgetting under way.

Architecture is considered as a profession respon-sible for the design of buildings. One cannot forget,

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however, that buildings do not stand separatedfrom their environment and it is the responsibility ofarchitects to take care of everything related to theirbuildings: open spaces around and between thebuildings, together with vegetation, external struc-tures and the interior equipment of the buildings. Allthis is part of human perception and architects mustbe concerned as to how people perceive their inter-nal and external ambience, and indeed with envi-ronmental human psychology. This has led to thebirth of a new field: environmental psychology andperception of the environment (Rapoport, 1977 and1986, Duncan and Ley, 1993). Methods of becom-ing acquainted with the needs and requirements offuture users of buildings are more or less familiar toclients and architects. The matter is vaguer when itconcerns open spaces. Architects often recognizethis only when working under conditions withwhich they are unfamiliar: foreign countries, devel-oping regions, specific ethnic minorities. In develop-ing countries with hot climates open spaces aresimultaneously places of work, family and sociallife. Technology and life-pattern changes createnew uses for common or public spaces. Take, forinstance, the new sports facilities: ski slopes in flatland areas, tropical baths in moderate or cold cli-mate regions; these also serve various require-ments in the context of social life. Architects, there-fore, have to work out methods that will provide aninsight into the requirements of the future withinand outside buildings. With advances of urbaniza-tion, theoretical work on cities developed also (Heil-brun, 1987, Henderson, 1985). This included citysociology and mathematical methods to optimizecomplex urban problems.

In our era the impact of construction has gained inintensity and speed. The size of certain new build-ings has grown together with the number of theiroccupants and visitors. This in turn has given riseto new social circumstances both in and betweenbuildings including a spectacular increase in urbanand long-distance travel. Architects always partici-pated through their work in shaping the frameworkof human social life. However, whereas the trans-formation of urban and rural communities used tobe a somewhat tardy process, today the rate ofchange has speeded up and the consequences ofconstruction are very soon apparent (Law, 2000).

As was highlighted earlier, some cities havebecome active in attempting to attract importantnew buildings, which generate attention, incomeand development by their design. Attention-grab-bing, famous architects (such as Niemeyer forBrasilia, Le Corbusier for Chandigarh) were eagerlysought after. This phenomenon is by no meanswithout precedent, it has historic parallels. What isnew is that it is no longer emperors, popes, or sim-ilar dignitaries who nurture the ambition to developtheir capital, but rather (representatives of) cities orregions. Architects who have already proved theircapability to design impressive buildings are wellpositioned for commissions of this kind. Other notas yet famous architects must at first provide evi-dence of their potentials.

All this boils down to the recognition that if an archi-tect is to pursue a successful career he or she mayneed to hone up on their marketing skills. We haveseen that air and rail authorities, tourism, culture,education, entertainment, public authorities, sci-ence, multinationals have all developed into power-ful clients. Hence, architects must win their confi-dence and with it their commissions. Architectshave to acquire knowledge in various branches withimportant building programmes and also the market-ing ability necessary to become credible participantsin the realization of development programmes.

The new Guggenheim Modern Art Museum in Bil-bao designed by Gehry has been mentioned in thisbook on several occasions. Since its opening in1997, it has become a catalyst in the renewal ofthe city. Other investments in Bilbao – the newMetro designed by Sir Norman Foster, the designby Santiago Calatrava of the new airport and afootbridge – all reflect the strategy of Bilbao’sdevelopers to use the attraction of spectacular newconstructions designed by the world’s best archi-tects for accelerating the renewal of the city. Thisstrategy is being applied in many other cities byurban leaders, economists and business strate-gists. It also stimulates architects to achieve sucheffect with their design.

Another strategy aimed at similar objectives is todevelop a city’s ‘cyberspace’, that is, its informationinfrastructure (Dodge and Kitchin, 2001, Mitchell,1995, Wilbur, 1997). However, it would be an over-

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simplification to recommend to all cities simply thebuilding of a new museum or the expansion of thecity’s information infrastructure. The solution appro-priate for any city has to be found following specificstudies. The only general conclusion can be thatoften innovative ideas are needed to push urbanrenewal to a new speed (Experiment Stadt, 2001).

Utopias for the ‘ideal city’ were formulated in sev-eral countries over recent centuries, for example,during the period of the Renaissance, by Filarete(the utopian town of Sforzinda) and Francesco diGiorgio Martini and, later, by Thomas More.

Utopias never materialized completely though theydid have an impact on cities, still on occasion visibletoday (e.g. in Karlsruhe). Various plans were put intopractice. ‘New towns’, ‘satellite cities’, ‘urban vil-lages’ and others are some of the catchwords forthe future built environment. These brought aresponse to some problems while raising new ones(King, 1996). The ideal solution was not and willnever be found. Instead architecture, urban andregional development will have to cope with thechanging conditions and ambitions. Architecturewill remain a challenging discipline. Physical plan-ning, the discipline comprising urban planning, hasaspects extending beyond the scope of architec-ture: geography, demography, territorial statistics,urban economy, various forms of urban and inter-urban transport, municipal services (water, gas,electricity supply, telecommunications). Architectswould be guilty of complacency if they believed thatthey could master all these adjacent or distant disci-plines. Cooperation is the only solution to graspsuch diverse areas of knowledge and research.

Nevertheless, even if architecture may not actalone, it does remain an important partner in urbandevelopment. Technological progress is not anenemy of architecture; rather it is an ally, enhan-cing the potentials of architects in contributing tothe renewal of cities.

6.2 Economy

Economic considerations always had an impact oninvestment and building decisions. On occasionsthese were disregarded, with different, sometimes

even ominous consequences. As there are noPharaohs or other omnipotent clients unfettered byeconomic constraints, these considerations inmost cases do have a restricting influence. Inexceptional cases, the influence may be indirectonly, for example, for prestige buildings of richmultinationals, for whom the image radiated fromtheir luxurious buildings may have an indirect eco-nomic value. In our time, economic assessmentsof buildings and their design have undergone radi-cal changes. First of all, the modelling of conse-quences of investment and their subsequent bene-fits has been elaborated. Cost versus benefit,pay-back analysis, internal return rate calculation,assessment of risk and inflation, all are now stan-dard tools in feasibility assessment.

Whilst architecture is not governed by purely finan-cial calculations, these do impact on the design.

Obviously, economic calculations and feasibilitystudies receive substantial back-up nowadays fromcomputer programs. These comprise models ofthe calculations and incorporate data for the inclu-sion of changing parameters, such as interestrates, inflation rates, risk exposure, risk attitudeand others.

Architects are frequently compelled to insist ontheir design in the face of economic objections.There is no general rule about when and to whatextent extra costs may be justified. Architectsmust learn to live with economic influences andeventually to fight for the realization of their ideasand, in other cases, to accommodate the neces-sary adjustments or revisions. The economic mod-elling and computing of economics has fairlyrecently been obliged to accept the intrusion ofnew problems: protection of the environment, cli-mate changes, energy conservation and sustain-ability. They may also have to cope with economicparameters of the functioning of the building,which certainly requires an input from the client orits representative.

In addition to full-scale economic calculations,there exist a number of indicators or indices thatare easy to calculate and which provide a quickreflection on certain economic aspects of designs.Several of these have been mentioned in Chapter3, when discussing housing, schools, hospitals and


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offices. Some of them are purely technical andobjective, such as the number of flats on one levelof a staircase, floor space per hospital bed, relationof office space to property land surface. Othershave a cost factor, for example cost of residentialbuilding per square metre of useful floor space,cost of building per hospital patient, or per officeworker or student. Finally, there exist macroeco-nomic indicators, for example the number ofdwellings in the housing stock per 1000 head ofpopulation. Architects working on the design of acertain building should be acquainted with suchindices or indicators and use them when present-ing or revising their design.

6.3 Environment

The population density and the total populationhave grown enormously. An increasing part of thepopulation is now living in concentrated settle-ments. More and more of the earth’s surface istaken up by buildings and public works, roads, rail-ways and public services, and much of it includingthe soil, air and water has become polluted (conta-minated). The natural environment is shrinking asare forests and the areas of agricultural and culti-vated land. Human life and activities affect ourenvironment: vegetation, animals, biodiversity, cli-mate, soil, water, geomorphology, atmosphere

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Figure 6.2 The eco-cycle in building andconstruction (1996)© UN ECE: Guidelineson Sustainable HumanSettlements Planningand Management.

(Goudie, 1993, Takeuchi and Yoshino, 1991). It isimportant that we understand the present condi-tions, the factors affecting and changing the envi-ronment and finally that we formulate strategies toinfluence these changes in a desirable orientation.

When modelling environmental conditions, pres-sures on the environment (e.g. economic growthand population change), the state of the environ-ment (e.g. pollution concentrations) and theresponse of society (government policies, etc.)must be appropriately reflected. This is by nomeans an easy task when we consider, for exam-ple, the quantification of health costs caused byenvironmental damage. There is some progress onestablishing resource, pollutant and other environ-mental accounts (‘green national accounts’). Theresult of determining indicators of environmentalchanges (e.g. of the depletion of natural resources)may serve as a basis to introduce the informationinto economic indicators (GNP per capita or others)and thereby to obtain a picture about the changesin the environment.

Architects must and in fact do design buildings withsuitable ideas as to how their building will fit intothe environment. This can be done by harmonizingwith the environment or by consciously creatingsome accentuated relationship to the environment.Some outstanding realizations exist that reflect thedifferent faces of combining architecture and natureor the earlier built environment. Other importantresponsibilities of the architect are to design build-ings that withstand natural forces (wind, earth-quake), ensure stability and an adequate lifespan ofthe building, its structures and materials, andhealthy and pleasant internal ambience: appropriatetemperature, air quality, good light and sound con-ditions. It is important to halt and even reverse thedeterioration of the environment and architectshave to regard this as very much within theirresponsibility. This requirement has been identifiedas ensuring sustainable development.

6.4 Sustainability

The study of the global and local environment andthe recognition of its degradation led to studies on

sustainability. An important early step in this direc-tion was the study on ‘the limits of growth’ (Mead-ows et al., 1972). A great number of studies fol-lowed, ultimately consolidating a new discipline(Capello et al., 1999, Pugh, 1996). Sustainability wasdefined in the Brundtland Report of the World Com-mission on the Environment and Development in1987 and this particular definition remains authorita-tive to this day. ‘Sustainable development is thedevelopment that meets the needs of the presentwithout compromising the ability of future genera-tions to meet their own needs’ and, according toBrown (Bartelmus, 1994), ‘if we fail to convert ourself-destroying economy into one that is environ-mentally sustainable, future generations will beoverwhelmed by environmental degradation andsocial disintegration’.

Sustainability is a macroeconomic phenomenonand has only a macro-social validity. It makes nosense to economize resources within a givenregion if this harms the stock of resources inanother. Whilst this is self-evident, its implementa-tion is difficult. Based on various studies, the fol-lowing contemporary global environmental con-cerns, affecting sustainability, may be listed(Haughton and Hunter, 1994):

• threatens biodiversity, desertification and defor-estation

• increase of various hazardous substances• changes in global and regional climate, greater

weather instability, rises in sea levels• rise in air, water, land and noise pollution and in

transfrontier pollution• inappropriate aid for developing countries, depri-

vation of indigenous people of their homes andmeans of living, obliterating scarce fertile agri-cultural land

• resource-base depletion• overpopulation, rising and non-sustainable con-

sumption• harmful side effects of modern technology,

including biotechnology• uneven terms of trade, ethnic, economic, reli-

gious and cultural conflicts and, as a conse-quence, military conflicts.

The economy and the natural environment interact.Economic activity is based on the continued


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availability of sufficient material and energyresources and an environment that is acceptablyclean and attractive. Sustainability indicators reflectthe reproducibility of the way in which a given soci-ety utilizes its environment (Kuik and Verbruggen,1991). Whilst not easy to calculate and a taskrather for macroeconomic researchers, environ-mental and sustainability indicators may serve asan objective towards which construction and archi-tecture must strive. A precondition for any numeri-cal expression of environmental values andchanges in the level of sustainability, is the abilityto quantify ‘public goods’ or ‘public commons’ (likethe atmosphere) which hitherto have usually beenat our disposal free of charge. The absence of aprice for a public good or a global resource leads toa waste of that good: no one is interested in savingit. Economists have proposed the introduction of aprice or a tax for the use of public goods, whichshould serve as an incentive for their conservation(Pearce, 1995). The introduction of such taxes,levies or incentives is necessary because the nor-mal market mechanism is insufficient to ensure theprotection of global environmental values. Global-missing markets can be corrected by creatingglobal environmental markets (Pearce, 1995).These can function because substantial economicvalue resides in the protection of the global envi-ronment and mutually profitable trades can emergeso as to capture economic value. Whilst the cre-ation of such markets is still in its infancy, the firstbilateral and multilateral agreements and interna-tional protocols are up and running and lookpromising. The international community has madesome additional funds available for this purposeand has established a new international institution(the Global Environmental Facility) to put into prac-tice a mechanism that provides incentives for theprotection of global environmental commons andby that means come nearer to a sustainable worldeconomy.

One of the measures is the trading of emissionreductions. In any case, prices may become apowerful instrument in the pursuit of environmen-tal policies needed for sustainable development(UN ECE, 1996).

The whole area of international joint implementa-tion of the principles worked out for the protection

of global commons is very much on a macroeco-nomic global level, and of no direct concern to indi-vidual architects. Nevertheless, the implementa-tion will have repercussions on prices and ontechnological strategies. This will in the endinevitably affect the choice of building materials,structures and other factors of architectural design.The global programme will have an influence onarchitecture as a whole, as well as on individualprojects and designs.

Population growth and increasing consumption(the so-called ‘over-consumption’) are factors in thedepletion of some environmental assets (forinstance, deforestation), but it would be quitewrong to advocate a reduction in the real incomelevel of people. Sustainability should be achievedwithout recourse to such unacceptable goals.Whilst architecture and construction must proceedwith these in mind, they do have their own specificconcerns.

Implementation of sustainability would necessitateestablishing global (or at least, regional or national)models, containing information not only about pro-duction and consumption with the usual restric-tions but also about the stock of resources andtheir changes. Earlier global models were focussedon economic optimalization without consideringsustainability. Any attempt to introduce sustainabil-ity into a global model must inevitably face the con-flict between short-term economic optimizationand maintaining sustainability over a prolongedperiod of time. Despite the difficulties, attemptshave been made to quantify (absolute or partial lev-els of) sustainability and these provide a methodol-ogy for assessment and defining preferences(Anink et al., 1996; Woolley and Kimmins, 2000,Faucheux et al.,1996).

When assessing construction sustainability the fol-lowing components have to be evaluated (Anink etal., 1996):

• prevention of unnecessary use of land and theavoidance of unnecessary construction

• restricting the brief for construction to the nec-essary minimum

• selection of the most efficient use of buildingmaterials

• optimal exploitation of natural resources and the

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efficient use of energy in production and use ofbuildings, i.e. throughout the entire integratedlife cycle of the building

• assurance of optimal new construction and sus-tainable refurbishment.

When making a selection between alternativebuilding materials, which is part of an overallassessment of sustainability, the following basicenvironmental issues have to be evaluated:

• damage to ecosystems• scarcity of resources• emissions• energy use• waste• reuse• lifespan and repairability• impact on the environment.

When drawing up the list of alternative materials,local materials and by-products must also comeinto the reckoning (Elizabeth and Adams, 2000). Inthis book our attention is focussed on (but notrestricted to) materials entailing industrialized con-struction methods.

If the changes in wealth were customarilydescribed by indices of Gross National Product(GNP) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), wewould now like to construct indicators that alsoreflect data having an impact on sustainability. Thiswould enable us to measure sustainable develop-ment (Atkinson et al., 1997). For such a purposewe would need information on economic andsocial factors, wealth, consumption and interna-tional trade in resources, ecological indicators,investment in human capital and technologicalprogress. Much of the information required is notat present available and when it is it is far fromdefinitive. However, these difficulties have notthwarted work being initiated in this direction. Tomeasure sustainable development quantifiablemodels must be determined, which means con-structing appropriate systems. Work has been car-ried out on system theory and global economic andenvironmental models (Forrester, 1968 and 1971,Meadows et al., 1972). A more recent study hasbeen authored by Clark, Perez-Trejo, Allen (1995).Whilst sustainability cannot be measured accu-rately on a micro level, i.e. related to the design of

a single building, it is necessary to do exactly that.For architects, structural engineers and othersengaged in construction, building and urban life,indicators are to be calculated that reflect as wellas possible the impact on sustainability. Such fac-tors are: energy consumption, water, land andother natural resources.

Sustainability requires the conservation of theworld’s resources – sources of energy, fossil fuels,minerals, forests, land; and safeguarding the qual-ity of the environment – clean air, soil and water.Various aspects have been defined by specialexpressions, for example green architecture,energy conservation, whole-building concept, eco-logical design, bio-architecture, etc. Bioclimaticarchitectural design has been defined as ‘anapproach to design which is inspired by nature andwhich applies a sustained logic to every aspect ofthe project, focused on optimising and using theenvironment. The logic covers conditions of set-ting, economy, construction, building managementand individual health and well-being, in addition tobuilding physics’ (Jones, 1998). A book publishedon architecture and the environment reviews 44recent buildings, which in one way or anotheraddress environmental issues and nature in acogent and imaginative manner (Jones, 1998).These buildings reflect the two long-term basictrends in architecture: the design of buildings thatblend into nature and environment (one examplebeing the Westminster Lodge, Hooke Park, Dorset,UK, architect: Edward Cullinan, 1996), and build-ings based on up-to-date technologies, whichintentionally are conspicuous in their environment(an example is the Menara Mesiniaga building,Selangor, Malaysia, architect: Ken Yeang, 1992).The two trends may or may not be fundamentallyantagonistic; various mixtures have always existedand continue to co-exist also as products of eco-logical and sustainability-oriented buildings.Another publication equally demonstrates variouscases in which sustainable architecture has beenthe leading objective (Melet, 1999). The demon-strated examples comprise glazed thermal buffersand atria (e.g. the Commerzbank Headquarters,Frankfurt, Germany), green roofs and application ofplants in the building (e.g. the Technical UniversityLibrary in Delft, The Netherlands), smart buildings


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(e.g. the Law Courts, Bordeaux, France), buildingsas energy generators and various plans for futurebuildings.

Ecological architectural design encompassesappropriate design of architectural form, airtight-ness, optimum ventilation, selection of buildingmaterials from the category of least scarceresources (‘green building materials’), energy con-servation, HVAC control, good heat insulation andshading, thermal storage, replacing ozone layer-depleting heat insulation and cooling equipment byothers, protection of air, soil and water purity, recy-cling of wastes, increased attention to mainte-nance and renewal of buildings (Stratton, 2000) andmuch more. On the level of city (public) policies,energy strategies enjoy a high priority and com-plete the strategies for energy conservation inbuildings. Municipal energy conservation policiesmay support sustainability by the following policies:

conscious land-use policy, regulatory and energypolicies aimed at energy conservation, financialincentives and information activities, market-basedenergy policies, encouraging technological innova-tions. Although not in itself ensuring energy sus-tainability, for architects and engineers the promo-tion of renewable energy technologies should havea high priority. In some countries (USA, Germany,Denmark, The Netherlands) wind energy has beeninstalled on a remarkably high level but it still justi-fies further development elsewhere.

Photovoltaics has also progressed some way butmuch more will have to be achieved. The sameapplies to biomass, biogas, solar water heating,district heating combined with hot water supplyand refuse incineration. Economic feasibility natur-ally is important but this has to be examined in atime-dependent way because some investmentsmay become feasible with future fluctuations in

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Figure 6.3 Hotel du Département Des Bouches-du Rhone (nicknamed ‘Le Grand Bleu’), Marseille, France,1994, architects: Alsop and Störmer. A complex building with premises for different purposes, post-moderngeometry: flattened cylinder, cigar-shaped wing, contributing to city centre renewal.

prices. This applies at the institutional level also: incertain cases individual investments provide theoptimum solution, in others integration of someenergy systems is the answer. A relatively newinstrument in environmental policy is marketableand tradeable emissions. These are not directlyaimed at energy conservation but primarily towardsa reduction of pollutants. All this means that thearchitect must be ready to participate in complexstudies in order to determine for the architecturaldesign the criteria for optimal energy conservation(Capello et al., 1999).

According to a book authored by Spiegel andMeadows (1999):

Green building materials are those thatuse the Earth’s resources in anenvironmentally responsible way. Greenbuilding materials respect the limitationsof non-renewable resources such as coaland metal ores. They work within thepattern of nature’s cycles and theinterrelationships of ecosystems. Greenbuilding materials are non-toxic. They aremade from recycled materials and arethemselves recyclable. They are energyefficient and water efficient. They are‘green’ in the way they are manufactured,the way they are used, and the way theyare reclaimed after use. Green buildingmaterials are those that earn high marksfor resource management, impact orindoor environmental quality (IEQ), andperformance (energy efficiency, waterdeficiency, etc.).

The book poses the following hypothetical ques-tions to which it thereupon seeks to respond: Whatare green building materials? Why use green build-ing materials? How does the production selectionprocess work?

Within this context it is interesting to mention anannual architectural competition that began inJapan in 1999 in which an alliance of non-profitpublic foundations participate. The objective is toencourage contemporary architects in Japan togive serious consideration to the idea of a ‘housereturnable to the earth’, which has its origins in thetraditional way of building Japanese houses using

wood and renewable materials that could bereturned to the earth. The fact that in 2000 thecompetition attracted 250 proposals demonstratesthat the concept found a ready response amongarchitects (Sustainable Building, 2001).

A deeper acceptance of environmental and sus-tainability aspects is justified but caution should beexercised lest it lead to utopian ideas. A vision offuture architecture envisages a synthesis of biol-ogy and architecture with its ideals finding expres-sion in charming villages and hill towns.

Communities incorporating bio-shelter technologiesbeing self-reliant for food and energy, factories con-verted to solar food barns, whole villages or neigh-bourhoods having a single envelope roof, are envi-sioned but, with each one bearing a strikingresemblance to the others, the utopia produced issomewhat disquieting (Todd and Todd, 1994:115–18). Land use and urban form policies shouldenvisage sustainability but never to the detriment ofenvironmental quality. Even so, many cities todayplan or implement identification strategies whoseessence is the realization of all building activity withinexisting built-up areas thus achieving more effectiveland exploitation. Whilst overall land use policies area responsibility of municipalities, the architect has tobe conscious of these policies and as far as possible,contribute to their implementation.

The strategies for a sustainable city have beensummarized among others in the following(Haughton and Hunter, 1994):

The sustainable city is developed torespect and make the most of naturalenvironmental aspects, to conserveresource use and to minimise impacts onthe local and wider natural environment.The sustainable city is a regional andglobal city: no matter how small or howlarge, its responsibilities stretch beyondthe city boundaries.The sustainable city involves a broadlybased, participatory programme of radicalchange, where individuals are encouragedto take on more responsibility for theways in which their cities are run.The sustainable city requires thatenvironmental assets and impacts are


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distributed more equitably than atpresent.The sustainable city is a learning city, asharing city, an internationally networkedcity.The sustainable city is not rooted in anidealised version of past settlements, noris it one given to a radical casting-offfrom its own particular cultural, economicand physical identity in the name of thelatest passing fad for wholesale urbanchange.The sustainable city will seek toconserve, enhance and promote itsassets in terms of natural, built andcultural environments.The sustainable city presents tremendousopportunities for enhancing environmentalquality at local, regional and global scales.

To sum up: sustainability and protection of theenvironment consist of a great number of specificdesign and management approaches, all interlinkedand together forming a total concept. Architecturaldesign has a major function in realizing these ambi-tions. It naturally directs attention towards urbanenvironmental and urban development problemsand is a factor in their solution.

Finally, a word of warning. ‘Green building’ and‘sustainable building’ are commercial labels in thesense that they have a marketing and promotionvalue. This is not in itself harmful so long as theyexpress genuine characteristics of the design. How-ever, the use of such labels is to be rejected out ofhand if all that they do is to make unjustified claims.Naturally, uncertainties are still rife as to what pre-cisely is ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’. As far as possible,given the level of present-day knowledge suchlabels should always be substantiated by seriousefforts to attain green and sustainable qualities.

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7.1 Introduction

Among the many components that make up archi-tectural design a special importance must beattached to construction technology. The availabil-ity of certain building materials, such as clay, stone,timber and others, has influenced building technol-ogy as is evident for example in masonry, vaulting,timber framework, and this had an impact on archi-tectural style. This book has focussed attention onthis relationship but it is important to see that thisis not the only component of architectural design.The result of the impact of various technologicaland non-technological factors and the designprocess itself is architecture. What architects aredoing to attain the objective of designing pleasingbuildings makes up the study of architectural aes-thetics, an applied part of overall aesthetics.

Aesthetics, i.e. the science concerned with beauty,was originally a part of philosophy. It has nowbecome elevated to the rank of an independent sci-entific discipline but leading scientists on aesthet-ics even today are also philosophers (e.g. Lyotard,Derrida). The main fields of aesthetics have alwaysbeen literature, art, music. In modern times it isvery much engaged with film, industrial design andleisure crafts. A notable early publication aboutarchitectural aesthetics was authored by theRoman Vitruvius. Indeed Michael Hawley notesthat Vitruvius’s order – and remember this wasmore than 2000 years ago – has finitas (buildingsshould be structurally sound shelters), utilitas (theyshould accommodate human needs) and venistas(they should be beautiful like Venus). There fol-lowed in the renaissance period, Palladio, in thefirst half of the twentieth century, Le Corbusier,

and during the period 1960–2000, a host of theo-reticians, architects and non-architects: Zevi, Ven-turi, Jencks, Eisenman and others.

Following the Second World War, some authorita-tive publications subjected urban life and architec-ture to critical analysis. They were authored byJane Jacobs (The Death and Life of AmericanCities), Robert Venturi, Paolo Portoghesi. Post-modernism was introduced and architecture wasamong the early fields where post-modernism wasstudied and initiated. The ‘meaning’ and ‘signs’ ofarchitectural forms were investigated togetherwith the application of the theory of semiotics (i.e.the study of signs) as well as of linguistics. One ofthe outputs of such scientific work was the cre-ation of deconstructivist architecture. In generalone may postulate that if architectural aestheticshas developed into an independent discipline, thenright at the forefront of that discipline is the topic ofhistorical architecture. New architecture has cre-ated its aesthetics only very recently.

Modern architecture (which may be thought of asbasically spanning the period from 1920 to 1960)held fast to the tenet that it did not need to attainits aims by means of the ornamentation and decor-ations of historical styles and that the use of up-to-date structures (structuralism, constructivism)would suffice also for its aesthetic objectives. Thisrationalism changed in about 1960. Irrationalismand sometimes mysticism regained a place, orna-ments and decorations were no longer ‘taboo’.Philip Johnson declared that whilst the modernshated the history and the symbolism, we (i.e. thepost-moderns) are fond of them; the moderns builtwithout consideration for the site, we are seeking

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7Architectural aesthetics

for the genius loci to receive inspiration from thespirit of the site.

Modernism’s scarce use of decorative forms meta-morphosed into an abundance of forms. Thissometimes led to ‘supermanierism’ or ‘superman-nerism’ and ‘façadism’. Some of the early buildingsdesigned by Robert A.M. Stern, Ricardo Bofill,Charles Moore and Michael Graves belong in sucha category. The use of metaphors, direct similesand the evocation of various forms of associationhave been mentioned in the first chapter of thisbook, along with some examples. One furtherexample is the Fujisawa Municipal Gymnasium,Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, designed by Fumi-hiko Maki, which is reminiscent of a warrior’s hel-met (Figure 3.30), but the list is endless.

Some structures, such as bridges, towers, silos andothers, have their own aesthetics (Heinle and Leon-hardt, 1989, Leonhardt, 1982). In the case of build-ings, however, the matter of the components ofaesthetics is more complex. During the twentiethcentury, repeated attempts were made to definethe aesthetic principles of new architecture. As anexample, the principles summarized in a book ontall buildings are quoted below (Beedle, 1995: 231):

1. Seek harmonious geometric relationships inthe overall structural arrangement. Study ofgeometry, classical architecture, fundamen-tals of music, and the basics of light andcolour will reveal the presence of harmoniousand disharmonious relationships. Harmoniousrelationships may be sought in the structuregeometries and geometric proportions of thevarious parts of the structure. A rich sourcefor learning classical rules in modern design isthe study of classical architecture.

2. Omit all superfluous and unnecessary items.Avoid merely decorative items. If an item isomitted and the design is still complete, thenomit that item.

3. Avoid superficial sculpture. To attempt sculpt-ing may pamper one’s ego but the results ofsuch efforts will be worthless, even to itsdesigner. If, in certain situations, sculpturalelements are desired, those should be devel-oped by an accepted and respected artistwho exercises good common sense andrestraint.

Architectural aesthetics

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Figure 7.1 Comparison of some preferred designapproaches. Left column: historical-traditional. Rightcolumn: post-modern and other new trends. 1)square – irregular quadrilateral; 2) circle – irregularcurve; 3) vault – suspended roof; 4) symmetry –asymmetry; 5) regular cylinder – irregular cylinder;6) regular cone – irregular cone; 7) flat low-pitchedroof – irregular curved roof; 8) vaulted roof – roofwith irregular shape.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8


4. Flat, large, unexpressive, and overbearing sur-faces, such as long and high walls, are unat-tractive, and should be broken up with cleargeometric subdivisions or figures.

5. For concrete structures, many designers, insearch for aesthetic expression, have treatedthe hard concrete externally to soften itslooks.

6. The most honest forms for load-bearing ele-ments are those related to the character ofGreek, Doric, Tuscan, or Ionic columns andrelated framing arrangements.

7. If a choice is to be made between someexpected aesthetic expression or a particulargeometric configuration, and structural andfunctional capacity, the latter should be cho-sen for the design. Further, if meeting thestructural design objectives should result in astructure that is questionable in appearance,then the structural design has not been suc-cessfully completed.

Whilst many of the above principles retain validity,several important ones have lost it. Modernism, ashas been seen, negates decorations and in particu-lar historical style forms. Post-modernism revivesdecorations but its ideas on harmony and dishar-mony and on sculptures are quite different.

The aesthetic characteristics of new architectureoften demonstrate the influence of technicalprogress but sometimes, partly or fully, cannot bederived from technology and are consequences ofpurely architectural considerations. In analysinggeneral design principles, we may state thatwhilst earlier designers sought to achieve a situa-tion where their buildings radiated harmony, post-modern architects consciously aim at dynamism.Symmetry is replaced by asymmetry, smooth link-ages by hard contrasts. The hierarchy of parts isnot necessarily an aim; solutions may seem arbi-trary. Sizes and scales may be different fromthose on historical buildings. The historical build-ings express some sincerity, post-modern (anddeconstructivist) buildings may mislead the spec-tator. This explains why sometimes new architec-ture buildings do not reveal the number of levelsor the internal function of buildings. Scales areselected in new ways, a vivid illustration of whichis the Chiat/Day-Main Street building of F.O.

Gehry which has a huge binocular ‘sculpture’ infront of its façade. Architectural exteriors andinteriors sometimes look like a huge scene from ashow.

The past achievements in aesthetics have provideda foundation on which to build the aesthetics ofnew architecture. However, this has beenachieved only in part and such aesthetic principlesas hierarchical ordination, harmony, disharmony,articulation, rhythm, scale, repetition, contrast, con-tour, light, colour, texture, relief and many others,have been interpreted from the viewpoint of newarchitecture to a limited extent. There is also a sub-jective response to the built form and the psycho-logical factors inherent in the appreciation of builtform change in time. As has been the case formany innovations in art in the past, and is still sotoday, arriving at an understanding and acceptanceof new architecture is not an instant process. Theaesthetic assessment of an object is determinedaccording to the way that it exists in the world andis undertaken in the context of a given environ-ment only. The fact that changes are continuallytaking place in our world and in the environmentmust inevitably have an influence on aestheticassessment.

In addition to identifying general trends, one shouldnot lose sight of the important fact that architec-ture, being also an art, is very much the result ofindividuals. Eminent architects have left the imprintof their own individual taste and choices on thosegeneral trends. This may be exemplified by somecharacteristics of the ‘style’ of certain present-dayJapanese architects:

• Shin Takamatsu: his buildings have a dark bel-ligerence and a somber aggressiveness, anarchitecture bristling with weapons and withmetallic clothing

• Kazuo Shinohara: new graphic architecture,‘zero-machines’

• Itsuko Hasegawa: preference for spheres, pyra-mids, simulating trees, mountains, artificial land-scapes

• Hiroshi Hara: perforated buildings in motion.

‘The relativity, the arbitrariness of all aestheticpropositions, of all value-judgements is inherent inhuman consciousness and in human speech. Any-

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thing can be said about anything’ (Steiner, 1996)and, further:

Aesthetic philosophies, critical theories,constructs of the ‘classic’ or the ‘canonic’can never be anything but more or lesspersuasive, more or less comprehensive,more or less consequent descriptions ofthis or that process of preference. Acritical theory, an aesthetic, is a politics oftaste. It seeks to systematise, to makevisibly applicable and pedagogic anintuitive ‘set’, a bent of sensibility, theconservative or radical bias of a masterperceiver or alliance of opinions. Therecan be neither proof nor disproof ... Noaesthetic proposition can be termed‘right’ – ‘wrong’ either. The soleappropriate response is personal assentor dissent. (Steiner, 1996: 150)

New architecture cannot have one single set ofaesthetics because new architecture itself is com-posed from buildings with different functions andstylistic trends, some of whose aesthetic ideals notonly differ but are even contradictory.

A significant number of contemporary buildingshave a simple geometric box-like form: witnessresidential, office, school and other buildings. Forthese, the external form, the envelope, is of pri-mary aesthetic significance and the most importantpart of the envelope is the façade.

Façade walls may have a uniform appearance with-out any dominant articulation and without windowsor other openings, or have dominant vertical, orhorizontal lines, or a chessboard-like articulation,again with or without dominant vertical or horizon-tal lines. Surfaces may also be articulated by someregular pattern of point-like interruptions. Evenuninterrupted surfaces may be decorated or differ-entiated by texture, or colour or lighting. Whilst thisbook does not deal with the architectural and struc-tural detailing of various types of façade, theseobviously have to be developed together with theobjectives for a certain aesthetic appearance.Buildings with wide-span roof, masted structuresand air-supported structures have their own aes-thetics. Many buildings have forms designedspecifically for them. The forms may be derived

from geometric shapes or from nature, or imagina-tion. In earlier chapters a number of designs inthese categories were discussed. The deconstruc-tivist, metaphoric and organic trends use suchforms. Some of these, especially deconstructivistdesigns, have on occasion been stigmatized aseccentric, although they may be responding to cer-tain special requirements in a quite sober way. Letus mention here three examples.

The Planet Hollywood in Walt Disney World,Orlando, USA, 1994 (architect and interiordesigner: Rockwell Group) (Plate 26) containsentertainment restaurants. The building itself is atranslucent blue globe, over 30 metres high and atnight is illuminated all over with shimmeringcoloured lights.

The Trocadero Segaworld, Piccadilly Circus, Lon-don, 1996 (architect: RTKL UK Ltd, Tibbatts Associ-ates) (Plate 27) is a futuristic pleasure dome, withneon-lit escalators leading to the top floor. It has itsbackground in the Japanese Sega computer gamemanufacturer and the idea in the design is to makecomputer games a cyberspace adventure.

The new Guggenheim Museum in Las Vegas,which was unveiled in October 2001 (architect:Rem Koolhaas and his firm DMA) has exterior andinternal walls made of Cor-Ten steel. The materialwith its velvety rusted surface was chosen asbeing evocative of the velvet-covered walls in theeighteenth century classical galleries at the Her-mitage in St Petersburg, Russia. The exhibitionspace is partitioned by three Cor-Ten walls, whichcan be rotated by means of a pivot system. Thisprovides different exhibition configurations such asa single gallery with a long central wall or four sym-metrical galleries. A striking effect has beenachieved by installing opaque glass panels beneaththe steel walls on the front perimeter of the build-ing. The steel walls give the appearance of floatingabove the floor.

The three above examples display innovative (thefirst two also futuristic and eccentric) internal envi-ronments. The design of internal spaces equallyreflects all those possibilities that have also beendiscussed in the context of the external envelope.New architecture works also with sculptured orrelief forms both in the exterior and interior of the


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buildings. The Fish Lamp, 1984 (Plate 28), by F.O.Gehry, made from Colorcore Formica, is an enig-matic sign, not having any deep meaning. How-ever, it does acquire a practical meaning in front offish restaurants. The standing glass fish, 1986(Plate 29), designed by Gehry, has become an artobject and is on display at the Walker Art Gallery,Minneapolis. Its materials are wire, wood, glass,steel, silicon, plexiglas, rubber and it is 6.70 metreshigh.

The envelope of the added volume on top of arestored and modernized office building inBudapest, Hungary 1995 (architect: Erick vanEgeraat) is designed in the shape of a whale. Theboardroom of the bank occupies a place in theribbed belly of the whale.

These executed projects do go a long way to prov-ing just how diverse are architectural design andaesthetics.

7.2 Size, Scale, Proportion

The subject of size, scale and proportion is dis-cussed at various places in this book. Here we draw

attention to some general aspects concerningwhich there are no universal aesthetic rules in art. Ashort poem or a miniature painting may be of thesame high aesthetic value as monumental cre-ations, like War and Peace by Tolstoy, the paintingsin the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. This appliesto architecture also. The Il Tempietto in Rome byBramante is just as much a masterpiece as theSaint Peter Basilica also in Rome. Driven to theextremes of small or huge size, a work may beadmired not so much for its aesthetic value as forthe expertise in producing it in such minuscule orenormous dimensions. At the one extreme smallelaborate sculptures in ivory or miniature paintingsmay serve as models. At the other extreme sky-scrapers, pyramids, long-span suspension bridges,may serve as models. The opposite of what waspreviously said is also true: size in itself may not dis-qualify any art object from aesthetic appreciation.

Size, and other related characteristic categories –such as scale, proportion – must harmonize, how-ever, in some measure with the actual expecta-tions of people, or, on the contrary, be convincingwith their new, and possibly revolutionary, charac-teristic features. Technological aspects have afunction here. The cathedrals from the fifteenth to

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Figure 7.2 Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, USA, architect: Frank O. Gehry. Deconstructivistarchitecture; design based on computer program, cladding from titan sheet.

the eighteenth centuries utilized to the full thetechnological potentials of their period. Cathedralswith a similar stylistic approach but built in thenineteenth century (St Vlasius in the Black Forestregion, Germany) or in the twentieth century (NotreDame de la Paix in Yamassoukrou, Ivory Coast)evince admiration for their sheer size but theanachronism between style and the period ofdesign and realization acts adversely. As has been

stated earlier (see Chapter 3) new architecture hasvery much altered perception of size: skyscrapersand wide-span structures have been widelyaccepted.

Similar statements as for size may be made forscale and proportion. Absolute size and relation-ships of size may be very different from what wasgenerally acceptable in historical styles.

7.3 Geometry

Many authors, with widely different professionalbackgrounds, believed in the existence of certainsystems of proportion, scale and numbers.

Alberti wrote:

It is manifest that Nature delights inround figures, since we find that mostthings which are generated, made ordirected by Nature are round ... We findtoo that Nature is sometimes delightedwith figures of six sides; for bees,hornets, and all other kinds of waspshave learnt no other figure for buildingthe cells in their hives, but the hexagon... The polygons used by the Ancientswere either of six, eight or sometimesten sides. (Leone Battista Alberti, TenBooks on Architecture, Florence, 1485,cited in March and Steadman, TheGeometry of Environment).

The various series of numbers (the Cantor set, theFibonacci series), of curves (the Koch, theMinkowski and the Peano curves), the system offractals, the golden section, Le Corbusier’s ‘modu-lor’ (based on repeated golden rectangle propor-tions) are but a few examples (Van Der Laan, 1983,Mandelbrot, 1983, Bovill, 1996). It has beenassumed that certain such systems must beapplied in architecture also (Padovan 1999, Salin-garos, 2000). Geometric systems (as for examplethe module system) are transformed into numbersystems and vice versa (as for instance the VanDer Laan scale) (Van Der Laan, 1983). Certainstyles and some architects did introduce varioussystems of proportions, scales, rhythms and mea-


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Figure 7.3 First Interstate Bank Tower, Dallas, USA,1985, architect: Henry N. Cobb. Uninterrupted large-scale slanting glass facade (unknown in historicalarchitecture).


sures. Palladio designed the plans of his villas onrectangles with whole number proportions: 1:1,1:2, 2:3, 1:4, 3:8 (Elam, 2001, Padovan, 1999).

Architecture, after all, is a manifestation of geome-try applied for the purpose of the design of build-ings. Research attempted to create geometric sys-tems for structural or architectural design, as hasbeen seen already when discussing space frames,shells, domes and membranes. Some of the sys-tems are of a pure mathematical or geometric char-acter, in others structural or architectural designforms the basic background. There are attempts todevelop fully automated structural design systemswith geometric representation for structuraldomains, using automated techniques for finiteelement modelling, coupling self-adaptive integra-tion of optimization techniques with geometrymodels (Kodiyalam, and Saxena, 1994). ‘Solid mod-elling’, meaning representation design, visualiza-tion, and analysis of three-dimensional computermodels of real objects, finds application in thedesign of buildings but in other quite differentfields also.

The attributes of symmetry and harmony gainedfavour in historical architecture: asymmetry, how-ever, was appreciated only to the extent that itachieves harmony. On the other hand Viollet-le-

Duc, a nineteenth-century architect, wrote: ‘Sym-metry – an unhappy idea for which in our homes,we sacrifice our comfort, occasionally our commonsense and always a lot of money’ (quoted byMarch and Steadman). Rhythm meant either repe-tition or variations with pleasing relationships. Inmodern and post-modern aesthetics, sometimesseemingly arbitrary deviations from repetition anddisharmonic alterations became welcome. So, forinstance, the memorial colonnade by OscarNiemeyer was designed with variable column dis-tances.

However, even the most sophisticated systems donot prevail forever, and invariably change overtime. Styles and architectural design have to copeanew repeatedly with this transience and mustdevise their own solution for attaining pleasingappearances of buildings. What, however, is‘pleasing’, is in itself a dynamic concept and thehistory of art and architecture continuously reportsnew design concepts that initially were judged tobe ugly but as time went on were considered to beagreeable (Kroll, 1986).

The geometry of new architecture buildings mayalso display new features. Straight lines becomecurves, verticals and horizontals may be slantedand cut into each other at odd angles. Curves that

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Figure 7.4 National Assembly, Dacca, Bangladesh, 1962–83, designer: Sher E. Banglaganar. Geometricpatterns (triangle, etc.) may be dominant on a façade.

traditionally featured in gothic, renaissance andbaroque architecture are ignored; partly regularcurves (circle, etc.) and individually designedcurves take their place.

Naturally, the foregoing does not apply to all newbuildings. Neo-classicist and late-modern buildingsmay adhere much more closely to the old rules.

Japanese architects have been ingenious in theirapplication of geometric forms. Tadao Ando, forinstance, favours a grid derived from traditional ricestraw tatami mat with dimensions of 90 by 180centimetres. Ando designs concrete walls with anexposed surface and each of his moulding boards(with the size of a tatami) has six holes throughwhich the boards’ screws are driven. Arata Isozakiaccords preference in his geometry to the square

and the circle. In some designs he uses segmentsof curves and curved surfaces. On occasion gridsare applied combined at slanted angles.

Size, scale and measure are changing. Large-sizesurfaces are articulated and contain uniformlyspread identical small-scale elements or forms. Insuch cases a certain uniformity of the surface maybe achieved and the contours of such surfaces canbe selected almost at random.

It was pointed out that new architecture oftenextends components to the outside of buildingsand sometimes into the air space. This is typical forsuspended structures with external masts andcable systems but it can occur in other cases too,see, for example, Himmelblau’s office extension inVienna. An innovative architectural component isthe tall atrium often applied in large hotel buildingsand office buildings. The internal height of suchatria may reach up to 40 or more levels and posesa fresh challenge for their internal design (see theinteriors of the hotels designed by John Portman).

7.4 Recesses, Cavities, Holes,Canted/Slanted Lines and Planes

Although energy conservation and control overcost would call for simple contours and buildingvolumes, in new architecture recesses and cavitiesin the building volumes are frequent. This ensuresdeep shadows and picturesque buildings. Someauthors call buildings with recesses, cavities orholes ‘eroded’ volumes. Buildings with volumespushed into each other at irregular angles, arereferred to as ‘crashed’ volumes.

Cavities and holes in a building, in particular atsome height, are new in architecture (not countingarches) and also give rise to new technical prob-lems, such as the wind blowing through the aper-ture.

Canted or slanted planes, façades, columns andother components cause particular difficulties forthe architect, the structural and services engineerand in addition require special skill from the con-struction team. Many architecturally impressive tallbuildings have been designed and constructed


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Figure 7.5 Hypo Bank Headquarters, Munich,Germany. Façade with out-of-size proportionedcomponents.


with such geometry. A notable realization is theDongba Securities Headquarters, a 35-storey towerin Seoul, Korea and there are several others. Insome historic buildings (for example, at the WinterPalace in St Petersburg, Russia), an arch in thebuilding opens a throughway. In modern times,reinforced concrete and steel structures enable thedesigner to cut through a building in different spec-tacular fashions. Examples are abundant.

7.5 Colour, Light and Shadow

In historical architecture the range of colours waslimited and depended on available natural materialsand paints. In new architecture the range of

colours is much broader and harsh colours are fea-sible through the application of paints, enamels andanodized colouring (Couleur, 2001).

Colour, light and shadow have always had animpact on the appearance of buildings and struc-tures and nowadays these factors may be used innew ways (Franck and Lepori, 2000). The choice ofcolours, in particular on external surfaces, was lim-ited also by weathering requirements. Researchhas built up a vast knowledge on colours compris-ing the phenomena of brightness, lightness, black-ness, greyness, whiteness, contrast, hue, shade,colour systems, combining and mixing of colours,colour harmonization and patterns, changing colourimpressions and interaction between colour andpeople (Rihlama, 1999).

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Figure 7.6 Residential Building, Berlin Friedrichstrasse, Germany, architect: Aldo Rossi. Large-size cylindricalcolumn and cut-out of building.

New chemical processes have created new typesof paints and colours. Architects are willing todesign the exterior or interior of buildings with newcolour effects. To mention one realization only: thenew Luxor Theatre in the Kop van Zuid district ofRotterdam has a leading red colour on the surfaces(architect: Bolles and Wilson AIT, 2001). Strongcolours on buildings evince a similarity with thecolouring of machines (cars, electrical appliances,furniture, etc.) and electrical cables. There aresome architects who have opted to make certaincolours their design trademark, e.g. Richard Meier

with his steel panels enamelled to a white colour.Others, e.g. some Japanese architects, prefer thedominance of grey.

Lighting has grown into an important factor inarchitectural design, as can be seen from thisstatement from Le Corbusier (Sebestyen, 1998):‘Architecture is the learned, correct and magnifi-cent play of masses under light.’ Building with lighthas been applied ingeniously by architects andstudied in great detail (Building with Light, 2001).Artificial illumination provides new visual effects.The New York LVMH tower designed by theFrenchman Christian de Portzamparc is illuminatednightly by a warm golden colour that graduallychanges into a deep green. Colour may be appliedover a surface or focussed on a spot or on severalspots. If light is concentrated over several smallpoints and applied to a dense pattern, it becomes atool of articulation. This approach was applied by


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Figure 7.7 Commerce Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,1984, designer: Skidmore, Owings, Merrill. Pierced-through volume in a tall building.

Figure 7.8 The new Dutch KPN Telecom building,Rotterdam. Articulation may be realized throughlight spots.


Renzo Piano at one façade of the KPN TelecomOffice Tower in Rotterdam (Figure 7.8). Greenlamp elements are set on this façade in a grid pat-tern. The lamps are individually switched on and offand are controlled by a computer program.

7.6 Articulation

In Beedle (1995: 149) articulation is defined as fol-lows: ‘Action or manner of jointing or interrelatingarchitectural elements throughout a design orbuilding.’ This definition is of general validity and itincludes articulation of a ground plan to rooms, thedivision of a façade by repetitive decorations and/ordividing lines of floors or panels. Articulation ofbuilding volumes and of the urban space hasacquired special meaning. Dutch architects (AldoVan Eyck and Herman Hertzberger) designed build-ings with strongly articulated premises and pro-vided theoretical justification for this kind of articu-lation: ‘Things must only be big as a multiple ofunits which are small in themselves, for excesssoon creates an effect of distance, and by alwaysmaking everything too big, too empty, and thus toodistant and untouchable, architects are producingin the first place distance and inhospitality’

(Hertzberger, in Lüchinger, 1981). However, articu-lation of the building volume (anti-block movement)and of the urban fabric does not exclude bigness.Articulation in our time is specifically used as a dec-orative (and constructive) subdivision of a surface(a façade or a ceiling) into uniform small decorativeelements where there exists a complete neutralityregarding the size and shape of that surface. Thisled to the development of various ‘systems’ or‘subsystems’ for façades, ceilings and other sur-faces (Ornement, 2001).

Articulation of the space is achieved among othermeans by space divisions. In deconstructivist archi-tecture (e.g. by Frank O. Gehry) spaces may bedivided by quasi-virtual components, for instance,chains and grids.

Historical styles articulated the surface by a varietyof flat or relief decorations. In modern architecturebig flat surfaces, not articulated in any way, wereemployed.

Then in some designs large flat surfaces receivedan articulation of large sub-surfaces, frequently bymarking these in specific colours. This type of‘decoration’ may be applied in some cases but itnever becomes a basic way of articulating and dec-orating surfaces.

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Figure 7.9 Centraal Beheer Office, The Netherlands, architect: Herman Hertzberger. Articulation of buildingvolumes: separated but interconnected workplaces.

7.7 Theory and Praxis

The aesthetics of new architecture has spawnedmany publications, essays, theories. Ultimately,however, architecture is concerned with buildingsand not theories. Ben van Berkel, a young Dutcharchitect (designer of the Rotterdam cable-stayedbridge) insisted ‘that he is of a different generation,implicitly criticising them [meaning educators ofyoung architects] for designing buildings to suittheir theories’ (quoted from Philip Jodidio (1996)Contemporary European Architects, Volume IV,Taschen).

Bibliography

Beedle, Lynn S. (Ed.-in-Chief), Armstrong, Paul J. (Ed.)(1995) Architecture of Tall Buildings, Council on

Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, McGraw-Hill,Inc.

Benjamin, A. and Norris, C. (1988) What is Decon-struction?, Academy Editions

Bofill, Ricardo (1989) Espaces d’une vie, EditionsOdile

Bovill, Carl (1996) Fractal Geometry in Architectureand Design, Birkhäuser

Broadbent, G., Bunt, R. and Jencks, C.A. (1980) Signs,Symbols and Architecture, Wiley

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Canter, D.V. (1977) The Psychology of Place, Architec-tural Press

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Dufrenne, Mikel (1st and 2nd Vols: 1976, 3rd Vol.:1981) Esthétique et philosophie, Kleinsieck

Elam, Kimberly (2001) Geometry of Design, PrincetonArchitectural Press

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149

Figure 7.10 CENG industrial building project, Grenoble, France, architect: Jacques Ferrier. Example of façadebuilding articulation with emphasis on parallel vertical lines.

Figure 7.11 IBM factory office, Basiano, near Milan, Italy, 1983, architect: Grino Valle. IBM company designmodel.


Franck, Karen A. and Lepori, R. Bianca (2000) Archi-tecture Inside Out, Wiley-Academy

Giorgini, Vittorio (1995) Spatiology: The Morphology ofthe Natural Sciences in Architecture and Design,Arca Edizioni

Heinle, E. and Leonhardt, F. (1989) Towers: A Histori-cal Survey, Butterworth Architecture

Holgate, A. (1992) Aesthetics of Built Form, OxfordUniversity Press

Ibelings, H. (1998) Supermodernism: Architecture inthe Age of Globalization, NAI

Jencks, C. and Baird, G. (Eds) (1969) Meaning inArchitecture: Barrie and Rocklift, The CressetPress

Johnson, P.-A. (1994) The Theory of Architecture:Concepts, Themes and Practices, Van NostrandReinhold

Johnson, Philip and Wigley, Mark (1988) Deconstruc-tivist Architecture, The Museum of Modern Art

Kodiyalam, S. and Saxena, M. (1994) Geometry andOptimisation Techniques for Structural Design,Computational Mechanics Publications & ElsevierApplied Science

Kroll, Lucien (1986) The Architecture of Complexity,B.T. Batsford

Leonhardt, F. (1982) Brücken/Bridges, Deutsche Ver-lags-Anstalt

Lucan, Jacques (1990) OMA: Rem Koolhaas, ElectaMoniteur

Mandelbrot, Benoit (1983) The Fractal Geometry ofNature, W.F. Freeman

Michelis, P.A. (1974) L’esthétique de l’architecture,Kleinsieck

Ornement (2001) Techniques and Architecture,March–April

Padovan, Richard (1999) Proportion. Science, Philoso-phy, Architecture, E & FN Spon

Prak, N.L. (1968) The Language of Architecture, MoutonRihlama, Seppo (1999) Colour World, The Finnish

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Steiner, George (1996) No Passion Spent, Essays1978–1996, Faber and Faber

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150

Before analysing the problems arising from techni-cal progress, let us glance at the sources of archi-tectural-technical development, which may bedefined in terms of scientific discoveries, innova-tions and improvements. It can be readily per-ceived that whereas in industry research is a mainsource of technical progress, it is much less so inarchitecture.

Research in building has developed later than inindustry, although this is not to say that constructiondid not always make good use of research resultsachieved elsewhere. The introduction of new mater-ials such as steel, concrete, plastics and of modernequipment in construction resulted from applica-tions of industry’s technical progress. The creativenew ideas in architecture originated from inventivearchitects and structural designers. Buildingresearch concentrated its efforts on consolidatingthese new ideas and rendering them capable ofbeing applied by all practitioners. Inventions andpatents play a more restricted role in building than inmost other branches of industry (Kronz, 1977). Intel-lectual property matters in architecture are for themost part regulated by legal restrictions on plagia-rism, which is understandable given that patents arethere to protect inventions applicable in industry.Publications about the sources of invention rarely, ifat all, accord architecture a mention, although casestudies on prestressed concrete, geodesic domes,suspension and cable-stayed bridges would surelydeserve documentation (Jewkes, 1958). Neverthe-less, there do exist problems about protecting newideas in architecture and construction and suchproblems merit study.

The dilemma of technical progress also faced inconstruction is that whilst innovations are desirable,the great number of factors affecting the built prod-ucts frequently cause unforeseen defects, dam-ages, failures, catastrophes and this commandscaution in introducing novelties. In historical periodsapproaches by trial and error did provide some, butby no means sufficient, protection. Currently theuse of small-scale models, laboratory tests, visual-ization through models, simulation, experimentaland demonstration projects assist the designer, butthe most significant contribution to design is theapplication of widened research, its results andmethods. Despite such measures, damages andfailures cannot be avoided completely but theyshould be kept to a minimum. Where symptoms ofdefects become apparent, the causes should beclarified as soon as possible and measures taken toprevent further deterioration.

The study of defects and damages has become anindependent discipline, which is often called ‘build-ing pathology’ (Watt, 1999, Blaich, 1999, Hinks andCook, 1997, Marshall et al., 1998). Certain individu-als and institutions specialize in the study of defectsand damages and appear as expert witnessesbefore courts as well as devising remedies for indi-vidual cases. Indeed some architects themselvesinclude in their portfolio of activities the function ofexpert in various cases of damages and defects.

In any case, an architect must be equipped totackle problems of building pathology and conflicts.This is a safeguard against loss of prestige andeventual legal and financial responsibility. Liability

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8The price of progress: defects,damages and failures


may affect the architect’s work and he may becalled upon to prove that defects and damageshave not occurred as a consequence of his ownwork, negligence or inadequate knowledge(Knocke, 1993).

Building pathology comprises various activities,such as:

• assessment of the technical condition of build-ings and structures

• identification, investigation and diagnosis ofdefects in existing buildings

• scientific and practical study of abnormalities inmaterials, components and equipment of build-ings, classification of abnormalities and theirdevelopment in time, methods of prognosis ofvarious forms of degradation

• developing investigative methods with the pur-pose of ascertaining in advance eventual futureabnormalities, identifying already occurreddegradation and prognosis of future degrada-tion

• establishing typical categories of abnormalities,preparing statistical studies on occurrence,study of economic impact of degradation also asa basis to define what strategies to follow con-cerning these abnormalities

• exploring methods of repair and other remedialwork

• preparing recommendations, codes and princi-ples of improved design, contributing to thefuture prevention of defects.

Defects, damages and failures can be classified indifferent ways. One of these is the classificationbased on the field of activities in which they occur(Feld and Carper, 1997):

• Fundamental errors in concept• Site selection and site development errors• Programming deficiencies• Design errors• Construction errors• Material deficiencies• Operational errors.

Other classifications are based on:

• the place where the defects occur (foundation,wall, floor, roof, etc.)

• classes of disciplines in which the failure hasbeen caused (failures due to errors in structuralanalysis, building physics, etc.)

• the agents causing the degradation, such asmechanical agents, electromagnetic agents,thermal and moisture agents, chemical agents,biological agents

• classes of failure consequences (inadequatehuman comfort, deformation, structural col-lapse, etc.).

Such a classification has been detailed for the caseof low-rise housing (Marshall et al., 1998):

• Building Movement, Foundations• Building Movement, Walls• Brickwork and Stonework• Ground Floors• Upper Floors• Pitched Roofs• Flat Roofs• External Rendering• Plastering and Plasterboard• Internal Walls• Timber Pests• Condensation• Damp• System Building• Services.

Work directed towards the investigation of dam-ages, failures and catastrophic events is alsoreferred to as forensic engineering investigation(Carper, 2001, Noon, 2001). Behind each of theabove headings a vast stock of knowledge is con-cealed, so that the list serves only as a pointer forfurther literature search.

Specific categories of structures (such as founda-tions, walls, roofs, etc.) display specific types ofdamages and failures. For example, the principaldegradation categories for metal sheet claddinghave been classified as follows (Ryan et al., 1994):

• Chalking, loss of gloss or colour change• Crazing or flaking• Corrosion of galvanizing (steel cladding)• Base metal corrosion.

For typical types of damages and degradationprocesses repair technologies have also beenworked out.

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During the post-Second World War period and sub-sequently technical progress accelerated. Newmaterials, components, structures, equipmenthave been introduced and unfortunately, togetherwith this, damages, some causing substantial lossof human life and financial loss, have occurredmore frequently. Particularly vivid descriptionswere provided by the late William Allen (Allen et al.,1995). He recorded the most widely occurring dis-eases, veritable epidemics in housing in the UnitedKingdom following the Second World War. Theseincluded: condensation in the external walls, flatroof membrane destruction, degradation of plasticsfor roofs, thermal pumping, dimensional conflictsand rain screen technology.

Many catastrophes are caused by natural forces inthe form of earthquakes, extreme wind, flooding,fire and subsoil collapse. Some of these are dealtwith as appropriate elsewhere. Whatever thecause, however, we are intentionally refrainingfrom a discussion of the failures of civil engineeringstructures: bridges, tunnels, dams, and instead weare confining our attention to failures in buildings.

Certain major catastrophes have become so wellknown as to require no more than a simple listing(together with a short description of whathappened):

• Ronan Point, London, 1968: progressive col-lapse in a 22-storey residential building with fac-tory-manufactured load-bearing walls, causedby an accidental gas explosion.

• Civic Center Coliseum, Hartford, Connecticut,USA, 1978: a 9700 square metre building’s steelspace truss roof collapsed under moderatesnow load, due primarily to design deficiencies.

• West Berlin Congress Hall, (former West)Berlin, Germany, 1980: collapse of one-third of areinforced concrete shell structure, due todynamic stress and corrosion in the prestress-ing tendons.

• John Hancock Tower, Boston, Massachusetts,USA, a 241 metres-tall office building, defectsappearing during the period 1971–80: dramaticfractures of the glass façade, unacceptabledynamic response in the wind.

• Hyatt Regency Hotel Pedestrian Walkways,Kansas City, Missouri, USA, 1981: 114 deaths

and 185 injuries resulted; the collapse was theconsequence of a number of mistakes in thedesign and execution of the walkway suspen-sion.

A special note, however, must be inserted asregards certain violent cases of catastrophe: suici-dal and terrorist actions. Whilst at first sight thismay appear to be too broad an issue to be dis-cussed just within the context of structural design,it does regrettably seem to be a problem to be con-fronted by politicians, managers and engineers,with obvious repercussions on architectural prac-tice. A number of catastrophic events have overseveral years served as a warning. One of thesewas the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. MurrahFederal Building in Oklahoma City on 19 April 1995,which resulted in 168 deaths and over 500wounded. The bomb attack on the World TradeCenter in New York on 16 February 1993 causedsix deaths and well over 1000 wounded. The mosttragic event, however, was the terrorist attack onthe twin towers of the New York World Trade Cen-ter and the Pentagon Building in Washington DCon 11 September 2001 when the number of fatali-ties ran into thousands. Whilst it is true that sys-tematic early detection and prevention is the mainissue, there are inevitable consequences on codesand design practices.

Although each failure may have individual charac-teristics, many may be considered as having cer-tain common causes. One group of defects has astructural engineering background, others are of anon-structural character. Whilst the responsibilityof the architect takes in every type of defect, theresponsibility for structural failures rests primarilywith the structural designer. For non-structuraldefects the architect’s responsibility is directalthough it may be shared with specialist expertsand companies having a responsibility in a givenrestricted field of the design and execution. Whatfollows is an (incomplete) listing of some commonfailure/defect categories.

Foundations of buildings may fail due to changes inthe properties of the subsoil: undermining orunsafe support of existing structures, lateral soilmovement, down-drag and heave, vibrations,water content fluctuations, landslides, land subsi-

The price of progress: defects, damages and failures

153


dence. The inadequacy of connections is a fre-quent cause of timber structures’ failure. Timberand steel frequently deteriorate as a consequenceof insufficient protection against corrosion and (inthe case of timber) fungi, termites, insects. Errorsin erection and assembly mistakes (e.g. in bolting,welding, etc.) cause failures of steel structures. Amajor cause of damages in concrete and reinforcedconcrete structures are mistakes in the composi-tion of the concrete, corrosion due to inadequatecover of reinforcement and excessive amount ofadmixtures (calcium chloride, etc.). Design defects(through faulty evaluation of, for example, shear,buckling or ductility) may also result in failure ofreinforced concrete structures.

In the field of non-structural damages new tech-niques sometimes led to damage in the initialperiod of their application, for instance, in the exter-nal envelope, surface and interstitial condensation.After the Second World War new types of multi-layer external walls were introduced: curtain walls,prefabricated reinforced concrete large-panel wallsand framed light walls for family houses. In thesethe weather-resistant hard layer was on the exter-nal side with the soft heat-insulating layer to theinside. The transmission of vapour across the wallwas impeded. An additional frequent source oftrouble was that at the connection of wall and floora reinforced concrete beam further reduced heatinsulation. This gave rise to vapour condensationespecially in the upper external corners of rooms.Inadequate ventilation, better insulating windowsand too many persons in small flats all contributedto increased partial vapour pressure and humidityof the air. Vapour-resistant claddings were onecause of spalling of façade tiles and stone slabs. Avapour barrier on the inside of the wall and betterventilation helped to eliminate humidity. One groupof frequently occurring damages were those in flatroofs. The membrane materials used in the 1960sand 1970s (asphalt and felt) tended to become brit-tle with age (Stratton, 1997). Vapour control wasoften inadequate resulting in internal condensationand mould. Perimeter details were deficientthereby allowing the penetration of water. Theexperience collected during the study of damagesled to the introduction of new materials and princi-ples (for example, the inverted roof) as a means to

prevent future occurrence. The use of lightweightmulti-layer external walls and various types offaçade claddings proved to be a source of dam-ages. Tile spalling became one of the adverse con-sequences, interstitial condensation another. Theintroduction of the decompression cavity in jointsof external wall panels halted the penetration of dri-ving rain through the wall. The application ofproven new technologies has become essential toavoid new architecture being brought into disre-pute.

When reviewing defects, damages, failures and,above all, catastrophic events, one reaches theinescapable conclusion that technical progressitself has not put a complete stop to the occur-rence in any of the above categories. It is also to beadmitted that in most cases it is not the absence ofknowledge that can be blamed but rather careless-ness and even superficiality.

In the Netherlands a fireworks storage and manu-facturing plant blew up as a consequence ofunlawfully stored material. The last two days of2001 saw two further catastrophic fires in fire-works factories: one in Lima, Peru with a greatnumber of deaths and another in China. In Israelguests at a marriage ceremony fell as the rein-forced concrete floor under them gave way, fol-lowing an earlier dismantling of supportingcolumns. In Budapest, Hungary, in 2001, a large-panel building was partly destroyed after an explo-sion, caused by stored chemicals on the third floorignited with criminal purpose. In Quezon City, nearManila, the Philippines, a hotel fire in August 2001caused the deaths of 75 people who could notescape because all exits including windows wereshut and blocked.

Better education, more care and attention, strictercontrol for ensuring safety and security, areneeded. New architecture and, together with it,modern technology, provide an overwhelmingmajority of splendid new buildings yet cautionmust always remain.

The responsibility of the architect is first and fore-most to design faultless buildings and structures.He cannot take on responsibility for the negligenceor ignorance of others: the contractor, user, facilitymanager and others. Nevertheless it is the mission

154

of architects to draw attention to potential prob-lems and eventually (if so authorized) to serve asadviser and educator in the course of constructionand exploitation of his buildings. An importantresponsibility lies with authorities in carefully con-trolling a building throughout its life. It can beexpected that if the above conditions are met, dis-aster prevention will be effective (Allen et al., 1992)and the spin-off will be praise rather than criticismfor the architect’s work.

Whilst repeating the statement that most dam-ages and failures do not lie in a lack of knowledgebut are derived from personal ignorance, negli-gence and mismanagement, there still are fieldswhere additional research is required. For a longtime, in fact for more than a century, suspensionbridges were in this category. Major and smallerfailures were numerous, among such spectacularones as the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Sus-pension Bridge, USA (spanning over a mile with acombination of a cable-supported suspensionstructure and steel-plate girder approach spans) inNovember 1940. In-depth research into theirbehaviour under dynamic action resulted in seem-ingly safe bridges.

Recently, however, some disquieting experienceshave surfaced with swinging and buckling of sus-pension and cable-stayed bridges. One such newbridge has been the one over the Maas in Rotter-dam where excessive swinging necessitated theaddition of members to make the cables morerigid. The pedestrian bridge between St Paul’sand the Tate Modern Gallery in London and thedesigned, but as yet to be constructed, pedes-trian bridge between Pimlico and the former Bat-tersea power station required similar reinforce-ment. This seems to confirm the thesis thatscientific progress is a precondition for technolog-ical progress and for construction without dam-ages.

Bibliography

AIT (Architectur, Innenarchitektur, Technischer Aus-bau) (2001) No. 7/8, pp. 69–77

Allen, William (1995) The Pathology of Modern Build-ing, Building Research and Information, Vol. 23,No. 3, pp. 139–46

Allen, W.A., et al., (Eds) (1992) A Global Strategy forHousing in the Third Millennium, E & FN Spon

Blaich, Jürgen (1999) La détérioration des batiments,EMPA (in German: Bauschäden. Analyse undVermeidung)

Carper, Kenneth L. (2001) Forensic Engineering, 2ndedn, CRC Press

Feld, Jacob and Carper, Kenneth L. (1997) Construc-tion Failure, 2nd edn, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Hinks, John and Cook, Geoff (1997) The Technologyof Building Defects, E & F N Spon

Jewkes, J., Sawers, D. and Stillerman, R. (1958) TheSources of Invention, Macmillan

Knocke, J. (1993) Post-Construction Liability, E & FNSpon

Kronz, Hermann (1977) Patentschutz im Bausektor,Mitteilungen der Deutschen Patentanwälte, Feb-ruary, Jahrgang 68, Heft 2

Levy, M. and Salvadori, N.M. (1992) Why BuildingsFall Down, W.W. Norton

Marshall, Duncan, Worthing, Derek and Heath, Roger(1998) Understanding Housing Defects, EstatesGazette Defects, School of Land and PropertyManagement, UWE Bristol

Noon, Randall K. (2001) Forensic Engineering Investi-gation, CRC Press

Ransom, W.H. (1981) Building Failures, E & FN SponRichardson, B.A. (1980) Remedial Treatment of Build-

ings, The Construction PressRyan, P.A. et al. (1994) Durability of Cladding,

WS/Atkins and Thomas TelfordSalvadori, M. (1980) Why Buildings Stand Up, W.W.

NortonStratton, Michael (Ed.) (1997) Structure and Style: Con-

serving 20th Century Buildings, E & FN SponWatt, S. David (1999) Building Pathology: Principles

and Practice, Blackwell Science

The price of progress: defects, damages and failures

155

Architecture has undergone continual change fromtime immemorial but these changes have multi-plied during the twentieth century. A plethora ofstyles, trends and approaches have come andgone. However, as Mies van der Rohe stated: ‘onecannot have a new architecture every Mondaymorning’. We have reached a position where wecan identify certain characteristics of new architec-ture, but there does not exist as yet any leading,dominant architecture. We may appreciate theposition that we have reached and now we mustsit back and wait to see where further develop-ment will lead us.

New (contemporary and future) architecture hasretained many of its historical antecedents, butalong the way it has also acquired some excitingnew components. One of these is the impact ofmodern technology. This itself has a dual character:the changing technologies in the sectors that areclients and users of buildings and the changingtechnology of the construction process includingchanges of design and execution. The first of thesetwo changes resulted in new requirements for andin buildings. The second altered the technology ofdesign and architecture. The function and relationsof participants in the construction processchanged. The new pattern of the client supportedby an expert staff for the buildings that that clientrequires and operates, and general and specializeddesigners and contractors exerted strong pressurefor the emergence of new procurement methods.All this is intimately interwoven with the new tech-nologies in information, telecommunication andmanagement.

The new materials and composites introduced,

such as steel and aluminium alloys, titanium, high-performance concrete and plastics, are powerfulnew components of present-day design. The sameapplies to new structures: domes, shells, vaults,space trusses, masted, suspended, stressed andair-supported structures and new functions ofbuildings. A particularly conspicuous new step intechnological progress has been the large-scaleintroduction of tall buildings, wide-span structuresand the much broadened scope of the technicalservices in buildings. These upgraded the role ofstructural and other (HVAC, acoustical, fire, heatand moisture, etc.) engineers as partners of thearchitects in the design process. Increased impor-tance has been given to new aesthetic effects andnew requirements: light, shade, sound, security,transparency, clean air, new forms, cooperationwith other branches of art.

A new feature of the scene for architecture is thereshaping of city centres, which offers new per-spectives to new construction and the renewal ofbuildings.

It is fair to admit that progresses in science andapplied research are by no means the sole factorsto have an impact on architecture. Overall changesin society, the economy and culture and demo-graphic changes will become increasingly relevantto architecture and the development of human set-tlements. Considerations for conservation of nat-ural resources, such as land, energy, timber, min-erals, protection of our environment, prevention ofcontamination and pollution of soil, air and waterand retaining or creating conditions for sustainablehuman life and wealth will all take on increasingsignificance for future architecture.

156

9Conclusion

The great masters of modernist architecture feltimbued with a mission to shape the future of soci-ety. They thought that by designing buildings andcities with new ideas, they would also be able todevise future social structures. Post-modernist andpresent-day architects seem to nurture less ambi-tious ideas. They want to design good and appeal-ing buildings although they do have certain visionsas to how these will affect future human and sociallife. The impact of function on form has undergonea change. Modernist architectural theory claimedthat function is the most important factor in deter-mining architectural form and rejected any interfer-ence with this relationship. Function has remainedimportant in our time but the architect’s form-find-ing has regained a notable measure of liberty.Greater liberty in artistic creative work, however,goes hand in hand with an increased respect forthe participation of technical engineering design-ers.

These developments have resulted in new sys-tems of users’ requirements and, in order to satisfythese, new performance of materials, structuresand buildings. These changes ultimately trans-formed the appearance of buildings.

The architecture of the twentieth century com-menced with the last historical styles: eclecticismand secession. Then the powerful thrust for mod-ernism brought with it a wish for a new globalstyle. This movement was crowned by the successof the ‘International Style’. During the second halfof the century the situation that saw buildingsappearing that were independent from characteris-tics of the region, the traditions and the place, andthe total abandonment of all ornamentation,evinced dissatisfaction. Post-modernism steppedon the scene but this, however, was no longer a‘style’. Some of the trends during the post-mod-ernist period even went so far as to reject the labelof post-modernism. Deconstructivism, organic-regional and metaphoric thinking and other trendsall vied for a place in architecture. Now, havingentered the twenty-first century, it must be recog-nized that there is ample justification to offer free-dom for the architectural solution of individualdesign problems. This freedom, however, is notwithout certain constraints. The diversification ofthe buildings, a renewed wish for some kind of

artistic ornamentation and the need to incorporateinto the designs the most recent results of techno-logical progress all proved to be components of thework of the architect.

Together with the technological changes, the prin-ciples, morphology and ornamentation of architec-ture have been transformed.

This book has focussed on the impact on architec-ture. It has mentioned, but not in any detail, suchsubjects as architectural education, the new posi-tion of architectural practice and many others. It isalso fair to point out that architecture, during thetwentieth century and at the present time had andhas at its pinnacle eminent figures who usually alsohave been in the vanguard as regards applyingmodern technology. There are no restricted lists ofsuch top architects but, for example, Le Corbusierand one or some of the designers of modern struc-tures (Kenzo Tange, Paolo Nervi, etc.) would cer-tainly justify inclusion on the list covering the first60-odd years of the twentieth century; NormanFoster and Frank O. Gehry would be on the list cov-ering the last 30 years or so and into the present. Inthe meantime a new generation of architects hasentered the scene and in our century we shall becertain to see further names figuring in the cata-logue of top architects. Fame and celebrity inthemselves are not the ambition of any profes-sional, including architects, but it certainly is a helpin receiving important commissions of architecturaldesign. In parallel to a list of outstanding architectseach period selects its candidates for a list of themost outstanding realizations, which also enhancethe stock of the most outstanding products ofhuman activities. At the same time one should notforget that the total architectural product of anyperiod comprises various types of building andtheir overall quality is of paramount importance.

The manifold tasks of architecture have broadenedthe scope and history of architecture. No longercan one point to a well-defined architectural styleand this plurality will probably manifest itself in thefuture also. Common fashion trends will appearand disappear but will be accompanied by local orindividual approaches. To sum up: architecture asaffected by modern life will be rich and many-sided.

Conclusion

157


Human society never stands still. What has longbeen a matter for debate is the extent to whichtechnical progress is also progress in the quality oflife. Time and again architects have come forwardwho believed that they had achieved perfection. Inreality this never proved to be so. At the same timearchitects did produce designs which were thebasis for masterpieces. The next generation arrivedand with it a new style, new trends, new ways toexpress the needs of human society in buildings.

This will remain so in the future. The progress ofarchitecture cannot be halted.

Bibliography

Groak, Steven (1992) The Idea of Building: Thoughtand Action in the Design and Production of Build-ings, E & FN Spon

158

Animation, 120Anthropomorphic, 10, 12, 15, 20Architecture vitaliste, 15Art Deco, 56Artificial neural network, 120Art Nouveau, 2Arts and Crafts, 3, 14Automation/robotization of construction, 66, 73, 75, 97,

106, 121

Béton banché, 66Bigness, mega-structures, 25, 51, 53, 127, 148Boiler-suit approach, 21Bauhaus, 3, 4, 6, 23Brutalism, 8

Capsule theory, 13CATIA, 88, 112Chicago School, 4Cladding, 9, 17, 19, 24, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 46, 47,

57, 58, 59, 72, 73, 76, 80, 88, 110, 118, 119, 142,152, 154

Coil coating, 36, 37, 38, 39Cold rolling, 32, 37, 38, 39Constructed nothingness, 25Constructivism, 4, 138CORELLI, 87Cubism, 3, 23Curtain wall, 6, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 57, 58, 80, 154

Dada, 16, 24Dead-tech, 14Decompression:

cavity, 154chamber, 66

Deconstructivism, 14, 16, 17, 22, 157Decoration, 3, 8, 13, 14, 16, 35, 57, 76, 138, 140, 148De Stijl, 3Deployable structure, 85Domotique, 106

Early modernism, 3, 14, 15, 21Eccentric architecture, 141Elastomers, 46

Façade, 20, 24, 28, 46, 54, 55, 59, 74, 103, 117, 143,144, 145, 149

Factory constructed housing, 66Formex, 86, 87Formian, 87Fractals, 86, 143Functionalism, 8, 126

GADES, 120Geodesic dome, 5, 19, 85, 151Glulam, 34, 35Global:

commons, 91, 132 values, 132

Golden section, 143Green buildings, 9, 136

materials, 134, 135‘Greys’, The, 18

High performance concrete, 9, 42, 44High-tech, 1, 7, 8, 14, 21, 22, 42, 68, 69, 99, 127Hyperstructures, 88Historicism, 13

Ideal city, 129Inside-out style, 21Intelligent homes, 42, 44, 66, 106, 107, 120, 133International Style, 4, 6, 9, 18, 22, 26, 56, 58, 126, 157

Jugendstil, 2

Kyoto climate protocol, 93

Late modernism, 8, 10, 14, 20, 21, 23, 25, 28, 68, 75,145

Liability, 151

159

Index

Index

Masted structure, 80, 141Megastructure, 25, 51, 127Membrane roof, 4, 21, 42, 47, 53, 61, 63, 68, 70, 80,

81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 144, 153, 154Meta-architecture, 88Metabolic, 10, 12, 13Metaphoric, 10, 11, 12, 79, 141, 157Minimalism, 14Modernism, 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21,

22, 23, 24, 26, 68, 73, 127, 138, 139, 140, 157Modulor, 143Multi-ply roof, 61

Neo-classicist, 10, 13, 14, 44, 54, 145Neo-historic, 10, 21, 23Neo-modern, 7, 10, 14, 21, 75New Brutalism, 45New Towns, 5, 20, 65, 129Nexor, 85Nonlinear architecture, 31

Open architecture, 21Organic architecture, 15, 16, 23, 34Ornament(ation), 13, 14, 138, 157

Pathology, 151, 152Performance requirements, 57, 91, 92, 96, 157Photovoltaic systems, 95Post-Modern, 1, 8, 9, 10, 16, 20, 22, 28, 40, 51, 56,

58, 67, 73, 134, 139, 140Procurement methods, 122, 156

Regional architecture, 15, 16, 24

Robot architecture, 26

Satellite towns, 5, 65, 126, 129Secession, 2, 3, 157SFCAD, 87Sick building syndrome, 96Smart homes, 42, 44, 66, 106, 107, 120, 133Single layer roof, 61Single ply roof, 61Socialist realism, 5, 21, 23Solar collector, 95, 99, 102Stressed skin, 34, 35, 65Structural glass, 37, 40, 41, 42, 57, 58, 80, 112Structuralism, 4, 8, 138Supermannerism, 139Super-Modern, 9, 10, 14Suprematism, 16Suspended roof, 47, 75, 81, 83, 139Sustainability, 9, 33, 91, 125, 127, 129, 131, 132, 133,

134, 135, 136System building, 7, 20, 45, 50, 65, 66, 72, 118, 152

Technopoles, 126Tensegrity, 5, 19, 61, 83, 85Thermoplastics, 46Traditionalism, 13, 24Transparent heat insulation, 97, 98

Virtual reality, 120

‘Whites’, The, 18

Zero-machine, 14, 140 Zoomorphic, 15

160

Airports

Amsterdam, Air Terminals, 76Bilbao, Airport, 128Denver, International Airport, 78, 83, 115Hong Kong, Chek Lap Kok Airport, 79Kuala Lumpur, Airport, 13, 79New York Airport Kennedy/Idlewild TWA Terminal, 10,

22Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport, Terminal 2F, 79Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah International Airport, Hajj

Terminal, 82Washington, D.C., Dulles Airport, 22Zurich, Air Terminals, 76

Banks, offices, etc.

Amsterdam, NMB Office Building, 123Apeldoorn, Centraal Beheer, 22, 123, 148Budapest, Whale Shaped Top Floor Office, 142Cambridge, Schlumberger Research Centre, 75Detroit, Ford Factory, 85Essen, RWE Headquarters, 119Frankfurt, Commerzbank HQ Building, 21, 42, 51, 52,

99, 105, 133Hong Kong, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 21, 102Ipswich, Faber and Dumas Building, 41Leipzig, Central HQ of the Affiliated Gas Company, 104London, Canary Wharf Office Building, 20Martinique, Vice Chancellor’s Office, Académie des

Antilles et de la Guyane, 99, 107Newport, Inmos Complex, 75New York, AT&T Building, 14 New York, Chrysler Building, 36Nottingham, Amenities Building of Inland Revenue

Centre, 47Oklahoma City, Alfred P Murrah Federal Building, 153

Pittsburgh, Plate Glass Company Plant, 36 Plymouth, Western Morning News Building, 42Portland, Administrative Building, 14 Prague, Nationale Nederlanden Building, 17 Rotterdam, KPN Telecom Building, 22, 147, 148 Seoul, Dongba Securities HQ, 146 Shanghai, Global Financial Centre, 55 Sofia, HQ Building of Communist Party, 23 Swindon, Renault Centre, 41, 75 The Hague, Dutch Ministry of Housing, 42 Uppsala, Kristallen Office Building, 102 Vienna, Office Extension, 145 Washington, Pentagon Building, 153

Bridges

Japan, Akashi Bridge, 9 London Pimlico (former) Battersea Power Station

Bridge, 155 London, St Paul’s - Tate Modern Gallery Bridge, 155 Rotterdam, Erasmus Bridge, 40 San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, 4Washington, Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge, 155 Vancouver, The Americas Bridge, 44

Cinemas, operas and theatres

Beijing, Opera House (project), 17, 39 Glasgow, IMAX Cinema, 39, 40 London, National Theatre on the South Bank, 20Los Angeles, Walt Disney Concert Hall, 19, 142Luzern, Concert Hall, 69 Lyon, Opera House, 103, 127Munich, Philharmonia am Gesteng, 105Paris, Bastille Opera, 18, 68

161

Index of categories of buildings

Index

Rotterdam, New Luxor Theatre, 147 Sydney, Opera House, 10, 11, 32The Hague, Dance Theatre, 22, 68

Galleries and libraries

Delft, Technical University Library, 133Houston, de Menil Collection Building, 70, 100, 101 Lisbon, Modern Art Centre, 102 London, National Gallery, 13 Milan, Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle, 102Minneapolis, Walker Art Gallery, 142 Paris, National Library, 18, 68 Stuttgart, New State Gallery/Neue Staatsgalerie, 14, 21,

102Tourcoing, Le Fresnoy National Studio for

Contemporary Art, 17

Hotels

Black Sea, Hotel International, 23Japan, Hotel Beverly, 12Kansas City, Hyatt Regency Hotel, 153 Porec, Hotel Rubin, 23 Primoshten, former Yugoslavia, Hotel Marina Lucica, 23Sofia, Hotel International, 23 Sofia, Rila Hotel, 23 Sofia, Vitosha Hotel, 23

Museums

Ahmadabad, Hussein–Doshi Guta Art Museum, 24 Australia, National Museum, 69 Berlin, Jewish Museum, 12, 16, 70 Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum, 9, 17, 19, 69, 87, 112,

128California, Getty Museum, 14 Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, 45 Cologne, Germany, Wallraf and Ludwig Museum, 102Copenhagen, Arken Museum of Modern Art, 17, 22 Grenoble, Musée de Grenoble, 102 Groningen, Museum, 69 Japan, Ehme Prefectural Museum of General Science,

13Japan, Maritime Museum, 42Japan, Museum of Fruit, 12

Japan, Shimosuwa Lake Suwa Museum, 12Las Vegas, Guggenheim Museum, 141 Ludwig - Wallraf - Rechartz Museum, 102 New Caledonia, Kanak Museum, 15, 16 New York, Museum of Modern Art, 16 Paris, La Gare d’Orsay Museum, 127Paris, Louvre Pyramide, 42, 102 Paris, Museum of Science and Technology, 36 Paris, ‘Sept Metres’ Room, 102 San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, 40 Shigaraki, Miho Museum, 69 St Petersburg, Hermitage, 141 Takasaki, Museum of Modern Art, 45 Tehran, Museum of Modern Arts, 28 Thessaloniki, Byzantine Museum, 102

Railway stations

Bilbao, Metro, 128 London, Waterloo International Railway Station, 42, 75 Lyon, Lyon–Satalas TGV Railway Station, 12, 76, 77 Osaka, Underground Station, 76, 78 Tokyo Underground Stations, 76, 78

Religious buildings

Black Forest, Saint Vlasius Cathedral, 143 Evreux, Sainte Marie de la Tourette Convent, 102 Evreux, Cathedral, 67Evry, Cathedral, 40 New Delhi, Bahia Temple, 10 Rome, Saint Peter’s Basilica, 142 Ronchamps, Chapel Notre Dame du Haut, 7, 10, 67,

100, 102, 143 Selangor, Shah Alam Mosque, 38 Yamassoukrou, Notre Dame de la Paix, 143 Yancey, Chapel, 67

Skyscrapers/Towers

Berlin, Television Tower, 23 Boston, John Hancock Tower, 153 Chicago, Lake Point Tower, 44 Chicago, MTR Tower, 37 Chicago, Sears Tower, 56, 57 Chicago, Seven South Dearborn Tower, 37

162

Chicago, Water Tower Place, 44 Houston, Texas Commerce Tower, 44 Kuala Lumpur, Petronas Towers, 9, 37, 55, 56 London, Centre Point, 20 London, Ronan Point, 153 London, Swiss Re (project), 56Milan, Pirelli Tower, 22 New York, Empire State Building, 4, 56 New York, LVMH Tower, 147 New York, Seagram Building, 6, 18, 56 New York, World Trade Center, 18, 55, 57, 153 Paris, Eiffel Tower, 2 Rotterdam, KPN Telecom Office Building, 22, 147, 148 Sydney, Aurora Place Office Tower, 10, 74 Tokyo, Nakagin Tower, 13 Umeda, Sky City, 12

Sports stadia

Berlin, Olympic Swimming Pool, 52 Gorle, Covered Tennis Court, 47, 63 Hamar, Olympic Stadium, 35 , 61Houston, Football Stadium, 51, 80 Kanagawa, Prefecture, Japan, Municipal Gymnasium,

139London, Wembley Stadium, 81 Munich, Olympic Stadium, 21, 53, 81

Other buildings, structures, systems,locations

Aachen, Germany, New Medical Faculty Building, 21Alusuisse, 32, 38, 39, 58Amersfoort, NL, Wilbrink House, 40Apeldoorn, NL, Centraal Beheer, 123Ashiya, Hyago, Japan, Koshino House, 45Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Dome, 19

Barcelona, Spain:German Pavilion of the International Exhibition, 3Pantadome, 85, 86

Basiano, Italy, IBM Complex, 73, 149Basle, CH, CAN-SUVA Building, 103Berlin, Germany:

Congress Hall, 53Galeries Lafayette, 103Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21Reichstag, 102

Berne, CH, Reiterstrasse, 102

Birdair, 83Bordeaux, France, Law Courts, 134Brazilia, Brasilia, 5, 28, 128Breslau (Wroclaw), Jahrhunderthalle, 2Brno, Czech R., Tugendhat House, 3, 23Brussels, Belgium, Waucquez Department Store, 102Bucharest, Romania, Palace of the Republic, 23Budapest, Hungary, West End, 142, 154

California, USA:Chiat/Day-Main Street, 140La Verne University, 82

Chelmsford, UK, APU Learning Resource Centre, 103Chicago, I11, USA:

John Hancock Center, 56South Wacker, 44

CLASP, 45, 72, 118Corbeil-Essonnes, France, IBM Complex, 73

Dallas, Texas, USA, Raschofsky House, 67Denver, Colorado, USA, Boettcher Hall, 105Detroit, Michigan, USA, Ford Plant geodesic dome, 85

Esslingen-Berkheim, Germany, Hall ‘Airtecture’, 47, 86

Frankfurt, Germany, Trade Fair Stand, 47

Garches, France, Les Terrasses, 3Gothenburg, Sweden, Law Courts Annex, 103Guyancourt, France, L’Avancée, Renault Research and

Technical Centre, 18

The Hague, NL, Town Hall, 22The Hague, NL, VROM Building, 42Hanover, Germany, Deutsche Messe, Hall 26, 52, 99 Harris House, USA, 67Hartford Conn, USA, Civic Center Coliseum, 153Helsinki, Finland, Congress Building, 22Hooke Park, Dorset, UK, Westminster Lodge, 133

Japan, Umeda Sky City, 12Jena, Germany, Planetarium, 4

Kobe, Japan, Pantadome, 85Kubota, 39, 58, 59Kyoto, Japan, Face House, 12

Lausanne, CH, EOS Building, 102Leipzig, Germany, Neue Gewandhaus, 21Lille, France, Euralille, Congexpo, 18, 22London, UK:

Canary Wharf, Docklands, 20Elephant and Castle, 20Piccadilly Circus, Trocadero, Segaworld, 141

Index

163

Index

Mason’s Blend, Alabama, USA, Bryant House, 67Marne-la-Vallée, France, 13Maserberg, Germany, recreational clinic, 47Medina, Saudi Arabia, 47MERO, 6, 38, 85Montpellier, France:

Marne-la-Vallee, 13, 44Saint Quentin en Yvelines, 13, 44

Montreal, Canada:Expo, modular flats, 13, 43, 53Geodesic dome, 85Salle Wilfried Pelletier, 105

New Jersey, USA, Teiger House, 67Newcastle, UK, Byker Estate, 20New York, USA:

Columbus University, 16 Lever House, 6, 18, 56

Orlando, Florida, USA:Team Disney Building, 45Walt Disney World Planet Hollywood, 141

Osaka, Japan:EXPO, air inflated structure, 47International Convention Centre, 13

Paris, France:Institute of the Arab World, 18, 100La Grande Arche, 18La Villette, 16, 32, 41, 42Pompidou Centre, 13,14, 21, 32Radio Building, 42

Pennsylvania, USA, Waterfall House, 66Poissy, France, Villa Savoye, 4Prague, Czech Republic, Müller House, 23

Reutlingen, Germany, Domino Haus, 102Rome, Italy:

Il Tempietto, 142Pantheon, 51, 100

Rotterdam, Netherlands:Bijenkorf, 21Institute of Architecture (NAI), 22Lijnbaan, 5, 21

Saint Quentin en Yvelines, 13Santa Barbara, Cal., USA, Blades Residence, 67SCOLA, 72, 118SEAC, 72Selangor, Malaysia, Menara Mesiniaga, 133Shanghai, China, Tshinmao Building, 55Skanska Cementgjuteriet, 22Sofia, Bulgaria:

Institute of Technical Sciences, 23Party Headquarters, 23

St. Louis, Missouri, USA:‘Climatron’ Botanical Garden, 19, 85Gateway Arch, 36

St. Petersburg, Russia, Winter Palace, 146St. Veit, Glan, Austria, Funder factory, 16Stockholm, Sweden, Kungsholmen flats, 107Stuttgart, Germany, experimental housing, 65Sukkertoppen, Valby, Denmark, 102

Tarragona, Spain, Auditorium, 47Tokyo, Japan:

Hermes store building, 42Yasuda Academia Building, 99

Triodetic, 38, 85Trondheim, Norway, Dragvoll University Centre, 103

Utrecht, NL, Schroeder House, 3, 7

Vienna, Austria:Löwengasse, Kegelgasse, 16Falkenstrasse, 16

Volendam, NL, 113

Warsaw, Poland, Palace of Culture and Science, 23Washington, D.C., Pentagon Building, 153Weil am Rhein, Germany, Vitra fire fighting station, 16

164

Ahrends Burton and Koralek, 13, 77Ahrendt W, 23Alcoa, 32Allen W, 153 Alto, H, A, 22Alusuisse, 32, 38, 39, 58Amman and Whitney, 22Ando T, 25, 45, 145Andreu P, 17, 39, 42Ardahan, N, 26Ashton, Raggatt, McDonald, 70Asplund E G, 22Asymptote, 20Atelier 6 Group, 28Azagury E, 29

Bach and Mora, 22Badran R, 26Bakema J B, 5, 21Balency-Schuhl, 18Barani M, 18Becker, 104Behrens P, 3Behrens and Partner, 21Berg M, 2Berger H, 81, 82, 83, 115Berkel v B, 40, 149Berlage H P, 3Birdair, 83Bofill R, 13, 44, 65, 139Bolles and Wilson, 147Bolsheviks, 4Botta M 22, 26, 40Bradburn J, 78, 83Bramante, 142Breuer M, 3, 21Broek v d, J H, 5, 21Brundtland, 131Building Design Partnership, 40Bunshaft G, 56

Burger J, 14Buro Happold, 40, 47, 87Butler Manufacturing Company, 118, 119

Calatrava S, 12, 57, 76, 77, 78, 112, 128Camus, 7, 18, 45, 66, 118Candela F, 28, 80, 81, 112Candrawinata T, 28Cantor, 143Catrus, 85Chadirji R, 26Chaix and Morel, 18Chen Voon Fee, 26Coenen J, 22, 42Coignet, 18, 45, 66, 118Correa C M, 24Costamagna, 18, 66Csete Gy, 23Cullinan E, 133

Dada N A, 16, 24Dassault, 88, 112Derrida J, 16, 138Dévényi S, 23Diba, K, 26 Dieter F, 23Doesburg v, T, 3Doshi B V, 24Dow, 32Doxiades C, 127Duthilleul J-M, 18

Egeraat van, E, 22, 142Eiffel G, 2Eisenman P, 16, 18, 26, 65, 138Electrolux, 107El Lissitsky, 16, 23Entasis Arkitekter, 22Estudio Cano Lassi, 22European Union, 94

165

Index of proper names

Index

Eyck v, A, 22, 148

Fainsilber A, 36, 41, 42Faraoui, 29Farkas G, 23Festo KG, 47Fiala S, 23Fibonacci, 143Fillod, 18, 73Finta J, 23Foster N, 14, 21, 24, 26, 41, 42, 51, 52, 75, 99, 102,

105, 127, 128, 157Francis, 42Franke G, 23Frigidaire, 107Fuji H, 16Fujita, 121Fuller B R, 5, 19, 26, 83, 85, 118

Gaudi A, 3, 15Gautrand M, 18Gehry F O, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 36, 39, 69, 87, 112, 128,

140, 142, 157Geiger D, 82Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 94Goldfinger E, 20Gortazar G, 28Grassi G, 22Graves M, 14,18, 139Greenburg A, 13Grimshaw N, 21, 42, 75Gropius W, 3, 26Group Meccano, 22Grzimek G, 21Guedes J, 28Guisado J A, 22Gwathmey C, 18

Habraken N, 21Hadid Z, 16, 65Hansen J, 95Happold E, 81, 115Hara H, 12, 140Harley, 85Hasegawa I, 12, 16, 25, 140Hauvette, 99Hawley M, 38Hertzberger, 22, 65, 123, 148Hertzog Thomas and Partner, 21, 52, 99 Hestnes Schmind Toggweiler, 102Hibersheimer, 127Himmelblau, 16, 145Hitchcock H R, 6HLM, 18

Höchst, 32Hoesch, 32Hopkins M, 21, 47, 75Hubacek K, 23Hundertwasser F, 16Hunt A, 112Hunter Douglas, 37

IBM, 73, 110, 149Ingenhoven, 119Ishii K, 25Isozaki A, 25, 45, 85, 86, 145Ito T, 12, 25Iyengar H, 53, 115Izmail K, 47

Jacobs, J, 127, 138Jäger, G, 21Jaim, U C, 24Jankovic, T, 23 Jencks C, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, 31, 51, 119, 138Jespersen, 66Johnson P, 6, 14, 16, 17, 56, 138Jururancang A, 13

Kahlen and Partner, 119 Kahn, L, 24Kajima, 35, 61, 121Kandinski, W, 3Kawaguchi, M, 83, 85, 86, 116Kawasaki Heavy Industries, 42Ken Yeang, 26, 133Kersale, Y, 103Khan, F, 6, 56, 82Kikutaka, K, 12Kim Chung-up, 28Kim Sok Chal, 28Kim Wou, 28Klee, P, 3Kleihaus J P, 45Koch, 143Koolhaas, R, 8, 16, 18, 22, 26, 51, 68, 76, 127,

141Kotlik, M, 23Králicek, V, 23Krier, L, 13Krier, R, 13Kroll, L, 65, 144Kubota, 39, 58, 59Kühn and Kühn, 104Kurokawa, K, 79

Laan v d, 143Lalvani N, 88

166

Lari Y, 24Larsen-Nielsen, 22, 34, 45, 66, 118, Lasdun D, 20Le Corbusier, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 17, 23, 24, 28, 41, 45, 65,

100, 102, 127, 128, 138, 143, 147, 157Lepena and Torres, 22Levy M, 19, 81, 88Lézènès, G, 100Libeskind D, 12, 16, 70Lim Cheong Keat, 26Lim W S W, 26Locsin L V, 28Loos A, 3, 23Lörincz F, 23Luca De, J, 23Lucicia, M, 23 Lund, S R, 17, 22Lutyens, 20Lyotard, 138

Maeda, S, 121Major, 26Maki, F, 12, 14, 25, 26, 51, 62, 80, 82, 139Makiya, M S, 26 Makovecz, I, 15, 23Malevich, 16 Martini F di G, 129May E, 65Mayne T, 67Maziere de, P, 29Meier R, 14, 18, 22, 37, 67, 110, 147Mendelsohn E, 3Mengeringhausen M, 6, 85Meyer A, 3Michael Hopkins and Partner, 21, 47, 75Michelangelo, 142Milgo-Bufkin, 88Minkowski, 143Miralles, 22Mitterand F, 18, 68Mockbee S, 67Moduspan, 85Moholy-Nagy L, 3Mok Wei Wei, 26Moore C, 139, 18More T, 120, 129Morris W, 3Moss E O, 17, 18

Nervi P L, 4, 5, 22, 80, 112, 115, 157Niemeyer O, 5, 28, 128, 144Nihon Sekkei Inc, 99Nodus, 85Nouvel J, 18, 66, 69, 100, 103, 123, 127

Obayashi, 121Otaka M, 12Ott C, 69Otto F, 21, 53, 81, 115Oud J J, 3Ove Arup, 10, 11, 42, 74Overdiek, 119

Palladio, 138, 144Palo A, 22Panasonic, 107Pantadome, 85, 86Partek, 22Pascal, 18, 66Peano, 143Pei I M, 18, 42, 69, 110Pelli C, 9, 18, 20, 56, 127Perkovic L, 23Perrault D, 52, 68Philips, 110Piano R, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 24, 26, 42, 70, 74,

100, 101, 147Pilkington, 32, 41, 42Pinon and Viaplan, 22Pleskot, J, 23 Poelzig, 3Poissy, 4Ponti G, 22Popov I P, 23Porphyrios D, 13Portland, 14, 18Portman J, 102, 127, 145Portoghesi P, 24, 138Portzamparc de, C, 26, 147Posohin M V, 23Prince Charles, 13, 14, 20Prouvé J, 118Pyramitec, 85

RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta, 22Rice P, 11, 32, 41, 42, 112, 115Rietveld G T, 3, 7Ritchie, 42Robertson, 37Rockwell Group, 141Rogers R, 13, 14, 21, 75Rohe v d, M, 3, 6, 23, 41, 56Rossi A, 22, 65, 146Rotondi M, 67RTKL UK, 141Rune C V, 22Rural Studio, 67

Saarinen Eero, 10, 36

Index

167

Index

Saarinen Eliel, 22 Safdie M, 13, 43Saint Gobain, 32Sancho Madridejos Moneo, S M, 22Sandell T, 22Schinkel, 14Schneider and Schumacher, 21Seifert R, 20Sever S, 24Severud Associates, 43, 83, 115Shimizu, 121Shinohara K, 14, 25, 140Shreve Lamb and Harmon, 4Simon Ungers, 20Skanska Cementgjuteriet, 22Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, 6, 56, 82, 147Skoda R, 21Spreckelsen V, 18Spria P, 100Steidle O, 21Stern R A M, 13, 14, 18, 67, 139Stirling J, 13, 14, 21Stoilov G, 23Studio Archea, 22Sumet Jamsai, 26 Swetin, 16Swoo Guen Kim, 28

Taisei, 121Takamatsu S, 14, 25, 140Takenaka, 121Takeyama, 12, 114Tange K, 25, 51, 127, 157Tao Ho, 26Tatlin V, 4Tay Kheng Soon, 26Taiyo Kogyo Corporation, 83

Tchaikovsky, 110Tchernikov, 16, 23 Tengku H, 26Testa M J, 28Thompson and Rose, 20Thyssen, 32Tibbatts Associates, 141Tikka R, 22Tolstoy, 142Torroja E, 5, 22, 80, 112, 115Tschumi B, 16, 17Turrell J, 104

Unistrut, 85Utzon J, 10, 11

Valle, G, 73, 149 Van Allen, W, 36Vaudou (and Luthi), 73Venturi Scott and Brown, 14, 18, 20, 138Viollet-le-Duc, 144Voysey, 20

Walker A, 123, 142Warszawski A, 121Weber Brand and Partners, 21Weidlinger Associates, 19, 85Wendell Burnett, 20Wigley M, 16Wilford M and Partners, 14Wright F L, 3, 8, 15, 24, 66

Yamamoto R, 25Yamashita K, 12Yeang K, 26, 133

Zevi, 138

168

Plate 1 The Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain,1883–1926 and continued in the present, architect:Antoni Gaudí. Organic-romantic, neo-gothicarchitecture with national-traditional decorations(coloured ceramics) but modern (reinforcedconcrete) structure.

Plate 2 Waterfall House (Fallingwater), Pennsylvania,USA, architect: F.L. Wright. Organic architecture butwith modernist trends. Voted in 2000 by theAmerican Institute of Architects the greatestbuilding of the twentieth century. PhotographerTerence Maikels. © Photographs of Fallingwatercourtesy of Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

Plate 3 Lever House, New York, USA, 1952,architect: Gordon Bunshaft from SOM (Skidmore,Owings and Merrill ). One of the first models for

the ‘International Style’. The tower has the firstsealed glass curtain wall.

Plate 4 Les Espaces d’Abraxas, Marne-la-Vallée,France, 1979–83, architect: Ricardo Bofill. Neo-historic architecture designed with pre-cast concretecomponents.

Plate 6 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain,1993–98, architect: F.O. Gehry. Following otherrealizations, this is a masterpiece of deconstructivistarchitecture. © Van Bruggen: Frank O. Gehry:Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, GuggenheimFoundation, New York.

Plate 5 GeorgesPompidou NationalCentre for Art andCulture, Paris, France,1971–77, architects:Richard Rogers andRenzo Piano. A firstrealization of the idea ofa ‘high-tech’, ‘culturalmachine’ building; theexternal pipes painted invivid colours, a staircasewith a cylindricalplexiglas envelope, theoverall boiler-houseimpression, open up anew approach in post-modernist architecture.

Plate 7 Nationale Nederlanden Head Office, Prague,Czech Republic, 1996, architect: F.O. Gehry.Deconstructivist design ignoring usual functionalrequirements (nicknamed ‘Fred and Ginger’ becauseits two towers seem to be dancing). © VanBruggen: Frank O. Gehry: Guggenheim MuseumBilbao, Guggenheim Foundation New York.

Plate 9 The High Museum of Arts, Atlanta, Georgia,USA, 1980–83, architect: Richard Meier. Late-modern building with white porcelain enamel steelpanels.

Plate 8 The new entranceglass pyramid of the Louvre,Paris, France, architect: M.I.Pei (Pei Cobb Freed andPartners), 1983–88. Historicform designed with moderntechnology: steel structure,transparent glazing.© National GeographicSociety.

Plate 11 Law Faculty, Cambridge, UK, 1995,architect: Sir Norman Foster and Partners. Fullyglazed north elevation.

Plate 12 New Railway Station at Frankfurt/MainAirport, glazed structure. Space frames are used invarious structural systems. The German MERO isone of the first such systems. © MERO-VISION 2000leaflet, No. 35, 1999/2000.

Plate 10 Renault UKDistribution Centre, storagedepot, Westlea Down,Swindon, Wiltshire, UK,1982–83, architect: FosterAssociates, structuralengineer: Ove Arup andPartners. Masted building,suspended roof, colouredappearance.

Plate 13 Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center,Nouméa, New Caledonia, 1991–98, architect: RenzoPiano Building Workshop. A combination ofregional modern (high-tech) and organic-traditionalapproach. © Tim Griffith/ESTO, The PritzkerArchitecture Prize, Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publishers.

Plate 14 Asian Games Village, New Delhi, India,1982, Raj Rewal. Cluster housing in a Third Worldcountry, combining up-to-date and traditionaltechnology and design.

Plate 15 Institutional Hill apartment building,Singapore, 1988, architect: Tang Guan Bee. Lively,articulated architecture, practically without anydomestic, traditional influence.

Plate 16 Menara Mesianaga, Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia, 1992. Fourteen-storey building, post-modern in a developing country; side core building,metallic external skin, ‘sky-courts’. © Harrison et al.:Intelligent Buildings in South East Asia, E & FNSpon.

Plate 17 Museum of Contemporary Art, Niteroi,State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1991–96, architect:Oscar Niemeyer. A beautiful combination of naturaland built environment. The structure is likened to achalice or a saucer. © Oscar Neimeyer, The PritzkerArchitecture Prize, Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publishers.

Plate 18 National Museum of Roman Art, Merida,Spain, 1980–85,architect: José Rafael Moneo.Modern architecture with the use of traditionalmaterials: (Roman style) brick masonry bearingwalls, filled with concrete. © The PritzkerArchitecture Prize.

Plate 19 Netherlands Architecture Institute,Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1988–93, architect: JoCoenen. Structural glass facade.

Plate 21 Hongkong and Shanghai BankingCorporation, Hong Kong, architect: Norman Foster.Post-modernist/late-modern, high-tech tall building.

Plate 20 NiigataPerforming Arts Center,Japan, architect: ItsukoHasegawa. A transparentglass façade. © Courtesyof Itsuko Hasegawa.

Plate 22 Kuala Lumpur International Airport,Malaysia, architect: Kisho Kurokawa.

Plate 24 Eden Project, Cornwall, UK, MEROconstruction system, architects: Nicholas Grimshawand Partners, structural design: Anthony HuntAssociation Ltd. Several spherical domes varyingfrom 38 to 125 m in diameter, double-layer structureof hollow profiles, hexagonal geometry, boltedconnections. © MERO.

Plate 23 Health Clinic, BadNeustadt, Germany. ‘MERO-Plus single layer system’.© MERO.

Plate 25 Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France, 1985–93,architect: Norman Foster. A cohabitation of ancienthistorical and modern architecture; new informationcentres (‘médiatheques’) contribute to the renewalof cities.

Plate 26 Planet Hollywood in Walt Disney WorldOrlando, USA, 1994, architect and interior designer:Rockwell Group). A building with entertainmentrestaurants, it is a translucent blue globe over 30 mhigh, at night covered with shimmering colouredlights. © {ai; Warchol.

Plate 27 The Trocadero Segaworld, London, UK,1996, architects: RTKL UK Ltd, Tibbatts Associates.A multi-storey game centre, with futuristic neon-litescalators. © John Edward Linden.

Plate 29 Standing glass fish, 1986, designer: F.O.Gehry, materials: wire, wood, glass, steel, silicon,plexiglas, rubber. A design which became an objetd’art, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA.

Plate 30 Signal Box, Basel, Switzerland, architects:Herzog and de Meuron, 1992–95. In new architecturethe external envelope frequently conceals internalfunctions of the building. © Taschen.

Plate 28 Low white Fish Lamp,1984, designer: F.O. Gehry,material: Colorcore Formica. Anenigmatic sign.

Plate 31 Funder Factory Works 3, in St Veit/Glan,Austria, architects: Coop Himmelblau, Wolf D. Prixand Helmut Swiczinsky. Deconstructivistarchitecture, with ‘red comb’, a power station with‘dancing chimney stocks’. © Taschen.

Plate 33 Cathedral, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Finelyarticulated architecture, different from historical,richly ornamented South American cathedrals.

Plate 32 ‘TheAtlantis’Apartment Blockin Miami BiscayneBay, Florida, USA,1979–82.Eighteen-storeybuilding; pierced-through buildingvolumes occur innew architecture.

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