Building a Structural Ethos

In his treatise, the “Ten Books on Architecture” Roman writer, engineer and architect Vitruvius coined the phrase “firmitas, utilitas, venusta”, which translated means “firmness, commodity and delight”. These are tenets by which architecture has always been defined. Its breadth encompassing polar disciplines: the ephemeral quality of art and beauty solidified through the permanence and efficiency of structure and engineering. This unique condition will always inexorably link architect and structural engineer. A key challenge of integrating a robust structures curriculum into an architectural education is creatively presenting structural design as a rigorous analytical and conceptual process that still creatively addresses Vitruivian ideals.Artist Donald Judd formulated the term ‘durable knowledge’ which is a clear awareness of facts arrived through an intense observational and constructive effort. Creating a physical structure through the tactility of the hand helps one arrive at a ‘durable knowledge’ of the subject matter. A project, which set out to achieve a ‘durable’ knowledge of structures is structural fabrication project, where architecture students as part of their structures class design, fabricate and test a full-scale footbridge. The footbridge had to span 10-feet over an existing creek, weigh less than 70# and support a load significantly greater than its own weight with only minimal deflection. Working in small groups teams developed a structural strategy, selected building materials and built their footbridges at full-scale. The project was structured as a science lab; akin to a design studio beginning in a research phase in order to develop a design strategy that would lead to a concept from which to construct prototypes to test before for final site testing. The iterative methodology of prototyping and testing served as a ‘feedback loop’, which was vital to the learning objectives of the class. The process of translating design ideas from paper (theoretical) to full-scale (real) covering the spectrum of structural analysis to constructed assembly immersed students into a world where theoretical structural challenges addressed in lectures are tangible matters with real consequences that must be explored and tested. Connecting the physical rigor of the hand (intuitive) with analytical rigor of the mind opened pathways, leading to tactile improvisation and subsequently making the knowledge learned more durable. This paper will present the unique footbridge projects developed over 5 years, which broke away from a traditional structures curriculum in lieu of an innovative ‘design/making’ pedagogy for exploring the firmness, commodity and delight of structural design.

Volume Editors
Sergio Palleroni, Ted Cavanagh & Ursula Hartig

ISBN
978-0-935502-94-7