Architecture

Architecture

"You need to find something in life that's meaningful to you. Some will try to convince you that what you want to do wouldn't be the best for you. But make sure you keep your options open. Don't think if you don't achieve that personal goal that you've kept yourself from feeling fulfilled by it."

"Architecture is the combination of Aesthetics and Engineering"

LAST QUIZ ON TUESDAY
Final Exam will be on April 4th

CLASS LECTURE: (March 14, 2017)

Architecture

• Average lifespan of a building is 50 years.
• The combination of Aesthetic and Engineering
• Aesthetics = The beauty, design, and function of the structure.
• Engineering = must consider two factors: weight and tensile strength.
• Tensil strength = the ability of a material to span distances unsupported.

"If you want to know how old a building is... just weigh it." -- R. Buckminster Fuller

Architecture Structural Systems

• Shell System
• Blocks stacked on top of each other. Compresses the walls and holds the structure up. Nothing hidden.
• Ex: Cabins and igloos.
• Skeleton-and-Skin
• Internal framework that holds the structure up, and the walls are draped along the internal structure.
• Ex: Teepee

Load-bearing Construction

• Lower members supporting upper members.

Stacking and Piling

• Before, people would find shelter instead of making it.
• Then they got the idea that it would be smart to build a structure, and put effort into building shelters.
• Stacking and Piling used for ancient fortifications...
• Ex: The Ishtar Gate, or the original Spori building.
• New Spori building is a Skeleton-and-skin building.
• New uses for Stacking and Piling
• Ex: Using metal shipping containers and creating buildings out of them. 

Architecture Structural Families:

• Trabeated
• "Using the beam"
• Trabeated or post and lintel system
• Architecture Post-and-Lintel
• You have posts (sides) and the lintel (beam on top of the sides) putting stress down on the posts.
• Ex: Stonehenge, Ancient Egyptian culture, Ancient Greece (Parthenon).
• Arcuated
• "Using the arch."
• Arch and Barrel Vault (Rounded Arch)
• Ex: Pont du Gard (Nimes, France), Colosseum (Rome). 

Spotlight: Romanesque and Gothic Architecture

• The transition from round to pointed arches in the Middle Ages.
• Romanesque Architecture: Round Arch
• Romanesque = Roman like.
• @ 1000-1225 A.D.
• Round arches, thick walls, small windows, fortress-like, "masculine".
• Gothic Architecture: Pointed Arch and Vault
• Evolution of Romanesque 
• @1125-1400 A.D.
• Verticality is an important idea when it comes to religious architecture. 
• Ex: Notre Dame
• Pointed arch, greater height, larger windows, flying buttress, "feminine".
• If you see a combination of both styles, call it Romanesque.

Dome

• A rounded vault comprising the roof of a building.
• Stress comes down and out.
• Ex: Pantheon, Rome. (Dome on Drum)
• The oculus is approximately 30 feet in diameter.
• Pantheon = "To all the Gods"
• The Dome with Pendentives
• Pendentive is a triangular shape that transitions from the circle to the square.
• Ex: (1) Hagia Sophia, (2) The Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey. (3) Taj Mahal. (4) St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.,  (5) St Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, Moscow, Russia.,  (6) U.S. Capitol Building,Washington, D.C.,   (7) Salt Lake Tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.,   (8) Geodesic Dome, Buckminster Fuller. 

-End of Class Discussion-

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CLASS LECTURE: (March 16, 2017)

Modern Building Methods

• Casti-Iron Construction
• Greater tensil strength, lighter weight.
• Crystal Palace Joseph Paxton. Hyde Park, London. Cast Iron and Plate glass. 1851.
• Joseph Paxton was originally a greenhouse architect.
• Up to this point, it would take years and years to make a building. It took Paxton 16 weeks to make this building. 
• People couldn't believe it, mostly because there was so much light that came in. It was basically all windows!
• Plate glass was flexible, but really strong. 
• Cast Iron bridge
• Beginning to fit in with the industrial revolution.
• Eiffel Tower 
• Around 1,000 ft high. It's huge!
• Truss Construction
• Truss = A beam that has the weight removed and relies on triangles.
• Ex: Sydney Harbor Bridge
• Steel-Cage Construction
• A steel structure made of beams and columns.
• A combination of beams put together.
• Used to make skyscrapers.
• Ex: Wainwright Building, St. Louis, Missouri. Louis Sullivan. 1890-91, Considered the first skyscraper.
• International style
• Built in with the Steel Cage method.
• The clean lines and simplicity of it. The use of glass and steel. 
• Ex: Lever house, NYC. 
• Suspension
• Something is suspended, and usually from cables.
• Ex: Brooklyn Bridge., Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco. 
• Has more flexibility.
• Cantilever
• A structure anchored at one end, often projecting into space with no visible means of support. 
• A cantilever is a beam which is anchored which is anchored on one end and projects beyond its support.
• Ex: Falling Water, Mill Run, Pennsylvania. 1935. Frank Lloyd Wright. 
• Steel Reinforced-Concrete
• "Ferro concrete"
• It allows the concrete to be more flexible.
• Ex: Sydney Opera House, Australia., Concrete ships.
• Geodesic Domes

Architecture: Miscellaneous Examples

• Louvre, Parliament Building in London,...

Real or soon to be real?

-End of Class Discussion-

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