ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS, Slides of Architecture

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ARCHITECTURAL

ELEMENTS

BUILDING STRONG SHAPES

 What is the strongest

geometric shape?

 There are several shapes that are used when

strength is important.

The triangle is the strongest to as it holds it shape and has a base which is very strong

a also has a strong support. The triangle is common in all sorts of building supports

and trusses.

It is strong because the three legs of a triangle define one and only one triangle. If all

three sides are made of rigid material, the angles are fixed and cannot get larger or

smaller without breaking at the joints, unlike a rectangle, for example, which can turn

into a parallelogram and even collapse totally. If you take a rectangle and place one

diagonal piece from corner to corner, you can make that strong and stable, too, but

doing that makes two triangles!! Think about it! so yes, it is the strongest shape

THE TRIANGLE

The overall shape of many bridges is in the shape of a catenary curve.

The catenary curve is the strongest shape for an arch which supports only its own

shape. Freely hanging cables naturally form a catenary curve.

THE CATENARY CURVE

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

Arch – a curving structure used to span openings in a wall: wedge shaped pieces that lean against each other in compression.

Truss – a system of support members that are held rigid by utilizing a series of triangles.

Buttress – a small, support wall at a right angle to another wall to counteract the outward thrust of a heavy roof or wall.

Dome – a three dimensional form based on a circle, the top of a dome is in compression while the bottom of a dome is in tension.

Post and Beam – One of the earliest methods-- of building, it includes any structure built of vertical posts that hold up beams laid horizontally across them.

Column – an upright (vertical) support member.

BUILDING ELEMENTS-

BUILDING CHARACTER

THE 5 CLASSICAL ORDERS

NATURAL ELEMENTS