typologies

TYPOLOGIES: The shapes of the built environment

1. Introduction to architectural technology2. Ancient construction shapes

2.1. Beams and columns2.2. Pyramids2.3 Arches

3. Case Study: Alhambra palace4. New construction shapes

4.1 Trusses4.2 Cables4.3 Shells

5. Case study: Guggenheim Bilbao museum6. How will buildings look like in the future?7. Debate

ARCHITECTURE.

The professional service rendered by architects is known as architecture. It is basically the science and art of conceptualizing, designing, and constructing buildings and other structures either for human shelter or for other purposes such as storage, production, entertainment, or exhibition. Often, famous works of architecture have been identified as cultural symbols and also as works of art. Many historical civilizations have also been made famous due to their architectural uniqueness.

ARCHITECTURE. ORIGIN AND HISTORY .INDEX

• Basic survival needs. (architecture took the form of a craft).

•The early civilizations saw the splendid architecture of the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Persians, Greek, and Romans.

• Architecture as a religious symbol. (Roman Coliseum and the Egyptian Pyramids) .

•The medieval period: saw the emergence of Islamic architecture.

•The Renaissance period: emphasized on the individual and humanity.

•The early modern and the industrial age saw the emergence of new materials and technology. (Everyday needs).

•The concept of environmental sustainability.

ARCHITECTURE. ORIGIN AND HISTORY (I)

The earliest known form of architecture evolved from the interaction between the basic survival needs and the available resources. Through the process of trial and error and gradual technological evolution and progress with the help of improvisation and replication, architecture took the form of a craft. The gradual progress from rural living to the urban area saw themagnificence of architecture, and how it has been developed along history.

The early civilizations saw the splendid architecture of the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Persians, Greek, and Romans, each with its own distinct style. In Asia, architecture, sometimes, was developed along religious lines with different characteristics. The Roman Coliseum and the Egyptian Pyramids are examples of their cultural symbols.

ARCHITECTURE. ORIGIN AND HISTORY (II)

The medieval period saw the emergence of Islamic architecture which also influenced European styles of that period.

The Renaissance period emphasized on the individual and humanity instead of religion and buildings were dedicated to the architects such as Michelangelo, Palladio, Alberti, and Brunelleschi.

The early modern and the industrial age saw the emergence of new materials and technology and the architects started to get formal education and training starting from the drawing board.

The industrial revolution at this stage helped the production of better quality materials for construction purposes.

ARCHITECTURE. ORIGIN AND HISTORY (III)

The modern age viewed structural design as a convenient blend of art, craft, and technology. Emphasis shifted from historical styles, to a new style that focused on the aspirations of the middle and working classes.

The modernist architects reduced buildings to pure form with functionalist details based on everyday needs of people and creating a livable environment.

The concept of environmental sustainability has now pervaded architectural thought and most modern architects and New Zealand have pioneered the integration of green building sustainable design principles into their architectural projects.

TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO ARCHITECTURE IN THE EARLIEST AGES (I)

Along the history, we can see many examples of technology applied to architecture in different civilizations , but unfortunately we do not have a lot of information about them.

An example are Egyptians , The pyramids are chiefly impressive for their enormous size and the staggering manpower that must have been employed in their construction. Of these the largest is the Great Pyramid of Giza which remained the tallest structure in the world for 3800 years.

TECHNOLOGY APPLIERD TO ARCHITECTURE IN THE EARLIEST AGES (II)

The methods used in the construction of the pyramids have been the subject of considerable research and discussion.

The Egyptians achieved extraordinary feats of engineering, they appear to have done so with relatively primitive technology. As far as is known they did not use wheels or pulleys.

They transported massive stones over great distances using rollers, ropes, and sledges, with large numbers of slaves hauling the loads.

There are no surviving Egyptian manuals so there has been considerable speculation on how stones were lifted to great heights and obelisks erected. Most theories centre around the use of ramps.

TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO ARCHITECTURE IN THE EARLIEST AGES (III)

Some years later we have other examples of development of great technologies applied to construction.

In the Roman ages, Vitruvius gives details of Roman machines.

The Romans developed sophisticated timber cranes allowing them to lift considerable weights to great heights.

A list of the longest, highest and deepest Roman structures can be found at List of ancient architectural records.

Roman building ingenuity extended over bridges, aqueducts, and covered amphitheatres. Their sewerage and water supply works were remarkable and some systems are still in operation today.

Simple beam bridge: stone slabs on stone supports (Dorset, England)

BEAM AND COLUMN (I)

In the Neolithic period, the first bridges made by humans were probably wooden logs or stone slabs placed across a river stream.

The first buildings were simple shelters meant to suit the basic needs of protection from the elements, built by their inhabitants.The most used materials were the mud brick, wood (timber) and stone (masonry).

The set of beam and pillars is the simplest solution the Neolithic man imagined.

Beam-and-column scheme is the 2nd simplest typology.

BEAM AND COLUMN (II)

The architecture and urbanism of the Greeks were very different from those of the Neolithic but the structural scheme of beam supported by columns is the same.

Building structures used a simple beam and column system without vaults or arches, which imposed strict limits on the spans that could be achieved. Although Greek mathematics was technically advanced the Ancient Greeks never developed strong mortars or used arches and domes to their limit which were an important feature of more practical Roman construction.

Age of the pyramids

A pyramid is like a mountain, and it is the simplest and most stable shape.

PYRAMIDS

Both Egyptian and Incan architectures are mostly noted for their pyramids which are the largest in the world and try to imitate the natural shape of the mountains. Due to the stable shape and the sophisticated skills of the stone cutters the masonry needs no mortar.

The pyramids are impressive for their enormous size and the manpower that must have been employed in their construction.

Of these the largest is the Great Pyramid of Giza which remained the tallest structure in the world for 3800 years.

The Age of the CathedralsThe Romanic cathedral

-Reduced space, little light and small windows-Buttress leans outward, arch deforms and foundation deforms.

Córdoba Mosque (IX) León Cathedral (XIII)

ARCHES

Romanesque buildings were entirely roofed in timber or had stone barrel vaults covered by timber roofs: spans were narrow and walls did not allow ample windows. The Gothic style of architecture with its vaults, flying buttresses and pointed gothic arches developed in the twelfth century to provide wider spans and galleries to the urban churches: the cathedrals.

The resulting thin stone vaults and towering buildings were raised entirely using rules derived by trial and error and failures were frequent.

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (I)

General view Court of the Myrtles (Arrayanes)

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (II)

GeneralifeWater supply of Arrayanes

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (III)

The fountain of the lions

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (IV)

Literally "the red one”, is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al- Andalus, occupying the top of the hill of the Assabica on the southeastern border of the city of Granada in Andalusia.

In this building we can see a great example of technology applied to architecture in our country. Its water supply- system was built, to create the necessary water supplies needed for the Alhambra'ssurvival.

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (V)

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (VI)

In 1238 AD, a six-kilometer water channel was constructed theacequia real: the royal canal.

•Water was taken at the point of the Toma de la Acequia: thecapture point of the canal.

•Water traversed countryside till it reached an old waterwheel, which created the dynamic-power to convey the water, across theaqueduct, at Cortijo Jesus del Valle, in the Darro valley

•From there, water travelled on the flats of the Llano del Perdiz, parallel to the Darro River

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (VII)

•Later, the acequia real was spread out, in order to supply water tothe Generalife and the high fields of the Generalife

•The water path purposely forked, in order for water to descendthrough the emblematic Escalera de Agua: Water Staircasefurther down, it reunited, with the Generalife's lower flow

•The water paths continued and descended...

•Water was entered into the Alhambra, crossing over to theTorre de Agua aqueduct (above the Camino de los Chinos).

•From this point on - the Alhambra, its vast cisterns and theoriginal Alcazaba were supplied with the precious liquid. Moorish Hydrology Technology had been successful

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (VIII)

A vast albercon: large pool was constructed on the highest slopeThe water then was entered inside the hill by means of a horizontally-pierced underground passageThree wells were positioned above the underground water-path, each well, at different heights Finally, the underground passagereached the level of the vast albercon At that point, the waterwas lifted, by means of another waterwheel and deposited insidethe albercon.

•Lately an cistern or tank was built, capturing rain water tosupply water to the Dar al-arusa and Alixares palaces whichwere built on higher levels

EXAMPLE: ALHAMBRA (IX)

The Sophisticated Interior Alhambra Granada Spain WaterTechnology.

•Interior Water conduits varied•Some were narrow - accelerating the flow•Curved conduits led into containing hollows - slowing the waterpassage Burbling and spilling from the low marble basins.•The Alhambra water systems were designed to cool in summer and warm in the winter.

The reflection pools: Patio de los Arrayanes and the Partal pool -were mirrors for the exterior architecture.

Eiffel Tower, Champs du Mars, Paris. 1889. Grew from Eiffel’s bridge-building expertise. Was world’s tallest structure for 40 years. 300 m tower built of puddled iron. The “arch” shape at the bottom is purely decorative.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: STEEL ARCHES (I)

Ironwork arches in the Musée d’Orsey, Paris, which is now the most beautiful museum in Paris having being converted from a disused railway station.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: STEEL ARCHES (II)

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: STEEL ARCHES (III)

The industrial revolution was manifested in new construction devices (steam engines, machine tools and explosives) and a new material arose: steel was mass-produced since the 19th century, it was used, in form of I-beams and reinforced concrete. Glass panels also went into mass production. Plumbing appeared, and gave common access to drinking water and waste water collection at houses.

Rationality and the universal laws of physics behind thebuilding problem lead to the emancipation of history

Brooklyn Bridge over the East River, New York. 487 m span. Designed by John Roebling, completed by his son (Washington Roebling) in 1883: First bridge to use steel wire suspension cables.

CABLE-SUSPENDED BRIDGE

The Dome is the original name of a large dome-shaped building, originally used to house the Millennium Experience, a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium in London.

CABLE-SUSPENDED ROOF

CABLES

The funicular concept can be best described and visualized with cables or chains suspended from two points that adjust their form for any load. Suspended structures are used for long-span roofs.

Cables effectively resist gravity load in tension, but are unstable under uneven loads. For example, under its own weight or under uniform loads a cable assumes the funicular shape of a perfect parabolic catenary. However, under wind uplift suspended cables tend to flutter and become unstable.

Typical beam and colum scheme shows three problems for long spans:

1- Cracks may appear

2- Bending deformation could be uncomfortable.

3- Horizontal instability.

Trusses are common elements in many types of buildings. Why?

TRUSSES

John Hancock Center, Chicago.

The braced tube structure employed for the John Hancock Center uses the least amount of steel compared with the framed tubes.

Hearst Headquarters, New York

The use of perimeter diagonals for structural effectiveness and aesthetics has generated interest from architectural and structural designers of tall buildings in diagrid structures.

TRUSSES

Trusses support load much like beams, but for longer spans. As the depth and thus dead weight of beams increases with span they become increasingly inefficient, requiring most capacity to support their own weight rather than imposed live load. Also trusses serve to replacewalls by triangulation to reduce dead weight. Only triangles are intrinsically stable polygons.Since the 1960s, the new structural system of framed tubesappeared in the construction of Hanckock Centre, SearsTower, World Trade Center, Petronas Towers and othersupertall skyscrapers. They are often known as the “2nd Chicago School".

SHELLS

Milo Ketchum (1910-1999)

Sir Norman Foster (1997)

Eero Saarinen (1962)

Modern Thin Concrete Shells

OceanogràficValencia, Spain (2002)

Félix Candela, †1997

SHELLS

With reference to modern shell it is key to remember the legacy of Saarinen and Candela. Shells can be compared to an igloo.

The most famous work of Saarinen is the TWA Flight Center, which represents the culmination of his previous designs and demonstrates his structural expressionism and the technical marvel in concrete shells.

Candela worked very hard during his life time to prove the real nature and potential that reinforced concrete had in structural engineering.Reinforced concrete is extremely efficient in a dome or shell-like shape. This shape eliminates the tensile forces that the concrete without the help of reinforcement cannot bear.

INDUSTRIAL SHELLS: LNG TANKS

INDUSTRIAL SHELLS

Above ground LNG tanks are large double-containment pressure vessels to store Liquefied Natural Gas at -170ºC.

The role of these tanks is to act as a buffer guaranteeing a stable supply of gas during seasonal peaks of demand.

The range of potential locations for future LNG projects is very disparate with a range of seismic and soil conditions with net storage volumes up to 300,000 m3.

EXAMPLE: GUGGENHEIM (I)

EXAMPLE: GUGGENHEIM (II)

EXAMPLE: GUGGENHEIM (III)

EXAMPLE: GUGGENHEIM (IV)

EXAMPLE: GUGGENHEIM (V)

Plans for a new museum in Bilbao date to the late 1980s, when the Basque Administration began formulating a major redevelopment of the region.It was not until 1991, however, that Basque authorities proposed the idea for a Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.In moving forward with the museum a site was selected and three architects, Arata Isozaki from Japan, Coop Himmelb(l)aufrom Austria, and Frank O. Gehry from the United States, were invited to participate in a competition to produce a conceptual design. These were no requirements in terms of drawings or models to be produced; rather, the architects were only asked to present what they thought would convey their concept for the new museum.

EXAMPLE: GUGGENHEIM (VI)

Almost from the moment it opened in 1997, Gehry'sGuggenheim Museum Bilbao, with its distinctive titanium curves and soaring glass atrium, was hailed as one of the most important buildings of the 20th century.

Gehry's use of cutting-edge computer-aided design technology enabled him to translate poetic forms into reality. The resulting architecture is sculptural and expressionistic, with spaces unlike any others for the presentation of art.

The museum is seamlessly integrated into the urban context, unfolding its interconnecting shapes of stone, glass, and titanium on a 32,500-square-meter site along the Nervión River in the old industrial heart of the city.

EXAMPLE: GUGGENHEIM (VII)

Eleven thousand square meters of exhibition space are distributed over nineteen galleries. Ten of these galleries have a classic orthogonal plan and can be identified from the exterior by their stone finishes. Nine other irregularly shaped galleriespresent a remarkable contrast and can be identified from the outside by their swirling forms and titanium cladding. The largest gallery, measuring 30 meters wide and 130 meters long, was used for temporary exhibitions for several years. In 2005, it became the site of the largest sculpture commission in history, Richard Serra's monumental installation The Matter of Time.The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a pinnacle in Gehry'soutstanding architectural career as well as in the field of museum design. It remains unsurpassed in its integration of art and architecture.

TECHNOLOGY IN FUTURE EDIFICATIONS (I)

SeaO2 project

TECHNOLOGY IN FUTURE EDIFICATIONS (II)

Today with lot of environmental developments happening world over like global warming, energy crisis, lifestyle changes, it’s become even more difficult to design houses meeting all these requirements.

More and more architectural designs are using digital technologies with respect to modeling, simulation, evaluation and fabrication resulting in complex shaped buildings which incorporates the above challenges.

TECHNOLOGY IN FUTURE EDIFICATIONS (III)

One such project is coming up in Tel Aviv whose primary resources are sun, wind, and land making an optimum utilization of all.

SeaO2 is an experimental ecological housing project. The project poses an alternative to current plans for Tel Aviv NorthWest coastal district. SeaO2 demonstrates vast use of cutting edge computer software, some being used in the aerospace industry. The project final form is a consequence of a scientific approach that calculates numerous of elements: the sun orbit, wind conditions and more, all in a free-form organic manner .

TECHNOLOGY IN FUTURE EDIFICATIONS (III)

Advanced Computer Simulations ensure the project’s credibility. The project’s unique morphology enables:

•Optimized solar reception for heating at winter time. •Self-shadowing and solar reception for electricity generation at summer time.• Natural lighting.•Optimized natural ventilation•Public green spaces.•Rain collection and more.

Various passive mechanical systems complement the basic morphology, enable better performance and create an energy efficient, environmentally friendly housing project.

HOW WILLL BUILDINGS LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE?

Possible future edifications

typologies

Design

famous works of architecture

roman ages

technology applierd

primitive technology

modern architects

construction purposes

new construction shapes

history iithe medieval