Support I Materialise eBook

Designing and constructing load-bearing building elements

Columns, walls and floors make up the skeleton of nearly every building. This third volume in the series SCALE, Support | Materialise, takes an in-depth look at these load-bearing structures, covering the development and realization of appropriate constructions from idea and design intention all the way to constructional implementation. Following the traditional building methods of massive, cross-wall, and skeleton construction, it points the way toward a material-appropriate constructional approach to these defining structural elements columns, walls, and floors. Special attention is given to how constructional and technical considerations can be harmonized with spatial and formal commitments. The load-bearing elements are organized, described, and explored in detail from a material as well as a formal and constructional perspective. Their practical implementation is illustrated by a series of international examples.