Loadbearing structures

Abstract

A structure, as a whole, consists of an organised set of material parts, whose structural significance depends both on their topological nature and on the external forces acting on them. This duality, that is typical of a structure, is related on the one hand to the structural forms that man can construct, and on the other to progressive adaptation of the structural topology to the external forces acting on it. The integrated study of the constructive process and of the theory of structures does not exhaust the problem of structures. The characteristics of the materials are still to be considered. The effect of these three factors on the cost depends on the dynamic evolution of these factors themselves: their importance being greater or smaller according to the evolutionary stage that is considered and the purpose of the structure. Furthermore, the structural significance of an object is influenced by the changes in the surrounding structural elements. Thus, a form, whose development might be determined strictly by structural motives at a given period, at another stage may no longer depend on structural factors. Hence structure is only a relative concept.