1. ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201
1st cycle, (Bachelor of Architecture)
Spring, 2015

2. BUILDING STRUCTURE
The primary role of a building structure is to support and transmit the building loads and forces to the ground.
The most important characteristics of the bearing structure are:
Strength
Stability
Cost effectiveness
The primary role of a building structure is to support and transmit the building loads and forces to the ground. The most important characteristics of the bearing structure are:
Strength – this is the capacity of a structure to carry the loads applied to it.
Stability - means the structure can maintain its shape when loads or forces are applied. Loads and disturbances to the structure should not produce large movements or failure.
Cost effectiveness - depends on choices made regarding how the structure will carry loads, the structural systems used, and the materials chosen.
In case of residential buildings cost effectiveness is very important. Residential buildings are not the type of buildings where you want to do something extravagant – residential buildings are extremely rational category of buildings. Usually investors are ready to spend more money on public buildings and this means they will be prepared to have more extravagant building structure in order to obtain higher visual and spatial impact on potential user. However in case of residential buildings rationality comes first.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 1
Course introduction

3. STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
Structural system of residential building is essentially made of:
Horizontal elements
Vertical elements
Structural system of residential building is made of horizontal and vertical elements.
Vertical elements are: walls and columns. Horizontal elements are: slabs, beams, truss, roof and foundations.
In residential buildings in Europe we usually use reinforced concrete structures on the other hand in other American or Asian countries steel and wooden structures are often being used.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 2
Course introduction

4. CLASSIFICATION OF STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS
According to the type and position of vertical elements we have three basic structural systems for residential buildings:
Transversal loadbearing wall system
According to the type and position of vertical elements we usually have three structural systems suitable for residential architecture.
The first one is the system with transversal load bearing walls. The constructive grid in this case is varying from 3,6 to 6m, in some exceptional cases we can have up to 7,20m between bearing walls. The usual dimension of the bearing wall is 20 to 25cm.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 3
Course introduction

5. CLASSIFICATION OF STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS
2. Longitudinal loadbearing wall system
The second system is the one with longitudinal bearing walls. The distances in this case are the same as in previous system with only difference that this system is extremely inflexible – this means that housing units structured with this system cannot be changed over the time.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 4
Course introduction

6. CLASSIFICATION OF STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS
3. Trabeated - column/beam system with axial loadings
The third system is the most common system – column/beam system. In this system the dimension of vertical elements is extremely reduced and these vertical bearing columns are inserted at the intersection points of our constructive grid in order to transport loadings axially to the ground. Then these points are connected with horizontal elements – beams and at the end it functions as a frame. The distances between grid lines are also modular, dividable by 60cm – this means that they are usually 3.6m, 4.2m, 4.8m, 5.6m, 6m
And the fourth possibility is a combination of two systems – combination of columns and bearing walls.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 5
Course introduction

7. MODULAR STRUCTURAL GRID AND PLANNING
This is European modular grid – that means that all dimensions in your building should be divisible by either 60, 30 or 10 cm. The first step while trying to solve your structure would be to place a modular grid of your building. The modular grid represents the axis of your bearing elements – columns, walls and beams.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 6
Course introduction

8. MODULAR STRUCTURAL GRID AND PLANNING
In application and in practice this most probably means that you will be doing something like this and this will be your first step.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 7
Course introduction

9. MODULAR STRUCTURAL GRID AND PLANNING
The second step is adding vertical elements on the intersections of your grid – we will use the simplest vertical element the column.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 8
Course introduction

10. MODULAR STRUCTURAL GRID AND PLANNING
After adding columns you will realize that you will need some walls in order to keep your structure stable on horizontal – seismic movements.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 9
Course introduction

11. MODULAR STRUCTURAL GRID AND PLANNING
The final result of your structural planning should be something like this – a combination of different structural elements according to the modular grid that you have previously established.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 10
Course introduction

12. MODULAR STRUCTURAL GRID AND PLANNING
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 11
Course introduction

13. VERTICAL ELEMENTS - WALLS
Walls can be divided differently:
According to their bearing capacity – bearing and non-bearing walls
According to their position within the building – exterior and interior walls
According to the material – concrete, masonry, stone, gypsum board etc.
According to the construction method – cast in place and prefabricated walls.
Walls can be divided differently – according to their bearing capacity to bearing and non bearing walls. As we said before bearing walls are usually done out of reinforced concrete and in residential buildings their depth is ranging from 20 to 30cm. Non bearing walls are usually masonry walls and they are done out of light concrete or brick blocks. Their dimensions vary from 25, 20 to 12 or 10cm.
According to their position within the building walls can be exterior and interior. Exterior walls should be insulated in order to protect the building from thermal losses. This means that total width of exterior wall is for instance 20cm+10cm of thermal insulation+2cm of mortar.
According to the material in residential buildings we mainly work with concrete, brick, stone or gypsum walls.
According to the construction method we have cast in place and prefabricated walls.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 12
Course introduction

14. VERTICAL ELEMENTS - COLUMNS
Columns can be divided differently:
According to their geometry – rectangular, square and circular.
According to the material – concrete, steel or timber.
According to the construction method – cast in place and prefabricated walls.
Columns also can be dived differently.
According to their shape they can be rectangular, square and circular. In residential buildings in order to stay rational we usually use square columns.
According to the material they can be concrete, steel or timber columns, even thought for this type of building and in this area we use concrete columns.
Also according to the construction method they can be cast in place or prefabricated. For larger structures such as towers and large scale compounds we use prefabricated columns while for smaller buildings everything is cast in place.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 13
Course introduction

15. HORIZONTAL ELEMENTS - FOUNDATIONS
Foundations are the lowest elements of the building and their role is to transmit all laod bearings from the upper floors to the ground. These elements are often referred as substracture. The purpose is to effectivelly support the superstructure or everything above the ground.
We have wall or strap footings and they are usually used for residential buidling since the distances between bearing elements are not so big. The other type that can be used are isolated footings but they are usually used for larger structural distances.
In some extremely difficult and complicated cases we use slab foundations in order to provide stability for our building against undergound water.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 14
Course introduction

16. HORIZONTAL ELEMENTS - SLABS
In residential buildings we are using reinforced concrete slabs. They are continous and they are trasmitting their loads onto beams. Most commonly the depth of the slab in residential structures varies from 15 to 18cm. Besides continous slabs we also use cantiliver slabs for balconies and other cantiliver structures
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 15
Course introduction

17. HORIZONTAL ELEMENTS - ROOFS
Roofs in residential architecture are most frequently:
Flat roofs
Sloped roofs ( with timber or concrete structure)
In residential buildings we are using reinforced concrete slabs. They are continous and they are trasmitting their loads onto beams. Most commonly the depth of the slab in residential structures varies from 15 to 18cm. Besides continous slabs we also use cantiliver slabs for balconies and other cantiliver structures.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 16
Course introduction

18. TECHNICAL / DETAILED SECTION
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 17
Course introduction

19. TECHNICAL / DETAILED SECTION
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 18
Course introduction

20. EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 19
Course introduction

21. 20

22. 21

23. 22

24. ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE
The one-point perspective system assumes that two of the three principal axes-one vertical and the other horizontal are parallel to the picture plane.
All lines parallel to these axes are also parallel to the picture plane (PP). and therefore retain their true orientation and do not appear to converge. For this reason. one-point perspective is also known as
parallel perspective.
The third principal axis is horizontal. perpendicular to PP and parallel with the central axis of vision (CAV). All lines parallel to CAV converge on the horizon line (HL) at the center of vision (C). This is the particular vanishing point referred to in one-point perspective.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 23
Course introduction

25. ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 24
Course introduction

26. ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 25
Course introduction

27. ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I ARCH 201 26
Course introduction