High-tech or mock-tech: Structural rationality of the high-tech movement in building

Abstract

This chapter examines a limited selection of archetypical high-tech buildings from the perspective of whether they do represent a logical and materially efficient integration of structure, and form. To allow assessment of the structural effectiveness, an extension of the method used to compare the relative merits of cable-stayed and catenary-type suspension bridges is adopted. In most structures a combination of bending and membrane behavior must be considered. Where bending is present, it is assumed that the structural elements take the form of components in which the dominant bending resistance is in flanges. This would be the case where universal beam or column sections, or hollow rectangular sections, are used in steel construction. To keep the analyses to simple and explicit forms, the statically admissible distributions of force are used. From the static theorem of plasticity, this results in safe estimates of ultimate state behavior, with the consequence that material volumes are slight overestimates of those that would be predicted from more precise analyses, which also take into account the requirements of strain compatibility.