052-0603-00L Structural Design I

Semester	Autumn Semester 2017
Lecturers	P. Block, J. Schwartz
Periodicity	yearly recurring course
Language of instruction	German
Comment	Until HS16 this course was offered under LV 066-0411-00L (Structural Design I). Students who already attended and also terminated the course cannot enroll once more and they will not be credited for LE 052-0603-00L a second time.

Abstract	The course is an introduction to structural design using graphical methods and structural models, with a focus on a creative approach rather than repetitive calculations. Cable and membrane structures, arch and shell structures and combined arch and cable systems will be used to demonstrate these methods.
Learning objective	The objective is to encourage students to develop an intuitive understanding of the relationship between the shape of a structure, the load it needs to carry and the forces in it. To achieve this, the teaching is based on graphic statics, which allow the visualization of internal and external forces in structural systems, therefore illustrating the relationship between shape (form) and stress (force) in load bearing elements. This understanding is directly applied to the students’ design projects, in which issues of statics and design overlap.
Content	After a general introduction of basic concepts, structural systems such as cable and arch structures will be analyzed with the help of graphic statics. The students will learn to understand the flow of forces in a structural system in relation to the system's form. They will be able to modify this force flow and give dimension to the structural components. All concepts, approaches and methods will be introduced in the weekly lectures and practiced in subsequent exercises.
Lecture notes	on eQuilibrium "Skript Tragwerksentwurf I/II" http://www.block.arch.ethz.ch/eq/course/4?lang=en A printed version can be bought at the chair of Structural Design Prof. Schwartz for sFr. 55.-.
Literature	"Faustformel Tragwerksentwurf" (Philippe Block, Christoph Gengangel, Stefan Peters, DVA Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2013, ISBN: 978-3-421-03904-0) Weiteres Lernmaterial: "Form and Forces: Designing Efficient, Expressive Structures" (Edward Allen, Waclaw Zalewski, October 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-17465-4) "The art of structures, Introduction to the functioning of structures in architecture" (Aurelio Muttoni, EPFL Press, 2011, ISBN-13: 978-0415610292, ISBN-10: 041561029X)