Discipline and Play in Structural Design

Abstract

The existence of structural art has implications far beyond the aesthetics of the built environment. Beauty is the purest expression of the human spirit, and its potential to coexist in the engineering imagination with practical project requirements is a powerful symbol for what is possible not only in structural engineering but in all engineering. Understanding the potential for structural art provides a key to strengthening the connection between our thoughts and our feelings, as they relate to our technological world and its improved coexistence with nature. The paper identifies and discusses sympathies between structural art and art in general and then uses examples from structural design practice to illustrate how the languages of drawing, simple calculations and project narrative are fundamental to the creative process in engineering.