Technology, as an applied discipline, is not merely a system of rules, which are, moreover, in constant evolution.
Two possible directions of study:
Segmentations in specific fields within architecture, developing its own disciplinary apparatus.
Working on projects and objectives, developing the ability to make decisions and take action on specific problems.
An analytical path that starts from things—construction systems, materials—and then relates them to the forms that architecture can take, the functions, and the aesthetic values. A non-deterministic view of the relationship between architecture and construction techniques, rather directed toward exploring the multiple possibilities of development and interaction between forms, techniques, and systems.
To understand how construction is done today, it is necessary to relate the way of building and thinking with the needs that construction addresses, in its historical context and environment. A critical attitude, without claiming absolute rationality, to understand the motivations and specificities of a work.
Building as a system: spatial and technical elements aimed at meeting housing needs, with a function and performance. Furthermore, a building is an open system related to the site, the place, the city, the territory.
Building and context
Context is interpreted in different ways depending on the purposes. For example:
Mechanical-functional purposes (technology of architecture)
Morphological, spatial, historical, urban
Structural function and techniques The structure is the part of the construction that bears the loads acting on it down to the underlying ground. The ground resists with equal and opposite force. The primary function of a building is to support itself and create a space made up of walls, floors, roofs, etc.
The relevance of morphological, geometric, and dimensional aspects has determined the importance of a construction even from an aesthetic point of view. The structure must be recognized, and its understanding as correctness should be considered as a quality in architecture.
Materials and deformations Materials and construction techniques are closely linked to specific structural types, as not all materials can withstand every type of stress. A suspended cable will work in tension, a masonry wall in compression, and other structures will work in a composite way. Structural actions can be summarized as compression and tension, and the way they manifest depends on the structural type adopted. Each material must be evaluated for its behavior under these stresses to be used in a structural system.
Traditional materials: stone, baked or raw clay brick, and wood. Only wood has significant tensile strength, while the others work in compression.
In the past, each material was used for its function and structural quality. Execution techniques and structural schemes associated with experience determined the discipline of construction. Since the 19th century, new materials and technological innovation in research have expanded the range of possibilities. Iron, steel, reinforced concrete, laminated wood, and fiber-reinforced concrete, fabrics, and plastics today offer vast possibilities for structural design.
Intelligence of a structure The intelligence of a structure lies in minimizing the loads due to its own weight to be as engaged as possible in bearing useful loads. An intelligent design moves toward the appropriate balance between lightness and heaviness through certain principles:
Principle of dimension: the issue of "scale," that is, the height dimension of the cross-section of a structural element, where the relationship between distance and height of a beam is proportional—the greater the span, the more the section must be increased, up to a limit where its own weight will cause failure.
Principle of optimization: optimization of how stresses are distributed in a structural system. In a truss, some elements work in compression, others in tension, resulting in a light system in which each element works optimally.
Principle of efficiency: the ratio between unit strength at failure and weight per unit volume of a material. A rod of iron loaded only by its own weight will break when its length is no longer compatible with its strength. Examples of intelligent structures include arches, domes, and also trusses.
Climatic design Climatic design exploits the properties of materials and construction techniques for the envelope, combined with modern renewable and eco-friendly systems for installations and climate control. In the past, the thermal resistance of materials was utilized, hence thicker walls. Heat accumulation was used to mitigate temperature fluctuations between day and night.
Thin walls with insulating materials today reduce thermal conductivity but also decrease the thermal storage capacity typical of thick, monolithic walls.
Environmental energy Spontaneous architecture, as an alliance between nature and construction, exemplifies how natural factors—sun, materials, geographic location of the land—are used to improve indoor climatic comfort. New technologies, such as solar panels, ventilation, and cooling systems, are now in use, and their functional integration is currently a subject of research, including aesthetic research.
Sustainability The architectural project is responsible for energy requirements, related to the production of materials, their use, and their recycling, as well as for environmental and energy management during the building's life.
Building techniques and products Until the 18th century, architecture used simple materials and artifacts—masonry and wood—shaped through artisanal processes, determining the various production systems. After industrialization, materials and products became complex and intelligent, studied to meet specific performance requirements, and took on convenient and variable forms and sizes.
The project is committed to coordinating with the requirements imposed by both the work and the rules of the market and production. The designer knows and organizes the project also thanks to new products and performances. Today, there is a continuous exchange between the production of materials, technologies, and construction systems.
The designer is given the freedom of assembly, preferring a flexible system where construction systems and techniques proposed by the industry allow the designer to assemble different components in a unique and contextualized way.
The design of details, the junctions between the different products made available by the industry, generates a kind of technological craftsmanship that identifies each work by giving it architectural quality. This approach leads the designer to act like a designer, in close relation to production, construction, and the project.
Envelope, structure, systems The relevance of the expression of constructive truth (framework) as a criterion of project quality is wavering. Today, other techniques are taking important roles in interpreting a quality project—the skin, the envelope, the installation technique. The building can assume multiple structural forms; the envelope becomes performative, defining the project's meaning.
