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CIV_ENV 220: Structural Art

Description

Course Description: Learn how to interpret and understand the built environment through an examination of the history of structural engineering as a creative art, with particular emphasis on technical, visual, and social analysis and critique of bridges, buildings, and designers.

Course Outcomes: Upon completion of the course, for the structures investigated in class, students will be able to:

1. identify from an image a structure’s designer and location

2. explain how form relates to the forces and load path in the structure

3. explain the social, symbolic, and scientific significance of the structure and evaluate the qualifications of the structure as a work of structural art

4. explain qualitatively how the loads are transferred by the structural system to the ground

5. perform calculations to determine the forces in the primary structural elements

6. communicate findings clearly in both written, graphical, and oral presentation form

**This course is not eligible for credit towards MS and PhD degrees

Textbook

Billington, David P. Structural Art. Princeton University, 1985