Architectural Structures: Visualizing Load Flow Geometrically

Architectural Structures presents an alternative approach to understanding structural engineering load flow using a visually engaging and three-dimensional format. This book presents a ground-breaking new way of establishing equilibrium in architectural structures using the Modern Müller-Breslau method.

While firmly grounded in principles of mechanics, this method does not use traditional algebraic statics, nor does it use classical graphic statics. Rather, it solely uses new geometric tools. Both statically determinate and statically indeterminate structures are analyzed using this graphic method to provide a geometric understanding of how load flows through architectural structures. This book includes approachable coverage of parametric modeling of two-dimensional and three-dimensional structures, as well as more advanced topics such as indeterminate structural analysis and plastic analysis. Hundreds of detailed drawings created by the author are included throughout to aid understanding. Architecture and structural engineering students can employ this novel method by hand sketching, or by programming in parametric design software.

A detailed yet approachable guide, Architectural Structures is ideal for students of architecture, construction management, and structural engineering, at all levels. Practitioners will find the method extremely useful for quickly solving load tracing problems in three-dimensional grids.

Edmond Saliklis is a professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he teaches structural engineering courses and architecture studios. He earned his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and he is a licensed civil engineer in California. He is the author of two recent textbooks: Structures: A Geometric Approach (2018) and Structures: A Studio Approach (2020). He recently co-authored a chapter titled "Thin Shelled Concrete Structures" for the latest edition of the Structural Engineering Handbook. He is also a semi-professional musician and an aspiring artist. He lives in San Luis Obispo, California with his lovely wife, Dr. Ruta Saliklis, and their well-behaved dog, Frank Sinatra.