ON ARCHITECTURE

- The process and product of planning, designing

and constructing a building or other structures

Materials

Stone
In most areas where stone is available, it has been favoured over other materials for
the construction of monumental architecture. Its advantages are durability, adaptability
to sculptural treatment, and the fact that it can be used in modest structures in its
natural state. But it is difficult to quarry, transport, and cut, and its weakness in tension
limits its use for beams, lintels, and floor supports.

Lion Gate
The Lion Gate in Mycenae, Greece, constructed of stone, c. 1250 BCE.
Larry Burrows/Aspect Picture Library, London
The simplest and cheapest stonework is rubble; i.e., roughly broken stones of any shape
bounded in mortar. The strongest and most suitable stonework for monumental
architecture is ashlar masonry, which consists of regularly cut blocks (usually
rectangular). Because of its weight and the precision with which it can be shaped, stone
masonry (in contrast with brick) does not depend on strong bonding for stability where
it supports only direct downward loads. The entablatures (the upper sections of a
classical order that rest on the capital of a column) of an ancient Greek temple, for
example, were bonded by small bronze dowels. But the weight creates problems of
stability when loads push at an angle; stone vaults and arches require more support
and buttressing than equivalent forms in other materials.

The best stone (and brick) bonding is that in which blocks are placed so that the vertical
joints in one course are not above the joints in the courses above and below, since the
stone resists deformation better than any bonding material. Many stones are strong
enough to provide monolithic supports (columns and piers) and beams (lintels), and in
some styles stone slabs are employed even for roofing (ancient Egyptian temples, early
Christian basilicas in Syria), but this roofing requires so many columns that unvaulted
masonry buildings are almost always combined with floors and covering in wood. Stone
has been consistently used for building since the Stone Age, as exemplified
by Stonehenge, in England. Although it has generally been replaced as a structural
material by cheaper and more efficient manufactured products, it is still widely used as a
surface veneer for its practical and expressive qualities.

Stonehenge
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England.
© Maximilian Effgen/Fotolia

Brick
Brick compares favourably with stone as a structural material for its fire- and weather-
resisting qualities and for the ease of production, transportation, and laying. The size of
bricks is limited by the need for efficient drying, firing, and handling, but shapes, along
with the techniques of bricklaying, have varied widely throughout history. Special
shapes can be produced by molding to meet particular structural or expressive
requirements (for example, wedge-shaped bricks are sometimes employed in
arch construction and bricks with rounded faces in columns). Bricks may be used in
construction only in conjunction with mortar, since the unit is too small, too light, and
too irregular to be stabilized by weight. Each course (or layer) must be laid on an ample
mortar bed with mortar filling the vertical joints. The commonest ancient Roman bricks
were cut into triangles and laid with the base out and the apex set into a concrete filling
that provided additional strength. Rectangular bricks are bonded either as headers
(short side out) or stretchers (long side out). Standard modern types provide a ratio of
width to length of slightly less than 1:2 to permit a wide variety of bonding patterns
within a consistent module, or standard of measurement. Brick, which has been used
since the 4th millennium BCE, was the chief building material in the ancient Near East.
The versatility of the medium was expanded in ancient Rome by improvements in the
manufacture of both bricks and mortar and by new techniques of laying and bonding.
Employed throughout the Middle Ages, brick gained greater popularity from the 16th
century on, particularly in northern Europe. It was widely used in the 20th century,
often for nonbearing walls in steel frame construction.

cliff dwelling
Cliff dwelling, constructed of brick, c. 1200–1300; in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.
Bartus Hendrikse—iStock/Thinkstock
Wood
Wood is easier to acquire, transport, and work than other natural materials. All parts of
a building can be efficiently constructed of wood except foundations; its disadvantage is
susceptibility to fire, mold, and termites. The strength of wood in both tension and
compression arises from its organic nature, which gives it an internal structure of
longitudinal and radial fibres that is not impaired by cutting or long exposure. But like
all organisms it contains moisture and is not uniformly strong, so it must be carefully
selected and seasoned to prevent warping, splitting, and failure under loads. Wood is
used in building both solid and skeletal structures. The principal solid system,
called log construction, is employed when only unsophisticated cutting tools are
available. Four walls must be built up together in horizontal layers of single hewn or
uncut logs and jointed at the corners. The stability of the log building depends entirely
on the mutual support of the walls, and the method is suitable only for simple structures
of limited size. The skeletal system requires precise cutting and shaping of lumber. It
provides a rigid framework of jointed or nailed members independent of the walls,
which are attached to the exterior and interior surfaces after completion.

log cabin
Log cabin.
© EyeMark/Fotolia
Almost all masonry buildings of the past had wood floors and coverings, since wood is
the lightest, the most practical, and the most inexpensive material for spanning spaces.

The monumental architecture of the West has typically employed materials rarer than
wood for expressive purposes, but the history of wood construction can be traced
consistently in China, Korea, and Japan and in the domestic architecture of northern
Europe and North America. Wood continues to be used in a growing number of
techniques and products: heavy framing systems with compound beams and girders,
interior and exterior facing with plywood and other composite panels, and arch
and truss systems with laminated members that can be designed to meet particular
structural demands (see wood).

Iron and steel

The development of construction methods in iron and steel was the most
important innovation in architecture since ancient times. These methods provide far
stronger and taller structures with less expenditure of material than stone, brick, or
wood and can produce greater unsupported spans over openings and interior or exterior
spaces. The evolution of steel frame construction in the 20th century entirely changed
the concept of the wall and the support.

Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower, designed by Gustave Eiffel and constructed of wrought iron, 1887–89; in Paris.
© Royalty-Free/Corbis
In architecture before 1800, metals played an auxiliary role. They were used for bonding
masonry (dowels and clamps), for tension members (chains strengthening domes, tie
rods across arches to reinforce the vaults), and for roofing, doors, windows, and
decoration. Cast iron, the first metal that could be substituted for traditional structural
materials, was used in bridge building as early as 1779. Its ability to bear loads and to be
produced in an endless variety of forms, in addition to its resistance to fire and
corrosion, quickly encouraged architectural adaptations, first as columns and arches
and afterward in skeletal structures. Because cast iron has much more compressive
than tensile strength (for example, it works better as a small column than as a beam), it
was largely replaced in the late 19th century by steel, which is more uniformly strong,
elastic, and workable, and its high resistance in all stresses can be closely calculated.
Steel structural members are rolled in a variety of shapes, the commonest of which are
plates, angles, I beams, and U-shaped channels. These members may be joined by
steel bolts or rivets, and the development of welding in the 20th century made it
possible to produce fused joints with less labour and materials. The result is a
rigid, continuous structure in which the joint is as firm as the member and which
distributes stresses between beams and columns. This is a fundamental change in
architectural technique, the effect of which cannot yet be estimated.

Normally, steel must be protected against corrosion by surface coverings,

but alloys such as stainless steel have been developed for exposed surfaces. Aluminum
and other light metal alloys have come to be favoured for exterior construction because
of their weather resistance.
Concrete
Concrete is a manufactured mixture of cement and water, with aggregates of sand and
stones, which hardens rapidly by chemical combination to a stonelike, water- and fire-
resisting solid of great compressive (but low tensile) strength. Because it can be poured
into forms while liquid to produce a great variety of structural elements, it provides an
economical substitute for traditional materials, and it has the advantages
of continuity (absence of joints) and of fusing with other materials.

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Concrete was employed in ancient Egypt and was highly developed by the ancient
Romans, whose concrete made with volcanic-ash cement (pozzolana) permitted a great
expansion of architectural methods, particularly the development
of domes and vaults (often reinforced by brick ribbing) to cover large areas, of
foundations, and of structures such as bridges and sewerage systems where
waterproofing was essential. The technique of manufacture declined in the Middle
Ages and was regained in the 18th century, but concrete had only a limited importance
for architecture until the invention of reinforced concrete in the 1860s.

Reinforced concrete was developed to add the tensile strength of steel to the
compressive strength of mass concrete. The metal is embedded by being set as a mesh
into the forms before pouring, and in the hardened material the two act uniformly. The
combination is much more versatile than either product; it serves not only for
constructing rigid frames but also for foundations, columns, walls, floors, and a limitless
variety of coverings, and it does not require the addition of other structural materials.
Although the making of forms is a slow and costly process, the technique competes
economically with steel frame construction because the mesh, composed of thin,
bendable metal rods or metal fabric, employs far less steel, and concrete is itself
inexpensive.
TWA Terminal
Interior of the TWA Terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen and constructed of reinforced concrete,
1956–62; in John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City.
Marvin B. Winter/Photo Researchers, Inc.
The steel reinforcement is employed to take full advantage of the plastic, or sculptural,
character of concrete. It can be jointed or bent to unify supporting members with the
floors and the coverings they carry. Furthermore, stresses produced in floors, domes,
and vaults may be distributed within the slabs themselves to reduce load, and the
diminished load may be concentrated at desired points so that the number and size of
supports is greatly reduced.

Three 20th-century developments in production had a radical effect on architecture.

The first, concrete-shell construction, permits the erection of vast vaults and domes with
a concrete and steel content so reduced that the thickness is comparatively less than that
of an eggshell. The second development, precast-concrete construction, employs bricks,
slabs, and supports made under optimal factory conditions to increase waterproofing
and solidity, to decrease time and cost in erection, and to reduce expansion and
contraction. Finally, prestressed concrete provides bearing members into which
reinforcement is set under tension to produce a live force to resist a particular load.
Since the member acts like a spring, it can carry a greater load than an unstressed
member of the same size.

Methods
Wall
The two types of wall are load bearing, which supports the weight of floors and roofs,
and nonbearing, which at most supports its own weight.
Load-bearing wall
The load-bearing wall of masonry is thickened in proportion to the forces it has to resist:
its own load, the load of floors, roofs, persons, etc., and the lateral forces of arches,
vaults, wind, etc., that may cause it to crack or buckle. Its thickness often can be reduced
at the top, because loads accumulate toward the base; in high buildings this is done by
interior or exterior setbacks at the floor level of upper stories. Walls that must resist
lateral forces are thickened either along the whole length or at particular points where
the force is concentrated. The latter method is called buttressing. Doors and windows
weaken the resistance of the wall and divert the forces above them to the parts on either
side, which must be thickened in proportion to the width of the opening. In multistory
buildings, windows—unless they are very small—must be placed one above the other so
as to leave uninterrupted vertical masses of wall between them to transfer loads directly
to the ground. The number of openings that can be used depends on the strength of the
masonry and the stresses in the wall. Walls in light, wood-framed structures and in
reinforced-concrete construction may have a bearing function also. But the nature of the
material admits other means of resisting forces than the increase of mass.

The placement of walls is determined by the type of support for floors and roofs. The
commonest support is the beam, which must be jointed to walls at both ends;
consequently, its maximum permissible length establishes the distance between bearing
walls. All floors and coverings are most easily supported on straight, parallel walls
except the dome (see below Dome).
Nonbearing wall
Excluding the independent garden variety, the nonbearing wall appears only where
loads are carried by other members, as in heavy timber and other skeletal structures.
Modern steel and reinforced-concrete frames require exterior walls only for shelter and
sometimes dispense with them on the ground floor to permit easier access. Since the
wall rests or hangs upon members of the frame, it becomes a curtain or screen and
admits treatment in any durable, weather-resisting material. Traditional materials are
often used, but light walls of glass, plastic, metal alloys, wood products, etc., can be
equally efficient. This freedom of choice extends also to the form of walls and offers
greatly expanded opportunities for creative expression.

Post-and-lintel
The simplest illustration of load and support in construction is the post-and-lintel
system, in which two upright members (posts, columns, piers) hold up a third member
(lintel, beam, girder, rafter) laid horizontally across their top surfaces. This is the basis
for the evolution of all openings. But, in its pure form, the post-and-lintel is seen only
in colonnades and in framed structures, since the posts of doors, windows, ceilings, and
roofs are part of the wall.
post-and-lintel system
Stonehenge, an example of early post-and-lintel construction.
Kristian H. Resset
The job of the lintel is to bear the loads that rest on it (and its own load) without
deforming or breaking. Failure occurs only when the material is too weak or the lintel is
too long. Lintels composed of materials that are weak in bending, such as stone, must be
short, while lintels in materials that are strong in bending, such as steel, may span far
greater openings. Masonry lintels are inefficient because they must depend on the
cohesiveness of mortar, which is weaker than the blocks it bonds; so, in masonry
construction, lintels of monolithic (single-slab) stone, wood, and stronger materials are
employed.

The job of the post is to support the lintel and its loads without crushing or buckling.
Failure occurs, as in lintels, from excessive weakness or length, but the difference is that
the material must be especially strong in compression. Stone, which has this property, is
more versatile as a post than as a lintel; under heavy loads it is superior to wood but not
to iron, steel, or reinforced concrete. Masonry posts, including those of brick, may be
highly efficient, since the loads compress the joints and add to their cohesiveness.
Although monolithic stone columns are used, they are extravagant to produce for large
structures, and columns are usually built up of a series of cylindrical blocks
called drums.

From prehistoric times to the Roman Empire, the post-and-lintel system was the root of
architectural design. The interiors of Egyptian temples and the exteriors of Greek
temples are delineated by columns covered by stone lintels. The Greeks opened their
interior spaces by substituting wooden beams for stone, since the wood required fewer
supports. The development of the arch and vault challenged the system but could not
diminish its importance either in masonry construction or in wood framing, by its
nature dependent on posts and beams.

Athens: temple of Hephaestus

Temple of Hephaestus, Athens.
© Michael Avory/Shutterstock.com
Ancient uses of the post-and-lintel were refined but not fundamentally altered until the
production of cast-iron columns, which, offering greater strength and smaller
circumference, greatly reduced the mass and weight of buildings. Much construction in
modern materials is based on the post-and-lintel system of the past. Steel and concrete
skeletons restore to modern architecture the formal simplicity of the oldest structures
known. But, because they are rigid frames, they abandon the fundamental concept of the
duality of post-and-lintel by fusing them into a unit throughout which stresses are
distributed. The “mushroom” column is a further departure, since the unit can be
extended into a covering slab and becomes a ceiling as well as a support.
Museo Nacional de Antropología
“Mushroom” column with fountain, supporting a cantilever, Museo Nacional de Antropología,
Mexico City, by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Rafael Mijares, 1964.
Victor Englebert
Arch
The arch can be called a curved lintel. Early masonry builders could span only narrow
openings because of the necessary shortness and weight of monolithic stone lintels.
With the invention of the arch, two problems were solved: (1) wide openings could be
spanned with small, light blocks, in brick as well as stone, which were easy to transport
and to handle; and (2) the arch was bent upward to resist and to conduct into its
supports the loads that tended to bend the lintel downward. Because the arch is curved,
the upper edge has a greater circumference than the lower, so that each of its blocks
must be cut in wedge shapes that press firmly against the whole surface of neighbouring
blocks and conduct loads uniformly. This form creates problems of equilibrium that do
not exist in lintels. The stresses in the arch tend to squeeze the blocks outward radially,
and loads divert these outward forces downward to exert a resultant diagonal force,
called thrust, which will cause the arch to collapse if it is not properly buttressed. So an
arch cannot replace a lintel on two free-standing posts unless the posts are massive
enough to buttress the thrust and to conduct it into the foundations (as in ancient
Roman triumphal arches). Arches may rest on light supports, however, where they occur
in a row, because the thrust of one arch counteracts the thrust of its neighbours, and the
system will remain stable as long as the arches at either end of the row are buttressed by
walls, piers, or earth.
Arch of Constantine
The Arch of Constantine, Rome.
© Jeff Banke/Shutterstock.com
The size of arches is limited only by economy; large arches exert large thrusts, and they
are hard to buttress and to build. The form may be varied to meet specific problems; the
most efficient forms in masonry are semicircular, segmental (segment of a circle), and
pointed (two intersecting arcs of a circle), but noncircular curves can be used
successfully.

Arches were known in Egypt and Greece but were considered unsuitable for
monumental architecture. In Roman times the arch was fully exploited
in bridges, aqueducts, and large-scale architecture. New forms and uses were found
in medieval and particularly Gothic architecture (flying buttress, pointed arch),
and Baroque architects developed a vocabulary of noncircular forms for expressive
reasons. Steel, concrete, and laminated-wood arches of the 20th century changed the
concept and the mechanics of arches. Their components are completely different from
wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs); they may be made entirely rigid so as to require only
vertical support; they may be of hinged intersections that work independently, or they
may be thin slabs or members (in reinforced concrete) in which stresses are so
distributed that they add the advantages of lintels to those of arches, requiring only light
supports. These innovations provide a great freedom of design and a means of covering
great spans without a massive substructure.
Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame de Paris, France.
© Corbis

Vault
The evolution of the vault begins with the discovery of the arch, because the basic
“barrel” form, which appeared first in ancient Egypt and the Near East, is simply a deep,
or three-dimensional, arch. Since the barrel vault exerts thrust as the arch does, it must
be buttressed along its entire length by heavy walls in which openings must be limited in
size and number. This is a disadvantage, since it inhibits light and circulation.
barrel vault
Barrel vault in Aranjuez, Spain.
© Antonio Ovejero Diaz/Shutterstock.com
But Roman builders discovered that openings could be made by building two barrel
vaults that intersected at right angles to form the groin vault, which is square in plan
and may be repeated in series to span rectangular areas of unlimited length. This vault
has the additional advantage that its thrusts are concentrated at the four corners, so that
the supporting walls need not be uniformly massive but may be buttressed where they
support the vault.

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Two disadvantages of the groin vault encouraged Gothic builders to develop a
modification known as the rib vault. First, to build a groin vault, a form must be made to
pour or lay the entire vault, and this requires complex scaffolding from the ground up;
second, the groin vault must be more or less square, and a single vault cannot span
extended rectangular areas. The rib vault provided a skeleton of arches or ribs along the
sides of the area and crossing it diagonally; on these the masonry of the vault could be
laid; a simple centring sufficed for the ribs. To cover the rectangular areas,
the medieval mason used pointed arches, which, unlike round arches, can be raised as
high over a short span as over a long one. Thus, the vault could be composed of the
intersection of two vaults of different widths but the same height.
To reduce further the thickness of the wall (to the point of substituting large areas of
glass for masonry), Gothic builders developed the flying buttress, which
counteracts vault thrust not by continuous wall mass and weight but by counterthrust
created by exterior half-arches placed at the height of the vaults at the points of greatest
stress. These buttresses conduct stresses to heavier wall buttresses below the window
level.

flying buttress
Two flying buttresses on the abbey of Bath, England.
Adrian Pingstone
The next important development in vaults, as in arches, came with 19th-century
materials. Great iron skeleton vaults were constructed as a framework for light materials
such as glass (Crystal Palace, London). The elimination of weight and excessive thrust,
the freedom in the use of materials, and the absence of centring problems favoured the
simple barrel vault and made more complex types obsolete. But in many of the modern
frame systems the vault itself loses its structural function and becomes a thin skin laid
over a series of arches.
Crystal Palace
Illustration of the transept of the Crystal Palace, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, at the Great
Exhibition of 1851, Hyde Park, London.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
While the arch is supplanting the vault in one area of technique, the vault has
abandoned the arch principle in another. The reinforced-concrete shell vault, based on
the principle of the bent or molded slab, is one of the most important innovations in the
history of architecture. It has all the advantages of load distribution of the concrete floor
slab, plus the resistance to bending provided by its curved form. The shell is reinforced
in such a way that it exerts no lateral thrust and may be supported as if it were
a beam or truss; hence, the form no longer necessitates the conducting of loads into the
wall, and the vault may be designed with great freedom.
Dome
Domes appeared first on round huts and tombs in the ancient Near East, India, and the
Mediterranean region but only as solid mounds or in techniques adaptable only to the
smallest buildings. They became technically significant with the introduction of the
large-scale masonry hemispheres by the Romans. Domes, like vaults, evolved from the
arch, for in their simplest form they may be thought of as a continuous series of arches,
with the same centre. Therefore, the dome exerts thrusts all around its perimeter, and
the earliest monumental examples required heavy walls. Since the walls permitted few
openings and had to be round or polygonal to give continuous support, early domes
were difficult to incorporate into complex structures, especially when adjacent spaces
were vaulted.

Byzantine architects perfected a way of raising domes on piers instead of walls (like
groin vaults), which permitted lighting and communication from four directions. The
transition from a cubic plan to the hemisphere was achieved by four inverted spherical
triangles called pendentives—masses of masonry curved both horizontally and
vertically. Their apexes rested on the four piers, to which they conducted the forces of
the dome; their sides joined to form arches over openings in four faces of the cube; and
their bases met in a complete circle to form the dome foundation. The pendentive dome
could rest directly on this foundation or upon a cylindrical wall, called a drum, inserted
between the two to increase height.

Venice: San Marco Basilica

Interior of San Marco Basilica, Venice.
Werner Forman Archive/Heritage-Images
The dome was unsuited to the lightness and verticality of late medieval styles but was
widely used in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Renaissance builders adapted the
Gothic rib system to dome construction and found new means to reduce loads and
thrust (concentric chains, etc.) that permitted high drums and variations in the
curvature of the dome. The awkward, tunnellike effect produced on the interior by high
domes was often hidden by an internal shell built on the same foundations (as at
Florence Cathedral and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London).
Florence: cathedral
Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence.
© Ron Gatepain (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
The effort and ingenuity devoted to doming rectangular buildings can be explained
principally by the symbolic character of the form, since vaulting is a simpler alternative.
So it was chiefly the desire to observe tradition that preserved the dome in the early era
of iron and steel construction, and, with rare exceptions (Halle aux Blés, Paris; the Coal
Exchange, London), 19th-century examples retained masonry forms without exploiting
the advantages of metal.

Newer techniques, however, have added practically to the expressive advantages of

domes. The reinforced-concrete slab used in vaulting can be curved in length as well as
width (like an inflated handkerchief or a parachute). And in this development the
distinction between vaults and domes loses significance, being based on nothing but the
type of curvature in the slab. Geodesic domes, developed in the 20th century by R.
Buckminster Fuller, are spherical forms in which triangular or
polygonal facets composed of light skeletal struts or flat planes replace the arch
principle and distribute stresses within the structure itself, as in a truss. Geodesic domes
can be supported by light walls and are the only large domes that can be set directly on
the ground as complete structures.
geodesic dome
The Climatron geodesic dome, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
© ksteffens/iStock.com
Truss
By far the commonest covering throughout history is the trussed roof, constructed upon
a frame composed of triangular sections spaced crosswise at intervals and made rigid in
length by beams. Trusses formerly were principally of wood and were used to cover
masonry as well as framed structures, even when these were vaulted. The variety of
trusses is so great that only the general principle of the form can be given here.
nave of San Miniato al Monte
Nave of San Miniato al Monte (1062) showing roof trusses, Florence.
© Vvoevale/Dreamstime.com
The truss is based on the geometric law that a triangle is the only figure that cannot be
changed in shape without a change in the length of its sides; thus, a triangular frame of
strong pieces firmly fastened at the angles cannot be deformed by its own load or by
external forces such as wind pressure. These forces, which in a vault thrust outward
against the walls, are contained within the truss itself, because the piece (chord) at the
base of the triangle resists by tension the tendency of the two sides to behave like a
vault. With its forces in equilibrium, the truss exerts only a direct downward pressure on
the walls, so that they need not be thickened or buttressed. This explains why most roofs
are triangular in cross section.

In trusses that are too large to be constructed of three members of moderate size, a
complex system of small triangles within the frame replaces the simple triangle.

Not all peaked roofs are trusses, for in early buildings, in ancient Greece, and in much
Chinese and Japanese wood architecture the chord is omitted and the sides exert thrust.
Nor are all trusses triangular, since the principle may be modified (as in modern steel
and heavy timber construction) to apply to arches and vaults if chords of sufficient
strength can be found.

Framed structures
A framed structure in any material is one that is made stable by a skeleton that is able to
stand by itself as a rigid structure without depending on floors or walls to resist
deformation. Materials such as wood, steel, and reinforced concrete, which are strong in
both tension and compression, make the best members for framing. Masonry skeletons,
which cannot be made rigid without walls, are not frames. The heavy timber frame, in
which large posts, spaced relatively far apart, support thick floor and roof beams, was
the commonest type of construction in eastern Asia and northern Europe from
prehistoric times to the mid-19th century. It was supplanted by the American light wood
frame (balloon frame), composed of many small and closely spaced members that could
be handled easily and assembled quickly by nailing instead of by the slow joinery and
dowelling of the past. Construction is similar in the two systems, since they are both
based on the post-and-lintel principle. Posts must rest on a level, waterproof
foundation, usually composed of masonry or concrete, on which the sill (base member)
is attached. Each upper story is laid on crossbeams that are supported on the exterior
wall by horizontal members. Interior walls give additional beam support.

In the heavy-timber system, the beams are strong enough to allow the upper story and
roof to project beyond the plane of the ground-floor posts, increasing the space and
weather protection. The members are usually exposed on the exterior. In China, Korea,
and Japan, spaces between are enclosed by light screen walls and in northern Europe
partly by thinner bracing members and partly by boards, panels, or (in half-timbered
construction) bricks or earth.

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The light frame, however, is sheathed with vertical or horizontal boarding or shingling,
which is jointed or overlapped for weather protection. Sheathing helps to brace as well
as to protect the frame, so the frame is not structurally independent as in steel frame
construction. The light-frame system has not been significantly improved since its
introduction, and it lags behind other modern techniques. Prefabricated panels
designed to reduce the growing cost of construction have not been widely adopted.
Modern heavy-timber and laminated-wood techniques, however, provide means
of building up compound members for trusses and arches that challenge steel
construction for certain large-scale projects in areas where wood is plentiful.

Steel framing is based on the same principles but is much simplified by the far greater
strength of the material, which provides more rigidity with fewer members. The load-
bearing capacity of steel is adequate for buildings many times higher than those made of
other materials. Because the column and beam are fused by riveting or welding, stresses
are distributed between them, and both can be longer and lighter than in structures in
which they work independently as post-and-lintel. Thus, large cubic spaces can be
spanned by four columns and four beams, and buildings of almost any size can be
produced by joining cubes in height and width. Since structural steel must be protected
from corrosion, the skeleton is either covered by curtain walls or surfaced in concrete or,
more rarely, painted. The steel frame is used also in single-story buildings where large
spans are required. The simple cube then can be abandoned for covering systems
employing arches, trusses, and other elements in a limitless variety of forms in order to
suit the functions of the building.

Differences between reinforced-concrete and steel framing are discussed in the section
on materials. The greater rigidity and continuity of concrete frames give them more
versatility, but steel is favoured for very tall structures for reasons of economy in
construction and space. An example is the system called box frame construction, in
which each unit is composed of two walls bearing a slab (the other two walls enclosing
the unit are nonbearing curtain walls); this type of construction extends the post-and-
lintel principle into three dimensions. Here, again, concrete crosses the barriers that
separated traditional methods of construction.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/architecture/Framed-structures