How Structures Work: Design and Behaviour from Bridges to Buildings

The alliance between architecture and structural engineering isfundamental to the design of the buildings and bridges around us.Anyone who needs or wants to understand a buildingmust have a good understanding of the structural concepts involved.Yet structure is often cloaked in mathematics which many find difficult to get to grips with.

How Structures Work has been written to explain thebehaviour of structures in a clear way without resorting to complexmathematics. Using the minimum of mathematics it explains thestructural concepts clearly, illustrated by many historical andcontemporary examples, allowing readers to build up a generalunderstanding of structures. In this way they can easily comprehendthe structural aspects of buildings for themselves.

Primarily aimed at students who require a good qualitativeunderstanding of the behaviour of structures and their materials,it will be of particular interest to students of architecture andbuilding surveying, plus architectural historians andconservationists. The straightforward, non–mathematical approachensures it will also be suitable for a wider audience includingbuilding administrators, archaeologists and the interestedlayman.