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 Why should I switch to this new statics textbook?
What’s so special about it?
Shaping Structures: Statics takes a whole new approach to the study
of structures. Your students learn to construct free-body diagrams, sum forces, and sum
moments by applying these skills to the design of large-scale, long-span, genuinely
exciting structures.
Specifically, what kinds of structures?
Suspended structures. Funicular arches. Single-curvature shell
structures. Trusses. Cable-stayed and fanlike structures. Your students learn to find
efficient forms for bridges and longspan roofs of almost every type and determine the
forces in these structures. They also learn to understand and emulate the structures of
such well-known designers as Robert Maillart, Pier Luigi Nervi, Riccardo Morandi, Gustave
Eiffel, Christian Menn, Ove Arup, Renzo Piano, and Santiago Calatrava. In other words,
they are learning to become not merely analysts of structures, but designers, with the
power to create graceful, soaring, inspiring forms that make sense statically.
All in one term? You’ve got to be kidding!
We’re not kidding. In just one term, of course, your students
won’t become mature, accomplished designers equipped with the full range of
analytical tools required to build a major bridge or roof, but within that term they will
become capable of finding form and forces for the primary loading conditions for all these
types of structures.
Why take this new, creative approach rather than the one that
I’ve been using for years?
There are several good reasons. One is that the creative approach
gives students a strong start toward becoming designers of structures, not merely
analysts. Another reason is motivation: A first-term student who has experienced the
excitement of applying the discipline of statics to the design of a cantilevered
thin-shell concrete stadium roof is hooked on structures for life. A third reason: If
you’re teaching architecture students, you will find your teaching of statics
reflected in a startling improvement in the quality of the structures that your students
create in their design studios. If you’re teaching engineering students, you will
observe an awakening of interest in engineering design, which is often the most neglected
part of the curriculum.
A cantilevered thin-shell concrete stadium roof? Really?
Really. See Chapter 10 of Shaping Structures. It’s pretty neat.
And while you’re at it, see how an arch bridge is designed in Chapter 8, a hanging
roof in Chapter 11, a three-hinged steel truss arch roof in Chapter 12, a wood truss roof
in Chapter 6, and some very, very sleek, efficient truss forms in Chapter 14. Even in
Chapter 1, the student is already designing hanger straps for a highrise building. And oh,
yes—check out Chapter 7 while you’re at it, to see how some of the world’s
most avant-garde structures can be easily understood, even by beginning students.
What do I have to give up from the approach to statics that I use
now?
Not much. Mostly just those elementary, boring little analytical
homework problems that a lot of students dislike. You’ll replace them with
exhilarating problems that will get students really turned on while giving them reasons to
employ and learn the basic principles of statics.
Does "creative" mean touchy-feely and unscientific? Is
this another one of those no-math approaches to teaching structures?
No. The rigor and the math are all here; they’re just applied
in ways that make them particularly relevant to creating efficient, beautiful structures.
What new things do I have to learn to use this creative approach?
If you learned at some point in your career to analyze trusses
graphically by means of Maxwell Diagrams, you’re well on your way. You won’t
have to learn very much more, just some easy variations of this technique that you’ll
need to know to apply it to arches and cables. If you’ve never studied graphical
solutions at all, don’t worry—you’ll be surprised how easy they are to
learn and to teach.
Can’t I just teach the course numerically, without having to
learn the graphical techniques?
You could teach a pretty good course from this book without using
graphics at all, because almost every important operation in Shaping Structures is
demonstrated by using both numerical and graphical techniques in parallel. But with
graphics, you can teach a superb course. That’s because the graphics make it much
easier and more direct to understand what is going on in a structure and, most
importantly, they give strong clues about how to improve the form of the structure you are
designing. They are also faster than numerical methods. Furthermore, the graphical
techniques are so much fun that students can’t wait to use them.
Okay, how can I learn the graphical techniques?
The easiest way is to insert the companion CD-ROM tutorial into your
computer, either Mac or Windows, and click your way through the lessons. The book provides
parallel lessons to those in the text, but in greater depth and includes explanations of
why these techniques work. Between the book and the tutorial, you can’t miss. And it
won’t take you long, either. For instance, you can learn to find form and forces for
a deck-stiffened arch bridge, the kind that Maillart pioneered, in about twenty minutes.
And you’ll be doing it exactly the way that Maillart did it. You don’t believe
this? Check it out.
Can you make it easy for me to teach the graphical techniques to my
students?
Sure. If you have video projection equipment, you can project the
CD-ROM lessons and go through them step-by-step in your classroom. Otherwise, give the
basic instruction on the blackboard (or by using overhead projections made on your copier
from the step-by-step diagrams in the book), and ask each student to go to the CD-ROM
tutorial for self-study. It’s probably a good idea for the students to have direct
access to the CD-ROM in either case; this could happen through your computer lab, your
library, or through having each student buy the disk for home study.
Do I have to change the format of my class?
Not if you don’t want to. If your current statics class meets
twice or three times a week in a classroom, you can continue to teach in this format and
it’ll work just fine. You’ll probably change gradually the way you spend class
time, using more of it to assist the students in their structural design work and less to
drill them on the fundamentals. In time, you may find yourself wanting to teach statics in
a workshop environment, with each student working at a drafting table during a somewhat
longer class period, or you may want to do it in a design studio. These formats offer
somewhat more scope for developing the creative aspects of the subject. It will be your
decision.
What kinds of homework problems will I give to my students?
Each chapter of Shaping Structures ends with an assortment of
exercises, both numerical and graphical, that are suitable for homework assignments. Some
of these are quickly solved, like conventional statics homework problems, and some will
take longer, so you should exercise careful judgment in making up your assignments.
It’s likely that when your students begin to understand the power of the structural
design techniques that you are teaching them, they will start proposing homework problems
of their own invention!
What are some larger, longer structural design problems that I
might assign to my students?
We’ve had the best success with problems that have very simple
programs and long spans: A footbridge to cross a gorge. A shelter for a public park. A
house of worship. A produce market. An athletic arena. An exhibition hall. An air terminal
concourse. A bridge to span across a downtown street between two buildings. An auditorium.
An art museum. Keep the program very basic: A complex list of spaces should be avoided
because it will divert students’ energies for weeks.
How does this approach tie in to a subsequent course in strength of
materials?
You’ll find that through Shaping Structures: Statics, your
students will acquire an impressive understanding in depth of the behavior of hanging
cables, arches, and trusses. This understanding will make it easy for them to comprehend
the internal behavior of beams through truss analogies and the arch-plus-cable analogy for
stress trajectories. We’re engaged now in writing the next volume of this series, a
book on strength of materials that will exploit these paths to understanding. In the
meantime, you can continue to teach "strength" in the same way you’ve been
doing it. Your students will be ready for it.
Okay, where should I begin?
A good place to begin your own exploration of Shaping Structures is
in Chapter 8 of the book: Give yourself thirty or forty minutes with it and see if you can
tear yourself away. If you can’t, work backward and forward from Chapter 8 to expand
your knowledge. Another good starting place is the first two lessons on the CD-ROM
tutorial.
This is all well and good, but I have another question or two…
No problem—Contact the
Authors...
We’re eager to help.
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