Conclusion
Throughout the process of applying for the SOM Foundation fellowship, traveling, returning home to the United States, working, and writing this book, I have learned much about structures and engineering, about the world, and about my place in it. By far, the most important lesson has been that simplicity is key.
When I chose structures to visit, I was looking at those that had very apparent geometries. Though I tried, I did not always adequately consider the distinction between the geometry and design being birthed and grown together, as opposed to a design forcing itself into a desired geometric outcome. This is what I meant when I set my intention to study “geometry as the root of the structure.” After visiting the structures on my list, however, the distinction became apparent.
Not all structures that are ostensibly inscribing shapes are designed rooted in geometric form. As a result, not all are designed with economy and efficiency in mind. Within the context of structural art, brute force easily becomes a fatal flaw.
On the contrary, complexity is beautiful when it is rooted in the simplicity of a repeatable form, or in the natural shapes of compression and tensile structures.
Complexity is sometimes unavoidable. When designing small single-story buildings, a designer has more flexibility to experiment with forms and increase a structure’s efficiency with forms that enhance its elegance.
As a building’s purpose becomes more convoluted, such as in a commercial high-rise, the structure must accommodate additional design concerns that make it difficult to rationalize the developed needs with a pure geometric form of structural art.
Conceptually, this notion is not limited to structures. When we look at the world at large, the metaphor translates to art, politics, and philosophy. Sometimes we have to return to the basics to perfect the root of our form. Only then can we build. A statue falls without a strong pedestal. An ideology fails without clear definition. A structure loses that which makes it art.
We are at a place and time in history in which situations have become increasingly convoluted. Antiquated laws punish people for the wrong reasons. New laws are passed to criminalize that which should be considered human rights. Old habits and ways of thinking hinder progress. Blind consumption drives pollution and accelerates climate change. As a civilization, we open wounds, ignoring those that are already crying out for bandages.
Yet, we are also in a time of progress. Companies are emerging whose practices prioritize fair treatment for humans and animals, considering compassion and community. Politicians are stepping into the political battlefield representing a range of religion, race, and gender, challenging the status quo. People are opening their eyes, realizing each individual’s significance and power, using their voices and power of choice to support groups and movements that aim to benefit the public as a whole.
We are saying no to institutionalism and propaganda, and instead are acknowledging the greater good.
What does this have to do with structural art? Everything. Structures are vital to the built world around us. They facilitate movements by forming the spaces within which they begin; by bridging rivers and valleys to carry voice across divides. They inspire. They inspire us to do better, to be better.
They have a cost. Construction contributes to pollution. Materials must be mined, milled, and transported. All of this requires fuel, machinery, and functioning with industrialization era practices. The rapid growth of urbanism and rapid expansion within the construction industry to accommodate the building needs has directed an emphasis toward quick, cheap construction. Inefficiency at all stages of the process leads to waste, exacerbating the problem.
Experimentation rooted in structural art is vital to ensure that the social, environmental, and political impacts of structure are thoroughly considered. Experimentation into new materials must continue so that we may find materials that reduce the pollution caused by major urban construction. Experimentation into new forms, so that each material’s strengths are utilized. We must experiment so that the drive to cut monetary costs does not endlessly continue to raise material, environmental, and social costs.
We must always remember that structural art exists not only for the sake of aesthetic value, but for innovative solutions that lead to structurally informed beautiful structures, built for the betterment of society as a whole.
When we build structures as structural art, we are not only building a tower, or a bridge, or a home; we are building a community, an ideology, a civilization. We are building technological advance, materials research, and progress. Inspiring awe, inspiring hope, inspiring ambition. We are building the future by building for the humanity we seek out in the present.
