Structures by Design: Thinking, Making, Breaking
About this book
Structures by Design: Thinking, Making, Breaking is a project-based textbook on structural behaviour for architecture and design students, and for designers who want to understand how things stand up. Written by Rob Whitehead and published by Routledge in 2019, the 472-page English-language paperback replaces abstract formulas with hands-on exercises built on a Think, Make, Break method. Sections cover form, sections, vectors, surfaces, and frames, using the body, physical models, precedents, diagrams, and digital analysis.
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For coursework, the book gives students a way to test structural ideas by building and breaking them, which connects well with prototyping and model-making. More than 500 illustrations and photos offer example solutions and starting points for further experiments. Product and furniture designers can use it to understand load paths, material behaviour, and efficiency of form, and to justify structural decisions in studio. On a university reading list, it supports early design development by showing how structural thinking can be expressive as well as technical.
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