British Museum Great Court, London, UK - Diliff

Tessellated roof is a

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

and a self-supporting

structural system A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. A simple ridged roof may inside be a tessellated system. The interlinking shapes are replicated across the moulded surface using

curvilinear coordinates In geometry, curvilinear coordinates are a coordinate system for Euclidean space in which the coordinate lines may be curved. These coordinates may be derived from a set of Cartesian coordinates by using a transformation that is locally inve ...

, a specific technique with rigid interlinking beams, having characteristics similar to woven

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

. A tessellated roof is one of the most flexible framed systems to design. The measurements and precision are complex and commonly part of a

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

process of production. It is used in a honeycomb geometry form, in the biomes of the

Eden Project The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS ...

. It can be fabricated to fit a wide range of situations. The size of the repeated geometric shape used can be customised, with a multitude of the same shape throughout the structure. An even and equal load is shared by the interlocking structural integrity of the frame as a whole. The use of a tessellated roof for

public area A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to ...

s is an increasingly implemented architectural feature of modern public buildings, covering

walkway In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. ''The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. a ...

s and over retail centers. A transparent roof being for shelter from the weather, has an advantage during daylight with electricity for artificial lighting in solid roof buildings being a financial cost. A modern tessellated roof for roofing public areas is a variation of a

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

or glass roof in different shapes and sized. The roof can be held aloft with

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s, that may have branches to support and connect to the roof latticework, which stabilise the roof to create a strong structure. The material of the roof in-between or covering the tessellated frame may be a light

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

toughened glass Tempered or toughened glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression and the interior into tens ...

insulated glazing Insulating glass (IG) consists of two or more glass window panes separated by a space to reduce heat transfer across a part of the building envelope. A window with insulating glass is commonly known as double glazing or a double-paned window, ...

. There are roofed boulevards with columns that can form a colonnade. Some tessellated roof shapes connect to the ground in place of conventional

rain gutter A rain gutter, eavestrough, eaves-shoot or surface water collection channel is a component of a water discharge system for a building. It is necessary to prevent water dripping or flowing off roofs in an uncontrolled manner for several reasons ...

s, for example the FieraMilano, or it can be supported entirely by the surrounding buildings. A tessellated roof can convert previous outdoor space into a dry public area; some examples of this method are

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II () is Italy's oldest active shopping gallery and a major landmark of Milan in Italy. Housed within a four-story double arcade in the centre of town, the ''Galleria'' is named after Victor Emmanuel II, the first ki ...

and many other shopping complexes or the

Queen Elizabeth II Great Court The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, commonly referred to simply as the Great Court, is the covered central quadrangle of the British Museum in London. It was redeveloped during the late 1990s to a design by Foster and Partners, from a 1970s ...

at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

by Norman Foster.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tessellated Roof Roofs Structural engineering Structural system Tensile architecture

See also

References