Living on the Edge
Cantilevering is a well-known structural engineering technique used to construct bridges and some commercial buildings, but the concept has never taken off when it comes to residential buildings. That looks set to change thanks to an innovative new modular design, which is the brainchild of chartered civil and structural engineer, Warrick Weber.
The Queenstown-based engineer owns a structural engineering and architectural design business with offices in Queenstown, Auckland, and Dubai, where he indulges his passion for what he calls "structural-led architecture". He designs buildings where people can look at the structure and understand how it works, putting structural elements on display and celebrating the crucial role they play in the final make-up of any building.
He contends it has become all too common to hide the structural elements of buildings – a situation he attributes to the trend of architects and engineers increasingly working in isolation, rather than co-operatively to find ways of combining aesthetics and structural design elements.
"Engineers nowadays take a lesser role in determining the final form of buildings. What I am doing is going back in time by letting engineering take a bit of a lead in determining the look of a building."
This case study is reproduced with permission from e.nz magazine. Subscriptions to e.nz are discounted for schools and TENZ members.
