Structural art

Such works can be classified as structural art when they attain excellence in the three areas of efficiency, economy, and elegance, as defined by Prof. David P. Billington of Princeton University.

Much of the impetus for the idea came from the personal and professional writings of engineers such as Thomas Telford, John Roebling, and Robert Maillart, among others, who wrote of the conscious way they attempted to create aesthetically pleasing, imaginative, and elegant structures, while meeting safety and serviceability requirements.

Notable among these is Alan Holgate [4] It is also said that a work of structural art should be interpreted in terms of the 'Three S's'; the scientific, social, and symbolic meaning: An example of three specific ideas related to the three S's are the 'Three E's'.

Some of the structural artists who essentially defined the art form by their own works include: Thomas Telford, Gustav Eiffel, John Roebling, Othmar Ammann, Robert Maillart, Christian Menn, Heinz Isler, Fazlur Khan, Felix Candela, Pier Luigi Nervi, Eduardo Torroja, Eladio Dieste.

Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch and the Eiffel Tower provide a contrast that illustrates the difference between structural art and architecture.

The Eiffel Tower has been shown to be the near optimal form for resisting wind loads,[5] and therefore is more in line with the ideals of structural art than architecture.

Regarding the temporal aspect, it has been argued that the time-dependent concept of a design process is missing from the conventional definition of structural art.