Basic Concepts of Structural Design for Architecture Students

Reviewed by Daniel Castaneda, Assistant Professor, James Madison University on 8/23/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Introductory content is included on loading and types of loads with reference to the ASCE/SEI 7-02 standard. Review of forces as vectors is provided, as is a review of the manifestation of internal forces in linear members (beams and columns). Unit vectors are not emphasized. Review of force equilibrium is provided, with some practical applications. Specific content in cables and arches is introduced. Specific content on truss structural analysis is introduced, specifically Method of Joints, Method of Sections, and identifying Zero Force Members. Content on lattice domes is provided. Introductory topics in mechanics of materials (i.e., area moment of inertia, buckling, deflection in simple beams, shear and bending stresses) is provided. Load path analysis is introduced as line tracing.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

There are some problems and examples that are worked through. There does not appear to be a major inaccuracy in the derivation of solutions. While the content appears to be accurate, there are no “end of chapter” practice problems, which would strengthen the case to adopt this textbook in a Structural Analysis class with an audience of engineering or civil engineering students.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 2

There are useful chapter elements in this textbook, yet there are key sections missing for civil engineering students, including: creating internal axial, shear, and bending moment diagrams; calculation of deflections using the double integration method, moment-area theorems, conjugate beam method, virtual work, and energy methods; and the analysis of statically indeterminate structures. The lack of inclusion of these topics make it challenging to adopt this textbook singularly, without considering the adopting of other OER materials to supplement instruction in a Structural Analysis class with an audience of engineering or civil engineering students.

Clarity rating: 4

The first half of the textbook is logically organized for introductory topics in structural analysis up through analysis of cables, arches, and truss structures. The latter half of the textbook is logically organized for introductory topics in mechanics of materials.

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook is organized by chapters, and there is a consistent use of supplementary materials provided at the end of each chapter as well as “critical thinking exercises.”

Modularity rating: 5

The first half of the textbook can be leveraged in a structural analysis course for engineering students, and the latter half of the textbook can be leveraged in a mechanics of material course of engineering students.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The sequencing of chapters is sensible for the target audience, where introductory structural analysis topics are presented first to provide context and where introductory mechanics of materials topics is covered secondarily as a sort of “deep dive.”

Interface rating: 2

The textbook is a PDF document, with embedded hyperlinks to additional content. Many of the hyperlinks appear to route to a PDX Pressbooks web page as the “interactive element.” There is a note in many of these hyperlinks that the “interactive element has been excluded from this version of the text.” Yet, there are links to other outside resources (e.g., YouTube, Wikipedia) that appear to be functioning.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The language in the textbook is clearly written, free of grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The text provides many illustrations and a few photographs of real-world applications. There does not appear to be any offensive or culturally insensitive material contained within the textbook. The textbook can be strengthened by including more examples of real-world applications in varying cultural contexts.

Comments

The textbook Basic Concepts of Structural Design for Architecture Students has been developed with attention toward students in architecture programs. I teach Structural Analysis with attention toward students in engineering and civil engineering programs. I offer this review through that lens such that other engineering and civil engineering instructors may weigh the adoption of this textbook in their own instruction. Summarily, the textbook includes introductory content in structural analysis in the first half of the textbook, and it includes introductory content in mechanics of materials in the latter half of the textbook. The content is valuable in both sections of the textbook, yet it is likely insufficient for a structural analysis course taught to an audience of engineering or civil engineering students. Yet, the textbook can likely be leveraged as a key OER resource in Mechanics of Materials classes and in Structural Analysis classes by leveraging other OER resources in conjunction with this textbook.

Reviewed by James Lord, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech on 3/23/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book covers all of the fundamental concepts found in a typical undergraduate structural design class. It is aimed at architecture students and is pitched at an appropriate level for such students. The book covers all of the statics and mechanics of materials principles that are necessary for this audience, such as vector analysis, equilibrium, cross-sectional and material properties, stress, strain, and load tracing. Several applications such as trusses, beams, and columns are covered. The book is thorough without being overly dense. It includes everything that I would cover in a typical introductory structural design class for architecture students, plus probably a little more. There are however a small number of topics that can be solved by multiple approaches but only a single approach is provided.

The only thing missing compared with commercial textbooks are extensive end of chapter problems and more reference material/tables on common materials/shapes/loads and their properties. Instructors adopting this book may need to create some additional problems to supplement those provided.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

All content appears to be accurate and thorough.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The principles covered in this book have been well established for decades and are not likely to ever need updating. There are many video examples included in the text that help explain concepts. These appear relatively modern, and should be easy to update if they become outdated. Concepts are applied to structures that will remain relevant to architects for the foreseeable future. There are links to many external online tools. It is possible these tools will not always be maintained in the future, but it would be easy to update the book in this scenario.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is clearly written and easy to follow. It does not fall into the trap of being overly wordy or complicated. Justifications and reasoning are given for exploring each concept. Technical terms are explained clearly when they are first introduced.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent in its explanations and terminology. Formatting is also consistent and easy to follow.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is split into logical chapter headings, and each chapter is hyperlinked from the table of contents. Each chapter has sensible subheadings, and these stand out clearly from the text making it easy to identify subtopics when scrolling. Each subtopic has several images and videos that aid the text explanations. Some chapters would cover several lectures, so it may be helpful to also include the 1st level of subheadings in the table of contents.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is well organized and follows a logical structure. The chapters follow the same order that I would cover the material in a typical semester. Many topics in this text build on earlier concepts, and these are always introduced in a sensible order. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of the topic at hand and, where relevant, refers back to earlier chapters.

Interface rating: 4

The interface is clean and easy to navigate. Images are crisp and easy to read. Most videos are embedded and play directly from the webpage when using the online version of the book, although there are a few broken hyperlinks to YouTube videos (easily worked around by copy/pasting the link). There is a dropdown table of contents that can be used to quickly navigate to each chapter. It may help to also include the primary subheadings here, but each chapter is fairly concise and it is not difficult to quickly scroll to any subheading within each chapter.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no significant grammatical errors that would cause the reader any issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Most of the text covers technical principles and content. It makes use of a variety or resources and examples provided by a range of architects and these resources appear culturally diverse. There is nothing in the text that appears insensitive or offensive.

Comments

Overall this book appears to be a very good reference text for undergraduate architecture students first learning about structural design. All major topics are covered and the text is easy to follow and well organized. There are many images and videos that supplement the text, and many interactive tools to allow students to experiment with new concepts. Instructors adopting this book may need to create some additional problems to use as worked examples or homework.