The central role played by structural design in enabling the construction of buildings that advanced and revolutionized architecture

• Built architecture, paper architecture, imitative architecture.
• Structural design is all-pervading in architecture and underpins architectural design.
• Reading and interpreting a historical piece of architecture needs structural engineering.
• The Renaissance was triggered when architecture embraced structural design.
• Paper architecture and imitative architecture ignore structural design.

The paper draws a parallel between the Italian domes of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral by Brunelleschi, the Villa Barbaro temple by Palladio, and the Umiltà sanctuary by Vasari, which covers all structural aspects concerned with their whole life cycle; from the concept and design through to construction, performance, damage and safety assessment.The first dome promoted greater knowledge of the capabilities of materials and structural design: although Brunelleschi’s dome was Gothic, it started the Renaissance.The second and third domes referred to existing buildings; Palladio imitated the image whereas Vasari also imitated the structure; while Palladio’s dome was stable and is still safe, Vasari’s dome was unstable and needed retrofitting.This interdisciplinary study offers new insights into and knowledge about those historical buildings, which are relevant to researchers, teachers, and practitioners alike, because they show that structural design is crucial in every aspect of architecture and underpins the architectural design process. Moreover, the study proves that reading and interpreting a historical piece of architecture needs structural engineering.

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