Long-Span Structures

http://www.architectureweek.com/2003/0326/building_1-1.html
Long-Span Structures
this article detailed describled the development of Long-Span Structures. Firstly, The development of reinforced concrete in the late 19th century allowed the extension of the maximum span possible with the compressive form-active* type of structure. Reinforced concrete has a number of advantages over masonry, the principal one being its capability to resist tension as well as compression and its consequent ability to resist bending. The typical examples of concrete dume are the Florence Cathedral (1420-36) designed by Filippo Brunelleschi
Other masters of this type of structure in the twentieth century were Pier Luigi Nervi, Eduardo Torroja, and Félix Candela. the train shed at St. Pancras Station in London (1868) by William Barlow and R. M. Ordish (span 240 feet, or 73 meters) and the Galerie des Machines for the Paris Exhibition of 1889, by Contamin and Dutert (span 374 feet, or 114 meters). The notable recent examples are the International Rail Terminal at Waterloo Station, London, by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners with YRM Anthony Hunt Associates, and the Kansai Airport building for Osaka, Japan by Renzo Piano with Arup.

by Angus J. MacDonald