1. A column in structural engineering is a vertical structural element that
transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other
structural elements below. Other compression members are often termed
columns because of the similar stress conditions. Columns are frequently
used to support beams or arches on which the upper parts of walls or
ceilings rest. In architecture "column" refers to such a structural element
that also has certain proportional and decorative features. A column might
not support any major structure but be a decorative or triumphant feature
with .
2. HISTORY OF COLUMNS
The earliest columns of record were crafted in Egypt. Many Egyptian columns crafted in 2600 BC were very
large in size, narrowly spaced, and carved to resemble bundled reeds. Architectural columns became more
than a simple structural element, gaining aesthetic and artistic value. Later columns located in Persia
possessed elaborately carved capitals, decorated with bulls and animal figures. The Roman style column is
among the most popular. The Roman columns were derived from classic Greek designs.
Columns were often combined with arches and beams, creating a fluid sense of harmony. During Medieval
times, the flowing vines, leaves and foliate mask of the "green man " face design attached to the capital of a
column became popular in churches.
The classic architectural columns of Europe are referred to as orders: the Doric order, also known as the
Tuscan order, is composed of one part, the cylinder, and tapers toward its top. The Ionic order has a grooved
fluted design, with a scrolled capital. The Corinthian order is similar to the Ionic order, but the capitol
includes rows of acanthus leaves.
Early columns were constructed of stone, some out of a single pieces of stone, usually by turning on a lathe-
like apparatus. Single-piece columns are among the heaviest stones used in architecture. Other stone
columns are created out of multiple sections of stone, mortared or dry-fit together. In many classical sites,
sectioned columns were carved with a center hole or depression so that they could be pegged together,
using stone or metal pins. The design of most classical columns incorporates entasis (the inclusion of a slight
outward curve in the sides) plus a reduction in diameter along the height of the column, so that the top is as
little as 83% of the bottom diameter. This reduction mimics the parallax effects which the eye expects to see,
and tends to make columns look taller and straighter than they are while entasis adds to that effect.
Modern columns are constructed out of steel, poured or precast concrete, or brick. They may then be clad in
an architectural covering or left bare.
3. STRUCTURE OF A COLUMN
A column is divided into three parts- the base, shaft, and capital. The easiest way to distinguish between the
classical orders is the capital.
The horizontal structure that is supported on the columns like a beam is called an entablature. The
entablature is commonly divided into the architrave, the frieze and the cornice and each style has its own
individuality.
• The Base: The stylobate is the flat pavement on which the columns are placed. On the stylobate is a square or
circular block called a plinth. Above the plinth there may be another with molding profiles. These profiles are
commonly the convex torus and the concave scotia, separated by fillets or bands.
• The column: On top of the base is the column proper, or shaft. Long and narrow, shaft heights are
determined and measured as a ratio between the diameter of the shaft at its base to its height. The shaft is
sometimes fluted or carved.
• The capital: The capital sits at the top of the shaft. It is the capital that distinguishes the column orders from
each other.
The capital is composed of three parts, the necking which sets on the shaft and has one or more grooves, the
echinus which sets upon the necking and is a circular block, or large torus, and supports the abacus, which is
a square or shaped block that in turn supports the entablature.
• The entabulature: The entablature is the horizontal beam on top of the columns. It consists of three vertical
layers which are separated from each other using moldings. The three layers have distinct names: the
architrave is at the bottom, the frieze is in the middle and the molded cornice lies on the top. In some work
the entablature may be an arch.
The entabulature is distinct to the column style.
5. • Abacus or Impost Block: The slab at the top of a capital between the capital and the architectural member
above.
• Architrave: The lintel or flat horizontal member which spans the space between columns; in classical
architecture, the lowest member of an entablature.
• Alternation of support: A system of supports for an arcade or colonnade in which there are two different types
of support. The alternation may be quite obvious, between one pier (strong support) and one column (weak
support), or it may exist only in slight differences, such as in the treatment of the shafting on each pier.
• Fluting: Shallow, concave grooves running vertically on a column, pilaster, or other surface.
• Foliate capital: A capital decorated with foliage elements.
• Foliate initial: an illuminated initial filled with decoration in leaf scroll.
• Pier: An upright support, generally square, rectangular, or composite. In medieval architecture there are
massive circular supports called drum piers.
• Pilaster: A true pilaster is a rectangular element of vertical masonry which projects only slightly from the wall
and has both a capital and a base
• Shaft: The structural member which serves as the main support of a column or pier. The shaft is between the
capital and the base.
6.
7. Classical Orders
• Doric Order : The Doric order is the oldest and
simplest of the classical orders. It is composed of a
vertical cylinder that is wider at the bottom. It
generally has neither a base nor a detailed capital. It is
instead often topped with an inverted frustum of a
shallow cone or a cylindrical band of carvings. It is
often referred to as the masculine order because it is
represented in the bottom level of the Colosseum and
the Parthenon, and was therefore considered to be
able to hold more weight. The height-to-thickness
ratio is about 8:1. The shaft of a Doric Column is
always fluted. The Greek Doric, developed in the
western Dorian region of Greece, is the heaviest and
most massive of the orders. It rises from the stylobate
without any base; it is from four to six times as tall as
its diameter; it has twenty broad flutes; the capital
consists simply of a banded necking swelling out into a
smooth echinus , which carries a flat square abacus;
the Doric entablature is also the heaviest, being about
one-fourth the height column. The Greek Doric order
was not used after c. 100 B.C. until its “rediscovery” in
the mid-eighteenth century.
• Tuscan Order : The Tuscan order, also known as Roman
Doric, is also a simple design, the base and capital
both being series of cylindrical disks of alternating
diameter. The shaft is almost never fluted. The
proportions vary, but are generally similar to Doric
columns. Height to width ratio is about 7:1.
8. • Ionic Order: The Ionic column is considerably more complex than the Doric or Tuscan. It usually has a base
and the shaft is often fluted (it has grooves carved up its length). On the top is a capital in the characteristic
shape of a scroll, called a volute, or scroll, at the four corners. The height-to-thickness ratio is around 9:1. Due
to the more refined proportions and scroll capitals, the Ionic column is sometimes associated with academic
buildings.
• Corinthian Order: The Corinthian order is named for the Greek city-state of Corinth, to which it was
connected in the period. However, according to the Greek architectural historian Vitruvius, the column was
created by the sculptor Callimachus, probably an Athenian, who drew acanthus leaves growing around a
votive basket. In fact, the oldest known Corinthian capital was found in Bassae, dated at 427 BC. It is
sometimes called the feminine order because it is on the top level of the Colosseum and holding up the least
weight, and also has the slenderest ratio of thickness to height. Height to width ratio is about 10:1.
• Composite Order: The Composite order draws its name from the capital being a composite of the Ionic and
Corinthian capitals. The acanthus of the Corinthian column already has a scroll-like element, so the distinction
is sometimes subtle. Generally the Composite is similar to the Corinthian in proportion and employment,
often in the upper tiers of colonnades. Height to width ratio is about 11:1 or 12:1.
10. Alexander Column
A single piece of red
granite, 25.45 m
(83 ft 6 in) long and
about 3.5 m (11 ft 5 in)
in diameter.
The Victory Column
8.3 meters high and weighing
35 tonnes.
Trajan's Column
The structure is
about 30 meters (98
ft) in height, 38
meters (125 ft)
including its large
pedestal.
11. The Chicago school (1800-1900)
The buildings in the 17th century proceeded simply and quickly, preferably using the
balloon frame method of construction introduced in 1832, whereby wooden laths
were placed at close intervals on a foundation and reinforced with diagonal studs.
After 1855, cast iron façade parts were delivered to Chicago, but the majority of
houses were still made of wood. The risks this involved became evident in the great
fire of 1871, which destroyed most of Chicago. A second highly destructive fire in
1874, reinforced efforts to develop fireproof building. Since iron constructions had
proved very vulnerable to fire, tried and tested brick construction was preferred. As
buildings grew taller, so did the advantages of iron construction. It burdened
foundations with less weight, made it possible to avoid the thick ground floor walls.
One by one the preconditions for high rise building were all met: the invention of
fireproof steel frame, the technology for sufficiently load bearing foundation and
above all the passenger elevator which Elisha Otis first introduced in New York in
1857. Access became available to even higher levels, and the formerly cheaper
upper floors now became the more valuable.
12. Fireproof construction
method
The iron supports were
encased in cement and the
cavity brick filled joist band was
given a concrete floor. Gas
pipes were also sealed in
concrete.
13. J. P. Gaynor
E. V. Haughwout building, 1857, made of
cast iron in New York
At this time, there were already a number of
buildings containing interior iron girders and
beams, but now the facades, with all their
columns were being manufactured out of steel.
14. William LeBaron Jenney
Leiter Building in Chicago, 1879
In Jenney’s Leiter Store, iron pillars
behind the brick columns supported the
wooden ceiling joists for each floor.
The narrow frames between the
windows were made of wrought iron
and rested on stone parapets.
15. Adler and Sullivan
Guaranty Building, Buffalo, New York,
1894
The supporting steel structure of the building
was embellished with terra cotta blocks.
16. Halabird and Rache
Marquette Building, Chicago, 1895
The broad windows between the narrow wall-
piers refer to the underlying grid of steel
columns, the glass roofed inner courtyard
optimizes the lighting.
17. Daniel Burnham
Flatiron, Fuller Building in New York, 1902
One of the tallest buildings in New York City
upon its completion in 1902 and is
considered one of the first skyscrapers.
18. Gaudi was a man of simple ideas and common sense. In his architecture it fuses structure and decoration.
He clearly accepted nature as his guide. All aspects of his work evince this. It does not copy the nature but
that includes/understands its geometry and its principles: it has infinity of forms that can be studied by means
of regulated geometry; he studies the laws of statics and dynamics like example the natural structures of
fibrous composition, such as rushes, canes and bones. His interest in nature was in three dimensional forms,
rather than in two dimensional and he was interested primarily in nature’s inner forces, which expressed
themselves on the surface. This can be seen in the tilted columns and the warped walls supporting the roof of
the chapel in the Colony Guell, or the doorway and columns of the Mila house.
If the nature always works looking for functional solutions, since it is put under the inexorable law of the
gravity, he is very wise to study the natural structures that during million years have had a perfect operation.
Knowing the essence these structures, it was intention of Gaudi to take them to the land of the construction.
Helicoid is the form that takes the trunk from the eucalyptus, and Gaudi used in the columns of the Teresiano
School. The hyperboloid is the form of femur, and Gaudi used in the columns of the Sagrada Family. The
conoid is frequent form in the leaves of the trees, and Gaudi used in the covers of the Provisional Schools of
the Sagrada Familia. Parabolic the hyperbolic one is the form that adopts the sinews between the fingers,
and Gaudi applied it in the vaults of crypt of the church of the Güell Colony.
Tree vs columns of Sagrada Familia Cathedral, structures subjected to compressive and bending stress have
branching systems with increasing slenderness as a result of the higher stability due to bundling. These are
of equal proportions on all branching levels. Branching structures are used to transmit forces which attack in
space in a distributed manner. The three-dimensional growth of trees follows the same forming principles due
to the biological necessity to occupy free unshaded spaces. The branched structure results in a favourable
structural system, in addition to making optimum use of the available surface. The elements verticalizing the
resulting forces are interior in the Sagrada Familia cathedral, these columns resemble trees and are divided
into several branches at certain heights. This comparison of columns to trees has often been made in
reference to Gothic cathedrals, but the parallel is not exact as trees support independent loads, while the
columns of the gothic cathedrals do not. On the other hand, it holds good for the Sagrada Familia where each
branch of a column and the column itself only support one particular section of the superstructure, roof and
ceiling, independently from the rest. Each branch of the tree-column is directed towards the centre of gravity
of the section of the vault that it is supposed to carry. Their shapes are hyperboloids and hyperbolic
paraboloids.
19. Trunk of a sweet chestnut tree vs parc Guell columns. In the parc Guell columns and the Sagrada
Familia cathedral either, Gaudi made use of a warped surface, the helicoids. This helicoid form was
specially applicable to columns, since columns are probably in their origin derived from tree forms and the
tree grows in a similar way, Gaudi planed all the columns for the Sagrada Familia using this form and
made many models and studies for these helicoid generated columns. Their sections vary, some are
polygonal, regular and irregular, others star shaped. He chose warped surfaces because model makers
and masons can construct them easily, as both the hyperboloids.
