Building Construction

"Construction is the means by which the designing architect and engineer transforms a design idea into built reality. From this perspective, the subject of "building construction" is treated by the architect José Luis Moro in three comprehensive volumes. Each of them is dedicated to the methodological, physical and functional principles, the conception of a constructive principle solution, and finally its implementation in the constructive detail. Not only is the content conveyed, but at the same time the greatest possible clarity is maintained in order to make it easier for students to access the material. The digital presentation methods available today have been extensively used for this purpose. An important focus of the work is not only on conveying technical and scientific factual information, but also on demonstrating complex relationships and interactions between design, material and construction".

Volume 1 "Fundamentals", after a fundamental consideration of questions of planning theory, deals with the most important material-technical fundamentals as well as the resulting consequences for the constructive handling of materials. In addition, the essential requirements and functions to be fulfilled by building structures from a static, building physics and fire protection point of view are examined. The range of currently available industrial building products is also presented.

Volume 2 "Conceptual Design" deals with constructive aspects that influence the design of buildings and their components. This includes first of all the assembly of building envelopes - large-format continuous surface elements - from individual components, taking into account different variants of plane and curved geometry and basic structural design. As a further conceptually determining constructive criterion, primary load-bearing structures are treated in their most important elementary manifestations. Furthermore, established, mainly material-related construction methods, including design-relevant influences, are discussed.

Volume 3 "Implementation" focuses on the structural implementation of the building design. First, the topic of joints and connections is dealt with in its fundamental aspects and the construction-relevant connection techniques are examined from a cross-material perspective. In the central part of the volume, building envelopes, both exterior and interior, are examined in detail. This is done from a general perspective, primarily related to the structural design of the envelope, in differentiation of basic structural variants such as shell or rib systems. Thus, the typical classification according to layers in the building (outer wall, roof), which is more applicable to traditional building forms, is pushed more into the background in favour of a more structure-related perspective.

In Volume 4 "Principles", the author brings together the essential planning principles of building construction, which were analysed in the first three volumes in their technical detail and under consideration of the individual requirements of building standardisation, in a continuous, easily readable and comprehensible line of argument. In addition, background topics are dealt with, which did not find a place in the context of the detailed perspective of the first three volumes. These include the consequences of the large scale of buildings for the design as well as the development of the most common forms of architecture. Great importance was attached to the concise and easily comprehensible textual formulation as well as to the graphic presentation of the contents, which is as accessible as possible and is mainly handmade.