Megastructure
The term ‘megastructure’ was applied to a range of futurist proposals and experiments in architecture and design during the early 1960s. The main premise of a megastructure was that a single building or structure could be used as a frame to which infrastructure, utilities and additional units could be interconnected and expanded upon, almost as a self-contained ‘city’.
The term came to popular attention in Reyner Banham’s 1976 book ‘Megastructures: Urban Futures of the Recent Past’ and was seen as an architectural response from the likes of design group Archigram and Buckminster Fuller to the developing awareness of issues such as urban densification and overpopulation.
According to Douglas Murphy in ‘Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture’:
‘…megastructure also referred to an architectural aesthetic – massive, disparate structures combining strict artificial forms with an organic growth of spaces within. It was a serious attempt at developing the ongoing practice of addressing large urban problems through planning whilst simultaneously incorporating the rapidly changing lifestyles of the post-war era.’
Despite belonging more to theory than actual projects, megastructures had to conform to a number of criteria:
- Capable of extension or reduction after initial construction.
- Modular.
- Built from repeating components.
- A structural framework capable of having smaller elements ‘plugged’ into it.
- A more durable initial structure than the subsequent ‘plugged-in’ elements.
Several examples of megastructures were exhibited at events such as Expo 67 and Expo 70. These took the form of giant space frames such as; Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes, Kenzo Tange’s Expo 1970 Theme Pavilion (see top image), and modular units such as the Japanese Metabolist movement.
During the 1970s, megastructure designs were influenced by the environmental movement and the American ‘counter-culture’, and adopted forms that were intended to be ‘floating habitats’. Examples included Buckminster Fuller’s design for Triton City (a floating ziggurat housing block with plug-in units); Kenzo Tange’s Tokyo Bay project; and Frei Otto’s ‘Arctic City’ proposal for a large envelope structure 2 km across, under which a city could be constructed that would be sheltered from harsh Arctic conditions.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Archigram.
- Architectural styles.
- Blobitecture.
- Buckminster Fuller.
- Chernobyl New Safe Confinement.
- Constructivist architecture.
- Frei Otto.
- Geodesic dome.
- Habitat 67.
- High-rise building.
- Hyperbolic paraboloid.
- Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture.
- Long span roof.
- Megacity.
- Megatall.
- Metabolism.
- Monument and context.
- Nakagin Capsule Tower.
- New York Horizon.
- Norfolk Terrace and Suffolk Terrace - ‘the Ziggurats’.
- Shell roof.
- Skyscraper.
- Speculative architecture.
- Supertall.
- The development of structural membranes.
- Types of building.
[edit] External references
- ‘Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture’, MURPHY, D., Verso (2016)
Featured articles and news
BSRIA Briefing 2024: Sustainable Futures speakers
Redefining Retrofit for Net Zero Living 22 Nov.
Wall of support for post-Grenfell regulation of electricians
Call for a shake-up of the construction industry highlighted on radio.
Digital sustainability through future AEC tools
Bringing together industry and academia to meet challenges.
Skills gap for net zero highlighted to Minister for Industry
ECA convenes roundtable discussion at Portcullis House.
Evidencing Net Zero with the new UK buildings standard
Pilot version with detailed excel proforma out now!
Scottish Building Safety Levy, in consultation
From direct remediation and the RPDT, to the costs and alternatives.
Waves of warmer homes grants for the rental sector
Boosting energy efficiency standards for all rented homes.
A refocus of the National Planning Policy Framework
Key terms described in brief, as the consultation closes the evening of the 24th.
Fortified farmhouses of the unruly 16th-and 17th-century borders.
ECA shares advice for those who may be exposed to risks.
How to revolutionise UK housing with MMC
CIC and Supply Chain Sustainability School unveil a plan.
From the UKs largest manufacturer and supplier of lime.
From mud bricks to smart concrete
A brief history from 7000BC to a future on the moon.
Regulator of Social Housing publishes latest fire safety report
Covering remediation of 11 metre plus social housing sector buildings.
Apartment and Duplex Defects Remediation Bill 2024
Approved for priority drafting by Government of Ireland.
The long list with in the frame of key historical events.
Competence frameworks for sustainability in the built environment
Code of practice, core criteria consultation draft for comment.
New Floods Resilience Taskforce
With a wet met office autumn prediction.