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Architecture is not just a discipline that captures and combines form, beauty and utility. If it were, we could easily imagine buildings of fantastic shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, there is a feature of architecture of critical importance: structural integrity. We know, for example, that the current limits of our building materials, as well as our design knowledge, prevent the construction of a building or a bridge that would extend from the earth to the moon. The weight of such a structure would cause its collapse long before completion. And the forces applied to such a structure would sheer it to shreds long before completion. In theory, such a construction could be rendered by 3D model software. After all, it is just a rendering; a 3D construct of pure imagination. But it would amount to science fiction. The rendering of such a model would not have the weight and stress data built into it. However, 3D model software can apply those factors and can be manipulated to show the result of attempting to actually build such a structure. It can even take into account stresses that would apply to such a structure if it were actually under construction should it be affected by an earthquake of a specified force; say, a Richter factor of 7.3. Or, it could be rendered to show the effect of being struck by category 5 hurricane, or of collapse should the building materials used reach the critical point of excessive weight beyond their own sustaining capabilities. Of course, such a building is impossible, for now, to build. However, it was by the use of 3D model software that such building marvels as the iconic Taipei 101 in Taipei, or the equally iconic Burj Khalifa in Dubai were possible. Before they were ever built, 3D models were rendered and subjected to the mathematic calculations of building materials structural integrity and external forces of wind, heat, humidity, lightning, geologic movement, etc. These external forces applied to 3D models help architects provide not just form and beauty to building design, but the importance of structural integrity. They can apply these forces to their design rendering to be sure the design is stable and will sustain these external forces long before the groundbreaking ceremony. It marks the difference between the fantasy of science fiction and the reality of form, beauty and integrity. There is one other factor to consider, however, before groundbreaking. Once the design has met the architect’s sense of graceful design and engineering requirements, the architect must be certain that the building, as designed, can be built. The Burj Khalifa, for example, is currently the tallest man-made structure in the world at over 829m (2,700 feet). It was not built from ground-based cranes. The form and structural design of the building had to accommodate cranes mounted on the structure itself as the building construction grew higher, and yet show no evidence of them once completed. These marvels of architectural design would not be possible without the use of 3D model software.
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