Talking Structures: Mouton and the Under-Order in Architecture

Powerful architecture requires incisive structural concepts: as an underlying layer in the design, these concepts organise, reinforce, materialise, and render the architectural idea sustainable. This “under-order” is therefore a meaningful bearer of a design. This volume examines how the under-order can be conceived through interaction and collaboration between engineer and architect. Through reflective and technical profiles of nineteen projects, combined with an illustrated lexicon, it makes structural design accessible to a broad readership. In her essay, engineer-architect and visual artist Jolien Naeyaert explores how the thinking behind these two facets is interwoven.