 WHAT IS CANTILEVER IN ARCHITECTURE?

• Cantilever, with the other name console, is technically a beam supported at only one end by a rigid member.

• A simple beam is a carrier element that is connected to other carriers on both ends and transfers its load from these both ends. However, cantilever beams are of the kind,
one side of which is supported by a rigid element (such as column, beam, curtain wall) and the other side is free from any connection.

• Balconies, stairs and cantilevered roofs overhang without any column support are
examples of cantilevers in architecture field. In some modern buildings, cantilevers are
not small parts of the structure. They are designed as huge consoles that contribute the
conceptual design of the mass.

 ADVANTAGES OF CANTILEVERED BEAMS AND

TRUSSES
• Cantilever beam is simple in constructions & It does not require a support on the opposite side.

• Cantilevered structure generates a negative bending moment which counteracts positive bending moment of back-spans.

• Cantilevered trusses use less material.

• It provides greater clear height in the center than can be obtained with any other types of trusses.

• Cantilevered truss is light and has graceful appearance

• No horizontal thrust and consequently no tie-rods required.

• The particular advantage of cantilevered truss for very great spans is that it can be erected without scaffolding under the center, and in bridge work this is considered
as its only advantage.

• For roofing platforms and grand stands, where an outer support is not desired, it is the only type of truss available.

 DISADVANTAGES OF CANTILEVERED BEAMS AND TRUSSES

• It is claimed that the cantilever is not an economical type of truss.

• Cantilevered structures deflect largely.

• Generally, cantilever structure results in larger moments.

• Cantilever beams keep their shape by the opposition of large tensile and compression forces, as well as shear, and are therefore relatively massive.
 CANTILEVERED BUILDING COMPONENTS (STAIRCASE)
1. EARLY CANTILIVERED STONE STAIRS
• Cantilevered stairs have been used in buildings since ancient times. They are often designed to resolve certain design problems which may be difficult to solve with non-
cantilevered stairs and usually perform as very dramatic architectural design elements.

• Stone is one of the oldest building construction materials.

• While stones used as building materials, such as granite, limestone and marble, have great compressive strength, no stone has substantial tensile strength.

• Therefore, stone is typically not a good material for cantilever structures which carry loads primarily by bending action because bending is a combined action of
compression and tension.

• A dramatic example of very old cantilevered stone stairs in the Hellenic period can be found in the remains of the cantilevered staircase in the tower of Agios Petros on the
island of Andros.

AGIOS PETROS CANTILEVERED STONE STAIRCASE WITHOUT AND WITH

REBATES.
• Another excellent UK example with rebates can be found in Somerset House in London designed by Sir William Chambers in 1795.

• In typical canti - levered stone stairs with rebates, cantilevered stone block treads are embedded into the supporting wall by about 10 cm.

• The stone block treads above and below slightly overlap each other with rebates which are interlocking connections between the treads.

• Based on the embedment at one end and overlapping of the treads, the self-weight of the treads and applied loads on them are not carried by true cantilever action but
by compression and torsion.The first tread on the floor is usually completely supported by the floor with no torsion.
• Therefore, the second tread just above the first one on the floor develops the largest torsion.

• And the last tread just below the landing carries the smallest loads and develops the smallest torsion.

• When the stone treads are constructed with rebates, additional torsional resistance is provided by the rebates compared with the case with no rebates.

SOMERSET HOUSE
2. CANTILIVERED STAIRS OF MODERN MATEIALS
 REINFORCED CONCRETE
• Today, with more appropriate modern structural materials, true cantilevered stairs can be constructed with no overlapping between the treads.

• This picture shows an example of reinforced concrete cantilevered stairs in the Hanasaki House in Yokohama designed by MoNo.

• Due to the unique characteristics of cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures vertical supporting wall and independent treads are monolithically connected in this
staircase, and rigid connections, necessary for the cantilever action, are produced between them with appropriate reinforcements.
• The bending mechanism caused by vertical loads applied to the independent treads produces internal
tensile forces towards the top surfaces and compressive forces towards the bottom surfaces of the treads.

• Since concrete does not have substantial tensile capacity, steel reinforcing bars are placed towards the
top surfaces of the treads during the construction process before pouring concrete to carry the tensile
forces. The compressive forces towards the bottom surfaces are resisted by concrete there.

HANASAKI HOUSE
 STEEL

• Steel is a good material for cantilever structures because it can excel - lently carry both tensile and compressive forces.

• The Kaze No Oka Crematorium designed by Fumihiko Maki also includes a similar cantilever staircase composed of reinforced concrete wall, steel tread structures
cantilevered from the wall and wood finish for the treads.

• In this staircase, the reinforced concrete wall supporting the cantilevered treads is a sloped deep beam type structure, the two ends of which are supported at different
levels.

EMBEDDED STEEL

 WOOD
• In the cantilevered stairs a steel stringer is embedded into the typical light wood frame stud wall, and the steel tread and riser structure is cantilevered from the
embedded steel.

• Alternatively, independent tread structures without risers can be welded to the stringer to produce more dramatic hovering expression of the cantilevered stairs.

• The steel stringer embedded into the wall and steel tread structures can be fully covered by wood finishes so the design of the stairs can be coherent with other
architectural design features of the light wood frame house when desired.
 CANTILEVERED BUILDING COMPONENTS (BALCONY)
• A balcony is typically a projected platform beyond the exterior wall of a building usually protected by railing.

• According to Viollet-le-Duc, the history of the external cantilevered balcony dates back to the 11th century “hourd” – a temporary wood structure for battles. The
temporary hourd began to disappear and was replaced by permanent stone battlements from the 14th century.

HOURD

MASHRABIYA

• Another origin of exterior cantilevered balconies can be found in mashrabiya which is deeply related to
traditional Arabic culture and climatic condition. The mashrabiya is typically a small cantilevered oriel
window with limited openings. Through the grill or louver-like openings, natural ventilation is possible.

• However, direct visual connections between the interior and exterior are prohibited so women in the house
cannot have direct contact with the outside world. The history of mashrabiya dates back to the 7th century.

• 17th century in Maltese cantilevered open stone balconies were supported by brackets called saljaturi
which were typically very ornamental.

• The brackets are supported by load bearing walls and are thickest where they begin from the load bearing
MALTESE wall and become thinner as they reach the end.
CANTILEVERED
• The length of the cantilever supported by stone brackets is limited because stone has minimal tensile
capacity.
• From the mid-18th century, closed wooden balconies began to gain popularity. Wooden balconies were typically painted with bright color oil paints to protect the
material from weather. Stone brackets were still used as structural supports for the wooden balconies in many cases.

• Balconies of modern buildings are structured with modern building materials such as reinforced concrete and steel.

• While cantilevered balconies supported by hangers and brackets require additional structural members to support them, directly cantilevering.

• Steel balcony supported by steel hangers.

• Interior floor structures to make balconies does not require additional hangers or brackets, and produces simpler visual expressions. Steel, reinforced concrete and wood
are all feasible materials to design and construct directly cantilevered balconies which carry applied loads primarily by bending actions

• In the structural thermal break system employed for steel structures, steel beams on each side of the insulation are
connected with fasteners which penetrate the insulation.

• In reinforced concrete structures, both tension and compression reinforcements continuously pass through the insulation.

• Since the steel beam connecting fasteners and reinforcing bars pass through the insulation, a certain level of systematic
thermal bridging action still exists in the structural thermal break systems. However, the thermal conductivities through the
structural thermal break systems are much smaller than those through the normal structures without the systems

BAHAUS

REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURAL THERMAL

BREAK SYSTEM. STEEL STRUCTURAL THERMAL BREAK SYSTEM.
• The Haus mit Veranden in Vienna designed by architects Rüdiger Lainer is an apartment complex with 254 dwelling units.

• Every unit has outdoor spaces, and many of them are large cantilevered balconies.

• These either cantilevered or Juliet balconies naturally connect each unit with the outdoor environment.

• The dramatic projection of large cantilevered balconies adds sculptural quality to the complex composed of irregular form multistory building masses which already
have highly sculptural quality.

• Reinforced concrete structural thermal break system.

• A thermal break system similar was employed to resolve this issue and save energy for environmental control.

THE VM HOUSE IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK THE HAUS MIT VERANDEN

• In order to better support the relatively long triangular balconies, a point close to the outer tip of the triangle is connected to the primary structural member of the building
with a steel rod.

• Typically two tensile members are required for conventional rectangular hung balconies. In the V-House, however, only one tensile rod is fine.

• Due to the triangular shape of the balcony, a three-dimensional truss in the form of a tetrahedron is produced with only one tensile rod.

• The carefully configured triangular cantilevered balconies have added an unprecedented unique expression to the building and integratively perform well.
 CANTILEVERED BUILDING COMPONENTS (CANOPIES)
• The history of door canopies and awnings goes back to ancient times.

• While they are installed for their functional performances to protect the entrance doors and windows from the heat of the sun and downpour of rain, their aesthetic
contribution to the buildings is also significant.

• Many contemporary buildings have cantilevered entrance canopies.

• The structural concept of cantilevered entrance canopies can be very similar to that of cantilevered balconies.
• The structure of the building is composed of steel frames with concrete floors.

• Transversally, the space is organized as three zones, the central zone and two perimeter zones.

• The columns are located between the zones, and, consequently, the perimeter zones are all cantilevered.

• The proportion of the spans of one

perimeter zone, central zone and the
other perimeter zone is 1:3:1, which
is close to the optimal.

• This proportioning makes the floor

structure perform very efficiently.

CONCRETE AND STEEL

CANOPIES

• Figure shows the cantilevered entrance canopy of the City Point Building in London.

• Following the arch form main entrance of the building, the entrance canopy is composed of a series of tilted steel arches hung from the main entrance arch.

• And the slanted vaulted form of the entrance canopy created by the series of component arches is covered by glass panels pointfixed to the steel arches.
  MOTERA STADIUM

Vomitory staircases providing access the upper bowl

• The stadium has an oval and divided into six different sections by expansion joints. Also, the expansion joints were provided to isolate the podium level from ramps. A
circumferential expansion joint was provided to isolate the upper and lower bowls. At each expansion joint, twin columns were used to support the components up to the
podium level. 

• The main structural components of the upper bowl comprise Y-shaped columns situated on the circumferential grids G and H and named as GY and HY columns. Primary
radial beams are connected to the GY and HY columns. 

Installation of the circumferential beam View of a secondary radial beam

  SARDAR PATEL STADIUM
• Structure: Horizontal cantilever structure Capacity-50,000
• Function- Cricket stadium Span of Cantilever- 20m
• Designed by- Charles Correa Structural Engineer- Mahendra Raj
• Structural element-Folded plate structure Type of Roof- Folded Plate Roof
• Type of Cantilever- Simple Cantilever Material Used-Reinforced Concrete Structure

I. This cricket stadium is one of the first of its kind using folded plate cantilever frame structures in India

II. The 20m cantilevered roof has a tapering fold with 8-15cm thick plates anchored to folded inclined leg of the
mainframe that in turn is connected to seating frame.

III. Later, one of the leg was converted into supportive leg hence fulfilling the purpose of sitting as well as giving
structural strength.

IV. Knee joints between cantilevered roof and inclines leg.

V. Inclined leg merging with the seating frame and precast seating above.

VI. The gutter is integrated within the folds, connecting the inclined legs.

VII. Portals formed by folded plate main frames.

Architectural style: Brutalist The seats on the south side are sheltered by [cantilever roof-20m in
length]
VIII. The inclined legs of the mainframe and the seating frame were cast first and the cantilever roof was cast later in segments

IX. It is a light form of construction that reduces both materials cost and construction cost.
 CANTILEVERD BUILDIGNS

• The twenty-meter cantilevered roof had a tapering fold, anchored to the folded-inclined leg that in turn combined to the
seating frame.
• Both the inclined leg and the seating frame rest on a tendon-like combined strip footing. The elegance of the foundation form is because of the way the inclined allows the
center of gravity of the super loads to pass through the combined strip footing and the large cantilever moment on the frame is dissipated by the time it reaches the
foundation.

• The inclined legs of the mainframe and the seating frame were cast first and the cantilever roof was cast later in segments

Structural elements of the Sardar Patel Stadium

 Column HY is transported to the erection point using trailers

Structural steel roof of the Sardar Patel Stadium

Column HY being lifted from storage yard and placed over trailers for
transportation

Connection between column and foundation

A bespoke C-shaped clamp was used to pivot the HY

column