ABSTRACT
Current analytical capabilities allow the calculation and resolution of complex structural systems, without understanding its behaviour. However, the computational process entails in many cases a denaturation of its deep structural essence.
The paper presents structural engineering as a discipline in which a deeper understanding of its typology and structural response allow to propose consistent project and construction solutions. Starting from a conceptual analogy between structural understanding and yoga practice, a sequence of āsanas is presented, together with related projects and constructions. The purpose is to highlight key issues of today’s structural projects, and to advance possible developments for the future. In particular, it is proposed to come back to basics, to focus attention again on structural understanding. To deepen in its essence from its basic principles, instead of blindly developing the analytical and calculation possibilities that current sophisticated and advanced tools enable.
Further than a formal analogy, the paper questions the systematic recurrence to computation capability, favouring a deeper attention to essential understanding of structures.
