Foundation Architecture: A New Approach for Building Structures From the Ground Up

The universal principles of good architecture are durability, utility and beauty. As practiced today in the development of many structures, they tend to be implemented in the following sequence: a) beauty as dictated by an architect; (b) utility as interpreted by a structural engineer; and (c) durability as demanded from the foundation engineer. While there are many examples of how this approach has served society well where the architect desires are driven down through the structural engineer to the foundation engineer, this has likely led to the construction of foundations that are substantially over-designed in many cases compared to what might be achieved if the order of input into the overall design process were different. There are also many examples of how this beauty led approach had resulted in failure. What if however, a new approach to the realization of buildings were to emerge. Think for example if the foundation engineer, based on their knowledge of the subsurface, were to identify a family of foundation types that could work at an existing site and then these alternatives were provided to the structural engineer who could propose alternative structural systems that could perform optimally with each of these different foundation systems. Finally, the range of combinations and foundations would be provided to the traditional architect so they could then explore alternative aesthetically appealing buildings that could complement the existing surrounding environment of man-made and natural spaces. This paper will expand on these ideas which might be regarded as seeking to turn the design of structures “upside down” but which could also revolutionize the materials, designs and techniques for foundation construction. This new approach would be termed Foundation Architecture – building structures from the ground up. As our planet prepares for the onslaught of climate change and how it can impact infrastructure, taking a bottom up approach can yield foundations that are adaptive and capable of meeting the challenges of the next few centuries. &nbsp