Structural Elegance

The use of the expression Structural Elegance should be used more often to describe excellence in Structural Engineering. Only Structural Engineers are qualified to decide which structures possess the quality of Structural Elegance: The attributes which define the expression are herein discussed. Structural aesthetics are a part but only a part of Structural Elegance. It is possible to have structural elegance without aesthetics. Many structures today are built on whimsical structural decisions rather than on classical methods. Structural Elegance also includes a clear sense of purpose, efficiency of materials and construction methods and lastly daring. The best way of illustrating these qualities is by comparing examples of structures which posses structural elegance with those which do not. The author begins with the bridges of Maillart and the shells of Felix Candela as examples of Structural Elegance. Other well known examples are shown with comments. The paper suggests that structural engineers should routinely discuss their peer's success or failure in achieving Structural Elegance. This would clarify their understanding of Structural Elegance. The possibility, in the future, of achieving some of the properties of Structural Elegance by use of Computational Morphogenesis is briefly discussed.