Definition and Function of Load-Bearing Walls
– A load-bearing wall bears the weight of the elements above it and conducts the weight to a foundation structure.
– Materials commonly used for load-bearing walls in large buildings are concrete, block, or brick.
– In contrast, a curtain wall provides no significant structural support beyond its own materials.
– Load-bearing walls enclose or divide space, providing privacy, security, and protection against external elements.
History and Development of Load-Bearing Walls
– Load-bearing walls are one of the earliest forms of construction.
– The development of the flying buttress in Gothic architecture allowed for open interior spaces and transferred weight to buttresses instead of central bearing walls.
– The Notre Dame Cathedral is an example of a load-bearing wall structure with flying buttresses.
Load-Bearing Walls in Housing Construction
– Load-bearing walls are common in platform framing, where each wall sits on a wall sill plate attached to the lowest base plate.
– The top plate is the top of the wall, just below the platform of the next floor, while the base plate is the bottom attachment point for wall studs.
– Constructing walls while lying on their side and then tipping them up vertically produces stronger walls and improves construction time.
Load-Bearing Walls in Skyscrapers
– Skyscrapers require extremely strong bases and walls due to their immense weight.
– Pilings are used to anchor skyscrapers to the bedrock underground.
– The Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, used over 45,000 cubic meters of concrete and 192 piles to construct its foundation.
Related Concepts and Examples
– Columns or pillars primarily bear vertical loads in larger, multi-storey buildings instead of structural walls.
– Some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers use load-bearing outer frames, such as single tube or bundled tube structures. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearing_wall
A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a foundation structure below it.
Load-bearing walls are one of the earliest forms of construction. The development of the flying buttress in Gothic architecture allowed structures to maintain an open interior space, transferring more weight to the buttresses instead of to central bearing walls. In housing, load-bearing walls are most common in the light construction method known as "platform framing". In the birth of the skyscraper era, the concurrent rise of steel as a more suitable framing system first designed by William Le Baron Jenney, and the limitations of load-bearing construction in large buildings, led to a decline in the use of load-bearing walls in large-scale commercial structures.