Conceptual Structures I and II provide an understanding of structural concepts. Without attempting to produce structural engineers, these courses give students the opportunity to appreciate how structure may be integrated into the architectural design rather than be applied afterwards. In Conceptual Structures I, students are introduced to the structural requirements of form and function, structural properties of materials, philosophies of structural design and rules of thumb in sizing structural members. This first course covers forces, bending moments, stress and strain, the elastic and plastic range of materials and primary/secondary loads. It also examines framed structures, arches, two and three-dimensional trusses and the parallelogram, triangle and polygon of forces and Bow’s notation.