Column

A column is a building’s vertical support. It gathers loads from slabs and beams and carries them down floor by floor to the foundations. It works mainly in compression, but under horizontal actions such as wind and earthquakes it also has to resist bending. Columns can be reinforced concrete, steel, timber or composite, with square, rectangular, round or custom cross-sections. In Turkish it is kolon.

From the classical orders to the modern frame

Few elements are as recognisable in architectural history. In ancient Greece the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders defined a whole system of proportion through the column’s base, shaft and capital. Modern architecture stripped the column of ornament and turned it into a slim, repeated element of the frame, freeing walls from carrying loads and making the open plan possible.

Design considerations

• Columns belong on a regular structural grid and should stack in line from floor to floor wherever possible.
• In seismic regions, column sizes, reinforcement detailing and the strong column, weak beam principle are set in the structural design, and architectural decisions should not undermine them.
• Check early how columns sit with furniture layouts, parking bays and the rhythm of the facade.

Columns set the rhythm of a space. Modelling them at their real size and position in a visualisation tells the truth about how an interior can be used and how a facade will look; a render that leaves columns out can lead to disappointment after the sale.