Elements and Materials

Cantilever

KAN-tih-lee-ver

Structural Principle

Citation Formats

General Reference

Architecture and Design Atlas. "Cantilever." Accessed August 29, 2026. https://dev-architecture.interactiveatlas.org/elements/cantilever.

APA Style

Architecture and Design Atlas. (n.d.). Cantilever. Retrieved August 29, 2026, from https://dev-architecture.interactiveatlas.org/elements/cantilever

BibTeX

@misc{architectureanddesignatlas-cantilever,
  author = {Architecture and Design Atlas},
  title = {Cantilever},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-architecture.interactiveatlas.org/elements/cantilever},
  note = {Accessed August 29, 2026}
}

A beam or slab fixed at one end and free at the other, projecting into space with no support beneath. Steel and reinforced concrete made large cantilevers practical, and modern architecture made them expressive: the hovering trays of Fallingwater and the sweeping grandstand and bridge decks of modern engineering all balance on this principle.

Facts

Element Kind

Structural principle 1

First Used Era

Timber brackets anciently; structural steel and concrete from the nineteenth century 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Seen In

Fallingwater

Source Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Official Site

Sources

1. Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source

Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture

Banister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition), Architectural Press, 1996General history, structural principles

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Official Site

Frank Lloyd Wright FoundationSeen In: FallingwaterView the Source

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