Elements and Materials
Load-Bearing Wall
Structural Principle
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
A wall that carries the weight of the structure above it down to the foundation, rather than merely enclosing space. It was the primary structural system of masonry construction until the development of the steel frame and the reinforced concrete frame in the nineteenth century, which transferred the building load to a skeleton of columns and beams and allowed the outer wall to become a lightweight, non-structural curtain wall instead.
Facts
Element Kind First Used EraPrehistoric and ancient, the earliest masonry construction 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Critiqued Here
The curtain wall replaced the load-bearing wall as the outer skin once the steel and reinforced-concrete frame carried the structural load instead.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.