The Architecture of Cantilevers

In this funny but informative video, we interrupt it’s host’s workout to discuss cantilevers, architect’s biggest flex. As a design feature, cantilevers can exist for any number of reasons -- as rational results of form making, impressive feats of engineering, or just unnecessary spectacles. Either way, they often result in buildings that appear both heavy and light at the same time and they present safely precarious situations for their inhabitants. The video describes what cantilevers are as well as some of the structural principles which govern their design like tension, compression, moment, and shear. It also goes over some great examples by architects like MVRDV, Rem Koolhaas, Ensemble Studio, and Richard Rogers. Finally, it concludes with appreciation for structural engineers and lists a few of the ones responsible for some of the most daring of delicate dangles.
Architecture with Stewart is a KZbin journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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FOLLOW me on instagram: @stewart_hicks & @designwithco
Design With Company: designwith.co

[@stewarthicks]

What are some of your favorite cantilevers?

[@MrThehoussam]

rem koolhaas maison bordeaux

[@adamklauer9724]

I always liked the Millennium Science Complex at PSU - done because there is an electron microscope in the basement they wanted to keep isolated from the vibrations of the rest of the building.

[@AflacsGotchaBack24]

The roof top on Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. That thing breaks physics.

[@bennett7033]

Goulding Summer House

[@tedsmart5539]

Macintosh and his 1st concrete cantilever on the Glasgow School of Art.

[@modernvillageconstructiong7499]

When Architects starts having fun, structural engineers start sweating 🥵

[@mfaizsyahmi]

When architects flexes, structural engineers stiffens in place.

[@allenmontrasio8962]

True that

[@TammuzKay]

Structural Engineer: **Slaps roof of member** This bad boy can carry so much load.

[@stewarthicks]

😂

[@agswjy]

hahhaha

[@Cavemanner]

Bruh 😂😂😂

[@AdamBechtol]

;)

[@drasco61084]

Oh my

[@robertwalker2052]

Architect: "These walls cant". Structural Engineer: "These walls can't".

[@rayakoth]

I hate myself for enjoying this joke. UGH!

[@user-ec7fh9sp3h]

I hate you so much.

[@EvilNeonETC]

Such a specifically specific piece of humor.

[@TristouMTL]

Man, this video is almost NSFW -- never have joints, members, loads, stiff, droop, bouncy, elasticity, and maximum extension come together to be so... educational. I'm all hot and bothered now.although your drawing at 2:12 does make me think that all it needs is some viagra for concrete. Time for a cold shower.

[@StyleViewStudio]

....😂...passion for building.....

[@TheBlueCrunchmaican]

that and the porn music...

[@d3nza482]

Concrete uses steel rod implants instead of viagra.

[@0bong_]

Honestly, it was hard to watch😂

[@dVb9]

Amazing what goes into an erection.

[@PraxZimmerman]

The perils of structural engineering and making sure a building would actually stand is what pushed me away from architecture as a child. Now you're telling me THEY DON'T EVEN WORRY ABOUT THAT?!?!

[@JacobBanman]

pretty much, haha... I worked for an architect in college and the way he explained things was "architects design it, engineers make sure it stands up" so yeah, the structural engineer essentially takes the architects vision and figures out how to make it actually work... architects then just update according to what the engineer has to put in

[@SaiSantoshMARU]

This was fun to watch, Break from all the seriousness!

[@wadeguidry6675]

For some reason this video makes me want to own a monster truck?

[@stewarthicks]

It worked!

[@wadeguidry6675]

@Fremen good one. Lol!

[@OkieDokieSmokie]

@@stewarthicks this reply was underrated

[@eran0004]

Get rid of the front wheels and make it a cantilever truck, balancing on the torque from the rear wheels! 🔥

[@GonDFRD]

I just stumbled upon your channel and i’m in awe. Finally an architecture channel with witty humour and great video editing and quality. Surely i’ll stick around. Please do keep up the good work!

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you for the kind words. I'll do my best!

[@nickm9729]

easssyyyyy there, but yea good channel

[@cleminsonwharf]

Same!

[@Gav-Norm]

@@nickm9729 he ain’t wrong, this dudes dedicated to his craft

[@ImranZakhaev9]

The slight dabbling into the math was quite titillating. As a structural engineer I find myself simply ecstatic.

[@stewarthicks]

Ever so slight

[@schannor]

Things are heating up. I appreciate the direction you're heading. After only 6 months you've gone full Rex Kwon Do. You can only go up from here.

[@BReal-10EC]

I understand the appeal of cantilevers. (As a construction supply designer) I think architect regularly lie to their customers about the value of cantilevers. They push the smaller foundation versus structure size as a cost saving even though cantilevers typically add more in special materials and labor than from any foundation size savings. And depending on the structure- they can add WAY more. I was involved with a non-profit commercial job where the architect refused to add a full foundation under the structure because "it looked too heavy", which added probably an extra $100-200k to the job in materials and labor just so the architect could have a portfolio piece. It was infuriating. Also, I see so many architectural "pictures" (CGI) of houses on architectural design firm webpages with cantilevered decks, floor, and roofs that obviously do not allow for the beams required for such a design. It looks really impressive when you have an 8" thick deck or roof structure sticking way out unsupported. There is a reason those images are CGI. Over sell, under deliver.

[@michaelbloom8270]

Did you watch idiocracy and think, "yes, this how to appeal to the masses" Gave me a chuckle.

[@pabloayalarivas3719]

The more architect Stewie makes this majestic videos, the more he is into Gen Z humour. I love how he teaches!

[@itsukishuun]

As a C&S Engineer, this kind of eccentric architectural design is what i hate the most as the design and cost are often complicated and higher than conventional design. But at the same time, it's these kind of design that are the most eye catching and interesting to study. A classic case of oxymoron.

[@Orenoryori]

I've only known one architecture student, and he never shut up about cantilevers.

[@stewarthicks]

Haha! Max Flex!

[@HerbaMachina]

3:23 For those who are like wtf is "Moment"? Moment is just the old word for Torque. He's talking about Torque.

[@ogundiranemmanuela.4522]

Best architectural channel by far. I'm waiting for more videos

[@stewarthicks]

Glad you’re enjoying it. Every week!

[@StyleViewStudio]

John Lautner has stated very clearly that he would have never been able to make his legendary contemporary buildings if it was not for his structural engineer. They both loved concrete....

[@tescherman3048]

If you're ever in Minneapolis take a look at Jean Nouvel's Guthrie Theater on the downtown riverfront. The "Endless Bridge" cantilever is 178 feet (54+ meters) long and two stories high with a belvedere overlooking the Mississippi at the end. Open to the public year-round. It's a spectacular structure. The architect likened it to sticking a 17-story building sideways out of a window.

[@timmmahhhh]

Yes I was going to mention this if you hadn't, visited MPLS I'm Sep 2021 and yes this is a very impressive cantilever.

[@tescherman3048]

@@timmmahhhh The claim is that the Guthrie Theater cantilevered arm is the world's longest inhabitable cantilevered structure. Better minds might verify if that is true or not. Having been there I will say it is stunning.

[@ThundercatDarklion]

I've been to the House on The Rock in Wisconsin one time and it's infinitiy room is an cantilever also it's an museum with different rooms of collected stuff. The original owner was an world traveler and explorer who had the house built. Then it was turned into an tourist attraction museum.

[@timmmahhhh]

Hi Stuart architect here, love your videos very good at covering concepts for the general public. Now for the architects one thing I would suggest is that yes while cantilevers are cool consider the climate you're designing it in. In colder climates the cantilever will look cool but you're building won't have the benefit of the heat from the earth to help with the energy that a building with a full foundation would. No matter how much closed cell spray foam is used. I've designed some houses in a Lake Michigan community that still has septic systems (though that's changing in the next few years), and building structure in contact with the ground has to be at least 10 ft from any septic structures. One way people get away with maximizing their floor plans is to have the structure cantilever closer to the septic tanks and fields.

[@hlfbakedcake6085]

This is the PERFECT video for a Sunday SUNDAY sunday.

[@stewarthicks]

Exactly!

[@avsystem3142]

Frank Lloyd Wright should have hired a "trainer" to design the cantilevered balcony of Falling Water. The contractor who was reluctant to remove the scaffolding was on to something. The balcony did start to fail structurally and had to be reinforced at a later time, at significant expense, to keep it from collapsing. Wright was a genius at esthetic design, not so much at structural engineering.

[@gc1650]

This was, uh, very good. Entertaining.

[@stewarthicks]

uhhh, thanks.

[@AlanToigo]

I can’t even get through the video without commenting. I’ve been reading The Fountainhead and it got me interested in architecture. The algorithm connected me to your channel and I can’t stop watching! This video is hilarious. It’s like the Arrested Development of KZbin videos!

[@EvanDrinkwater]

Thanks Stewart for giving the shoutout to structural engineers. The key to success is a collaboration between disciplines 👍🏼

[@plumbersteve]

I have a hill behind my house. A few years ago I got this idea…to build a house that appears to be floating right off the hill, only making contact with the ground at one point. For support, I imagine a combination of horizontal beams and deep posts, all under the ground in front of the house. I like the idea of cables if they can be concealed. Anyway, this video shows it being done! Thanks! Now I just have to win the lottery!

[@stewarthicks]

Checkout Urban Lab’s live/work building here in Chicago.

[@COOPSTOP]

Came for the architecture, stayed for the moustache.

[@diametheuslambda]

Frankly, the cantilever that terrifies me most is BIG's Vancouver House. With most big boxes you can intuit the method, but that's such a large part of the building, so high up, and such an unwieldy shape. It's a shame that interiors are so pedestrian.

[@Jakob_DK]

It is important to acknowledge that the primary task for BIG is to get planning permission for a larger building. BIG optimize for more area to sell by being a “star” that breaks normal planning permission rules.

[@AnarchistMetalhead]

that is a common tendency for BIG, really cool concept in the big overview, but nothing interesting at the human scale

[@yungdevi]

At 178 feet the cantilever of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis has some SERIOUS FLEX 💪🏻

[@Ruftinator]

M A X F L E X The voice over job in this video is awesome😂😂

[@RaoulDukeSr]

This is a great vid, very informative, super hilarious, and as a woodworker for 25 years its given me badass inspiration !

[@WilliumBobCole]

The thing that puts me off this impressive type of design is the lack of redundancy. Whilst it looks cool, there is basically a single point of failure, and when human lives are on the line, that's just not acceptable. It should be designed to fail gracefully. Like with that concrete pool, maybe there is a distant earthquake, or ice gets into the surface, it would only take a small crack for that to rapidly propagate into something catastrophic, imagine being in that pool when that happens. Things break, it's a matter of "when" not "if". WHEN you need to perform structural maintenance on something like this, if you even have enough warning or foresight to do so, you want failure to have minimal chance of destroying everything else around it. Ship hulls have multiple compartments. Cars have crumple zones. I don't care how big your architect dick is, if you're putting other people in, on, or around your structure, you better make sure it is BEYOND "safe enough"

[@InsidiousDr9]

Tensegrity structures will be the new hotness.

[@leorait6912]

Hi there Stewart, you're really nailing it with this more dynamic videos! Its so nice to have good architecture content that goes beyond the niches of grad student subject or the comercial almost real estate agent architects

[@findsirfelipe]

"That's flex!" gotta have as my new notification sound

[@jpsimon206]

I loved this video. Really like the comedic elements without losing the educational. Thanks much

[@jpsimon206]

Using wrestling intros is brilliant for an industry that can't stop building skyscraper penises

[@theoreticalbutfun2816]

The channel I've been wanting for a long time. thanks for the fun way you teach architecture. Great Job may your hands be blessed.

[@nicholasalonzo7824]

Wish your video was longer...... Great success!!!

[@SavageListener]

The most famous American cantilever home is probably Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. My brother who did carpentry and drafting had a framed picture of it. I would love to have a house with a cantilevered wing over a creek in the forest.

[@RescueResidence]

Started watching your videos a month or two ago. Funniest thing I’ve seen you do yet! Loved it! Informative and entertaining!!❤

[@nidhichauhan8733]

you make architecture way more cooler than it already is

[@MerkyWaters777]

Every video should be done in this style... "MAX FLEX"

[@dayrelgates8628]

Thoroughly enjoyed this! Totally cracked me up, PLUS I got to learn some things. I bet you are a favorite instructor of many, with very good reason.

[@lolaritter7518]

*Flashes back to my intro to physics class*

[@verakartal664]

Honestly one of the best architecture channels out there

[@justgivemethetruth]

I'd love to go to the end of that cantilevered building and just start jumping up and down at the right frequency.

[@ethanrmrz]

I enjoy your selection of topics, they are both universally useful yet niche in comparison to a typical architectural/design video. Keep it up! (But also dont feel pressure from the faceless void that is the internet to continue feeding it with content).

[@stewarthicks]

Haha, thank you! That is a very measured and thoughtful suggestion.

[@albertbatfinder5240]

Cantilever specialists are honey-badgers of the architectural profession.

[@Manuelslayor]

When i learned architekture as part of our education we went on a build site to work. It had a very big unsuported overhang with 8 stories above it. The end of the overhang was built 30cm higher for it to be straight when it setles

[@D1sc0rd-]

I just decided my major will be architecture and these damn recommendations are screwing with my head

[@joshuaquah3692]

there are so much opportunity to insert "member" jokes in this video

[@GOLDVIOLINbowofdeath]

For me, you missed the most beautiful thing about most cantilevers. You never really talked about the efficiency of a cantilever in carrying loads if properly proportioned to an interior span, or explained why that is. Some of us find beauty in efficiency.

[@tuomasholo]

You had me in stitches with the crow position. 🤣

[@jpaugh64]

I'm grateful for the amount of variation your willing to do from your base format. However, I will not miss this TO THE MAX!! voice.

[@Philoreason]

It's the civil engineers who do the structural analysis and calculation to make it happen. Architect came up with an fluffy idea, civil engineering makes it concrete.

[@mitchellmcelroy8117]

HAHA, this episode is awesome. Watch it at 2x speed and it's even more funny.

[@pras8858]

just another day where I wish you were my design studio professor at college TT

[@charlesamsden94]

I'm more impressed by his full crow position, that is not an easy position in yoga. Nice Flex! ...and even nicer video!

[@1xm_mx1]

Kudos to the people daring to live and work in these buildings. An architect's "wet dream" is a structural engineer's nightmare.

[@ardinsalim9048]

😂 this is one unexpected funny video. when the picture with the "member" came-out i just lost it.

[@earlmcmanus194]

I feel like I just watched an Eric Andre skit.

[@yusra7]

the intro is chef's kiss MAX FLEX

[@ogundiranemmanuela.4522]

Wawwwwwwwwww, what a great video. Extremely enlightening and funny. Great explanation. What my structural lecturer taught me for years was summed up nicely and yes, I finally understand cantilever

[@kevinn1158]

I got you. You secretively flexed on us by actually talking about physics and engineering.... so un architect of you. Well here you go, I was under Rem's Beijing CCTV building. FLEEEX

[@sa3270]

I was watching one of your other videos last night and puzzling over how they do small cantilevers around all four sides of a modest early 20th century traditional home. Then KZbin throws this at me.

[@rhysknight8681]

One of the best channels on KZbin

[@BlackMagickMike]

Published a day before my last birthday! I wish I had had this video when I took Structures back at NCSU School of Design in the 90s. It took me a minute to understand moment of inertia. But once I did, I could calculate those forces like a genius!

[@johnathonyoung5631]

Upping the epic. Appreciate the shift as well as previous calmer explanations. I’d guess you class might enjoy this exciting shift. “Shift” is a pun for this video… perhaps semantics will come into play, and I’ll be levered out.

[@sirwilliamwindmill]

Lovely.. needless to say I'm on a Stewart Hicks watching streak ...

[@TonyTruss]

Fun material for my class as an introduction; Thank you! We are using Mola Kits to explore cantilevers!

[@TheZipeedoo]

I love your videos. The curving driveway at Silvertop Reiner House is another example of a well-executed cantilever. Unlike the droopy work of Mr. Lloyd Wrong.

[@bxbank]

What do the footings of the Richard Rogers building look like? Must be more to it than just simple footings.

[@timmmahhhh]

Great point, obviously the sketch for the example was very conceptual and the footing would certainly have to be designed appropriately. The fulcrum support obviously sized to handle the serious point load, and the anchor to handle the uplift. A structural engineer, excuse me trainer, haha, was surely involved.

[@hallmichael132]

My family and I stayed in the barn for a week back in 2014. It is truly amazing. The cooker was so sophisticated we never got it to work! Honestly it was like mission control. We stayed in winter so the swing area underneath was just mud. We had some great evenings around the fire pit in the garden. I can highly recommend booking the barn if you can. Truly a "life of the rich & famous" experience.

[@stewarthicks]

Sounds awesome!

[@Moosemoose1]

Can someone explain to me architects' obsession with cantilevers and "defying gravity"? Like, I get it, "building float ooOoOHh", but is that it? Because as much of an engineering feat as it probably is, in reality, cantilevers are pretty boring and the concept and goal of defying gravity (or appearing to) seems pretty pointless and a waste of space.

[@prioris55555]

i agree. they don't look aesthetic. they look very odd. there may be a place for them in some situations but rarely.

[@pekkariihonen8944]

This was very, very good.

[@Cavemanner]

Dude this was incredible! I learned actual, useful knowledge about architecture without having to be bored!

[@Randomadventureswithpaul]

I'm working on a building with two cantilevers, except it's a little bigger.. A few hundred thousand tons bigger. (New Calgary Cancer Center) if any of you want to see the projects, it's honestly quite crazy.

[@stewarthicks]

Whoa!

[@stevekimemia]

Best engineering video I've ever seen! 😂😂😂

[@ianhemming8911]

How about the House on the Rock in Wisconsin? Tying it back to a previous video, after visiting there in the middle of a rainstorm and seeing the crazy amount of leaks in the roof of that place I admit I was a little freaked out to go walk out over a crevasse with twenty or thirty other people.

[@dejavu5838]

The video where you don't have to be a cantilever fan, but it sure does help.

[@OrangeRauy]

Noone's cantilevers are cooler than Rem Coolhouse's! ;-)

[@blackfeatherstill348]

Always informative, this video funny too and spot on.

[@pamelah6431]

Love the Rex Kwon Do references.

[@PaperPlanes5000]

You absolutely crushed it on this one

[@citrineelephant6576]

my only experience with architecture is ... building obsessively in minecraft.... lol, but when i had a high school class and they taught us about cantilevers, i thought it was the coolest thing at the time. i'm not that great at math, so it still blows my mind!

[@thewozmancan]

Coolhaus uses his brain to hold it up! 🧠 😂 Brilliant video and subject. Thank you!

[@AmericasComic]

So what you're saying is there shouldn't be too much load in the member or it'd shear off

[@mosye]

That house is literally all my houses in Rust, when I think I found a perfect land, but it ended up being pefrect only for 1 tile and everything else floats above the ground.

[@johntaylor9776]

I never understood this concept. Lol thanks! Ive got to goto the sketchpad and play around with this.

[@bigstepper4125]

The Justified Anger of Civil Engineers

[@FirstWorlder]

Really happy I didn't have his guy for structures class.

[@miguelsibajamadrigal6117]

Love your videos!!

[@benjaminarmstrong7047]

TOTALY AWSOME!

[@p.sandratangkulung6451]

JUST YESTERDAY I WAS LOOKING UP CANTILEVERS!! YOU WIZARD!

[@randallsurbakti3499]

i love this video -paullo love from sumbawa, Indonesia

[@leoglasmeyer2853]

A couple of weeks ago i had a class on cecil balmond and he is REALLY underrated for HOW MANY architects he helped bring their concepts alive. Check him out.

[@LiveTorsionParadoxTo]

The comedic elements of this video chime well with your moustache - you may well be one of the 8.2658777 people on Earth who are able to pull that off. Although the sweat band is pushing it a bit. And also, Tom Selleck is so tall and so dashing that he actually counts as 1.28477328 people, so it's important to adjust for that when assessing these kinds of situations. Overall, I found this video presentation to be, informative, entertaining and disturbing in equal measure - well done sir.

[@YourCitySucks]

Great video