Structural Principles & Load Paths

Every building is a structure — a system of interconnected elements designed to resist forces and maintain its shape. Whether it is a single-story house or a 50-story office tower, every building must safely transfer the loads imposed on it — gravity, wind, snow, earthquakes, occupants, equipment — down through its structural elements to the foundation and into the ground. If any link in this chain is missing, undersized, or improperly connected, the building can crack, deform, or collapse. This module introduces the fundamental structural concepts that every construction professional must understand. You will learn what types of loads act on buildings, how forces create internal stresses in structural members, how loads travel through a structure from roof to foundation (the "load path"), how basic structural elements work (beams, columns, trusses, frames), how buildings resist lateral forces from wind and earthquakes, and how different foundation systems transfer building loads into the soil. This is not a structural engineering course — you will not be designing structures — but you will gain the conceptual foundation needed to understand structural drawings, communicate with engineers, recognize potential problems, and make informed construction decisions.