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INTERIOR STRUCTURE 121▲ 6.28 Notre Dame de la Duchère, Lyons, France, F. Cottin,1972. Posts supporting the roof are barely discernible.▲ 6.29 The exterior wall is structurally separated from the roofby glazing.rather than incorporating them into the wall maintains a clear distinctionbetween the structure and the visually arresting pre-cast concreteand coloured glass building envelope. This relationship between columnsand skin is also considered to increase the sense of spaciousness withinthe church. 13 The columns do not compete with the skin for attentionbut rather their slenderness and wide spacing enable them to blend inwith it.Before completing this discussion on how structure contributes to thespatial qualities of interior space a final example demonstrates an architecturalconcept that requires vertical structure to become almostinvisible.In the church of La Nôtre Dame de la Duchère, Lyons, its vertical structurefades into the background. Four slender cantilevered steel postssupport the whole roof and also resist all the lateral loads acting on thebuilding above eaves level. Lateral loads on the perimeter walls areresisted by regularly spaced columns incorporated into self-supportingwalls that also cantilever from their foundations. Compared to the scaleof the deep glue-laminated timber roof beams and the visual solidity ofthe ceiling, the posts are barely discernible (Fig. 6.28). Continuous stripwindows that separate the perimeter columns and walls from the roof,reinforce the impression of the roof hovering (Fig. 6.29).EXPRESSIVE STRUCTUREThe last section of this chapter focuses upon structure playing expressiveroles. Examples of both surface and spatial interior structureinstance structure expressing a wide range of ideas. The structures of