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STRUCTURAL DETAILING 135▲ 7.6 Perimeter blade-like pier. ▲ 7.7 Rounded precast concrete stairstringer.ground floor piers approximate circular cross-sections at their basesand widen smoothly to become thin blades at their tops (Fig. 7.6). Themain stairway, tucked into a service core behind the primary circularform, also incorporates rounded details. The rounded top and bottomsurfaces of the precast concrete stringer are also consistent with thearchitectural form (Fig. 7.7).Building functionIn the following two examples, a commercial building and an art gallery,structural detailing both expresses and contributes positively to aspectsof their functions. In the first case the detailing is highly refined, while inthe second, it has been deliberately designed to appear relatively crude.Structural detailing responds to and reinforces the distinctive purposeof each building.The Tobias Grau office and warehouse facility, Rellingen, illustrates amost appropriate relationship between detailing and building function(see Fig. 3.30). The company designs and manufactures high qualitylight-fittings which have been incorporated extensively into its newfacilities. In this setting, structural detailing maintains an equivalentlyhigh aesthetic standard. The structural details are more readily comparableto those of furniture design than to typical building construction.The attractiveness of the main curved glue-laminated portal members is