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STRUCTURAL DETAILING 137▲ 7.10 Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, 1992.Ungainly exterior beam.The front two columns that form a steel rod cross-braced bay comprisea square concrete column and a castellated steel I-section (Fig. 7.11).The third column, behind, is a standard steel I-section. This deliberatelyinconsistent detailing expresses the nature of the unexpected and nonconformistart exhibits within. Structure, by flouting convention, expressesthe ethos of this museum of modern art.Structural engineer for the project, Cecil Balmond, explains why thecolumns ‘disturb the air’ and their personalities clash:Imagine the same material and form for all the columns – there would beless impact. Imagine a regular spacing to the columns and the dynamic vanishes.Imagine further the different conflicts of plan resolved by some ‘hidden’structural gymnastic, with one column coming through ultimately in a pretenceof neatness – the reduction would be complete. There would be nothingleft, no animation, no off-beat pulse. The juxtaposition brings in its owndrama, and the mix urges entry, to by-pass the inconsistency for more settledregions within. These columns signal the experience of the building itself, withits schisms, its interior slips and jumps and separate materialities. 4▲ 7.11 Two of the three differentlydetailed columns.The expressive structural detailing at the Kunsthal recalls similar, albeitless provocative exterior detailing, at the BRIT School, London, whoseimaginative detailing conveys the creativity and artistry the school seeksto engender (see Fig. 2.6).