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200 STRUCTURE AS ARCHITECTUREI refer to the amazing array of irregular struts that support the roof andalso differentiate the sanctuary from the nave, frame the main altar, andscreen off a passage-way (Figs 9.21 and 9.22). One reviewer suggests thatthe structural forms allude to: ‘the calcified bones of a skeleton, and todesiccated stems’. 9 While a preliminary cross-sectional sketch by thearchitect suggests tree-like supports, the architect, Giovanni Michelucci,denied any intention of naturalistic representation. Instead, he referredto his desire to introduce fantasy, variety and surprise into his architecture,and acknowledged how forms inspired by trees contribute to thatprocess. 10 He insists that no particular representation or symbolism wasintended, other than allowing ‘fantastic’ structural shapes to invite a varietyof readings. Perhaps the church’s programme as a monument to thehuman cost of civil engineering construction suggests another reading?To me, this unconventional and intriguing structure, both in terms of itsform and its exquisite irregularly modelled surfaces, reads as an abstractionof construction scaffolding, props and temporary bracing, and otherconstruction equipment like derricks or cranes.With this building fresh in our minds, a building whose structure defies categorization,that can be interpreted in many ways, and possesses a palpableand tantalizing sense of both representation and symbolism, exampleswhere structures play more obvious symbolic roles are now considered.SYMBOLISMThe practice of people imbuing structure with meaning is commonplaceboth outside and inside the architectural community. Several examplesthat are drawn from quite different sources, including two from theworld of vernacular architecture, illustrate this activity.Kenneth Frampton includes an analysis of an Algerian Berber house bythe sociologist Pierre Bourdieu:In addition to all this, at the center of the dividing wall, between ‘the house ofhuman beings’ stands the main pillar, supporting the governing beam and allthe framework of the house. Now this governing beam which connects thegables and spreads the protection of the male part of the house to the femalepart . . . is identified explicitly with the master of the house, whilst the mainpillar on which it rests, which is the trunk of a forked tree . . . is identified withthe wife . . . and their interlocking represents the act of physical union. 11A very different and religious symbolic meaning is attached to the exposedinterior structure of the Rangiatea Church, Otaki, which was, untilrecently, New Zealand’s oldest church: ‘The ridge-pole, fashioned from asingle tree, symbolizes the new faith and a belief in only one god. Theridge-pole is supported by three pillars symbolizing the Christian Trinity.’ 12