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RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ARCHITECTURAL AND STRUCTURAL FORM 37▲ 3.30 Tobias Grau headquarters, Rellingen, Germany, BRTArchitekten, 1998. Glue-laminated ribs enclose the ground floorinterior concrete structure.▲ 3.31 Pequot Museum, Mashantucket, USA, PolshekPartnership Architects, 2000. Exterior view of the Gathering Space.▲ 3.32The horizontal arch supports the curved and sloping wall.geometry recalls that of fortified Pequot villages whose palisades werelaid out as two offset semi-circles, and its curves also evoke the formsof Pequot wigwams, rounded in both plan and section. The north-facingGathering Space is equivalent to a three- to four-storey volume (Fig.3.31). Its semi-circular wall is glazed and radiating roof beams that slopeaway from the centre of the space are supported on inclined perimetersteel posts. Their cross-sectional dimensions have been minimized bythe introduction of a most unexpected structural system – a horizontalarch, but one that synthesizes with the architectural form (Fig. 3.32).