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BUILDING EXTERIOR 69▲ 4.30 Charles de Gaulle Airport: Terminal 2F, Paris, France,Aéroports de Paris, 1999. Semi-circular columns signal entry.▲ 4.31A ‘split-column’ viewed from inside.Entry between these columns is particularly memorable. As seen fromthe footpath, the columns clearly signify entry by projecting outsidethe cladding line rhythmically in step with the roof structure. Althoughit seems perverse to enter through a massing of concrete when thewhole wall cladding is otherwise glazed, upon entry one enjoys ponderingthe immense physical force required to ‘split’ and ‘move’ the concretesemi-circles apart. Given the apparent effort required for itsconstruction the entrance therefore has special significance. After theexperience of passing between the columns one discovers that theirshapes and materiality complement other curved and exposed concretesurfaces throughout the terminal.The pitched entrance canopy structure of the Dome Leisure Centre,Doncaster, also marks entry quite unambiguously and introduces visitorsto the interior structure (Fig. 4.32). Inside the building, identical interiortriangulated structure defines and modulates the pedestrian mall leadingto the heart of the complex, the dome. Exterior structure is therefore anextension of the interior structure, displaying a structural language consistentlyspoken throughout the centre, namely, perforated steel I-sectionsand steel tubes.Like the Terminal 2F entrances (Fig. 4.30), the Leisure Centre entrycanopy is over-structured. While its visual severity arising from the useof large members is reduced by their generous circular penetrations andtapered sections that introduce additional liveliness, one wonders towhat extent this grey-coloured structural display helps realize the architect’sintent ‘to embody the exuberant spirit of leisure’. 8 However, thestructure certainly defines entry clearly, and an absence of orthogonality