# Research Progress on Curved Plates in China: Applications in Architecture
## 2 Image Expression of Curved Plates
### As Load-Bearing Elements  
A large curved surface can eliminate the boundary between the roof and sidewall so that the building is not limited by square edges and corners, and its performance is more diverse. Constructing a building with such a large curved surface requires a load-bearing design of the curved elements used [54, 55]. To satisfy the requirements of load-bearing capacity, two types of curved surface structures, giant steel grid structures, and specially shaped concrete shell structures, were developed. Figure 1: Classification of curved plates and typical architectural cases. Line 1: (**a**) Nanchang Wanda Mall blue and white porcelain buildings [41] and local pattern [42], (**b**) Yangzhou International Horticultural Expo-International Pavilion [43], (**c**) Shanghai Sanlian bookstore—Huangshan Taoyuan store [44], and (**d**) Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall; Line 2: (**e**) Building 14, School of Architecture, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art [45], (**f**) Anaya “Cloud Centre” [46], (**g**) Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum [47], and (**h**) Harbin Polar Park [48]; Line 3: (**i**) Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base C Tower [49] and typical Terraced fields in China, (**j**) Taichung Metropolitan Opera House [50] and the cave model [51], (**k**) Beijing Beigou village brick factory (b&B) [52] and typical brick kilns in China, and (**l**) Beijing the Playscape-Children’s Growth Centre [53]. For a giant steel grid structure, the basic idea is to divide the large surface into many small units to adapt changes in the curvature of the surface and then to construct the surface by connecting each surface plate unit with the network frame, that is, converting large issues into small issues. For example, a large number of porcelain curved plates (approximately 45,000 in total) and ethylene-tetra-fluoro-ethylene (ETFE) curved plates (membranes) were used in the design of Nanchang Wanda Mall (Figure 1a) and Yangzhou International Horticultural Expo-International Pavilion (Figure 1b), respectively. The differences between the two buildings are as follows. (1) In the angle of force transmission, for the former, the load is directly transferred to the giant curved steel frame, and all the curved plate elements are not stressed. For the latter, the ETFE curved plates (membranes) are fixed onto the steel frame to form an air-cushion membrane structure and bear the load together. (2) Regarding the curved plate unit material, for the former, porcelain is obviously the best choice for imitation of the blue and white porcelain exterior tank wall, with a surface also printed with many beautiful traditional Chinese blue-and-white patterns, as pictured (Figure 1a), showing the ancient charm of China [42], which was known as the Porcelain Capital, fully combined with the characteristics of local Jiangxi porcelain culture. For the latter, the ETFE material is used to outline the appearance of the finless porpoise, which is an endangered species in China, and at the same time, it skillfully and vividly shows the movement of the finless porpoise \"cruising\" by virtue of its high transparency, which greatly reflects the harmony between humans and nature and reflects the characteristics of the building's full combination of natural imagery. The special-shaped concrete shell structure does not break the integrity of the large curved surface and does its best to serve the image expression of the whole building. For example, the Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore Huangshan Taoyuan store (Figure 1c) forms an overall upward-arching floor slab by folding longitudinal concrete curved slab strips. Combining this slab with the design of the building's lower level, which is transparent and looks like flowing water, the ancient typical corridor bridge, the humanity imagery is depicted, also showing the craftsan spirit of ancient builders.