The arc, in its purest structural sense, is a form of genius. It transforms vertical load into lateral thrust, requiring abutments or tension elements to complete its work. Unlike the post-and-lintel, which simply compresses downward, the arch speaks of flow, of force channeled. Historically, the arc gave us the aqueducts of Rome, the vaults of Gothic cathedrals, and the soaring domes of the Renaissance. Yet, for centuries, the arc remained largely horizontal in its application—bridging columns, spanning doorways, roofing naves. The G+ - ARC concept inverts or, more accurately, rotates this logic. It asks: Can the arch become the organizing principle of vertical stacking?
Critics might argue that the arch is inherently inefficient for vertical stacking—its curved floors waste usable square footage, and its thrust requirements consume ground space. This is true if we measure architecture only by efficiency indices. But the G+ - ARC is not a response to land value or lease spans; it is a response to the poverty of the orthogonal. Our cities are forests of right angles, stacked boxes under flat ceilings. The G+ - ARC reintroduces the sublime: the sensation of being inside a force diagram, of walking on a floor that is also part of a celestial curve. It recalls the ramp of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum—but multiplied into a full vertical arc. g+ - arc
Imagine a G+5 structure, but instead of five discrete floor plates sitting on columns, the building is a single, monumental, ascending arc. The ground (G) is not a flat plane but a compressed spring. From two sturdy abutments at street level, an inverted arc rises, its intrados (inner curve) defining the lobby and public spaces. As the curve ascends, it creates cantilevered terraces on its convex side and nested, cave-like rooms on its concave side. Each “plus” floor is not a new layer but a chord along the arc’s sweep. The vertical circulation—elevators and stairs—follows the arc’s radius, bending with the building’s logic. The arc, in its purest structural sense, is a form of genius