The subject of this academic research thesis is a methodical approach on the complex problem-solving process of structural conceptual design. For this relatively unexplored problem, an exploratory research is conducted by systematically zooming in from the whole to the part and from coarse to fine. The so explored methodical approach on conceptual structural design leads to a controlled build-up of insight into the behaviour of the structure and supports the actual successive design decisions during the conceptual design phase.@en