Abstract:This paper presents a detailed illustration of the structure innovation(SI)in terms of its motivations,premises and approaches.The demands of human society and the continuous changing of architectural function motivate the structure innovation,and the advanced technologies of different disciplines lay a good foundation for structure innovation.Some imponant approaches to SI are also given.The development of structural material,system,function,construction,theories and tests are proposed to be the basis,the core,the new requirement,the realization,the theoretical basis and the validation of SI,respetively.At last,a scientific definition of SI is given from the perspective of its reflection,contents and effects involved in a project.