ArchiMate Metamodel

Structural relationships represent the 'static' coherence within an architecture. The composing concept (the 'from' side of the relationship) is always an element; the composed concept (the 'to' side of the relationship) may in some cases also be another relationship.

As an alternative to the graphical notations proposed in this section, structural relationships may also be expressed by means of nesting of the composed concept within the composing element.

Note, however, that this can lead to ambiguous models, in case multiple structural relationships are allowed between these elements.