Major Assignment Poster

Major Assignment Sketches

In the spirit of Norman Foster i'm using angled glass panels on the exterior. Extruded about 1 metre from the actual warehouse, they are both a design feature and used to diffuse light.


Here you can see the relationship between the interior warehouse and the exterior glas cladding. Also there si a section showing roughly the scale.

Week 5 Tute Details

Redo of Tutorial 4 - Portal Frame # 2

This is my redo of the second view of the Portal Frame. My first effort had a redundant box gutter and some rafters in the wrong spot. This one should be closer to being right.

Hyspan LVL

This article writes about the new school hall built at Whakarongo in New Zealand. Timber Portal Frames were employed and the specific choice of material was 'Hyspan LVL'. This was a cost effective otion to what the school could afford.

http://www.infolink.com.au/articles/5F/0C01C85F.aspx

Hot/Humid Architecture

Bringing an aspect of Architecture 2A across to Construction here is an article on architecture in a hot/humid climate. The group i was in for Domus chose this climate and so i thought i'd post an article up here showng what its all about.

http://www.architectureweek.com/topics/humid-01.html

World's tallest road bridge opens

As i chose to do my Major Assignment on Norman Foster, i figure it worth posting here a milestone that he had back in 2004. As the title says, the world's tallest road bridge was opened, designed obviouly by the great man himself.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1373426,00.html

KOSKY ANNOUNCES GREEN BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES CENTRE FOR BALLARAT

In Ballarat, $300,000 will be spent on a Building and Construction Specialist Centre to be based at the University of Ballarat TAFE Division. Steve Bracks announced this last year and it is to focus on sustainable living.

http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/newmedia.nsf/b0222c68d27626e2ca256c8c001a3d2d/b99c4175c63057f7ca2571b8007f48da!OpenDocument

West Midlands Building Technology Cluster

As building technolgies rapidly evolve, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we will all be able to accommodate these changes. Just because an new technique or technology for instance is discovered, does not mean it can easily be transitioned into every day society. This article explores the changes being made in the West Midlands area to accommodate such changes.

http://www.azobuild.com/details.asp?ArticleID=2850

New Building Technologies Can Reduce Quake Impacts

"The greatest tragedy of the December 22 earthquake in California was the deaths of two women who tried to flee a century-old building as the shaking began. For most people, the 6.5 magnitude event was an expensive nuisance requiring minor repairs to buildings. But three days later Iran was struck by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake that turned the entire city of Bam into a moonscape, killing at least 41,000. Much of the difference in outcomes lies in the technology used for building construction."

This is an interesting read on how composite materials, particularly in walls and roofs, can reduce the impact that earthquakes have and the damage they can potentially cause.

http://www.fas.org/main/content.jsp?formAction=297&contentId=60

Site # 2 Visit

Fo my second site visit i went to the new commercial/residential site of 'Torquay Central'. This is a site for what will be apartments, stores and offices etc to which i think Dermet Brereton has the Penthouse! Steel framework is the main structural element with the use of concrete sheeting.

Edit: Sorry about the first image, for some reason it loaded it at a right angleand i don't know how to change it so if you could please just tilt your head to the right that'd be appreciated....



In this first image you can see the way in which th tilt up panels are supported while they are setting. The steel rods support the approximately 3 metre sheets for a given duration of time that allows the panel the time to gain it strength to support itself.


This second image shows the steel structural elements. The pitched roof is supported by these steel members. The rafters are seen travelling perpindicular to the purlins and also its incorporation with the concrete panels.

Third image shows similar elements to the previos image but here we can see the columns and stanchions and the connecting rafters. Obviously not a Poral Frame construction as there are far too many columns, but it is an interesting site to see the various methods for using steel, not just for long span constructions.

Norman Foster

Well i finally got around to choosing the architect i'm going to be using for my Major Assignment. After loking through some of his work i chose to use Norman Foster.

http://www.designboom.com/portrait/foster/bio.html says:

"His remarkable buildings and urban projects
have transformed cityscapes, renewed transportation
systems and restored city centres all over the world.
many of these aesthetically and technologically
groundbreaking projects are based on ecology -
conscious concepts, setting new standards for the
interaction of buildings with their environment.
among his recent projects are some of the most
remarkable architectural projects of the last years,
including the reconstruction of the reichstag in berlin,
the design of the great court at the british museum
in london, the millennium bridge (the first new thames
crossing for more than 100 years), and the new
hong kong international airport - the world’s largest
airport terminal."

After looking through several of his projects such as the redevelopment of the Reichstag in Berlin and "The Gherkin" as it is so fondly referred to as. Its proper name is 30 St Mary Axe which serves as the London headquarters for Swiss Re, it is apparant that he has a fondness for glass and rather interactive curves, although a design such as the Hearst Tower shows his experimentation into angles. There appears to be no difinative conclusion to whether he prefers curves or angles, so there is some freedom to play with design in that aspect, but to not use glass predominantly, would be to completely go against Sir Norman Fosters great work.

The great man himself: Norman Foster

Reichstag, Berlin, 1992-99

Swiss Re HQ, London, 1997-2004

Hearst Tower, New York, 2000-06

New British Library of Political and Economic Science, London, 2001

Tutorial 4 - Portal Frame Section #2

Here's the next section of the Portal Frame which looks at it from the other side to last weeks.

Tutorial 3 - Portal Frame Section

Well heres my crack at the section for the Portal Frame. No doubt some parts are wrong, had a little trouble getting my head around some of the parts...

Site # 1 Visit

The building i took these photos of is a building in North Geelong under several stages of construction. Because of this, i could take photos that showed the construction of the building clearly and the order in which various supports are built.


This first image shows the later stage of construction. The steel framework is clearly seen in both the columns and the rafters and shows the level of support that steel gives as there are very few members in this large span.



Shown here is the joining method employed for steel members. This method of connection is a knee joint, different to the Portal Frames that we are looking at this semester. A Portal Frame consists of two seperate members: the rafter and column, welded together accompanied by such supports as haunchings and girts, to span large distances. A knee joint follows similar principles but the steel is often slimmer so less strength and the joint is not as rigid so the spanning capabilities are less. The steel plates and bolts used provide excellent support under the weight of the roof. The trusses are also shown clearer in this photo and how effective steel is over large spans.


The final photo shows what is most likely to be the office space. Again steel is used for support as can be seen between the two levels. These three images together show how steel can be used in a wide range of applications due to its incredible strength under various forces both in lateral and compression.

First Post!

Finally got around to setting it up so here's a random post to start it off.