Constructing environment Logbook – week 1
Learning loop
Week 1 – introduction to construction • This week’s studio activity is to build a tower by using wooden blocks with following limitations: • • . The tower needs to be built as high as possible but not to collapse. • . The number of wooden blocks used needs to be kept as small as possible. • . The tower needs to have a door and a space to be able to house an object which is provided by tutor. • . In the deconstruction process, the tower needs to keep stable when wooden blocks are removed from parts of structure. •
Tower building process
The circular structure is used to minimize the use of wooden blocks.
We first choose order A to build the bottom of our tower. Because the large space touched by different level wooden blocks can spread load force to the bottom ground, the reaction forces which are provided by ground in opposite direction ensure the stability of structure. In addition, the gap between blocks in the same level add the efficiency of using wooden blocks.
Because of using order B and order C in building structure, the greater gap between blocks which fulfilled the criteria of using minimal blocks means that a smaller surface of each wooden blocks are taking the dead load of the structure, thus adding the risk of tower’s collapsing.
So at the top of tower, we reused the order A which was used in the bottom of structure to build the tower, in order to ensure the stability of tower
Week 1 - Glossary Compression: (Nenton,2014) Basic structural force Occurs when an external load pushes on a structural member, causing a compacting of the particles of the material Masonry: subset of mass construction Building of structures from smaller units, usually with the use of mortar as a bonding agent Point load A force applied to the structure at a specific point Reaction force: Results from interaction between two objects Load path: Load takes the most direct route down towards the ground The load path of a particular force on a structure can be illustrated in a path diagram.
Reference
Ching, F.D.K. (2014). Building Constructing Illustrated (5th ed). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Newton, C.(2014, March). Basic Structural Forces(I). Retrieved form https://app.lms.unimelb.edu.au/bbcswebdav/courses/ENVS10003_2014_SM2/WEEK%2001/Basic%20Structura l%20Forces%201.pdf
Newton, C.(2014, March 5). W01 m1 Introduction to Materials. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4CJ8o_lJbg&feature=youtu.be
Newton, C.(2014, March 5). W01 s1 Load Path Diagrams. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y__V15j3IX4&feature=youtu.be