Week 8 Journal In Detail (Part One)
For this activity, we were required to blow up selected detail drawings into 1:1 scale. Our group was given the set of detail drawings for the Queen’s College extension building. The drawings consisted of details of the glass block window, roof and sliding door.
I was responsible for upscaling the detail of the glass block window, which shows the joints and how each component are put together. I started by measuring each part of the drawing and multiplying each by 10, as this particular detail drawing was in 1:10 scale.
Constructing Environments Brian Siu (635900)
Week 8 Journal This is the upscaled detail drawing of the glass block window section. This section is composed of two glass blocks which sit between two precast concrete panels, one at the top and one at the bottom, respectively. The glass blocks are connected through mortar joints at the junctions, with two steel reinforcing rods running through the mortar joint joining the bottom glass block with the bottom concrete panel. A timber sill sits on top a steel stud, which in turn is covered up by plasterboard. The top of the glass block window is constructed in a similar fashion, with a steel stud and plasterboard screwed onto the stud. As for environmental impacts, the use of glass blocks can provide natural lighting for the interior of the building, saving the cost of electricity in the long run. The glass also allows some heat transfer, which may mean that electricity use is also slightly reduced during winter. In terms of economic decisions, the choice to use precast concrete panels could be due to resource constraints, wanting to save time and labour work, as precast panels means that the concrete is prefabricated, and does not need to be poured and set on-site. This particular section could have some potential aspects go wrong. Particularly, the joints of the glass blocks to each other and to the concrete panels. As they are joined via mortar joints, extended exposure to the elements such as intense heat and subsequent thermal expansion and contraction and cause the joints to weaken and crack.
Constructing Environments Brian Siu (635900)