Construc)ng Environments Journal 8 Catherine Demetriou
During this weeks tutorial the en5re class went to Frankston in order to explore, evaluate and analyze a house that our tutor, Warwick, had been involved in designing. The house, built in 1987, was being both re-‐modeled within the inside of the building and having an extension added to the pre-‐exis5ng building. Despite the renova5ons, the team working on the house have kept elements of the original house such as the old wooden beams and obscure angles but have re-‐framed the area to merely enhance its strength. Throughout the site there are numerous load bearing structures, however, the one in central focus in the old wooden beam that is present in both stories of the house. The beam (seen in figure 1) is bolted onto the edge of wooden beams on the roof. While it serve an aesthe5c and cultural purpose, it is also responsible for keeping up the roof and being the base structure of the spiraling stairs that leads to the boKom floor (as shown in figure 2)
Figure 1
Figure 2
Stairwell wraps 5ghtly around the beam-‐has been cut to fit the exact sizing of the beam.
Construc)ng Environments Journal 8 Catherine Demetriou
Figure 3
Figure 4
The roof structure as shown in both figures 3 and 4 are mul5ple 5mber beams which in themselves carry mul5ple purposes. Aesthe5cs-‐ the beams have purposely been leR exposed to embrace the original culture of the olf “log” house. Carrying loads-‐ the span of the horizontal beams combined with the strong bol5ng enables them to carry the load towards the joints of the ceiling (Ching 2008) A more alterna5ve purpose for the roof is becoming home to the pipe of which carries all the electrical wiring and cabling of the house (as shown in figure 4). The red pipe not only acts as an aesthe5c aspect of the house but is also a more efficient form of cabling as it does not require any intrusive ac5ons into the 5mber ceiling. Figure five is a picture of the decking on the second floor. The steel beam has been welded to the roof and can5levers the deck from above. By doing this, the view of the ocean and the garden are not interrupted by beams and other structural aspects. Figure 5
• Ching F, (2008), Building Construc5on Illustrates, Fourth Edi5on, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey