Wing Module
Joel Overstrom Precast Concrete Project Clemson University M.Arch II Fall 2013
To begin, this design was first developed in an earlier stage of design. During that stage I had focused on the environmental aspects on the concrete panel piece, however, I was not able to cast it. And seeing the complexity of the form, this would not be an easy task. After the first stage of the building element was designed, a predominant feature of the piece is the lighting condition it creates. Moving forward, the main goal is to continue to allow this lighting condition to occur while figuring out how to cast the complex form of the building element.
Early Designs Section
Plan Cut
Form Work
Assembly
Looking at the form, several sustainable characteristics could be seen. These include water drainage, solar collection, air circulation, and most prominent, lighting.
To see how the panel could be applied to architecture, I decided to apply it as both a facade and a roof piece. From there, I began doing tests on how each worked and which worked the best.
Futhermore, now that there was a form, it had to actually be made. So, the process of forming, casting, and repeating began to find out if this form could really be made.
Formwork 1
Formwork 2
There were several failures from formwork 1 and 2, however, I also learned a great amount of information about my form and what it wanted to become. Formwork 1 had the fins but filled in the opennings where light should move. Formwork 2 broke into pieces, with both plaster and hyrdocal as a material.
Yet, from the pieces that broke apart, I looked at the strongest and focused on how to make that work as the entire precast piece. So, with a few design modifications, the piece was formed and made succesfully.
Formwork 3
To make sure that the light quality still existed through the design modifications, I made several pieces and took them outside in the sun light to see how they would preform. As expected, they still had a great lighting quality to them. To further the research into the lighting, I decided to use more technical methods of rating the lighting created from this piece.
To further the study of light, several models in various positions and orientations where input into Ecotect and used Radiance to test the lamination within a space.
Lighting
cd/m2
950 550 150
Plan
Section
cd/m2 950 550 150
cd/m2 950 550 150
Air Circulation: Stack Ventilation
Heliodrone Study
Plan
Section
Final Radiance Test
Renderings
Structure & Assembly
Sections
Section 1
1
Roof Plan
Section 2
2