Constructing Environments Logbook – Week 2 3/20/2014 Putera Perkasa Sinuraya - 657882
Studio Activity In the previous week, we had been asked to prepare pieces of balsa wood together with the associated equipment to construct a tall balsa tower. In this second week, with the help of a glue and a Stanley knife, we were commanded to create the tower that could accommodate an object on top of it, quite similar to the previous brick tower task. Unlike the previous task, however, we would not take the thin balsa stick one by one. First and foremost, we plan to construct the base of our balsa tower to be a hollow square made of 4 thin balsa wood pieces of equal size. We further plan to make the tower with a cube like structure (made of 12 balsa pieces on each edge) for each level with a square pyramid structure on the top of tower. It certainly sounds like a nice plan so far. In the implementation of the plan however, things turn into the wrong direction. We made the tower on a table but we firstly try to create the two sides of the cube, sticking each of them with a pva glue. Unfortunately, the way we stick our glue is a bit disorganized and we end up waiting for too long. Knowing that other groups are progressing significantly, we connect the tower using a masking tape. Unfortunately, the resulting tower was very disorganized and imbalanced and thus we put even more masking tape. Finally the tower could stand but when the tutor, Lisa, examines the load capacity of the tower, the tower basically collapsed within seconds. Our final tower is as depicted in Figure 1. From the observation of other balsa tower, made by other groups, we can derive some lesson from our tower: Do not precast parts of the structure if it is unnecessary and just craft it immediately, make the tower on the floor and ensure that the top and the bottom of the tower have sufficient surface area to ensure stability when carrying a load and last but not least, the tower needs to be neat and stable.
Figure 2 Triangular tower (Very stable and Balanced)
Figure 1 Masking tape... when PVA glue fails you. And that’s our tower, just ignore the person using the masking tape
Figure 3 A tall and thin tower, fails if compressed on top
Glossary Terms Bracing Column Enclosure Frame Sustainability Stability Structural Joint Tension
: Meaning Structural members used to support the structure in terms of increasing stability, stiffness and balance. (commonly used cross bracing) A vertical compression structure that transmit the load from the structure above towards the structure below or the ground Building element that acts as a barrier or shelter of the structure (roof, wall, etc) A basic structure that reflects the skeleton of a building. A property that dictates a structures ability to lasts indefinitely in respect to resources (oil, water, iron) used to maintain it. A property that refers to a structure ability to maintain its shape in spite of its carried load. A junction that connects one structural element to another. A force that acts outwards of a structural element, as if it is pulling it apart