Constructing Environments James Brown
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Week 1 - Compression We chose to build from a triangular foundation, as we felt that it would give us the strongest structure possible (Fig. 1). At the beginning of construction, we decided to leave space between each block as it was placed. This meant that the limited number of blocks we had (at first) would be used more efficiently, and that the strength of the structure would be increased (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 Fig. 1
The task implicit in the construction of the tower was to build a functional entrance for a toy dog – we managed to achieve this with relative ease, by exploiting our fledgling knowledge of load-distribution. (Fig. 3). Fig. 3
Week 1 - Compression We noticed that there were some blocks that came away from the structure rather easily when minimal force was applied. We reasoned that these were not load-bearing blocks, and it was this conclusion that allowed us to not only make a door for the toy dog but to create a series of interconnected openings in the walls of the structure (Fig. 4 – 6)
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
We continued to push the boundaries, motivated by sheer curiosity, and this allowed us to procure more blocks for the top of our structure (Fig. 7)
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Week 1 - Compression This boundary-pushing ultimately led to the collapse of the tower. We reasoned that this was due to the fact that we, in creating these gaping holes in the surface of the structure, were significantly decreasing the number of ways that the structural load could be distributed evenly to the floor. Had we stopped adding to the top of the structure, we may have been able to offset this – but alas, we had not (Fig. 8)
Fig. 8