Constructing Environments Log Book Week 1
By Tania P. Kanadi
Constructing Environments
Loads
Static
Applied slowly
Dead load Live load Settlement load
Materials
Dynamic
Applied suddenly
Wind load Earthquake load
Strength Stiffness Shape Material behavior Economy Sustainability
Forces
Something that change the shape/movement of a body
Tension
Compression
In the lecture we experiment with how a structure holds when given a load. A sheet of A4 paper is to be folded in any way to enable it to hold the weight of a brick. The A4 is mostly folded into layers and taped to make a tube. The many layers that the paper has make the structure stronger, and able to hold the brick. Another tube is folded to make a tube with many folds. The folds that it has make the paper stiffer and so the structure is not easily bent by the brick’s weight. It is stronger and suitable to hold the brick’s weight. Other structures were made to be short and thick. The structure is very strong since it has many layers, and can easily hold the brick.
In the studio, the exercise given was to make towers out of MDF blocks. MDF is an abbreviation for Medium Density Fiber block. It is a light and strong material commonly used to make cabinets. We were divided into groups and construct our tower in any way we prefer. Since the goal is to make the tower as high as possible, we decided to make a strong foundation to hold the whole dead load of the tower, so we applied a double layer of the stretcher bond. Because we made two layers of it, the load upon reaching the bottom will be less per area. We chose the stretcher bond to ensure that the tower will still stand even if some bricks are taken away, rather than using the stack bond in which the load path is only one.
An arc was also built to act as a door. We still use the stretcher bond instead of a beam because the beam seems to be unstable. The tower was then built by arranging a single layer stretcher bond in the middle of the two layers stretcher bond, so that the load path is distributed well. The upper part then was arranged still with stretcher bond but with the MDF placed on its side to enable faster building and higher tower with less weight. Our tower was the highest in our class, and I can say that it is quite strong. The MDFs were slowly removed in the middle and the structure can still hold itself after about 40 or 50 MDFs are removed.
Constructing Environments Log Book Week 2
By Tania P. Kanadi
Construction
Structural systems
Skeletal
Solid
Construction systems
Membrane
Enclosure
Structural Compression
Planar
Joints
Hybrid
Surface
ESD
Efficient
Service Cheap
Performance requirement Aesthetic qualities Economic efficiencies Environmental impact
Fixed
Water harvesting Reflective cool roof Natural lighting Solar panel Thermal mass Passive solar shading
Pin
Roller
In the lecture, we experiment with different ways on how a water tank is built. The frame of the water tank will be made from straws, and pinned onto a plastic container with the help of some pins. The container will be filled with weight later on. At first, only 4 pins are given, and one of the examples is a model with four straws pinned on the container and positioned carefully for the straw to be straight. This method doesn’t work as it is not stable enough. More pins were then given and different models are created. We have concluded from the experiment that shorter frames are stronger than longer frames, because it is more stable. Also uses of folds on the straw give it a stiffer characteristic, allowing it to hold more weight. However these folded straws were not connected at the bottom, resulting them to sprawl outwards. Uses of ‘feet’ are implemented, and it holds the weight if the feet are connected at the bottom.
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/oldwatertank-8755274.jpg
The tutorial this week requires us to use balsa wood to build towers. The balsa woods are cut into 40 thin slices and are to be made as frames for the tower. Balsa wood is flexible and very light, furthermore it easily breaks. To build the tower, we use balsa glue, which dries very quickly, to connect the balsa together. We chose to make a triangle for the base; the reason is mainly to conserve the balsa sticks. We then connect two balsa sticks to each side of the triangle and cut pieces of balsa around half the length of the base, and connect it together to form a converted triangle. As the balsa is flexible and is not very strong, we put small pieces of balsa sticks on the corners and where it is weak to make it stronger. We put a lot of balsa support on the first and second level to ensure that the tower can hold its weight and not topple over.
From the third level and onwards, we decided to build the tower straight upwards rather than continuing the converted triangle. As a result, the third level onwards were built much faster than the first and second level, nevertheless, it fails to rival the strength of the converted triangle structure. The frames wobble and cannot stay straight. To strengthen it, more balsa sticks are connected from the lower left corner to the upper right corner. This makes the structure a lot more stable, it cannot sway right or left because of the tension of the supporting balsa sticks. Our tower is not the highest. It only went up to the fourth level. The tower can only carry the weight of four pieces of paper, because the sticks on the uppermost level were not connected properly, as such it became the weak point and the glue cannot hold it. However, only that point broke. This shows that it still has potential to carry more weight.
Only this part snaps.
Reference: Ching, F. D. K. (2008). Building Construction Illustrated (4th Edition). Hoboken, New Jersey; Wiley. Newton, C. (2014, March 5th). Basic Structural Forces. Retrieved from https://app.lms.unimelb.edu.au/bbcswebdav/courses/ENVS10003_2014_SM1/WEEK%2001/Basic%20Structural%20Force s%201.pdf Newton, C. (2014, March 5th). Introduction to Materials. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4CJ8o_lJbg&feature=youtu.be Newton, C. (2014, March 5th). Load Path Diagrams. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y__V15j3IX4&feature=youtu.be Newton, C. (2014, March 9th). Structural Joints. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxRdY0jSoJo&feature=youtu.be Newton, C. (2014, March 9th). Structural System. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-JtPpI8uw&feature=youtu.be Newton, C. (2014, March 9th). ESD and Selecting Materials. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luxirHHxjIY&feature=youtu.be