constructing mahi's blog

2007-05-30T03:21:00.000-07:00

Turning the corner. Hum?.

Sive visit: Stevenson St, St Albans

Office complex.

Guessing a downpipe still needs to be attached. if you look closely you can see the bracing puncturing the UB.

Box gutter on UB. This is what my model is going to look like! Hopefully.

Apex design

2007-05-30T02:51:00.000-07:00

MY MODEL!!! constructed at 1:1o
Reveals important aspects of
the techtonics and the assembly.

S/Steel box Gutter

Fascia gutter and down pipe to box gutter; Z and C purlins supported on UB in middle of the model used to fix cladding.

ROOF OF OFFICE SPACE: roof cladding, insulation, purlins, steel collumn. Service space approx. 900 hight, composed of suspended ceiling from the z-purlins.

looking at the west wall of warehouse

Through showroom/office looking ar the East wall

MY PURLINS!

THE GUTTER!

2007-05-30T02:45:00.000-07:00

My poster composed with the influences and characteristics of Tadao Ando and displaying photos of a 5mx5m full corner detail model.

2007-05-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Portal frame in construction. Its in the street behind Bunnings is sunshine. The site was just left open and no one was around so quickly popped in and took full advantage of the exposed boxed gutter!

Also, this site answer my question: can I jest bolt steel straight on to a concrete slab or wall? Yes. Yes you can. So that what I’ve done in my physical model, so hope it right!

2007-05-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

Go BUNNINGS! Just an example of portal frame construction. Thought I’d re-visit a site to make it absolutely clear before beginning my physical model for my project.
This is the Bunnings on Ballarat Rd in Sunshine, Melbourne.

Knee of portal frame
Apex

2007-05-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Finally! after books and books of research i have, what i think to be, a correct section through the corner of the project where the warehouse connects to the office.
i used autoCAD to produce these drawings and they relate to the previous post so that you can identify where the sections have been cut.

here is a detail section of where the two buildings, (the warehouse and the office) meet.

scale 1:20

2007-05-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Handrawn elevations and sections major profect. Approx. scale. Satisfies brief requirements in relation to proportions and scales.

This is my final design. Although the heights are not entirely correct, the floorplan and stairs are spot on!

Ground Floor

First Floor and Void

Stair detail 1:20

2007-05-29T10:57:00.001-07:00

Article Three
Journal: construct FOR CHARTERED BUILDING PROFESSIONALS 003. 2004
p.12
Title: CRC FOR CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION UPDATE

The Australian Cooperative Research Center (CRC) for Construction Innovation implementation centre focused on the needs of the property, design, construction and facility sectors.
This article basically introduces this new organization for research that comprises of government and industry members. As a team, their aim is to develop key technologies, tools and management systems to improve the effectiveness of the construction industry. They aspire to lead the Australian property and construction industry so as to account for the needs and wants of the trade by collaborating the ideas and suggestions of the people directly affected by these issues. It features to date projects and explains future objectives, one of which is called ‘Construction 2020’. ‘Construction 2020’ is an initiating project that aims to gain the Australian perspective of “where the property and construction industry is heading…and the research that is needed to make the Australian industry become more competitive and how to achieve that vision”. Overall, this article is simply a brief to the future plans of a young and ambitious organization. It reads clearly and is to the point, making the ideas appear promising.

2007-05-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Some initial sketches for possible design options:

Really liked this but just couldn't get my head around it. thought it satisfied Ando's design characteristics but is simply too complicated for me at this stage.

2007-05-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Article Two

NOTE: Although this is an old article, it addresses some of the issues we students must evaluate and solve in our current assignment on warehouse design and portal frame construction.

Journal: Innovative Building Volume 7, No5 May 1992 p.5

Title: MAJOR NEW WAREHOUSE NEEDS NO LIGHTS

This article presents a case study in Sydney where one of the largest warehouses constructed using a portal frame was lit entirely by natural light. This was supposedly successfully achieved by placing Alsynite fiberglass sheeting, which are like ribbon skylight windows, along the span of the structure covering 7% of the total roof area. The light then enters the space and is reflected off the white internal finish of the Lysaght Trimdek roofing and Spankel walling. Thomas Roofing Manager Jim Thomas claims that “the fixing of the Lysaght roofing and walling was relatively straight forward, despite the size of the task…” he also promotes the aesthetic qualities of using this method of lighting large spaces stating that “the roofs were crimp curved to give a more attractive finish at the edges, and there are no gutters- rainwater falls straight into drains at ground level…” He then proposes that not only does this new method and materials produce a clean line finish that is environmentally friendly, but also significantly reduces maintenance requirements and as a consequence to the design and fabrication of the external walls, natural ventilation is also provided.
The article does not provide any information about costs, time needed for construction, disadvantaged to having no artificial lighting, ect… as a matter of fact in provides no information that criticize or condemn the product, thus making the article sound more like an advertisement rather then a logical and scientifically proven breakthrough of new technologies and materials. In my opinion I think that the author presents a biased view and that more research and experimentation is needed before a promotion of such construction.

2007-05-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Article One
Journal: Constructing the Future, Spring Issue 31 2007, pp. 5/6

Title: FIRE AS A SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE- Fire Safety

“It is time that fire was much more widely recognized as a key sustainability issue”.
By: Martin Shipp

This article defines the issues relating to Fire within two categories: Fire as a primary sustainability issue and Fire as a secondary sustainability issue.
FIRE AS A PRIMARY ISSUE
Shipp discusses the damaging effects of Pollution by informing the reader of the chemical and environmental effects that elements such as carbon dioxide and other pollutants cause as a product of fire. He makes the reader aware that this is a global concern, thus the extent of a fire’s influence of the earth is quite alarming. Furthermore, he proceeds to make the reader aware of the pros and cons of using some fire retardants (PCBs) as, they too, can result in environmental damage; the possibility of contaminating water tables and rivers by water used in fire fighting; and the damage caused to building, which result in exposure to hazardous materials, chemicals or agents.
To appeal to the readers emotions rather then their logic Shipp then proceeds to evaluate the quality of life after a fire. The need for security from physical and emotional injuries that are caused by irresponsible actions that lead to fire, the lose of irreplaceable possessions and financial difficulties imposed on the family, businesses and communities.
FIRE AS A SECONDARY SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE
Shipp evaluates the properties of new technologies and materials, stating the importance of monitoring the fire safety implications, as sustainable energy sources may themselves produce fire risks. For example, with new materials, the increase use of polymeric materials result in earlier ignition, faster fire growth and greater and more toxic quantities of smoke. This notion of experimenting and testing new methods and materials extends to types of thermal insulations and ventilation systems and their physical properties in relation to fire. The importance of good maintenance, proper instillation and comply with construction standards.
E.g. the danger of ventilation systems spreading smoke beyond compartment boundaries, or providing extra air for a fire if the system does not shut down.

2007-05-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

My aim is to keep the composition of the design simple, but to construct and compose the building in, what I believe to be, Tadao Ando’s style. That is, though his use of steel, glass, timber and concrete.

Here are just some of his works that include materials that i want to use in my design of the warehouse.

2007-05-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

For my construction project i've chosen Tadao Ando as my architect. His always fascinated me and although i struggle to understand his work, the more i look and explore it the better grasp i have of it.

QUOTE: “…order is necessary to give life dignity. Establishing order imposes restrictions, but I believe it cultivates extraordinary things in people.”
Tadao Ando

Ando’s work aims to reconnect man with man, and man with nature through architecture.
He insists that architecture must exceed the notion of an independent art form, and as follows, include itself primarily with the enrichment of the human spirit. The simplicity of such a notion contradicts the vast complexity of the ideas and relations that frame only the superficial simplicity of his buildings. A respect of Ando’s work arises principally for his regard, and vital desire to include moral and ethical beliefs that depict his philosophy, and which underlie and are expressed through all of his work, thus his simple forms and bare concrete surfaces must not be labeled merely as his aesthetic preference, but as an expression of his underlying ethical position.

Fabricated generally from the hardest of materials- concrete, steel and glass- Ando’s buildings can appear harsh and bland, yet at the same time, surprisingly gentle as they correlate a balance between the form and its material. Ando has described how his architecture constantly oscillates between the extremes of one element and its partner- inside and out, east and west, past and future, part and whole, abstraction an representation, simplicity and complexity- responding to the benumbed impoverishment of the spirit.

“In Japan, meaning is produced not through abrupt changes but through subtle variation… the sensory world which Ando is striving to create is more a world of monumentality than a world rich in formal changes”, (Koij Taki), thus Japanese monumentality, though subtle changes, can give rise to meaning.[1] Ando taught himself by observation, which was intensify by his believed innate sensitivity to three-dimensional spaces, and the experimentation of concepts that where inspired by his travels to various countries. The greatest and most powerful influence on Ando’s work was the ethereal aspects of his countries traditional Sukiya architecture, whereby light and shade, time and season, are the principal components of the user’s experience. In his architecture, the user enters into Ando’s world alone- perceiving the tactile materiality of the structure, the framing and infusion of nature, the ordering of their experiences in a sequential manner, and the interaction of the whole with the viewer’s own cultural background. “In other words, my spaces relate to the fundamental aspects of humanity” (T. Ando)[2]

Japanese society traditionally views the ‘world of man; and the ‘natural world’ as continuous, thus defining architecture as one with nature. Through his work, Ando proposes order against the randomness of Sukiya, whilst presenting a sense of randomness to contradict the order of Modernism, for his perceives the modern world as a soulless dwelling, in which convenience is sought at the expense of spiritual richness. In contrast to the informal and addictive planning of Sukiya, which directed space out from man towards the exterior landscape, Ando composes his buildings as geometrical volumes that centralize space around the inhabitant; their harmony of proportion relates them to man in the classical sense. Against the rationalism of Modernism, with its search for universal solution and the primacy that it gave to theory, Ando introduces irrationality to reflect the unpredictability of human life.

[1] Tom Heneghan, The Colours of Light; Tadao Ando Architecture; Richard Pare Photography, Phaidon Press Limited, Regent’s Wharf, London, 1996, p.16
[2] ibid, p.14

2007-05-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

first site visit, lauren and i got to see tilt-up concrete panels be constructed!

2007-04-13T01:37:00.000-07:00

2007-04-13T01:29:00.001-07:00

2007-04-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

2007-04-13T01:26:00.000-07:00

2007-04-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

2007-03-21T15:41:00.001-07:00

2007-03-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here is just a small diagram to show where the sections have been cut through the portal frame construction:

2007-03-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

Section 2

Detail of Portal Frame Construction

2007-03-14T05:17:00.000-07:00

Section 1

week 1

2007-03-07T03:45:00.000-08:00

After asking permission of the security staff of Westfield in Geelong, I was able to photograph the reinforced concrete and steel structure of the underground carpark!

Detail of connections between columns and beams, as well as the pluming.

Although the staff were quite friendly and permitted me to photograph the premises, they neither where unable to answer any of my questions nor direct me to anyone who could. So…drawing on my previous studies I would say that this is a steel structure, composed of i-beam members and covered with concrete to protect from fire, corrosion and as a form re-enforcement.