The Semester in Review

Its hard to believe that in February I didn't know what a portal frame was. Now I cannot go past a commercial building under construction and not wonder how it all fits together. My children think I have completely lost it when I leap from the car to take a photo of a concrete pump in action or a crane lifting something high above a building site.
I have learnt lots (and importantly realised there is mountains more to learn!).
I have been particularly interested in concrete over the semester. Back in February I thought it was a practical but ugly material that I would never get involved with. Now I can see that it is a material with enormous potential and have some understanding as to why its use is so widespread.

I was also really interested in being able to use timber for long span buildings.

The next step is to have a look at the work of Tadao Ando. He does great things with concrete. I'll also look more into the work of Herzog and de Meuron as they do some interesting things with facades.

Herzog and de Mueron: Beiing Stadium

Tadoa Ando: Church of the Light, Japan

Most of all I'm looking forward to checking out architecture and constuction in London, Barcelona and Berlin. I head off the day after the construction exam. Yippee!

London City Hall: Sir Norman Foster

Gaudi: Barcelona

The Jewish Museum, Berlin: Daniel Libeskind

Roofing material for assignment

Lysaght Klip-Lok 700 Hi-Strength Sheet Roofing.

This product can span long distances, can be laid at 1 degree pitch (minimum) and uses concealed fixing mechanism shown in the diagram.

Major Assignment Model and Poster

Article Review

'Burst 003' by Sandra Kaji O'Grady (Architecture Australia Sept/Oct 2006)

This article looks at a recent project by New York based architects SYSTEMarchitects in collaboration with Robin Edmiston and Associates.

The project is a prototype prefabricated affordable housing system the architects plan to launch on the American market. (Left: Front elevation with laser cut facade.)

The house arrives on site as flat pieces of laser cut plywood on the back of a truck. 1100 non-identical interlocking parts are used in construction of the house. Software used in clothing manufacturing was used to ensure there was very little wastage in cutting out the pieces. Assembly requires concentration and cooperation but not necessarily a high level of skill and technology. (Below: Detail of diagonal web structure under the house.)

Assignment Drawings

warehouse/showroom plan

detail of connection of facade panels to cantilevered floor

connection of facade panel to strip footing

reinforcement in first floor slab and band beams

Concrete Finishes 8

This was a design put forward by British architectural firm Caruso St John for a competition to design a new centre for architecture for the Architecture Foundation (AF) in London. They did not win but I thought their proposed use of concrete was an interesting one. They maintain that London is a city built of clay but that its ceremonial buildings are white. Surface detail and decoration of buildings like St Pauls is highlighted by the action of rain and pollution. They proposed using the environmental impacts on city buildings to deliberately effect their building. Their proposed building would have been made of pure white concrete with a surface of fine grooves and polished aggregates. After a while the rougher surfaces would would weather and gather dirt and darken. This would then reveal a huge AF made of smooth white concrete. The AF is interwoven into the window placement.
(Source Brochure of Winning Entries for AF competition)

Concrete Finishes 7

These photos were taken at St Vincents hospital in Fitzroy. I was very excited when I saw this building as it is the kind of thing I've been thinking about for my assignment. Patterned concrete panels make a really interesting building out of what could have been just an ugly concrete panel building.

Concrete finishes 6

These photos are taken of an apartment building designed by Jackson Clements Burrows in Fitzroy. At the Real Lecture a few weeks ago, Tim Jackson described how they came to use these concrete panels for the outside of the building. Red panels are three shades of a red wash over concrete, designed to blend with the handmade red bricks of the surrounding buildings. Green panels (and other green elements) give a kind of virtual vegetation to this inner urban site. This is an interesting building as its form came from the architects standing in the street and feeling the wind uplift between tall buildings. They decided to use that effect to circulate air in the building. The building has a deep chasm through it that circulates air and provides circulation space. (see middle photo)

Timber Portal Frame

I did not come across any timber portal frames in real life so I have looked on the net to get some examples.

Found the site recommended in the lectures: oak.arch.utas.edu.au/research/portal

I came accross this building, the Uluru Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre, designed by Greg Burgess with engineering by Peter Ytrup. I visitied this building a few years ago. I remember being struck by the design of the building but did not know much about it. I can't imagine this building being built of anything but timber. A glass/steel/concrete building would seem completely wrong culturally and asthetically. I guess thats why its great to know about long span timber construction.

This building has adbobe walls which are tied to the main structure of round poles that look like they have just been chopped down. The main roof frame is supported by a curved LVL ridge beam. Presumably it is relatively ease to craft the undulations of the roof out of this method. Timber is easier to mould into undulations than steel. I imagine it could be done on site. Getting large curved steel beams all the way out to Uluru would have been very difficult. The frame is all connected by plywood gussets. It seems that steel was used to brace the building.

Cutting Plan for Model

Band Beam and Slab

I will use a band beam and slab for my building. A band beam is a wide shallow beam that works in conjunction with the slab to provide the necessary structural capabilities. Services can be run alongside beams. The thickness of the slab depends on the spacing required between columns. A thicker slab will mean columns can be placed further apart.

I have chosen to place columns in a 4m grid for the showroom. I have calculated the depth of the slab and beams and the spacing of colums based on the following table:

Beam Span = 20 x depth of slab and beam together.
My slab and beam is 200mm thick so columns will be 4m apart. Recommended spacing of 4200 will work with a 4mx4m grid.

(Source: Design Guide for Long Span Concrete Floors Cement and Concrete Association and Steel Reinforcement Institute of Australia 1992 from Construction and Structures Reader)

On-site research for Assignment (cantilevered conrete floor)

This photo shows a cantilevered concrete floor with edge beam, band beams and round columns. This is exactly what I plan to use in my building. As can be seen in the photo, services can be run next to beams.

On-site research for Assignment (column reo)

Reo for columns is designed by engineers. Shop drawings are done and column reo is made up off site. When it is required for construction it is lifted on site by a crane.

On-site research for Assignment (concrete floor construction)

Concrete floor construction. Slab constructed over formwork. Photo 1 shows formwork being erected on concrete slab that is shown in construction in photos 2 and 3. This slab will form a second level concrete floor.

On-site research for Assignment (concrete column construction)

Reinforced concete column construction:
Photo 1 shows bent reo coming up through column. Will go into beam.
Photo 2 shows reinforcement protruding through slab. Reo for next level of columns is spliced onto these.

Preliminary Research for Assignment

Resources:

AS 3600 (2001) - Concrete Structures
AS 3850 (2003) - Tilt-up Concrete Structures
BCA

'Building Construction Illustrated' F. Ching (2001)
'Fundamentals of Building Construction' E. Allen and J. Iano (2004)
Design Guide for Long Span Concrete Floors Cement and Concrete Association and Steel Reinforcement Institute of Australia 1992 from Construction and Structures Reader

www.concrete.net.au
www.sria.com.au (steel reo assoc)

Concrete finishes 5

Sometimes ugly concrete tilt up panel buildings have their use. This one along the railway line in Collingwood provides a canvas for a bit of urban art - grafiti art and milk crate art. (The Age 21.5.07)

Article Review

Technicalities - 'Toyo Ito builds a concrete cloud' Russell Fortmeyer (Architectural Record 03.07)

This article describes a recent building by Toyo Ito - a crematorium in Japan. The building appears like a cloud floating above the ground but is actually an undulating concrete roof, anchored to the ground by colums that hold the structure up and hide a roof drainage system.

Fortmeyer describes how the roof was poured in five stages. Grinding machines were used between each pour to smooth the joint lines and provide a smooth surface. Concrete was poured onto a complex formwork arrangementof steel built on top of timber. A hard mix was used to prevent the concrete sliding down the slopes of the roof during pouring.

Post tension concrete rods.

In situ concrete panels

Concrete wall panels were formed on site. Photo shows panels poured on top of each other. Reinforcement shown. Tench chairs can be seen.

Connection of roof bracing to steel beam