Constructing Environments Log Book

Week 1

By Tania P. Kanadi

Constructing Environments

Loads Materials Forces

Static Dynamic Strength

Stiffness

Shape

Material behavior

Economy

Sustainability

Applied

slowly

Applied

suddenly

Dead load

Live load

Settlement load

Wind load

Earthquake load

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 Construction

systems

ESD

Solid

Surface

Skeletal

Membrane

Joints

Compression Efficient

Planar Cheap

Hybrid

Enclosure

Structural

Service

Performance requirement

Aesthetic qualities

Economic efficiencies

Environmental impact

Water harvesting

Reflective cool roof

Natural lighting

Solar panel

Thermal mass

Passive solar shading

Fixed

Roller

Pin

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/old-

watertank-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