Week 1 Notes:

1. What do we need to know: (Introduction to Materials)

-Strength (strong or weak)

-Stiffness (stiff, flexible, stretchy, floppy)

-Shape of Materials (mono-dimensional (linear), bi-dimensional (planar), tri-dimensional

(volumetric)

- Material Behaviours (isotropic or anisotropic)

- Economy & sustainability

(Efficient, cheaper, using for a longer time)

2. Basic Structural Force: (From ching ‘Building Constructing illustrated’ page 2.11)

A force is any influence that produces a change in the shape or movement of a body.

Collinear forces occur along a straight line, the vector sum of which is the algebraic sum of the

magnitudes of the forces, acting along the same line action.

Tension force:

When an external load pulls on a structural member, the particles composing the material more

apart and undergoes tension.

Compression forces:

A compression force produces the opposite effect at a tension force.

When an external load pushes on a structural member, the particles of the material compact

together.

3. What is load path? & what is it useful?

Apply load will have reaction with the ground.

Weekly task:

We are required to use wooden block to build the tower with a opening as higher as possible.

1st step:

We decide to use the circle as our base so that we can have a stable base to build our tower.

2nd

step:

In order to get a closed roof, we gradually put the block more close together so that we can get a

closed roof.

3rd step:

When we tried to get the closed roof, we found out that it is impossible for us to get a closed roof

if we do not put more block together to keep the balance of the tower.

Discussion:

When we were doing the closed roof of tower, we have to make sure the balance of tower is

under control. To gain a stable tower, we have to make sure that there should be more and

more blocks are getting together when the layer of tower is increasing. More blocks together

will have a less force on each block so that the tower should be stable. For this task , we can

have a understanding of material and structure on the constructing.

Week 2 Notes:

4. Structural Systems

-Solid system: it is working with stone, bricks.

- Surface system:

- Skeletal system

- Membrane system: it is used most commonly. (For the large area building)

- Hybrid system:

5. Construction Systems

- Enclosure systems

- Structural systems

- Service systems

6. Considerations ( constructing building)

- Performance requirements

Public building. Protection from sun shines for the building. Resistance of sound is importance

for the building. The protection of rain is also importance for us. The building should be easily

maintained. The building need to be easily re-paints.

- Aesthetic qualities (significant)

Color, service qualities,

- Economic efficiencies

1. Initial cost of the building. 2. How well the building will perform in the future.

- Environmental impacts

7. Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) Considerations:

All the design is for us to have a good place to stay, live and play.

1) Embodied energy is the total energy (oil, water, power) used during all stages of a material’s

life. (Definition from materials for sustainable sites, by Meng Calkings (2009), page 30)

2) Life Cycle begins with the extraction of raw materials from the Earth and ends with the

disposal of waste products back to the Earth or recycled (partially or totally) into other products.

3) Recyclability is potential for a product/material to be re-used or transformed into a new

product.

4) Carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of greenhouse gases generated during the

fabrication, transportation and use of a particular product.

8. Structural Joints:

-Roller joints: only one direction

-Pin joints: useful for calculation

-Fixed joints: most complicated.

Weekly task:

We are required to use the balsa wood to make one building as high as we can to

reach the ceiling.

1st step:

We made a decision about using triangle as the base of our building. And we also consider about

the size of the triangle. If we got a big triangle, then we have not enough wood to complete the

building. It we got a small one, and then the building will lose it stability. Finally, we chose 20cm

as the side of the triangle.

2nd

step:

We use the fixed joint to make sure the connection between two long battens is enough stable.

Only the connection between two battens is enough to support further construction, and then we

can continue to build our building.

3rd step:

We replaced the super glues by the pins with two reasons.

1. We are running out of time.

2. We find that using pins to connect is more stable than super glues.

Task conclusion:

For the base of building, we have to make sure the base is stable enough to

support the further constructing. Triangle base is not a bad idea when we do not

get much material as we expected. The connection between two long battens is

also significant. We find out that use pins to make fixed joints are a good idea to

make our building to have a better stability.