Site Visit 6 - Concrete structures

Image 1: Structural columns with reinforcement protruding

Image 2: Site including concrete panels supported and put in place

Image 3:Overall site plan including reinforcement and structural columns

Site Visit 5 - portal frame shed structure

Image 1: Interior roofing structure of portal frame shed with roller doors.

Image 2: Connection of rafter to wall panel with haunching.

Image 3: Connection of Column to Floor with concrete slab completed around base of I-column.

Site Visit 4 - Pakington Street Geelong West

Image 1: Concrete panels being erected, positioned and supoortedImage 2: Roof structure being erected in the background

Image 3: Concrete Panels erected

Site visit 3 - Portal Frame Geelong West

Hope street office building
Geelong West

Image 1: View of whole Portal fram structure with cross bracing on the roof.

Image 2: Portal Frame with Pre-cast concrete panels on left had wall.

Image 3: Connection of Beam and Column

Article 6 - Energy Efficient House Opens in Nottingham

Energy Efficient House Opens in Nottingham
April 2008 Concrete
Page 6

Nottingham will showcase five houses to be built to a varying degree of energy efficiency, this will also test different levels of construction. Part of a research dissemination project it has explored a German efficiency standard.

Carbon emmissions are also being measured during the build and a target has been set. The cost of the house has also been explored in order to make the process affordable. The house is compact and incorporates concrete, insulated panels and other environmentally friendly and sustainable elements. This project sets a standard for more research to come

Article 4 - Creating A Classic Concrete

April 2008 Concrete

Article describes a pre-cast concrete method used by Bovis Lend Lease in a new retail complex in the UK. The choice to use this method was guided by sustainability and how environmentally friendly concrete is.

The off site manufacturing allowed consistency in the colour and texture of the concrete. The key for the contractors was being able to time each element of the build, a particularly pertinent element of the construction. It was essential that a sequence was followed and that nothing was damaged in transistor handling.

Portal Frame Photos 1

Southern Cross Station

Image 1: An overall view of the interior of the station

Image 2: An overall image of the interioir of the station, in particular the roof

Image 3: The top of a large column which spreads to provide structural support

Article 4 - Galanizing gets greener

Galvanizing gets greener
Steel Australia March 2008
Page 36

GB galvanizing won the award for achieving world class efficiencies in 2007. The plan expansion aimed to improve the efficiency, sustainability and environmental friendliness of hot dip galvanizing. The new facility burns less natural gas, and electricity. The have the worlds first caustic degreaser which manages to save up to five kilolitres of water per day, and saves $6,000 per month on natural gas. It gathers its own rainwater, which the plant draws from when needed.

Article 3

Ground Floor talks cut tower build costs, Southern Cross West Tower Melbourne
Page 22
Steel Australia
March 2008

Second steel frame project built in the Southern Cross development, regarding cost, timeframe and quality commitments. Takes advantage of a number of lessons from the building of the first tower. SX1 has a central concrete core with a simple repetitive steel frame while SX2 has a side concrete core with more repetitive steelwork. Each column on SX1 went three stories high which meant that there were uneven floor cycle times upon the erection of columns which created insufficiencies in the workforce.

Whilst for SX2 the columns are two storeys high and staggered, crane and hoist connections were developed off site which saved time. The use of steel has greatly reduced the number of personnel required. Cooperation between the builder, fabricator and engineer and façade contractor lead to simplified systems and faster construction and as a result, lower costs. Ultimately the second phase of the project was helped by the amount of communication that went on, which enabled the build time to be relatively shorter.

The biggest advantage of building with steel was the turnaround time, access for trades could be provided the next day as back propping didn’t create a problem.

Article 2 - pre-cast concrete

James Luckey
The concrete society
March 2008 Concrete, page 8 and 9
Interview with Martin Clarke, CEO of British Pre-Cast

This article discusses the importance of marketing in the argument for precast concrete, one of their goals is to see the concrete precast concrete industry grow, they want market share with improved profitability.

Clarke claims that optimisation of life-cycle costs and environmental impact is the future of the industry, however precast faces a lot of prejudice.

In 2007 the precast industry had to deal with cement shortages, it is important to have a strong UK manufacturing base and an adequate supply of materials. The focus is on three main areas health and safety, sustainability, and innovation. Accidents have been decreased on site and Clarke intends to continue to see these accidents decrease.

An innovations award scheme has been put in place, British precast launched a challenging sustainability charter which member companies were invited to sign, a rewards based system acts as an incentive for companies to work on sustainability and adhere to the charter.

Ultimately Clarke’s vision is to have a global networking market for precast, ideas is the basis for this global networking market, and Clarke is starting to see this happen.

Week 6 Tutorial

Week 5 Tutorial

Week 4 Tutorial

Article 1

Domus Green Issue 2008
Manav Sadha Activity Centre
Rama Pir Tekra, Wadaj, Ahmedabad

I read this interesting article on a building in India that used municipal waste and converted it into building components.

The article broadened expectations, placing emphasis on the projects ability not only t create a piece of architecture, but through local resources and know how, educating locals in order to improve their own economic self reliance. This is an important aspect of actually making a difference, providing locals with the tools to replicate the construction of the building so that when the foreigners leave they are able to build themselves, using none other than the waste which surrounds them.

They used only six types of materials in the build, including cement bonded fly-ash bricks, mould compressed bricks made from landfill site waste residue, plastic bottles and vegetable wood crates as interior paneling. Each element was of course tested according to ensure it met safety and engineering standards.

The main question the article poses:

“India has a well established tradition of waste recycling….Food ad many other objects are given added value for their multiple uses and diverse applications. Can the building industry not learn from these applications?”

Actually after having a look on the web I found that the building won an award, “The winner of the 3rd IFI Design for All Award is
Manav Sadhna Activity Centre at Ram Dev Pir Tekra, Ahmadabad,
for "Recycling domestic Waste as Building Components, an Environmental, Economic and Aesthetic Imperative"

Link: http://www.ifiworld.org/index.cfm?GPID=114

Week 3 Tute - Section through portal frame (perpendicular to week 2)

Week 2 Tute - Section through portal frame

Week 1

Building: Melbourne Museum
Location: Nicholson Street Carlton
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall
Built: 1999-2000

This piece of architecture spans great distances and relies upon a steel frame clad with glass. Although a number of materials are used throughout the building.
















Image: overall building
I was unable to capture the whole building in a photograph, so I photographed only the section that used glass fixed to large steel columns.















Image: 3mx3m
This was the clearest section of the building and gives the viewer the clearest understanding of the way the steel columns and glass are used.















Image: Detail of the building
This image illustrates the way the glass is fixed to the steel columns, an integral part of the design and overall effect.