Monthly Archives: November 2014

Day three began and the Hazelwick students were back to join us. We discussed their findings in which they achieved the day before, leading us incredibly keen to use the fabric membrane as the main material for our building. After discussing the model between ourselves and a variety of lectures we were led to believe that the gradient of our slopes may not be sufficient enough to dissipate water quickly resulting in possible collections of water on the tent, which could lead to sagging on the roofs membrane.

To us this was quite a dilemma as we had constructed the shorter beams so that a good amount of headroom was still available. We tried various methods to fix this problem including raising the height of the central column or increasing the height of the larger outer beams. Both of these either had little to no effect on the run of water or diminished the visual impact of our structures roof. For this reason we decided to lower the height of the smaller outer beams, although not ideal, a desirable amount of head height beneath the structure is still achieved. To have an understanding of the gradient of the structure Tulita performed several calculations allowing us to know the percentage of the slope, which was 21.2%. A satisfactory gradient for water to run quickly off the roof.

We issued the Hazlewood students with the task of proposing a layout/plan for our A1 poster. They performed this task well which will quicken the process of assembling our information for the poster.

We began modelling our final model, starting the same way as the prototype however this time using a drill to make effective foundations for the beams, 6mm into the wood.

The masking tape was used to indicate when we had drilled to 6mm’s.

We used wood adhesive in order to secure the components of our structure together. The Hazelwood students also produced a ‘cladding’ for the container out of an old grape box. The ridges in a grape box worked incredibly well for mimicking the sides of a shipping container.

Not only did the issue with the rainfall occur however Noel suggested that in the event of heavy rain or winds, perhaps the 11M span of the roof beams would not support the weight sufficiently. Because of this we added support beams from the meeting point of the outer beams to the center of the long span roof beams. In doing this, we believed that we had produced a stronger structure. Below shows some research I was conducting into lightweight steel beams, where I stumbled across keesaftey, gratefix clamps. I thought that this could be integrated into clamping down the support beams, with the main appeal being the simplicity of the application, which only requires the tightening of a variety of bolts. I also came across an interesting steel beam product that carries similar properties to wood in terms of workability and is also 40% lighter than that of hot rolled steel. Something that could definitely be considered for the longer spanned elements of our design.

The models fabric membrane shall be replicated by the use of and painting overall from B&Q, it represent the properties of a fabric membrane quite nicely and is flexible to work with.

The afternoon of day 2 commenced and we were well underway in constructing our octagonal prototype. This consisted of a variety of steps where we completed the model to a scale of 1:50 giving us a great idea of how our final model will work and look. Tulita kick started with working on the container whilst myself and Tom began to cut each individual structural member to size as accurately, in an attempt to use the same pieces of wood used for the prototype for our final model, minimizing wastage of materials.

With all the wood pieces for our structure cut, it was time to use our floor plan as a template on a foam board to give us an accurate idea of where to place the outside beams. We achieved this by using a pin to mark where each corner of the octagon was.

The picture above marks the initial beams of our structure.

This picture above shows the finished product of Tulita’s container, a neat and clean build with some impressive added features too. The video below shows a technique used by Tulita whereby she used wire to create a swinging affect for the doors.

20141112-194938.mov

With all the structural beams of the Prototype cut, we proceeded to use modelling clay to construct the model. With some issues trying to get the beams to stay due to the absence of glue. This did however give us an incredibly good interpretation of our final design, allowing us to identify any flaws, structural problems or sizing issues.

With knowing that the day will consist of time spent in the modelling studio, I spent some time before arriving at university gathering any materials from around my house that I thought may be of use.

We began the day with discussing our floor plan that Tom constructed in the evening at home. After discussing within the group and also lecturers we discovered that an octagon shape would be a great approach in achieving an effective layout, allowing for only one cleaning room required, positioned so that multiple parties are able to use it.

The picture above demonstrates the initial floor plan and design, however we thought that perhaps more creativity could be applied to the structure and design with the proposed looking more like an erected tent.

The image above demonstrates an alternative design that I produced from remaining with the concept of an Octagon however increasing the height of the centre of the tent. After some discussion and analysis of this proposal it was felt that little was being gained from this design but an increase in the size of the central column, once again mimicking perhaps a circus tent and not benefiting us in any way.

From here we decided to construct some research into folded structures and how we may be able to implicate this into our design. During this research I stumbled across an interesting folded structural shape that we thought could perhaps influence our design. This image can be seen below (fig 12 in image)

We also discussed the structure of the building, reconsidering the use of a fabric membrane. After looking into this, we found an effective way that could be to replicate the way a fence panel and its column works, easy and fast to erect. A dilemma however would be the fact that too much space would be taken up within the container by the structures materials leaving very little room for the medical centers life saving equipment, the slightly more vital part. Because of this we decided that the idea of a fabric wall and roof shall remain in place, consuming less room in the container and allowing for the entirety of the structure to be connected via split connecters like that sketched in the image below.

From our influential research we attempted to replicate the structure in which we found via modelling with straws and wire. While modeling our proposed structure we attempted building with straws and wire, this proved difficult to get any foundation of a shape. Making us unsure on how the folded structure shape actually worked

Instead we used sticks of wood, modeling clay and tape as this gave us a place to start on the board while making for a stronger model too. We also decided that the fig.12 image would not give sufficient headroom around a lot of the structure, creating completely wasted space. Because of this we decided to stick with the idea of a folded roof however implement it into our design by dropping every other corner point of the octagon slightly lower, this created a similar effect however kept the deign simple and effective too.  To also give us an idea of how our original concept works alongside our new proposed concept we built models for both ideas.

  The design which appealed best to the entirety of the group was the folded structure, offering a more aesthetically pleasing design and better structural properties as a whole due to the triangular formations. Not only has this development created a more pleasing design but also landed us with a strong product that will act well in any bad weather conditions.

Following the findings from the model making myself and Tom felt that it would be effective to utilise the drawing studio to produce our layout and template of the whole design to a scale of 1:50, allowing us to adjust any room layouts and sizes where needed. This time also allowed us to configure accurate measurements for the heights, lengths and widths of the structural poles so that both a working structure could be created as well as keeping the size of the container in mind for transportation.

 The picture below shows attempts made on configuring the size of the structure. Initially we thought that 10M faces for the pentagon would be sufficient, however when considering the angled roof structures it was apparent that these will be too long to fit inside the container. With a reduction to 9M faces, we were able to fit the roofs structure within the container while still gaining enough space for the rooms within the structure.

This image below shows the complete layout plan, produced on A1 in order to be able to be used as a template for our model, ensuring accuracy within sizes and angles. Some slight changes were made to the layout plan however the general layout has been kept relatively similar to that proposed.

Below is a small detail showing how the fabric membrane could be implicated into the design. The idea was that the fabric shall not extend all the way to the corner points of the beams, enabling the connecters to be used without the interfering of fabric. Allowing the structure to still be connected together using 4 way connectors.

The day initiated with an introduction to our groups, along with our designated BTEC 3D Art and Design students, where we spoke through the brief and determined some of our aims. We worked through attempting to unravel and solve any queries or confusion within the brief.

We received an introduction to the blogging post to which we were set an activity in order to test our ability and ensure that the presentation was effective.

Shells, Cable, Deployable Tensegrity, Membrane Structure

Poorang kick started our development with an insight into portable structures with examples of how vastly they are used around the world for both permanent and non permanent structures. This allowed us to gather an understanding of different structures and delivered us a foundation to begin research into potential portable systems that we would like to use.

The lecture from Poorang was followed by an introduction to the modelling studio.

The modelling Studio

An introduction to the modelling studio allowed us to familiarise ourselves with the space in which we will be creating a final models, view demonstrations of previous modelling projects and also gain a knowledge into health and safety within the studio.

During Free time between these introductory lectures were able to gather some design ideas together in order to produce a basic design principle. This began with just some several shapes and structures created on paper, initialising some sizes and gathering some sort of layout which could then allow us to have an idea on the sizes of each areas and actually what areas the structure will require.

Several shapes being generated within the page.

An idea of a design proposed by Tulita where by the structure curves around the parameter

A more simplistic design idea, however this was before the knowledge of knowing what rooms and spaces were required inside.

A layout proposed without the structure in mind however with the use of the neutral area being situated within the shipping container, preventing any contamination of the container for when it is sent back . This also shows a walk way in which the cleaning room can be accessed via both staff, and patients for when they are entering the convalescence room.

Below is another proposal by Tom, however this time with the structure and design of the building also in mind. The octagonal shape of the building really enhanced the capability of situating rooms in areas that are most effective. Especially when considering, contaminated and non contaminated areas.

In the morning we had some problems about the weight that could be supported by our structure. Because of this we had to think again about structure and materials.

The solution chosen for the overload in some parts of the structure was the use of a mast with cabes.

After solving the structural issues, we started the final modeling.

On tuesday  we decided the design and the disposal of the spaces. Then we started to make our modeling: