DesignWeek | Design Week 2016

Menai • Final idea

Date November 13, 2016

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The Final idea…

It took us after a few sketches and idea developments to design our final idea. We gathered information about Truss bridges and how they work and support the loads in different situations.

Images below show how the load is distributed through a Truss bridge. This is where we got our main design idea as we thought it was the most suitable.

Load Distribution on Truss bridges

Truss bridge| Load Distribution

Also after looking at precedent studies we have two bridges (see blog on precedent studies) that connect to our final design as thats were we got the ideas of the final idea.

Over View sketch of the levels and ramps to our bridge.

The image above shows a rough guideline on how the bridge is design and the different levels and the measurements of the bridge.

Final model : scale 1:150

Taking our ideas and being able to produce and demonstrate it in a model. This is our final model.

Measurements | 1:1 |

Length: 65m | Width: 8m (5m footpath, 3m structure)|

Height: 5.5m( lewes road), 6.5m (above Mithras car park), 7m (entrance of Mithras)

Menai • Day 4 • Finally Constructing Time

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by Ashwaq Alabdi

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Continuing from day 3, as all the materials were cut to scale all we had to do was start constructing the bridge. Although we thought it would be easy, it did take us all day to construct the bridge.

Construction process.

Near to the end of the day I thought to refer back to the brief and see what else is asked from us, and that was when I noticed that we also had to construct a detailed model of our bridge. So I grabbed a pencil and paper and started sketching out a detailed section and adding measurements to scale, therefore I can pass it on to one of my team members to just follow what Ive sketched and construct the detailed section without any trouble.

Detailed section | scale 1:10

By the end of the day our model was done and so was our detailed section but we didn’t have time to spray paint our model to give it that steel look effect, so we decided to all come in the next morning early for any last minute touch ups.

Menai • Day #3 • Construction Day

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by Ashwaq Alabdi

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Day 3 came round the corner quicker than we expected.

The aim of the day was to start constructing our bridge, however we had a slight hiccup as we were one man down as one of the Hazelwick students wasn’t part of the project no more. Therefore, that meant we had to step our game and crack on with our day as it had a lot of work load.

Tasks-

~ Measure materials and cut to the correct scale. In this case we had the scale 1:150

~ Sketch up a detailed drawing of the final design

~ Start building the bridge

~ Start working on the poster

Taking control as team leader, I set each individual with their own tasks such as :

~ 2 members cutting the materials to scale

~ 1 member was assigned to draw the detailed sketches as his drawing skills are amazing.

~ 2 members dealing with the poster

Materials cut down to scale, ready for assembling

However, plans just didn’t go to plan. My team didn’t use there time efficiently as some tasks took longer than needed which gave us a set back and we wasn’t able to start constructing on day 3. which meant we had no time to waste and we had to put pressure on ourselves to get it done on time.

Menai • Day #2 • Design Day

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by Ashwaq Alabdi

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The aim of day 2 was to come up with a final design from the development from our initial ideas.

We spent a couple hours just doing some rough sketches and discussing our ideas.
The Hazelwick students were not in for this day, however they wanted to contribute to the final design; which is why I set up a group chat via whatsapp so we have a way to communicate and keep them in the loop and send pictures of the work they produced.

Rough initial ideas

Initial idea, sketched by Joel (hazel wick student)

Another sketch by Joel

After hours of bouncing ideas, we came up with a final design, location of the bridge and also decided on the scale of which we wanted to make the model.

it was a productive day. 😀

Monday 7th November 2016: Day 1

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by Smita Ravishankar Tumuluri

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The lay of the land

The atmosphere in the studio was exciting and positive. We were joined by Taylor, Joe and Katie, the Hazelwick students, who travelled by train to Moulsecoomb. We introduced ourselves and I found them to be friendly and buzzing with energy.

Presentation by Dr Poorang and Mr. Noel Painting in the M21 Cockcroft studio (Smita, 2016)

The opening presentation by Dr Poorang and Mr. Noel Painting outlined the design brief and the duo went on to show us chosen precedent examples from around the world to manifest our task. Our group was to design a pedestrian and cyclist bridge linking the two sides of the Moulsecoomb Campus for the University of Brighton. The design brief challenged us to design a creative, innovative, flexible, safe, sustainable and secure bridge design which would most importantly be functional!

A site visit was scheduled after the opening presentation and we put on our hi-vizs to address health and safety as we would be walking down the busy Lewes road across to Mithras House. Site visits help kick-start the process of imagination and the visualization of a building or structure that does not exist, in the location where it will be built in the future. Guess this is an ability that designers master over years of learning and experience!

360° Panoramic view of the site from Mithras House side showing Preston Barracks site across the road and Watts and Cockcroft buildings to the far right (Smita, 2016)

View of the Mithras House car parking lots at two different levels (Smita, 2016)

Group walking back to the studio after the site visit (Smita, 2016)

During lunchtime I went over the design brief one more time with the team to make sure everybody understood it and answered some project related questions that the team asked. This was a good time to assign tasks to the Hazelwick students. I asked them to (a) undertake at least one precedent study each explaining in detail what kind of information must be gathered and (b) come up with a sketch of what they think our bridge must look like. All this was to be co-ordinated through email as these students would not be available for day 2. Lunch hour was followed by an introduction to Edu-blog by Marion and Jayson from our IT department, as we all were to independently maintain a blog to document our daily activities and learning.

Dr Pierfrancesco Cacciola during his presentation on ‘Structures and Footbridges’ (Smita, 2016)

Dr Pierfrancesco Cacciola, assistant head of SET school and with a PhD in Structural Engineering, enlightened us with the basics of structural design in buildings with his presentation. The Hazelwick students left soon after this as they had to catch a train to get back.

An induction session by Dr Poorang to the modelling studio in the Heavy Engineering Department followed. Safety briefing was done that made us aware of the workspace rules and safety measures. We were introduced to the material and tools that would be at our disposal over the next four days. Any additional material required would be procured by us and the university would reimburse for the purchase of a maximum of £20.

By 4:00 pm the presentations and induction sessions came to an end and marked the beginning of our concept designs. Both Damian and I sat together and assimilated and processed the information that was provided to us since the start of the day. We looked up many bridge examples that were shown in the presentations and some more.

The ones that particularly interested us were 1. Forth Bridge, Edinburgh, 2. Millau Viaduct, France, 3. The Kingsgate footbridge, Durham, and 4. London Millennium Footbridge, London.

Forth Bridge, Edinburgh: A Scottish icon that is recognised the world over as the most famous of cantilever designs. The world’s first major steel structure and longest cantilever bridge. (Forth Bridges Forum, 2015)

The Millau Viaduct, France: A cable-stayed, masted structure with the highest pylons in the world, the highest road bridge deck in Europe (Foster & Partners, 2004)

Kingsgate Footbridge Bridge, Durham: The bridge was cast in two cantilevered halves and rotated out from the river banks. Total span 106.7m (Arup, 2015)

London Millennium Footbridge: Two Y-shaped armatures support eight cables that run along the sides of the 4-metre-wide deck, while steel transverse arms clamp on to the cables at 8-metre intervals to support the deck (Foster & Partners, 2000)

Having gathered enough information from precedent studies and equipped with a basic idea of the behaviour of structural elements we parted ways to go home and give shape to the grand ideas hatching in our minds! Damian looked visibly excited as bountiful bridge design ideas came to him! That evening I sketched out what was till then only a concept in my mind.

Highlights and learning from Day 1

The introduction by Dr Poorang and Mr. Noel Painting did not just outline the design brief, it provided useful and important information on bridge design that was relevant to our project. Similarly, the lecture presentation by Dr Cacciola was particularly helpful to the 6^th form Hazelwick students who had no exposure to the knowledge of building structures.

The site visit helped in giving a direction towards actualization of the project. It is important to ‘feel’ and understand the geography, geology and local architecture of the site before introducing a new built form into it.

Precedent studies help to determine the suitability of a design both in terms of form and structure. They also provide a good start to the thought process.

Although Hazelwick students were not joining us the next day, we decided to keep in touch via emails. Technology plays an important role in today’s world and provides seamless communication.

DESIGN WEEK 2016

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by mhowes

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DESIGN WEEK 2016

GROUP 3!

Day 1: MONDAY 7TH NOVEMBER 2016

On the first day of this project I was really excited to learn about the variety of techniques and designs associated with making Bridges. We were placed in groups of three of Brighton’s own University students and three Hazelwick students but this week only involved two Uni students Chris and Chilli and three Hazelwick students including myself, Tracey and Lewis. There was a small presentation about different foot / cycle Bridges and how they are reinforced and the importance of reinforcements such as being cable-Stayed. As a group we exchanged contact details and talked about the task, the five of us later went out to take pictures of where this Bridge is going to be made and positioned. We discussed the requirements of having suitable access for everyone going to PB or the university buildings also considering the height requirements. Returning back to the drawing room, a lecture was held about different types of Bridges e.g. Truss Bridges for example; along with their mechanical properties and the need for forces to be balanced.

Day 2: WEDNESDAY 9TH NOVEMBER 2016

The Second day involved the groups working in the Design Studio. This is where we discussed out the plan of action for producing the model of the Bridge and surrounding buildings. We gathered card, dowel, foam board, blades and glue to use as we build our structure. We were in the studio all day, creating and recreating buildings that were out of scale from error or thick cardboard; but we worked as a team to try and get the model done. We all had chosen tasks for each other to do; for example Lewis traced footprints of the buildings whilst Tracey and I cut out the cardboard. Chris organised the poster for our presentation on Friday whilst Chilli helped the rest of us with measuring the heights for the models of the university buildings.

Day 3: FRIDAY 11TH NOVEMBER 2016

Before presentations, myself and the rest of the team where in the studio where we hot glued string onto the decking of our Bridge model which represents the supports. We also added the finish touches to the model and went back to the Drawing room. There we discussed the important aspects of our ideas that we needed to get across to the listeners before the presentations began at 11:00am. The presentation went exceptionally well, we finished more or less exactly on time using the full 10 minutes.

Joel Bontemps’ Blog:

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by jbontemps

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Monday 7th November 2016
On the first day of our trip to Brighton University for an architectural design week, we were first given a brief on what the project would be and a schedule pack on the events of the week. We also were put in groups, 3 university students and 3 hazelwick students (including me). However, due to complications one member of the group (a hazelwick student) had to leave the process. Hence, this meant that as a group we would have to work harder to catch up on what would have been a team of 6. In our groups, we then attended an informative lecture on our task giving us an introduction to bridges, e.g. the different types of bridges. When we got back into our groups we visited the site to where our bridge would be placed, which also gave us ideas on what our bridge would look like and how we would design it for Fridays presentation. At the end of the day, our group captain gave us individual tasks to do for the next time we would meet (which was Wednesday the same week). My task was to design a few initial ideas of bridges and to do further research on bridges (especially footbridges) and to see whether they are compression or tension bridges.

Wednesday 9th November 2016
On the second day of the architectural design project to Brighton University, everyone had to bring in the work they needed to complete so that we could embark on the next task. Each member from the group I was in, had designed some initial designs of bridges and my teammate and I brought in the further research we needed to do. The university teammates had the measurements of what size the bridge should be, as the final model would have to be at a specific scale. In addition, another member of the group brought in the materials needed to design the model. During the course of the day the team captain gave us new tasks for the day. Two of us were working on the model; first making a draft model to see if the design would work, two others working on the poster and I was doing most of the sketching for our final bridge design.

Friday 11th November 2016
For the last day of the design week, when we arrived at the university and met up with the rest of the group, everyone was finishing the last few bits of their individual tasks. For example after our model had been assembled, my teammate spray painted the model silver to represent the material steel as it was the main material of our final bridge design. Furthermore the team captain and another partner were adding the last parts to the poster and I was finishing the sketch of my group final design. Almost one hour before the presentations, my group and I had finished all our tasks and we prepared for our presentation.
Overall this architectural design week has shown me the tremendous amount of hard work needed to successfully reach a standard university level, and that effort really does achieve.

13 Alex Judd – Improvements Post Presentation

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by Alex Judd

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On Friday, we were tasked to present to our peers and lecturers, Jenny kindly compiled the materials for the poster while myself and Connor worked on the final parts of the model with the Haselwick students. Once complete we sat down in a group and went through what we had to say.

Since having the presentation, it was apparent that we ran out of time, perhaps we needed to time ourselves to make sure we included the most in our presentation without having to go into too much detail.

The lecturers made some good points of which I have discussed below:

Solar Glass

Our coloured glass panels which will be fitted to the helical structure may be able to serve as photovoltaic cells too. In recent times, there have been new developments that involve clear panes of glass acting as photovoltaics. This would be perfect to charge the lighting system and use overnight.

However, despite this, there would still need to be a required service connection onto the local grid. In winter for example, overcast skies and limited daylight could dim the bridge lights significantly. There was also no consideration for animals such as birds that may lay faeces over the panels and stop them from working as efficiently. How is this accessed for cleaning?

Maintenance

Following on from access for cleaning, the mesh like structure will also be a perfect ‘trap’ for leaves and other windswept objects that could get stuck in the mesh. This is only a problem if this can’t be maintained and as this is a busy road, access for maintenance could in fact be a problem.

The best solution we had was to remove the mesh structure and instead provide a much larger helix gap with parapets on the main deck to stop pedestrians falling off the structure.

Reusable Water

Given the loads can be altered to take this weight, the bridge could also act as a massive water storage tank for local use water. Perhaps instead of draining into the local network, it would be wiser to store such water for use in the development. This will obviously have to be treated and cleaned before use within residential and commercial units.

Connection into Student Accommodation

What was also not considered was perhaps another ramp connecting directly into student halls. Perhaps the layout of these buildings could create positive space that could direct occupants into using the bridge more frequently.

Materials

Stainless steel/ stainless steel alloys are quite expensive, perhaps using recycled materials and materials that are more commercially available would be a more sustainable way to construct the bridge.

Different Surfaces

Instead of dropping the deck to include cyclists, perhaps using different materials on each path would be more suitable. For example, using a cobbled/rougher material for pedestrians and a smoother one for cyclists. This would create the split without the need for change in levels.

Channel Drains

Instead of using channel drains, perhaps a material that is porous and light would be better for surface water drainage. This would also make it far easier to suspend but also require a lesser need for a gradient across the width of the bridge deck.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if we then had another week to use these improvements and create another model, we would be able to include a more overall comfortable and sustainable design that could not only stand over time but also provide to the needs of the end user in a more suitable way.

Alex Judd 12 – Application of Research into Model

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by Alex Judd

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Introduction

Applying the research we have undertaken into a comprehensive model at a 1:75 scale can be tricky, especially with the limited time and resources we had available. In this post I hope to clearly show where we have applied our research and knowledge into the model and how, given we had more time, would we improve on presentation.

Topography

The topography was made of black and white card which we supported with cardboard and foam board. This not only provided a sturdy base but also helps ‘dull’ the background to really bring out the bridge itself. The contrast of the white tipex on the black card also really helped for defining lines on the road.

Given we had more time, despite the intention to ‘dull’ the background, we could apply modelling materials such as grass and concrete to really bring out the aesthetics of the surroundings. We would also do a more thorough analysis into topography so that we could really define the levels clearly, such as kerb drops, road gradient and hoarding.

Foundation

The research we undertook into the foundations showed us clearly that we needed to show a pad foundation with 2x supports going into each foundation. For the pad itself Jenny proposed we should use wooden blocks. We all agreed as this would clearly show where these would be located and would also provide a suitable base for our model. We also decided to glue the white card onto the blocks to match in with the background.

Similarly with the topography, using modelling material to represent concrete would also be good here as it would help people understand the kind of material we are using in this case.

Supports

The bolts for the support I felt were a good representation of what we were proposing and even with better materials, it wouldn’t feel as ‘structural’ as the bolts made it out to be.

The difficulty came with drilling holes into the drain pipe that formed the base of the deck. These were hard to drill close together without connecting and so we decided to produce our ‘v’ shape not across the width of the bridge but down the length of it instead.

Drainage and Ramp

We did not produce a ramp in the end as we felt there were too many options for this given the uncertainty of both developments. Therefore showing the drainage as described in the ‘drainage strategy’ blog would be hard without a staircase. I believe using art straws was the best approach here but perhaps with a ramp we could show how this will be hidden and connect into the ramp structure to drain into the local network.

Bridge

The bridge was the hardest part to model. The mesh and the helical structure I felt weren’t represented as well aesthetically however I do believe the materials and size were presented perfectly. As an improvement, given we had more time, we could look into producing a helical structure ourselves using steel rods and wire. I believe with the time frame this was achieved well.

menai

Date November 13, 2016

Posted by Rahma Hussein

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menai

Day 1 understanding the task and concept design

Basically the outcome of the day was to understand better the task. We have got brief introduction and divided into group. After the college student arrived we got lecture on different bridges and how they carry loads. At 11:30 am we went out to visit the site and I took some picture to support us in the concept design process, but I was not sure where and how that bridge should built and link to Mithras house, I didn’t know the whole idea on how to design it. After getting back from the site we had lunch break and then after the lunch we discussed different bridge design, we did some sketches, come some ideas and thought about the requirements for our bridge. After discussing we established we have got some roughly idea and to design our bridge. And on 3 pm we had lecture about the structural building and the how forces act on the building. In the evening I did some roughly sketches and researched on how the bridges are constructed and requirements on building bridges.

The second of our project I presented the sketches I have done to my group and some of group members come ideas and sketches we discussed of the different ideas, we were unsure which one to choose and we were so confused but at the end we have got inspiration from Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan.

The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan is a free span of 1,991 meters it is the world’s longest suspension bridge. It is 367 meters longer than the Great Belt Bridge and is the world’s second longest with 1624 meters. Total length of the bridge is 3911 meters. The bridge has three spans.The central span is 1,991 m (6,532 ft; 1.237 mi) and the two other sections are each 960 m (3,150 ft; 0.60 mi). The bridge was designed with a two hinged stiffening girder system, allowing the structure to withstand winds of 286 kilometers per hour (178 mph), earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 8.5, and harsh sea currents. The bridge also contains tuned mass dampers that are designed to operate at the resonance frequency of the bridge to dampen forces. The two main supporting towers rise 282.8 m (928 ft) above sea level and the bridge can expand because of heat by up to 2 m (6.6 ft) over the course of a day. And at the evening we calculated the dimensions of our design and scaled by 150 and printed so that we were ready to commence our work on constructing the model of our bridge.

Day 3

On Wednesday morning we had plans and we were aware of what to do out of the day. we went on engineering block this time we are going to build the model of our bridge, the materials we used was timber, foam board, and glue. It was quite difficult to do by hand than what we were thought. Each of us assigned job to do so that no one is doing anything, my job was making trusses of the bridge and sticking on them to the bridge deck with glue to hold them together. We spend the whole doing that as the college student was not with us we had to do as much work as we could since we have only one day left for presentation. Here the pictures of what we have done on the day.

Day 4 Thursday

On Thursday since it was the last day we continue where we stopped, after that I did some research on the material we used and forces bridge. All structures have forces – pushes, pulls, twists acting upon them. The two main forces that effecting upon the bridge were compression and tension.

The red represents tension force and blue represents compression the sketch shows how the load s distributed throughout the truss bridge. The truss bridge is designed to distributed load through different beams within triangular shapes. The tension is distributed to the middle of the of the bridge and compression to the end of the bridge. Those forces help the bridge to remain stable and strong. The type beam of bridge is reinforced by a framework of girders that form triangular shapes.

Bridge material

Steel is widely used around the world for the construction of bridges from the very large to the very small. It is a versatile and effective material that provides efficient and sustainable solutions.Steel has long been recognized as the economic option for a range of bridges. It dominates the markets for long span bridges, railway bridges footbridges and medium span highway bridges and it is able to carry loads in tension and compression. Due to its elasticity it has ability to change the shape while force is acting on it and then move back to its original shape and it allows different parts of bridge to experience stress without breaking, and in turn hold up the bridge as a result of normal force.

Day 5 Friday

Friday was the last day our on Project when we arrived of university we went to engineering block to finalize our Model and we took them up to the studio room for presenting. We made mistakes of construction, we built two decks instead of only one deck and built unnecessary truss.

Here is some pictures of result design.

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