Facade technology models emerging 29 May'13

29 May 2013: The designs have been critted and the Design and Technology reports handed in so there is frantic activity to finish some models for the Facade Technology report.

Group Goal! photographing their model that demonstrates the double skin facade to floorplate junction.



Group ATA are working on the ETFE facade for their vertical farming proposal.

Joana Gonzalez visits Tall Building Gonzalez

9 May 2013: Prof Joana Gonzalez used to be a frequent tutor in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and since then has been working with BDSP, the AA School and writing two books. She made a very welcome return in 2013, spending a day with us, looking at every scheme and delivering a lecture. Her specialism is environmental strategy, and the special focus today was the design of facades.

Joana delivered a lecture on facades, particularly the double skin facade. A few years ago she was favourable to it, but since writing her book, she has developed a healthy skepticism about it, particularly in the British climate. As Ken Shuttleworth frequently points out, there is a benefit in returning to 'more Wall than Glass'. This idea can produce more thermally stable buildings and reduce the need for double facades (which are more necessary for fully glazed buildings).


Joana and Noura look at the Learning Tree


Joana and Noura look at the Big Blend


Joana and Noura look at Jay's scheme



Joana and Noura look at ATA


It's been a good day and it's time to get the train home - enough students are left for a group photograph.
Thankyou Joana!

More work on Facade models

27 March 2013: Although it is vacation, we managed to get some more aluminium and the BlueSky Dreamers group made further progress with their facade model. This is the 'braced megaframe', although it may be so strong that it may not sway very much. Oh well, it's been a great experience so far making it!

It has to be well secured to the base so that it sways instead of toppling over. There will be a counter-weight at the top.	The floor plates are clear plastic, and the intention is to go about a metre tall. This is loosely based on the Hearst Building in New York.

Facade model work: getting there

18 March 2013: We do a big push in the facade modelling project every Monday. This is the last monday of term and we would like to test the models before the end of term, but that looks unlikely. we can't get all the materials in time from the stores. We may be testing in the wind tunnel during the vacation.

DNC Tests the first model to be nearly complete - the baseboard is on a roller base and can be shaken with a metronome to give timing.

The lattice facade model is progressing, but it is awfully hard work with so many bolts to do up.

More work on Facade models

15 March 2013: We've had the interim crit, so attention turns back to the facade modelling project. Much laser cutting has been done and all groups want to push forward and get the models ready for testing next week.

Superscraper are building a core made of transparent laser cutouts	Superscraper are working on a lattice facade model, but will it ever be complete? - there are a very large number of nodes to be bolted.
Superscraper's lattice close up	Superscraper work on their lattice
Bluesky dreamers: the girls are marking up aluminium strips for drilling	Bluesky have a very large number of holes to drill in the aluminium strips using a modelling drill.

More work on the Outrigger model

11 March 2013: It's Facade Technology day again, and after a lecture about ETFE, we see busy hands getting to work to further the facade models. This one is going well, with a realistically laser-cut model of an outrigger truss.


Using the sander on the mini-drill to chamfer edges so that they make a good glued joint.


Two large outriggers are being built.


A happy team, now it's time to resume work on the main project!

We are hoping that everybody will, in some way or other, use ETFE on their building, either for the vertical farming, for atrium walls or for some double skin facade skinning.

Further work on Facade modelling 4.3.13

4 March 2013: Monday is Facade technology day and our minds turn to the modelling project for building some structural facade types.

This is the wind tunnel we intend to use. It is large enough to walk in, there is a turntable at the end, a window to film through and a mobile smoke gun (not sure how to work that!)



The 'Floating Clouds' are working on their core and outrigger model. Although it could be done with a piece of plywood, they prefer to form a laser cut model demonstrating more closely what a major outrigger looks like.



Here is the Belt truss being formed



These trusses wrap around the core, and cantilever out to the belt truss.



Many hands make light work!



Another group, 'Superscraper' are working on the lattice facade, but got a bit disheartened at the number of nuts and bolts they are going to have to secure! 6 bolts per node!

Facade modelling - the Core and Outrigger

22 Feb 2013: Its been a busy day for the Tall Building students. Phil headed a seminar of almost 2 hours just on elevators and escalators! Then our minds turned to 'Case Studies' in which each student will give a presentation for 10 mins (in March). The rest of the day was spent on DMT (Design Materials and Technology) or FCT (Facade Technology).

The Floating Clouds group have chosen to make a model demonstrating 'Core and Outrigger' and DNC has provided quite a lot of help from his garage, cutting up spare plywood shelves and roof slates to make some components. The group are also using rubber bungee as the 'columns' for the tensile facade. This is a start to making the first test model, threading the wood blocks onto the bungee.



They are putting slate floors in at intervals to provide some distributed weight. They are intending to build a lattice trussed outrigger and belt truss in two places.



Another group, the Bluesky Dreamers are intending to make their model in aluminium and clear plastic, and this will represent the Megabraced facade idea. The sponges are going to be held in water containers, so we can consider passive damping.



As the model mounts up, it is really unstable and requires a large team of very pretty girls to keep it upright. The men either stand around taking photos or stacking more dangerous weights on top, typical!



We can now make it stable by adding the tensile facade, and 8mm bungee is perfect, secured with metal eyes and figure-of-eight knots. But it is still not safe enough.



We now try additional facade columns, on the long and sort sides, and try to make the tension in each column approximately equal.



It is now standing upright, but a steadying hand is still helpful. The blocks have wood swarf on them after drilling and should have been cleaned off - the micro-gaps between the blocks cause too much sway.



Its going to be stored for the night, but is a little bit reluctant to be carried! and like a disobedient cat it 'jumps out of their hands' Miaow!



We can reduce the instability by cleaning the blocks and gluing them into pairs, thus reducing the number of gaps from 48 to 24. Here they are, drying overnight, with the bungee providing some pressure to help the glue set.

Someone's busy making tower components!

19 Feb 2013: Here's a snapshot of some ongoing work on the experimental facade towers. These plywood and slate parts are for the core and outrigger model. We also intend to make a very large number of aluminium brackets, and the only way I know of is to drill and cut them by hand. 

Working on a tall building model to test in Wind Tunnel

18.2.13: We're designing three tall building models a metre high that can be used for airflow, resonance and seismic testing in a wind tunnel. The towers will have a litre can of water at top to test damping. Three models: core and outriggers, lattice facade, mega-braced frame . Here's the outriggers team! The purpose is to explore the role of the FACADE as a structural element.

diagram Gunel and Ilgin
ScienceDirect.com

One of the problems we have is the 'D'Arcy Thompson' one of SCALE (ex-Growth and Form). A tower that is ONE metre high is as different from one 100-200 metres high as a spider is from me. Throw the spider out of a first floor window, no harm done - it will throw out a silken thread and float safely to earth. Please don't do it to me! A 200th scale model is actually an 8 millionth of the real thing, considered by volume and mass.
   If you made a core of of one single piece of wood, it would be completely solid with no elasticity, and would topple over. We have to make a core that resembles a backbone of vertebrae, that can sway and bend. We have to post-tension it, because if needs to behave elastically and not just bend and stay bent. The building has to be firmly fixed to a baseboard, to simulate a strong foundation.
    We are going to try using bungee cord for the facade to make it behave elastically. Although it is tempting to make a facade out of clear plastic, imagine how solid that would be if translated to full scale - the only thing that may resemble the behaviour of glass in a real tower is the thinnest cling-film. Many of the structures are being bolted (so that they flex). The bolts must not be too tight or the structure is too stiff to behave elastically. If they are too loose, it is slack and deforms plastically. So we are using spring washers, self locking bolts and may have to use some of the bungee cord as bracing to restore the shape.
    All interesting explorations!! (More pictures will follow)