Modelo Fantastico.

I know wish for you to be enjoying images of my model for the major assignment, i am amazed that it stands at all let alone looks as fabulous as it does.

Warehouse Site and Plan Ideas.

Here are a few of the original images and forms I drew when exploring the layout of the site given to us for the major assignment.

After redrawing the site and building form by hand i realised that warehouse and adjoining offices formed a simple square which could easily be outline with a single circle.
This new circle passed through three corners of the buildings and revealed a hidden geometry which i had to use.
In an ideal world the portions of this new circle not belonging to the building would probably denote the edge of a garden bed or other structure which would give the warehouse and adjoining offices a closed and whole composition.

Polished and Referenced.

Please find below, for your viewing pleasure, polished CAD reconstructions of the drawings created in the tutorials. These images were created by Marcel Barakat, one of the better students in my year, for his blog hit the jump to Marcel's Construction Blog.

Retum of The Tute Sketches

Here are the remainder of the original sketches done, in tutorials, for various framing and wall cladding techniques covered in SRT251.

Skyfarming: Ironic, Impressive, Impossible?

Written by Lisa Chamberlain, posted on Building Design + Construction but sourced from The New Yorker is an inspiring article about developing technologies that may one day transform our cities from a centre of consumption to a heart of production.

The New Yorker: Skyfarming

This may not be a watershed article on construction or structural techinques but raises the question; What do we design for and what is a building's purpose? Should we merely design to meet the brief we are given? How can technologies and ever increasing structural options privide us with a space, so multi-purposed, that it can provide much more than shelter?

Takin' it Wheezy in California.

Posted only a few days ago on AZoBuild, is an (unfortunately uncredited) article on the environmental impact of construction in California. Titled Thousand of Lives, Billions of Dollars Could be Saved with the Clean Construction Rule, this article discusses the push by many to create a standard for reducing the polluting effect construction process and machinery is having on the area of California.

A startling "...20 percent of the state's diesel particulate matter pollution" is apparently created by California's construction equipment, which prompts one to think of the environmental effect construction has in our own backyard. Being so utilitarian and apparently 'necessary' one rarely thinks of the enourmous amount of resources used by our construction equipment. So much emphasis is put on the Grass Roots level of resource usage that I feel we are winning the battle but losing the war on climate change. We feel so positive when we see a hybrid car drive by or use the water from boiling our rice to water our plants that we are losing sight of the excesses that industry and the commercial world take.

Thousand of Lives, Billions of Dollars Could be Saved with the Clean Construction Rule, follows a smart stuggle for a better tomorrow. The design and construction world have generally accepted the principles of ESD, Environmentally Sustainable Design, perhaps it is time that we start to think 'ERC' Environmentally Responsible Construction?

A Late Hand.

For anyone may wish to peruse some articles on the world of construction and design,
please find attached: a link to the Building Design + Construction Network website.

Let's take a moment.

Yes, I know this has nothing to do with 'architectural' construction, but tell me that after reading this article on the Guardian Unlimited site on paper aeroplanes that you do not want to construct something!

InfoLink Article: Renaissance hotel being built using Aconex

Here are one of the 'take with a grain of salt' pieces from InfoLink. According to an article submitted yesterday a "323-room Renaissance Bahrain Amwaj Islands Hotel is being constructed on a series of man-made islands" in the Kingdom of Bahrain, what piqued my interest was not so much the hotel itself but the construction managment process, employing a system and company named Aconex.

Even though it is busily attempting to sell a product, this article really highlights how information technology and modern communications are informing and modifying our construction techniques. Onilne data sharing has the potential to decrease construction time by making documents accesible from anywhere in the world and I am enthusiastic about the opportunites that it can create making collaborations between designers and builders global. However, I feel that a system which could assist global design and construction, whilst no-doubt commercially lucrative, should be open-source. I certainly hope that tools such as Aconex, which should help the world of design and construction flourish globally, are not restriced to those who can pay the undoubtedly exhorbitant fee to use it.

Have look at the Aconex website if you are so inclined: http://www.aconex.com/

The InfoLink article is a reproduction of an Aconex press release, the original can be found here.

Building Construction @ InfoLink

Whilst more of a long list of professional advertisements, InfoLink can be particularly useful when browsing for contemporary and innovative technologies in the world of building construction.

http://www.infolink.com.au/dir/Building-Construction/showcases

Most of the 'articles' on InfoLink: Building Construction page are brief summaries of a business' wares, they can point you in the right direction if you are trying to research a particular technology or process.
Just remeber that these sites are trying to sell you a product, so take their non-technical info with a grain of salt.

For example; Greywater systems (http://www.infolink.com.au/Showcases/PPI-Corporation/155245)


Aluminium Roof and Wall Cladding Systems.
(http://www.infolink.com.au/Showcases/Corus-Building-Systems-Kalzip/154262)

Shiver Me Timbers.

Please find below the link to University of Tasmania's page, belonging to the Architecture Department, in regards to all manner of timber building across the world and in Australia. Linked is the page of their documented projects and below are some of the more interesting images. Link (Search by project type, it yields more results)


Glulam System for a swimming pool.


Speculative House, QLD.


Launceston Swim Centre.

A Little Too Late but the Not-Late Toyo Ito

Ladies and Gentlemen,
for the purposes of the the Construction and Structures 2 Major Project, please allow me to present to you:

Toyo Ito

Born in Japan and graduating from Tokyo University in 1965, Toyo Ito is one of the most influencial modern architects in Japan, if not the world.
Ito's intuitive uses of concrete, steel and glass (materials prominent in our studies this semester) drew to me to his designs for inspiration and influence for my warehouse.

Please find some images whose titles are links to information about his ouevre and stlye.

Ito's Works

Yatsushiro Municpal Museum


Sendai Mediheque


2002 Sepentine Gallery Pavillion


Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre

TOD's Omotesando Building
(yes, i know it's in italian)

Vivo City