Warehouse Plans

These little beasts are a set of drawings to go off to tender for a warehouse in Craigiburn. Pretty simple sort of deal but it certainly gives you an idea of how much detail they go into...

Master Builders Association of Victoria Excellence in Construction Awards 2006

Here are a series of short articles with descriptions of the constructions that won awards last year. I find the Evironmentally Sustainable Design by Lyons architects to be particularly useful as it is always great to see that ESD doesnt have to come at the cost of bad aethetics.

In terms of the construction process, the widening of the Melbourne Airports runway is interesting in terms of them developing a heavy machine that both spreads the concrete as well as vibrates it. This eliviating manual labour and imperfections.

I also was lucky enough to do a little work experience with a guy called Steve Davies who works for ARM. This was at the time when Melbourne Central was at the beginnings of the demolition/construction stage. He spoke a lot about the process that they took to get the building up and running and the ideas that they were trying to achieve. The massive overhangs that you see in the picture was based on a box opening and closing. Simple idea but very effective.

Great Article

I found this article last year and wasnt really sure where i could use it but i thought id put it up especially for the archi guys and gals just as a kind of motivater.

It talks about the importance of architecture in our society and how we need to appreciate it as we live with it our whole lives. It speaks about how its the most underappreicated artform but it is the most expressive. The most poignant line in it is where is talks about how we should be taught from a young age about architecture and how to recognise it and appreciate it.

Hope you enjoy it...

Final Posters!

Here are the final posters.

The assignment turned out as i wanted it to. The posters look great and represent everything i wanted them too. Albeit that the model took me soooooo many hours! wow! how do i make it easier to do next time? any suggestions?

final model

Here is a copy of the final warehouse and showroom. I think it is quite sucessful at capturing the approach the renzo piano would take in the similar situation. He is a very hard person to study becuase he does not have a particular style or lean towards a particular building material. But what is evident is his response to the function and client. This dictates the form and the construction methods and materials.

my favourite of the details

batten detail with its lighting effect

Nail connections

model pulled apart

Complete Model

The detail model is complete!

I have put the plywood box beams into action. The mass block footings are in. The slab with thickenings is in. Its is also saw cut to encourage it to crack there. The cross brasses are in there at 45 degree angles. The roofing is on. The external gutter is in the mix that is sitting on that top little support. It also has a little flashing under it too to prevent the ingress of moisture. You can see the girts sit into the plywood box beam where they would be fixed. You can see those battens make for an interesting little feature too...

This model is also shown with no edges but i dont think this is the way i will do this in the actual model.

All shelled up

roof panels

Kliplok roofing with the translucent panels that i was talking about.... another hard little thing to draw up i can assure you...

Inside and outside

This is just to give you an idea of how this thing will look from the inside and outside. Its quite dynamic.... dont you think?

Rendered Frame and external shells

To make a feature of the frame from both the inside and outside, i have put a shell outside over the top and inside around the sides. this means i can run an external gutter.

im thinking of having some sections of the top roof in a deck and some in translucent polyprolene...

detail model

I have taken two rafters from the model and its purlins to make this little weapon. It is going quite well and im putting as much detail into it as possible.

It is employing plywood box beams. Im not entirely convinced that this is what Piano would use but Piano is all about the response to the purpose of the building and the clients needs. I think given the site and the cost, the plywood box beam is a good idea and is what he would use.

You can see clearly the supporting external arms that span the battens that provide shading for the internal polypropelene skin.

Im going to try a few different rendering techniques on it too to make it look as funky as possible

Model Getting there.

I have shown the model here in its semi-finished state. I have got the office space down to a schematic level which is nice. I like this relationship between the two entities.






The first floor office block is a timber floor. The bearers are attached to the rafters of the external shell.

At this stage im looking at whether to have an external shell all over the top of whether to have half an internal and half an external shell...

My love/hate relationship with SketchUp

Ok so i have attempted to draw this warehouse
beast up on SketchUp... it looks pretty crazy... i have
no idea how the heck im going to do this!

As you can see, both sides have a different
complex curve. They also bulge as they make
their way around the edge. the heights remain
the same but the rest is completely abstract.

I am thinking of having the rafters at 5000mm
centres and the purlins/girts at 1500mm centres.


The girts/purlins are the hardest to do. At the
moment im extruding them along the path around
the edge of the model. This is time consuming
but it must be done so here we go!


THE FUN HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN

Sketchy Ideas

Here we are with some little sketchy ideas of the relationship between the warehouse and the showroom. The framing forms a very dynamic part of the building as you can see so i hope to make this quite a dominant feature. I am just about to start drawing this up properly on the old CAD...

model for the cultural centre

I managed to find a image of a computer model from the Tjibaou Cultural Centre. This is kinda what im hoping from my model, and this sort of detail. Detail is what its all about with piano. "I like to keep in mind all of the details at all times."

Original Drawings

Here are the very original drawings for my design for the warehouse! This Piano inspired idea is a complexly curving idea that formed the basis for the design to come. You can note the vertical internal wall on the design on the left (Tjibauo Cultural Centre inspired) and the beginning of the curve inside wall on the right...

Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center New Caledonia by Renzo Piano

I just thought i would let you know where my head is at for the major assignment! This assignment aint easy so i thought i would look to one of the masters. this is by Renzo Piano who is an Italian architect who is extremely good at looking at what the client needs and reinterpreting it into something amazing.

Another nice gutter section

Parapet Detail

Here we have a nice little typical parapet detail. It shows the Typical dimensions and the clearances. Note the importance of all of the flashings at keeping the water out.

Fascia Gutter Detail

I know you have been waiting for it, its the Fascia gutter. This gutter will sit proudly on the outside of your portal frame. The water will run of that corrugated roof and into the gutter and then down the downpipe into the ground and out to the storm water drain, wow what a journey. On this particular detail the cladding used is a tilt-up/precast concrete panel and you can see the portal frame is mainly unchanged. A point to note also is that the cleat holding up the roof purlin is 10mm away from the rafter which allows for expansion.

Box gutter detail

This image shows the detail of the box gutter where two roof surfaces meet at the gutter. The gutter is supported by spandek and timber battens so that it can be walked on and not fail. You can see the down pipe which carries the water through the internal space. A box gutter is much bigger than a fascia gutter as if it fails then the interior will be wet.

Portal Frame-Office Space connection

Here you will find the connection between a portal frame warehouse and an office space. the portal frame remains much the same but you can see the office space employs some new ideas. It is still a steel-concrete construction but uses different techniques. The roof is relatively unchanged, but head down and you will find a suspended ceiling that covers any uglyness of the roof space. There is a suspended floor using a product called 'bondeck' which is a steel sheet that is then covered with concrete.

Portal Frame Section-Hand Drawn

This shows a section of the same portal frame situation but through the other direction so you can see the column that supports the end wall of this long span structure. The major elements remain that same but you can also see some fly bracing which provides extra support to the rafter that runs into the page.

Portal Frame Section-Hand drawn

This is a section through our lovely basic portal frame. It shows a concrete and metal cladded exterior with a steel UB column. The column and the concrete panel sit on a infil slab and a mass concrete block. The column is bolted down using a hold-down bolt which is a threaded rod cast into the concrete. The 'z' section girts provide a connection for the lasaght cladding which are to be at least 10 mm through the use of welded cleats. The haunching which is a cut steel beam, provides extra support for the knee joint. The roofing is supported by similar 'z' sections from the girts but this time they are called purlins. Safety mesh and sarking is also provided. The internal box gutter would have a down pipe running through the interior also.

This shows the section running in the opposite direction to the previous section. you can see the main structural steel column that the rafter is connected to and the haunching joins onto this also. The footing detail is much the same as previous and is therefore in less detail. The girts on the left side show the cladding connection. The roofing is fixed to the purlins ontop of the rafters.

Portal Frame Detail-AutoCad

This detail contains the quintessential elements that make the portal frame so useful. The knee joint takes all the loads from the rafters and purlins and transfers it down the stanchion and into the pad footing. The girts hold the walls and the purlins hold the roofing. Haunching is used for extra support for the all important knee joint. Isn't it a wonderful idea? Until next time, enjoy it...

Bunnings Warehouse Waurn Ponds

"Where lowest prices are just the beginning."