Assigment 1

Subject:

Assemblies, joints, forces and comparisons

“What is striking is that Breuer moved so effortlessly from designing chairs to designing buildings. This is explained in two ways. Breuer had completely absorbed Gropius’s teaching that design was a universal discipline, that is, if you could design a teacup you could design a city. So having no formal training in building design or construction whatsoever (the Bauhaus did not teach architecture until long after Breuer was there), did not discourage him from undertaking building commissions. The second reason is that modernist architects were inventing as they went along; they did not rely on history, traditional construction, or conventional building practice. Hence, the lack of training was not a liability. Just as a tubular steel lounge chair had no precedent, so too a glass and concrete building was breaking new ground. It was all new.”

an interesting article by Rybczynski on the architecture of Paul Cret

Comparing big with small

Safdie building with Ironing board

Folding Chairs and ladders with draw bridge

Folding tables

Assembly instructions can be very illuminating!

Curtain Rods (a bit simple) but structurally similar to balconies

Clothes-pins with concrete crusher

Road-signs with Wind vane:

Canopies:

Swing sets (forkids and for Cirque du Soleil)

Ceramic pot/ Museum of Vancouver

Stainless steel pot / Pantheon Rome

Boat docks

Garden bridges

  1. farm gate
  2. domestic water tower
  3. small garden bridges
  4. picnic tables
  5. railings
  6. carpenter saw horses
  7. Heavy equipment ramps (trucks, aircraft, docks, ferries)
  8. Inflatable play equipment
  9. Car jacks /house jacks (manual)
  10. Cloths lines freestanding or suspended
  11. Portable display systems (exhibitions, fairs)
  12. Camping tents

Your task, in teams of two:

  1. Choose a type of object /structure of some complexity, and find two or several variations on their design.
  2. Show exploded views of the objects/structures.
  3. Show in this exploded view the forces that are at work on the various elements
  4. List the kinds of materials that have been used to make the structure
  5. List the kind of joints that are present
  6. Describe the basic structural system of the chosen items.(One of the aims of this course is to make you familiar with the proper terms used in the structures field.)
  7. Identify a larger scale structure that has similarities or differeences with the structural system at work in the smaller structure. Explain the similarities and/or differences.

For forces, use colours and arrows to identify Compression, Tension, Shear, Torsionand Bending

It is helpful if you can find a detailed description of the manufacturing process and /or assembly overview of the structure:

Presentation of the project:

Each member of the team of two shall collect the information asked above on a vertical A2 panel (420 × 594 mm)

Any method of presentation (free hand drawing, photography, computer graphs) is allowed- clarity is the main issue

For next week Wednesday September 23:

1. Form teams of two, and hand in one (or more if needed) sheet(s) of 8 ½” by 11” with your names on top

2. Indicate in text and pictures which small objects and related larger structures your team has chosen to focus on.

During the week following I will study your proposals, and possibly make suggestions.

The final panels have to be handed in Wednesday October 7. They will be put on display in the corridor outside room 212

Assignment 2 will be handed out that day.

Monday October 12 (Thanksgiving) and Wednesday October 14 there will be no class.