Week  2  Journal  Wenjie  Cai              

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In  week  2  studio  session,  we  construct  the  same  thing  as  the  last  week,  building  a  tower  and  make  it  as  high  as  possible,  but  with  different  materials.  We  used  wood  bricks  and  clay  bricks  last  week.  This  week  we  used  balsa  woods,  glue  and  needle.      First  of  all,  we  planned  about  the  structure  of  our  tower.  As  we  were  going  to  use  glue,   we   need   to   have   clear   ideas   about   the   tower   structure   first   so   that   we   can  avoid  the  mistakes  and  reconstruction.  We  made  the  base  of  the  tower  as  a  triangle  as  we  think  that  this  shape  makes  the  tower  stands  with  the  least  materials  (figure  1).  On   the  base,  we  built   3   posts   so   that   the   tower   can  be  built   further   on   its   height  (figure  2).    

 figure  1:  The  base  (triangle)  

(author)  

 figure  2:  basic  structure  of  the  tower  

(author)  

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 figure  3:  the  3  levels  base  of  the  tower  

(author)  After  building  3  levels  of  the  tower  in  the  same  structure  as  figure  3  shown,  we  tried  to  find  another  method  that  can  make  our  tower  higher.  During  this,  we  found  that  the  materials  that  we  prepared  make  it  harder  for  us  to  build  a  high  tower  because  our  woods  are  short.  Therefore,  we  decided  to  stick  our  woods  together  to  make  it  long.  We  used  both  glue  and  adhesive   tape   in   this   step  because   the  areas  of   their  contact   surface   are   too   small   (figure   4).   Glue   and   adhesive   tape  made   them  have  stronger  connection  (figure  5).  

 figure  4:  The  contact  surface  

(author)  

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figure  5:  Connected  woods  (author)  

 After  sticking  these  woods  together,  we  did  not  used  glue  to  connect  them  with  the  base;  we  used  needles  instead  as  it  is  more  convenient  for  us  to.  (figure  6).    

 figure  6:  Use  of  needles  

(Author)    After  connecting  all  the  materials  with  the  base,  the  top  of  the  tower  still  swayed  so  we  connect  these  three  high  ‘posts’  together  to  avoid  it  (figure  7).  

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 figure  7:  The  top  of  the  three  posts  

(Author)    Finished   this   step,   our   construction  was   almost   completed,   so  we   decided   to   add  something  that  makes  it  more  like  a  real  building.  We  added  a  cross  on  it  to  make  it  like  a  church  and  also  make  it  a  bit  higher.  Figure  8  and  9  are  the  final  of  our  tower.  

 

figure  8:  Cross  on  the  building  (Author)  

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 figure  9:  Complete  

(Author)    Our   tower   is  not  as  high  as   the  other   groups  and   it   is  not   really  balance   so   it  was  easily  fall  and  lie  down.  However,  it  is  stable  that  it  never  fall  apart  even  when  it  lie  down.   This   is   because   of   the   stable   joints   of   the   woods.   This   further   proves   my  conclusion   of   last   weeks’   journal,   bonding   is   very   important   for   construction.   I  believe   that   if  we  make  our  base  wider  or  make   it  heavier,   it  would  become  more  stable  that  it  would  not  fall.    Also,   the   type   of   the   building   material   is   very   important   for   constructing.   The  materials  that  our  group  prepared  are  too  short  to  make  our  tower  high.  However,  it  is   wider   and   thicker   than   other   groups’   so   it   would   not   break   or   fall   apart   easily  (figure  8).  

 

figure  8:  Comparison  of  different  groups’  materials  (author)