Week 1 JournalConstructing Environment634 066 Cheuk Sing Cheung

Week 1 - block exercise

This week is the very first week in Semester 2. This is Con-structing Environment studio 18. Over this studio, we are

asked to build a building with wooden blocks.

By using mass construction method, which is, building with blocks overlaping the other and so on, to achieve a high

density and compact construction system.

Week 1 - block exercise

While building the building, I found that there is one thing

that makes me feel quite interesting. which is, when the building starts to grow, it eventually turns to cylinder-shape, no matter the base is tringle or retangle.

Cylinder-shaped form?

Will there be any advantage to have a cylinder structure? I

think yes. First of all a curved plane can withstand more force than a flat plane, as the force will move across the curve. Also, cylincer shape uses less material for the same volume. However, cylinder structure also contains problems, in this case, its the wooden blocks are not curves so the cylinder will not be aligned.

Week 1 - block exercise

The work of compression forces and resultant force

Half way through the building, we are asked to take out blocks from the middle of the building. We were very confused at that time, as we thought that if we take out even one block the

building would break. However, there is always miracle happens! when I took out one block, it didn’t fall apart! Thats a really interesting fact that the weight of the building is actually not evenly disturbuted to every block, but there will be resultant force acting as a line, holding the whole building up.

While I am sort of demolishing the building, a discovery is so in-

credible: one level of the building is totally held by one block and on top of another single block, as shown in the photo on the right. It is so astonish-ing because the blocks are not even aligned! The blocks are only cover themselves by just around 10% and thats ehough to hold the ‘big’ building. From this discovery, I deduce that the forces can be transferred through a line, and if the line doesn’t break, the building wouldn’t fall.

Ofcourse, the building must fall apart sometime. But at the point of fail-

ure, I found another interesting point. As I am trying to pull one block out, lateral force is applied on the building, and because the supporting beam is already so weak at that time, it twisted then the whole building colapse. It looks like that there is an earthquake apply on the building, and overall week 1 studio is interesting.