hoffmann ladewig 3501 fall 2008 web

8/14/2019 Hoffmann Ladewig 3501 Fall 2008 Web

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STUDIO 70

MATERIAL STUDY:

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO 4

COLLEGE OF ARCHTEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

STRUCTURAL MATERIALS RESEARCH CATALOGUECONTRIBUTORSPhil Hoffmann and David Ladewig

STEELRESEACH

PRECEDENTS

MODEL DEVELOPMEN

SPECIAL THANKS


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STEEL USES TODA

Steel was rst used in the creation of long spanning bridges and railroad tracks across the worldIt has quickly become one of the most popular structural elements in the construction of tall buiings and skyscapers due to its incredible compressive and tensile strength. Steel consists almostentirely of iron, with just a hint of carbon in its composition. Because of this, steel weighs less thiron, even though they have many of the same components.

Steel has quickly broken away from its common use of purely structural strength as its beauty habeen discovered. Today steel is used throughout the world to not only strengthen structures, but talso give them distinct visual forms and characteristics. Steel can be bent, curved, and twisted tcreate amazing architectural components. Steel can be used to span long areas to open up large

interior spaces. Steel can be used to create window walls as it can carry much larger loads thanmost other materials. It seems as we continue to try new things with materials, we will continuesee new ideas used in different ways.

Right: an aerial perspective of IncheonInternational Airport located 30 minutes

away from Seoul, the capital of SouthKorea.

Right: an interior perspective of BeijingInternational Airport located in Beijing,

China.

Below: Mun


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STEEL JOINTS AND CONNECTIONS

As with any material, the integrity of the entire structure relies on the connections. If the connections of a structure fail, the buildingwill fall. Therefore, the connections are perhaps the most important part of construction.

There are many ways to connect steel beams to one another, and they are some of the most sound ways to build a structuralskeleton. The most typical method is welding, which uses direct heat to melt metal pieces into one another. This is a very commonconnection method used in steel construction everywhere.

Another way for steel to be connected is by the use of plates and bolts. Plates must be welded in place to use, but when used inconjunction with bolts, they only add more strength to the connections. With a welded corner supported even more by thick boltsholding it in place, it would take a great amount of stress to bust it apart. This is why most failures in steel buildings come frombending and buckling in t he columns and beams themselves.

Last is soldering, a common method used to connect smaller pieces together. Though it may not be as strong as welding, it is avery simple, accurate, and clean way to combine many types of metal pieces.

Right: David is looking through a book wechecked out for the best picture to convey

our idea about the airport.

Right: A display of all the study modelswe have worked on thusfar. We startedby working with simple triangular trusssystems and worked up to a portion of

Stansted Airport.

Right: David is looking through a book wechecked out for the best picture to convey

our idea about the airport.


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STEEL SPANNING AND LOAD BEARING

Every type of material has its limits, and the structural integrity of all buildings rely on a matebearing capacity and spanning ability.

The chart to the left shows the effective spans in meters of steel for multiple different sizes. Todsteel is perhaps the strongest steel that can span the longest distances without failure. This is thereason why structures like airports and buildings that need to be unsupported over long distanceare constructed using steel.

Though it may be relatively expensive, steel spanning requires much less material than most others, including wood, concrete, and masonry. The incredible compressive and tensile stability thsteel has makes structures much safer for human use.

Below: New

Right: A chart that describes the speci clengths that speci c steel types can span

and the maximum loads that those steeltypes can bear.


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PRECEDENTS: STEELINCHEON

BEIJING

MUNICH

SHENZHEN

STANSTED


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INCHEON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Incheon International Airport was one of our top building choices when we were looking intomaterial study of steel. Incheon is located just outside of Seoul, South Korea and remains thlargest and most interactive airport in the country today.

The steel lattices that make up the roof system in the picture below is perhaps the most beautifupart of the building. The strength of the steel allows for windows to ood the entire interior corriwith light. With the great spanning abilities of steel, the interior space has little problem accepthis light.

Exposed steel has only recently become a commonly used idea. Modern airport architecture habeen a leading building type in popularizing this technique. Incheon Airport uses exposed ste

throughout its structure to show how the elements of strength and beauty can work together create attractive architecture.

Right: An interior perspective of the ceiling.The scale of the people in the photograph

show how large the huge steel trusses arethat keep the building standing.

Right: The complex steel lattice that createsthe long arched corridor remains

structurally strong but capable of allowingthe sun to in ltrate just about every section

of the room.

Below: Inche


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BEIJING INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Beijing International Airport is a fairly new building that is made almost entirely of steel. It iunique in its design that utilizes gigantic spans that open up spaces throughout the terminal.

The high ceilings and natually entering light at Beijing Airport give onlookers a feeling of freedno matter where they go. The composition of steel throughout the building clearly proves that stecan be used not only for strength, but for beauty as well.

Beijing Airport is a perfect example of how steel is used for light. Because of its strength, it talittle steel to create the structural skeleton, allowing for glass windows, which have a very lbearing capacity, to ll in the open spaces.

Right: A perspective from the interior of Terminal 3 at Beijing Airport.

Right: The large circular spans that cover the airport terminal show the incrediblestrength of steel while maintaining the

natural light than is allowed to enter. Below: Beij


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MUNICH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Munich International Airport utilizes the same steel structural system as I ncheon. The large centmembrane consists of a steel lattice that allows natural light to ow in freely without sacri cinstructural support.

The terminal shown below acts as a tent, since the covering is still exposed to the exterior. Athough the area is enclosed, onlookers dont have the feeling because of the long spans and highcolumns that make up the roof.

Steel is perhaps the only material that could make a structure like this stand without failure.

Right: An overall perspective of MunichAirport from afar. Very easy to see how

massive the scale of the lattice and spansare.

Right: A great example showing the longdistance that the steel spans to create the

wide open interior space. Below:


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SHENZHEN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Shenzhen International Airport is located in Shenzhen, China and is a minor airport comparedthe others throughout China.

The most interesting thing about Shenzhen Airport is its repeated use of the popular triangulattruss system. The shape helps to balance the loads that bear down on it to eventually carry theloads down to the ground. Just about all of the skeleton is exposed so onlookers can see rsthand what parts make the building stand up.

Not many buildings of this span distance are possible without steel. The gigantic room that housall people who interact in the airport is spread wide open due to the strength of the steel thhouses it.

Right: The curved truss system on theinterior of the building uses the typical

triangulated truss system because of itsattractive look and structural strength.

Right: The repetetive column system of theterminal is a great example of the way steel

is used in exposed construction. Below: Shenzhe


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STANSTED INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

We chose Stansted International Airport because of the unique canopy design Norman Fosteutilized to create a roo ng system.

The four columns that protrude from the ground carry the load from the dome lattice above it. tached to the pyramid above this section are cables that span outward toward the corners of thcanopy itself. This system gives onlookers the idea that the diagonal beams are supported solelby these cables, which actually act to pull the dome in to prevent failure and keep the roo nstructure stable.

The Jesus Bolt is the name for the connection atop the pyramid where all f our cables are attachedA large single bolt straight down the middle holds the welded cable rods in place. It is nicknamthe Jesus Bolt because if this bolt is removed from its position, the entire lattice would fail.

Right: A detail of the Jesus Bolt frombelow. As seen, the bolt slices through

the peak of the pyramid and holds all four

cables in their positions.

Right: Shown is a good example of thescale of the structure, particularly the size

of the Jesus Bolt that holds the canopyand its pieces together. Below: Stanste


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MODELING: STEELSPORTS COMPLEX

SHENZHEN EXTERIOR TRU

SHENZHEN INTERIOR TRU

WELDING/SOLDERING

STANSTED TREE STUDY

STANSTED LATTICE

STANSTED JESUS BOLT DET

STANSTED TREE DETAIL


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STEEL SPAN STUDY MODEL

This is our very rst preliminary study model of a simple sports complex. The goal was to learnbit more about how steel spans and how it is possible.

On the actual building, the thick steel beams curve from anchor point to anchor point and creategiant semi-ellipse. The steel that spans perpendicular to these columns gives the structure of throof the added stability it needs to stay where it is.

To build this model, we curved some thin aluminum pipes to take the shape of the complex. Newe used wire to line the inside of the roof, just as in the building itself. These thin strips of steel used to keep the roof sturdy and maintain its structure.

Because this was just a shape study, we used hot glue to put the model together. At this point, theway steel connects was not yet important.

Below: 3D Rendere

Right: A representation of the 3d sportscomplex. The goal was to experiment witha steel span and solve how it is able to be

structuraly sound.

Right: An image showing how the arch

spans over a structure. (In this case thewood block represents the interior space).

Right: A close up of the underside of thespan. The lattice consists of smaller rods

that frame the canopy.


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TRIANGULAR TRUSS SOLDER STUDY MODEL

The goal of this model was to create a truss using solder for the connections and to make it stronenough to span a long distance. This was our rst experience with soldering, and it was quite atask at rst. The roof is framed by a steel arched truss connected on either side to a load-bearing wall whiallows the truss to reach a great span. There are three main steel rods that frame the truss andare connected by smaller rods whos purpose is to transfer loads.

While we were making this model, it was very dif cult to heat the wire enough to get the solto melt into the joints we wanted it to. We left the soldering gun plugged in for almost four hokeeping the trigger pulled just about the entire time hoping it would heat the wire. To our dismthe soldering iron basically blew up in our hands as we were heating the wire, effectively endour attempts to get t his truss nished using only solder.

Below: Shenzhen Airp

Right: A close up of the soldered

connections in the steel truss.

Right: A ground level view of the steel trussspan.

Right: A represenation of a steel trussspanning a distance.


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WELD AND SOLDER STUDIES

Because welding is the main connection method in steel construction we decided to learn the process of welding. A stick welder was used to weld l ines on a steel plate. The goal was to accomplisa uniform weld across a 3 width. The technique is to move at a slow pace but quick enough ththe weld doesnt burn through the material.

We also learned how to weld steel corners. A stick welder with copper wire was used to connethe two plates. The technique is to hold the weld stick on the base for two parts and one part othe top. This leaves a clean transition between the two plates.

We learned how to solder after buying a soldering iron from Home Depot. We heated the two rowe were hoping to combine, and once they were hot enough, we applied the solder, which melteinto the joint. We tried to quickly cool the connection by blowing on it, and once it had a few onds to sit, the connection was solid.

Below: Stuttg

Right: A study of the process of soldering.A soldering iron was used to connect the

rods in the truss together.

Right: A study of connecting two plates bythe process of welding. A stick weld was

used in this example.

Right: A study of the process of welding. Astick weld was used in this example.


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STANSTED AIRPORT TREE STUDY MODEL

The exterior facade of Stansted Airport in the United Kingdom by architect Norman Foster. T18m x 18m roof is supported by a steel tree. The tree consists of four pillars that are connecthorizontally by smaller diameter steel. Four steel rods from all corners extend out and hold tbase frame for the roof.

The roof is held in tension by four steel cables at all corners which is connected to what is knowas the Jesus Bolt. This connection holds the roof in compression. If it were to fail, the roof wocollapse; thus you would be praying for its survival.

The goal was to experience how the tree is constructed and why each connection is importantOur main focus was to identify how the architect was able to accomplish each connection accrately while maintaining the structural integrity of the building.

Below: Stans

Right: A close up of the main connections inthe heart of the tree.

Right: A compositional image of the treestructure next to its origin.

Right: A representation of the treestructure.


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Below: StanRight: A represenation of the structure of

the roof lattice.

Right: A side view of the roof lattice. Noticehow the minimal amount of framing allows

for a large open interior.

STANSTED AIRPORT LATTICE SHAPE MODEL

The lattice system of the roof at Stansted airport is not as signi cant structurally as the tree itselHowever, Norman Foster clearly found a way to use steel to improve the overall look of the interareas.

The lattice acts as a dome that sits on top of each tree system at the airport. Because of the greatstrength of steel, Foster only had to use a few very thin strips to keep it structurally sound. Tsmall oculus at the peak of each dome allows natural light to enter the airport freely. This is janother example of how steel can open up possibilities in a building.

The pieces on this model were laser cut to ensure accuracy of measurments and scale. Themodel is a great representation of the way the steel works on the lattice at Stansted.


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STANSTED: TREE CORNER DETAIL

The tree system at Stansted Airport is only successful when all parts of t he structure work togethto keep the building standing. Behind the Jesus Bolt, the hinged corner is the most importastructural element to the building.

The cables that come out of the center bolt are meant to pull the long diagonal columns inwarThese columns then hold up the lattice of the roof and keep the dome in compression. This modwas made operational with a removable bolt and hinged joint to show how important the connetions of the trees at Stansted Airport are.

The diagonal columns are similar to cantilevers and would not stand the way they do without tcables to pull them in. This is why the operation of each of these gigantic columns is so importato the integrity of the building.

The copper pipes were soldered together using a torch, providing a very sound connection. Thwood pieces that were laser cut to create accurate hinges were glued to the copper corner usingepoxy, which is probably the only way they could be connected. Just as in the actual building, tconnection of this hinge to the corner is very important, as the entire structure would collapse dto dependency on all the parts working together.

Right: A detail of the corner showing howthe model was put together. The solder

bonded the copper together and epoxy wasused to bond the wood hinge to the copper.

Scale 1/2:1

Right: A top perspective of the corner detailStansted model.

Scale 1/2:1 Below: Stansted


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RESEARCH

New Transport Architectureby Will Jones

Stansted: Norman Foster and theArchitecture of Flightby Kenneth Powell

Global Architecture: Transportationby Yukio Futagawa

The Modern Terminalby Brian Edwards

IMAGES

www. ickr.com

www.greatbuildings.com

Zach Pauls

PRESENTATION LAYOUTS

Justin Kyle

Zach Pauls

PROJECT

Foster + Partners

Zach Pauls

SPECIAL THANKS

... but architecture is a public art and thequality of our urban design also affects our

well-being...

-Architect Norman Foster

hoffmann ladewig 3501 fall 2008 web

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