Lucy Moroney 'Lifecycle of Material Structure'

LIFECYCLE OF MATERIAL STRUCTURE LUCY MORONEY 3RD YEAR

LIFE CYCLE OF MATERIAL STRUCTURE I propose to examine the lifecycle of my structure through material and structural studies.

I use four levels of permanence in my building; an excavated cavity which uses earth as surface, the infill of framework using reclaimed earth, a lightweight, yet rigid frame and the ephemeral form contained within, which is constructed from harvested spider silk.

These forms continually change over the scale of weeks to years and increases a user’s link to the site, as they watch the building endlessly reform.

D/ WEB STRUCTURE Constructed from harvested spider silk

C/ FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE Framework to support suspended web structure

B/ CLADDED BASE FRAME Reconstituted earth as material

A/ EXCAVATION Using earth to finish surface

My intervention is a reaction to the heroism of the solid in Stirling’s mid 20th century architecture.

The mass of the structure becomes lighter as the user moves vertically.

Florey Building, Oxford

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

States of Structure

Engineering Faculty, Cambridge History Faculty Library, Cambridge

Stirling’s red brick trilogy carries influence from Russian industrial and Brutalism styles.

The use of mass and suspending mass is a recurring theme.

1:125

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 3 : CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.1 Loam Cladding 3.2 Contaminating Circulation 3.3 Base Framework 3.4 Digitized Clay Formation 3.5 Cladding Framework Test 3.6 3D Printed Ceramics 3.7 Large Scale 3D Printing 3.8 Extruding Loam 3.9 Printing Apparatus CHAPTER 1 : SITE INFORMATION

1.1 Site Plan B. Braun City of Industry

3.10 Printing Timeline

CHAPTER 4 : FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

1.2 Production Building : obstructions of sight & hidden 1.3 Site Plan Medical Production Building 1.4 Medical Production Building 1.5 Site Plan Sterile Production 1.6 Tree Mapping 1.7 Pocket Classification 1.8 States of Structure 1.9 Plan Layers of Project

4.1 Framework Breakdown 4.2 Circulation and Structure 4.3 Equal Spacing 4.4 Branching Structure 4.5 Vertical Elements 4.6 Twisting Towers 4.7 Two Layered Test 4.8 Branching Rod

CHAPTER 2 : EXCAVATION

4.9 Stiffening the Vertical 4.10 Vertical Principle 4.11 Preventing Torsion

2.2 Working the Earth 2.1 Machine and It’s Marks 2.3 Excavation Formation 2.4 Colour Quality of Earth 2.5 Earth Casting 2.6 Rammed Earth 2.7 Rammed Earth Finish

4.12 Defining the Horizontal

CHAPTER 5 : WEB STRUCTURE

5.1 Harvesting Spider Silk 5.2 Scale of Material 5.3 Wind Structure 5.4 Coloured Structure 5.5 Final Web Model

SITE INFORMATION

1.1 Site Plan B. Braun City of Industry Founded in 1839 as a local distributor of herbs, the Braun pharmaceutical enterprise expanded onto its current site in 1992 as James Stirling’s city of industry. Situated on the outskirts of Melsungen, Germany, it is home to B. Braun’s infusion delivery systems manufacturing facility. B. Braun is one of the largest suppliers to global health care today.

4.6km to Melsungen

7

1 Manufacturing of IV administration sets

6

2 Central Power Plant 3 Cafeteria 4 Goods Distribution Centre

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4

5 Parking Garage 8

6 Europe Building 7 Administration

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2

8 Circulation Bridge m

10 Disused Railway

-1.0

9 Medical Centre

9 1 -1.0m

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N

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3

4

5

6

7

8

9

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4 Connection Bridge

SITE INFORMATION

5 City of Industry to Melsungen

1.2 Production Building : obstructions of sight & hidden The Production Building is situated on the highest point of the site, backing onto shrub land.

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3

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6 5

15m A.G.L

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4

6 1.7m A.G.L

1.7m A.G.L

10m A.G.L

3 -1m A.G.L

10m A.G.L

41m A.G.L

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25m A.G.L

50m A.G.L 50m A.G.L 50m A.G.L

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2 2.7m A.G.L

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1 9

SITE INFORMATION

1.3 Site Plan Medical Production Building The Production Building is situated on the highest point of the site. The Medical Production Building is the only department on site, which runs twentyfour hours a day and seven days a week. 300 technicians and 300 apprentices occupy the production building on three shift rotations.

My project focuses on the line between the production and social spaces. Stirling used these rooms as a border between the sterile and the landscape and designated social spaces.

Passage that divides production and social

Change space and clean room

View from clean room to break room areas

Break room interior

SITE INFORMATION

1.4 Medical Production Building The Medical Production Building is the only department on site, which runs twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. 300 technicians and 300 apprentices occupy the production building on three shift rotations. My project aims to break into this process and modify the circulation behavior of the worker, who traditionally only moves between the car park and their work station.

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2

3 1 Visitors Gallery 2 Plastic IV unit 3 Sterile Change Over 4 Machine Technician

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5 Raw Material Storage

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6 Break Rooms

production section

5 Air filer and air-conditioning technology

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4 Infrastructure, granulate preparation and distribution

4 3 Clean room production

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2 Final packaging and logistics 1 Energy supply

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3

1

29.25

68.05

27.66

66.34

7.19

SITE INFORMATION

Plastic IV Unit Production

1.5 Site Plan Sterile Production

37.67

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37.67

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3

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1 4

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1 Injection Molding Machines 4

2 Tube Production 3 Drip Chamber Production 4 Final Assembly Machines

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LEVEL 4

Infrastructure, granulate preparation and distribution

1

SITE INFORMATION

1.6 Pocket Classification The original form of the pockets were from mapping the concealed spaces behind Stirling’s Florey Building, I began to define the volume between the lines of site and trees.

C.+1500cm

C.+830cm

C.+420cm

T.25 T.28

C.+1430cm

C.+720cm

C.+370cm

Lurkspace in Section T.29 T.25

T.30 T.28

C.+1250cm

C.+650cm

C.+310cm

T.29 T.25

T.30 T.28

C.+1100cm

C.+600cm

C.+250cm

T.29 T.25

T.30 T.28

C.+1020cm

C.+520cm

C.+190cm

T.29 T.30

T.25 T.28

Loitering Pockets Within Shrub Land

C.+960cm

C.+490cm

C.+60cm

T.29 T.25

Lurkspace Pocket P.6

T.30

T.25

A catalogue of how the pockets of space behind the production building developed.

P.01

P.02

P.03

P.05

P.04

P.07

P.08

P.09

P.06 P.10

P.01

P.02

P.03

Void spaces simply left by tree dimensions

Tree canopy and Stirling’s Florey building carve away at the volume

Combination of Tree canopy voids solid and frame leave elongated creating volume. The pockets machine begins to emerge

P.04

P.05

P.06

Lightweight frames trace the contours of the volume, leaving potential inhabitable space

Layers of pockets are Frame work varies in no longer straight the vertical up and down, they begin to twist

P.07

P.08

P.09

The column becomes part of the void

Playing with the den- Colouring different sity of the contour. surfaces of the frame

P.10

SITE INFORMATION

1.7 Tree Mapping Stirling’s break rooms for the production staff are designed to feel as if they are sitting among the tress.

Pockets blur the boundary between Stirling’s order within the production building and the shrub land behind. The seemingly chaotic woodlands are ordered into four rows.

Early pocket models explored the blurring of the boundary between the landscape and the sterile interior. They sought to puncture and envelope the break rooms, absorbing the users into the intervention space.

The pockets have a built in circulation, which is organic to the form.

SITE INFORMATION

1.8 States of Structure Similar to Sam Taylor-Wood’s time lapse of a still life, my intervention onto Stirling’s site has its own life cycle. It is in a constant state of flux; one spire in the process of being build, one degrading and another in a ruined state, waiting to be rebuilt.

The structure contaminates the sterile spaces of the production, drawing the users into fantasy spaces.

Still Life, Sam Taylor-Wood

Spire Lifecycle : 104 weeks

3 Weeks Timber frame containting circulation ramp

7 Weeks Prefabricated framework secured into lower timber frame. Infill of base commences

10 Weeks Loam has been clad on the lower frame.

Harvesting of Spider silk commences

88 Weeks Inner self supporting structure, fabricated from woven spider silk is completed.

90 Weeks Majority of spider silk structure dissipates with the wind

104 Weeks Loam in fill on the base begins to degrad, leaving the structure unstable. The cycle begins again

SITE INFORMATION

1.9 Plan Layers of Project Visitors Entrance

-6 .

-4 0m .25 m -3 .5m

-7

.5m

m .3 -6 .5m 5 -

.5m -4

.25

-0

-5

5m 5m -1.

m 0m

-1

-1.0m

-0 .5

m

-2.

+2.0m

EXCAVATION 1:200

-3

-3.0m

5m

.2m

.5m

-5.0m

-3.

m

.1

-7

-6 -8.0m

-7.0m

-9.0 m -7.0 m

m

-7 .2m -6 .5m -5 .2m

-9.0 m -7.0 m

-1.0m

Lurker’s Entrance

LOAM INFILLED BASE 1:200

Worker’s Entrance

7 7 7

STRUCTURAL FRAME 1:200

SPIDER SILK HARVEST AND WEB STRUCTURE 1:200

CHAPTER 2 : EXCAVATION

2.2 Working the Earth 2.1 Machine and its Marks 2.3 Excavation Formation 2.4 Colour Quality of Earth 2.5 Earth Casting 2.6 Rammed Earth 2.7 Rammed Earth Finish

My first concept of forming these pockets was centered around the idea of working the earth of the site to form the pockets of space.

I began looking at archaic tools and crafting methods, such as the Archimedes screw. At this point of the project the aim was to devise architecture from a simple construction method. Testing allowed me to see the validity of the concept

Vitruvius , Venice, 1511 Construction of the water

Archimedes screw

Injection molding machine

Agostino Ramelli Water Drilling Mechanism

EXCAVATION

2.1 Machine and It’s Marks

EXCAVATION

2.2 Working the Earth Using the basic motion of the breast drill, the variable-diameter drill piece was tested in three states of clay. The tests were unsuccessful in finding a way to control the outer shell of the pocket being created.

Retractable Drill Bit Chancing it’s diameter as it forms the plastic clay

Drill Component Parts

Motion of Drill Part 1

Motion of Drill Part 2

These experiments are based on the idea of turning the soil into a slurry so it may be drilled and worked into a form. The experiment with the drill that changes diameter was performed on three different harnesses of clay. The test did not generate a shell like wall that could be developed into a form.

Drill Part 2 in Clay Slurry Drill Part 1 in Clay Slurry Drill Part 2 in White Clay

EXCAVATION

2.3 Excavation Formation Systematic removal of material from the earth. Carving a cavity into the site to grant access to layer levels of the Production Building.

Ifugao Rice Terraces, Philippines

Carving Volume Model Studies

Open-pit mines of Chuquicamata in northern Chile

EXCAVATION

2.4 Colour Quality of Earth Inspired by the striations in colour that mined earth reveals, I began to investigate how I could achieve this effect within the scale of my project.

Cerro de Pasco Mine

Utah Moab Potash Mining

Flint Mines, Neolithic Britain

EXCAVATION

2.5 Earth Casting Paolo Soleri’s CAST EARTH is a structural material made with earth and calcined gypsum that can replace wood or steel framing in residential and light commercial buildings. It has the properties of traditional earth construction, augmented by superior esthetics, rapid construction, and affordable cost.

The process consists of rapidly pouring an entire building in place, removing forms shortly after the pour. What makes this possible is calcined gypsum’s fast set rate to a wet strength sufficient to support a wall, at an unexpectedly low concentration. Fifteen percent calcined gypsum provides surprising strength immediately after setting. Steel reinforcing is not used

rammed earth

layer of reinforced bar concrete layer of sprayed concrete plastic membrane

Smoothing freshly packed concrete on a sculpted retaining wall.

Smoothing with concrete float after being poured over chickenwire reinforcement

Drainage will be installed in the base of the excavation and fed into the fire water reserve.

Spraying concrete slurry with water to set properly.

Cast and carving earth - Paolo Soleri Amphitheater in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

EXCAVATION

2.6 Rammed Earth

Reitermann + Chapel of Reconciliation in Berlin, Germany

Rammed earth is method of construction that uses reusable form work. Other materials can be added to the mix to improve compaction, such as ground glass, shredded rubber tyres or natural fibres. Once the wall is constructed the form work can immediately be removed and the wall is then ready to take structural load.

7.2m height and 0.6m thick rammed earth wall.

Rammed earth wall contains large fragments of broken brick, as well as gravel, which constitutes 55% of the material. The coarse grain mixture, with minimal moisture content reduces material shrinkage to only 0.15%

With traditional form works, the boards on both sides are held apart and kept together by spacers. Climbing form work allows the step down effect that I was interested in from the mining aesthetic.

Moist Earth

Mixture of sand, gravel, clay & concrete

Reinforced Plywood Frame

Pneumatic Backfill Tamper

Visible Layers of Compacted Earth

Climbing Form work

Form work for Rounded & Curved Walls

1. Framework is built and a layer of moist earth is filled in

2. Layer of moist earth is compressed

3. Next layer of moist earth is added

4. Successive layers of moist earth are added and compressed

5. Framework is removed leaving rammed earth wall

Form work without intermediary spacers

EXCAVATION

2.7 Rammed Earth Finish

ADVANTAGES Long life span of over 100 years COMPLEX RAMMED-EARTH CONSTRUCTION an ecofriendly alternative to cement-based methods. Parts of Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain and the Potala Palace in Lhasa are built from rammed earth.

Efficient to heat and cool, thick earth walls being an excellent insulator and utilising passive solar heating in the winter and passive cooling in the summer

DISADVANTAGES Need finished surface coating to resist water

Earth is a sustainable resource, which could reuse part of the excavated soil earlier in the project.

Exposure to the elements hastens its life cycle.

‘Rammed Earth House’, Boltshauser Architekten, Zürich - water flowing over the surface is slowed by the ceramic tiles, reducing weathering.

CHAPTER 3 : CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.1 Loam Cladding 3.2 Contaminating Circulation 3.3 Base Framework 3.4 Digitized Clay Formation 3.5 Cladding Framework Test 3.6 3D Printed Ceramics 3.7 Large Scale 3D Printing 3.8 Extruding Loam 3.9 Printing Apparatus 3.10 Printing Timeline

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.1 Loam Cladding Loam is soil composed of clay, silt, sand and occasionally larger aggregates such as gravel or stone.

This mud construction method can be traced back to ancient times. Light clay construction can be found five minutes from the site in Melsungen, Germany. It has various construction benefits such as helping control air humidity.

Four states of loam consistency:

The varying conditions of the materials involved in the loam mix contribute to its overall strength. Soil dug from depths of less than 40cm can contain plant matter – when using earth as a building material it must be free from plant matter.

Extruded loam is more efficient with high clay content. Ideal Mix:

IMPROVING MIX

Expect 0.1% shrinkage The cement acts as a stabilizer which covers the clay minerals and prevents water from reaching them and causing swelling and cracking.

Mix needs larger aggregate of 5mm-10mm to prevent latter water erosion

Cement Additives Natural Fibres such as horse hair Adding large aggregates to reduce clay contents

liquid plastic semisolid solid

50% clay 50% silt Cement additive as stabiliser

Straw (0.5-2 cm)

Traditional Wattle-and-Daub Building Technique

Wood ash

Plastic loam has been used for thousands of years to fill gaps in log houses where the logs are laid horizontally. In traditional European Fachwerk houses wet loam (usually containing cut straw) is thrown on an interwoven mesh of twigs, branches and bamboo sticks.

Using a loam infill to enclose the base of the plywood frame base.

4km from Stirling’s City of Industry, the town of Melsungen is populated with wattle and daub construction

Melsungen, Germany

City of Industry

Light Clay Construction / Melsungen GERMANY

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.2 Contaminating Circulation The interior volumes will act as ramps to filter the users into the structure. My intervention will act as a social contamination for the otherwise separate circulation paths of the worker, visitor and lurker.

VISITOR FACTORY WORKER LURKER / INVADER

Spiral ramp is constructed from 50mm layered plywood.

7meters

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.3 Base Framework

CNC machined Marine grade ply cut

Plan

10m

Timescale of weathering ply

Front Elevation

1 week

5 months

8 months

Spiral Framework

Stabilising Members

Loam Skin Infill

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.4 Digitized Clay Formation Waag Society, DUS Architects and Arne Hendriks, worked together with some local traditional mud workers. During the three days of Amsterdam’s PICNIC Festival 2011, the hypercrafted pavilion grew every day.

Framework of the building is printed with a woodcutter from a computer model. As soon as this hull is printed, the building can be finished with local available material such as clay or mud.

This concept of combining the digital and traditional craft is a thread I want to carry through my project: Hypercrafting.

CONSTRUCTION 1. Assemblage of CNC machined framework 2. Thatched surfaces between CNC contour 3. Loam mixture sprayed on and built up in layers

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.5 Cladding Framework Test Using a 1.5mm thick card frame, I mixed a clay solution with high water ratio to extrude through 1mm diameter opening. The experiment highlighted the need for a supporting vertical element.

Variable effects can be achieved with pressure of extrusion

Paolo Soleri’s mould forming techniques of dragging a cut profile around unformed clay to achieve shape. This technique was used in this example for finishing the form of the extruded clay

Layering the extruded mixture

Rather than stacking across the gap the clay mixture replicated the form of the under card

Used Soleri mould technique to form clay

Irregular extrusions with more intense extrusion pressure

Using the clay extrusion in alternate layers to replace the need for straw fill

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.6 3D Printed Ceramics L’Artisan Electronique’s Unfold Project is a combination of artisan techniques with digital. Using a 3D scanner to track hand movements, by hand the user can form the mesh into a desired form. This file is then exported and printed in extruded coils of clay through the means of 3D printing.

3D sensor interface scans the hand as it sculpts virtual space.

Air pressure forces clay through syringe nozzle

The printnig of ceramic is a concept I wanted to implement as a method of applying loam to my base. This hypercrafting method allows for higher accuracy with extruding clay and has the ability to build in structural cross sections into the walls it prints. The next issue here is one of scale. There examples are of 15cm protoypes, whereas my project will be printed 15m high.

Plate moves down on the Y axis; the nozzle never moves it’s position 10cm

Using the reconstituted soil from the excavation process of the project, the interior form could be printed onto the skeleton frame.

Rather than the lining being a pure product of a digital form, the process itself could start to ‘hand craft’. For instance, in the example below shows the result of a flux in air pressure while extruding the layers. This effect could not be digitally designed, but created through the making itself.

controlled air pressure

loam mixture

Structural stability of the loam can be achieved through layering or changing the extrusion shape from the nozzle.

Contour crafting is a developing technology which works with digital forming of concrete without shuttering. The benefits of this technology is the ability to create double curved surfaces.

Material is added incrementally and therefore these processes are called additive or deposition fabrication.

Large scale contour crafting, which uses a concrete solution. This detail shows a cross section of a house wall, 400mm total thickness.

PRINTING A HOUSE

Shiro Studio architects and D-Shape: using CAD modelling software they are able to print large scale structures.

The system deposits the sand and then inorganic binding ink. The exercise is repeated. The millennia-long process of laying down sedimentary rock is accelerated into a day.

The printing proceeds in 5-10mm layer sediments, with the end result having the equivalent compressive strength as Portland Cement.

6cm

FUSED DEPOSITION MODELLING

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.7 Large Scale 3D Printing

10 meters

Positive: This process achieves large scale protoypes with the aesthetic of layered sediment, similar to the rammed earth Negative: This process could not take place onsite due to the apparatus and excess powder

Positive: Displays the potential of up scaling and uses a material similar to the consistency of loam used in spray application. Also uses an onsite printing apparatus.

9mm

PRINTING CONCRETE

1.5 meters

Foster + Partners used this techique of rapid protoyping, traditionally only used for sketch models, and up scaled it. This method, intended to be used in the finished architecture, could produce complex geometric forms.

Concrete 3D printer being developed at The University of Arizona College of Architecture Material Labs.

The clay solution they use is still in a highly plastic state.

The rate of printing is 1 meter in 1 minute (a relatively high speed in comparison to other techniques).

Positive: This technique can produce large protoypes with fairly intricate extruded layers, with a typical diameter of 9mm.

Jan

5cm

The method of contour crafting depends on the consistency of the material and the speed which it is printed. Based on the previous case studies, I selected an extrusion process. I also want to adapt this process so it can be fabricated on site.

Feb

c

Nov

De

ar M

40° 35° 30° 25° 20° 15° 10° 5° 0° -5° -10° -15° -20°

Oct

Apr

5cm extrusion contour crafting of concrete solution. Comparable scale to the end use in my project.

This example prints 1 meter in 3 minutes.

Se

p

May

Ju

n Jul

Aug

Average temperature in Melsungen, Germany The optimal temperature for printing loam solution is above 10° Therefore printing would take place between June and October

5cm

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.8 Extruding Loam

Ideal Mix Based on the soil consistency of the site (high clay content) I conducted a material test of 50% Loam mix and 50% reinforced clay. Based on this mix the material took 4 days to dry out completely with a shrinkage rate of 1.6%; therefore not compromising the integrity of the printed skin.

1. Mix clay consistency for it to easily extruded

2. Using a mould to emulate the end extruded result

Fine aggregate loam mix

3. Tightly packing clay into set dimension

2.46cm

2.5cm

50/50 loam to reinforced clay mix

100

Clay

Silt

Sand

Gravel

90

5cm

Percentage passing

combining mix with 3ml of water

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.002 0.006 0.02

Time to Dry Out: 96 hours Shrinkage Rate: 1.6% plastic mix achieved

0.06

0.2

0.6

2

6

20

60

Grain size (mm)

Soil condition of the Melsungen area: Soil grain size distribution of loams with high clay content

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.9 Printing Apparatus This process uses reclaimed earth from the earlier excavation stage. The loam is combined with reinforced clay mix. The mechanism being part of the structure allows for repair as the structure begins to degrade.

Air pressure Loam mix

Loam and air pressure tubes are fed along an inner track within the ramp.

The printing armature uses the inner circulation ramp as a track. The apparatus allows for it to extend in the x,y,z directions for irregular profiles.

Spiral ramp built into wooden frame

Reclaimed soil from excavation process

Soil processor combines clay and loam mix

Machining can print 3 layers of loam at a time, as this is the maximum height the loam is stable at before it is dried. Must wait 4 hours between each three layers.

90 layers of loam mixture 60 layers of loam mixture 30 layers of loam mixture

1.5 m

40 HOURS

80 HOURS

50mm

120 layers of loam mixture

120 HOURS

Drag arm, smoothing the inner surface of the printed layers

150 layers of loam mixture

160 HOURS

Air pressure control, to manage extrusion

180 layers of loam mixture

200 HOURS

Rotating X,Y axis arm

210 layers of loam mixture

240 HOURS

Openings can be factored into the printing process as a devise for improving light and air quality.

240 layers of loam mixture

280 HOURS

Spiraling earth, ‘Atlantida Church’, Eladio Dieste

10 m

270 layers of loam mixture

320 HOURS

360 HOURS

Light perforations - ‘Rammed Earth House’, Boltshauser Architekten, Zürich

5cm

CLADDED BASE FRAME

3.10 Printing Timeline

CHAPTER 4 : FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.1 Framework Breakdown 4.2 Circulation and Structure 4.3 Equal Spacing 4.4 Branching Structure 4.5 Vertical Elements 4.6 Twisting Towers 4.7 Two-Layered Test 4.8 Branching Rod 4.9 Stiffening the Vertical 4.10 Vertical Principle 4.11 Preventing Torsion 4.12 Defining the Horizontal

The tower structure will be machined and assembled with plate steel off site and installed as one unit.

The aim of the following experiments is to find the ideal combination of horizontal and vertical elements, and for the framework to remain light weight, yet rigid enough to support the web structure at the top.

Tower range 20-30 meters

7

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.1 Framework Breakdown

7 7

Web Structure

Vertical Structure

Horizontal Element

Framework is fixed into rigid loam base.

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.2 Circulation and Structure The framework is constructed in layers which conjoin to form an internal spiral with the structure, which is used for access.

Spiral Framework Structure - Alice Studio at Ecole Polytechnique FĂŠdĂŠrale de Lausanne

Framework is embedded in earth work below

Irregular circular spiral test

Early concept model of the framwork

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.3 Equal Spacing Basing the structural study on the three structural components of web geometry

Each level rotates 10° from level above

10°

Shearing Motion

2mm Wood Connectors TEST ANALYSIS 2cm wide vertical members were evenly spacing 5 horizontal plates. The tower was secured into a rigid base, emulating the loam base of the pockets. The structure twisted under lateral forces. When the model was under compression, the load initiated the tower to go into a twisting motion - failing under torsion.

RESULT Two limiting factors of the test was the material used for the vertical members - balsa wood - and the equally spaced horizontal members.

Varying the spacing might yield more interesting forms when contorting the vertical elements. Next time a more elastic material to be used for the vertical pieces.

5cm

5cm

1mm Plastic Frame 5cm

Rigid base represents loam frame base

30 metres

Test Model Materials Vertical member: 2mm thick balsa wood Horizontal brace: 1.5mm polypropylene sheet

Evenly spaced horizontal pieces.

Hexagon profile is used for the frame to approximate irregular faces of original pockets

Load: 300g

Load: 500g

Load: 700g

Load: 900g

Load: 1100g

Load: 1300g

torsion in motion

fail point

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.4 Branching Structure Experimenting with varying spacing and flexible vertical members.

Top view

Bottom view

16 vertical members, radial notches

Test Model Materials Horizontal brace: 2mm card clad polypropylene sheet 2cm

Vertical member: 1.5mm polypropylene sheet

4cm

The material used for the horizontal member was not rigid enough to keep the vertical strips in place.

The test was a first step towards creating towers with branching pockets. The next tests need to be more methodical with spacing and progressively dividing into multiple pockets.

9cm

Testing flexibility of tower

Tower distors easily under compression

1cm

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.5 Vertical Elements Testing the ideal profile for dividing horizontal breaks in pocket towers

Rigid

90° distortion Radial T profile is rigid.The down side is that the forming of the vertical is limited.

Rectangular profile is stiff in the short cross section direction.- yet provides no resistance in the opposite direction.

Alternating rectangular profile pieces.

Allows only 5 ° distortion.

At this stage I was trying to find a basic combination of vertical and horizontal elements to determine the form of the finished towers

300g

70mm

90mm

275mm

300mm

65mm 50mm 40mm 30mm 20mm

40mm 30mm

Vertical members are arranged radially to be stiff under lateral load.

50mm

70mm

The changing diameter of the plates distorted the vertical element.

20mm

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.6 Twisting Towers

TEST ANALYSIS

The rectangular profile of the vertical members makes them unstable when in torsion. If they remain vertical they perform in compression.

67mm 50mm 40mm 30mm 20mm

207mm

70mm 50mm 40mm 30mm 20mm

210mm

300g

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.7 Two Layered Test This was a basic test to find a way to use fine vertical rods, without the need of pinning them to a fixed plate in order to stand up.

1cm 6.5cm

1mm 1mm

40 vertical elements

5cm

Supported by pinning to a rigid structure above Christmas tree instillation at the V&A, Studio Rosa.

TEST ANALYSIS 40 vertical members alternated between the larger and smaller diameter frame at the top of the tower. This created a two layered test. The inner pocket acted as a stabilizer for the outer layer to maintain its central diameter.

RESULT Although the spacing of the central diameter was maintained while loaded in compression.

The pocket failed in torsion motion. Therefore there needs to be a rigid element which prevents the central diameter from moving.

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.8 Branching Rod

Pre stressed structure secured to a fixed plate.

Test generated as an exploration in branching the vertical elements to create pockets within pockets

AA INTER10 2008/09 eco machines

While creating branching pocket structure, I am also interested in creating a ‘fixed plate’ within the structure for the later web structure installation.

10cm 5cm

Combination of vertical and pre-twisted rod

The test is a combination of pre-twisted vertical components and longer straight components.

TEST ANALYSIS As the tower fails the vertical elements do not attempt to buckle in compression. Rather, they twist. This motion tightens the central members which are already twisted clockwise.

The central diameter shrinks, destabilising the whole tower.

RESULT Central diameter must keep vertical elements stiff and in place, in order to support the above weight. Straight members must be kept at shorter lengths to prevent torsion.

20g

40g

40g

11cm

3cm

3cm

2.5cm

1cm 8cm 4.5cm 2.5cm

A combination of straight and twisted vertical elements

2.3cm

40g

Shortening the fixed points between the thin rod to minimise bending motion.

1cm

4cm

2cm

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.9 Stiffening the Vertical

The horizontal component shortens the verticle members, making it stiffer in bending motion under compression

Plate Elements Cross Brace

Bracing elements to keep the vertical members straight rather than twisting

40g load. Black members begin to bend and kink under compression.

60g load. Green members slightly twist

80g load. Although members are bending the members are still holding

10m

Black members fail in bending under the weight. They were the largest vertical span of 5cm

200g

The black members failed first as the horizontal plates pulled vertical members too close together in the opposite direction, causing a kink.

200g

Green members were the next to fail.

The largest span between horizonal plates here is 4cm.

200g

Under the 200g load, the red members remained intact. They are spaced with a minimum distance of 1cm.

200g

This following set of experiments is finding the optimal combination of vertical plates to stiffen the 1.5mm rod arranged in a hexagonal plan

85cm

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.10 Vertical Principle

Rigid base emulates being secured into loam frame base Vertical elements secured into the wooden frame by threading through the wooden frame

20cm

These hexagonal plates are used as a simplified form for the following tests. I am trying to use these experiments to identify a simple principle which I can later apply to a more complex formed plate.

150mm

150mm

80mm

200mm 200mm 80mm

200mm

80mm

80mm

200mm

300mm 40mm

70mm

200mm

200mm

170mm

170mm

380mm

9°

280mm

170mm

4°

240mm

280mm

100g

3°

100g

100mm

Plate Combinations to Stabilise the Vertical

200mm

The rod naturally twists when a different diameter plates are secured.

The addition of the secured plate at the top increased flex under load.

Having two plates of the same diameter above one another slightly stabilised the rod composition.

100g

150mm

100mm

Vertical elements cross over, countering torsion motion.

200mm

150mm

70mm

150mm

80mm

0째

220mm

80mm

200mm

100mm

100g

200mm

By having two sequential plates with the same diameter and crossing alternate vertical rods as a form of cross bracing, the structure becomes stable.

Crossing the direction of the string to create stability AA INTER10 2008/09 eco machines

200mm

100mm

5째

700g

220mm 100mm

100mm

500g

300g

7째

220mm

70mm

70mm

150mm

150mm

200mm

100mm 200mm 150mm

3째

220mm

70mm

100mm

With enough lateral force the tower fails by the plates shifting their position.

100mm

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.11 Preventing Torsion

Combining the structural principle gained from the experimentation and the original aesthetic for revised form

FRAMEWORK STRUCTURE

4.12 Defining the Horizontal Each plate uses hexagonally positioned connection points for the vertical rod. This method also allows to create spaces within each tower by modifying the interior cutout.

P/1

P/2

P/3

P/4

P/5

P/6

P/7

P/8

P/9

P/10

P/11

P/12

P/13

P/14

P/15

Plan View of Tower

Using this principle, each tower can be unique by simply modifying the shape of the horizontal plate. As long as the tower contains sequential plates with same diameter at the base, mid and top of the tower (blue in diagram); intermediate plates (cyan in diagram) can be added to fill the spaces between for the aesthetic. These structures can be fabricated and assembled off site and implanted onto site.

CNC Steel Plates Cut

P/12 P/11

P/5 P/3

6.5cm 1.5 7.5cm

P/7

13cm

P/9

11cm

P/10

5cm 5cm 5cm

P/13

15cm

P/15

11cm

P/19

CHAPTER 5 : WEB STRUCTURE

5.1 Harvesting Spider Silk 5.2 Scale of Material 5.3 Wind Structure 5.4 Coloured Structure 5.5 Final Web Model

This golden cape, exhibited at the V&A, is the largest garment ever made entirely of spider silk. the golden 4m-long cape took four years to create from the silk of 1.2m golden orb spiders.

Spider silk weaving has been practiced since the 16th century. By adapting these harvesting techniques, I propose to house a spider farm at the top of each of my towers. As well as containing the spider farm itself, the thread will be extracted by hand and woven into rope which will be used to generate the self supporting thread structure.

Each thread is made from 96 twisted strands

Loom woven fabric

Collect silk onto spool

700 meters of continuous thread can be collected from a spider in each sitting

Spider secured in order to extract silk

Maintained natural gold colour from harvested silk

in the early 19th century Raimondo Maria de Termeyer discovered that threads extracted from the spider itself produced a higher-quality silk. An 1807 engraving shows de Termeyer’s extraction device. The spider is clamped by a sheet of wood with a halfmoon aperture for its abdomen. A winding machine draws out a continuous strand.

SPIDER SILK CAP

WEB STRUCTURE

5.1 Harvesting Spider Silk

WEB STRUCTURE

5.2 Scale of Material Examples of spiders covering the same spans as my tower exist in nature.

Egg Sacs 1 day

Larva 14 days

Nymph 30 days

Young Adult 90 days

Adult 730 days

Females lay up to 3,000 eggs in one or more silk egg sacs. Average life span is one to two years Dormant Jan

Feb 40° 35° 30° 25° 20° 15° 10° 5° 0° -5° -10° -15° -20°

c

Less Active ar

M

Nov

De

Oct

Apr

Se

p

May

Ju

Highly Active

n Jul

Aug

Spider Forecast - weather condition of the site determines the activity of the spider farm as they are exposed to outdoor elements.

Trees rising above the floodwaters became safe havens for webspinning animals in Sindh, Pakistan. Under these conditions the spiders create communal webs

The spiders can be farmed on the structure itself. A fair amount of free infill web would occur, as well as the hand harvesting to gather material for the rope structure.

Spanning 200 meters, draped upon seven trees.

Lake Tawokoni State Park

Strength

Basing the structural study on the three structural components of web geometry

Stress (MPa)

WEB STRUCTURE

5.3 Wind Structure

Harvested thread will be twisted into thread various densities for desired strength. 3 classes of fibre for the 3 functions of fibre in the structure 5.63mm

4.73mm

2.8mm Stiffness

Yield

Strain (mm/mm)

Elasticity

Elastic Properties of Spider Silk T.1 Spiral Thread

200 threads

T.2

T.3 Radii Thread

500 threads

Bridge Thread

800 threads

Spiral Thread

Radii Thread

Bridge Thread

The abdoment of the spider contains 3 to 4 spinnarets.

Each spinnaret has many spigots, each of which is connected to one silk gland. There are at least six types of silk gland, each producing a different type of silk.

It is similar in tensile strength to nylon and biological materials such as chitin, collagen and cellulose, but is much more elastic, in other words it can stretch much further before breaking or losing shape.

The Cathedral of Wind is the perfect case study for demonstrating the basic spider web structure in three dimensions. I would like to incorporate this principle into the center of my tower structure, as a self supported insta llation.

The Cathedral of the Wind, Sean McGinnis

WEB STRUCTURE

5.4 Coloured Structure Instillation within the tower

Similar to the simple experiment of sitting a white daisy in dye, I propose to feed the different groups of spiders dyed insects. In this way the silk they produce will be coloured.

Anchor points are incorporated into the frame, in order to suspend the structure

WEB STRUCTURE

5.5 Final Web Model

The spun silk is woven into the centre of the tower structure. The tower itself becomes the anchor points for the supporting threads.

WEB STRUCTURE

5.6 The Harvest The spiders inhabit the structure and are selected by the handlers to extract 700 meters of silk in one sitting. Theharvesting devise is built into the floor of the structure.

Handlers secure the spiders into a devise built into the base to harvest the silk

The spiders are kept within a sandwiched breathable fiber sheet, stretch between the tower plates.

Harvested silk is spun into rope to be used in the suspended central structure.

Spiders can catch insects within the fiber as well as being fed dyed food to alter the silk colour.

The collected thread is used to construct the structure below by hand.

The harvesting devise is built into the floor. The spiders are selected from the above farm and their silk is extracted by trained handlers.

Spiders are secured into a spider friendly hinged clamp.

Silk is wound onto a reel

A process similar to twisting twin to form rope will manufacture the thread for construction.

The intertwined fibres are used in construtructing the below structure, using the surround tower structure as the anchor support.

The process of intertwining the coloured silk will have an effect of weaving thread rainbows, similar to the Gabriel Dawe’s Thread project

TIMELINE LEGEND

8760 hours

Harvest and construction of inner web structure

168 hours

Instillation of framework structure

4

Spiral Framework

Stabilising Members

Loam Skin Infill

360 hours

Printed loam infill of frame

330 hours

Rammed earth excavation

1:100

Inspirations