Having now more or less finalised my roof designs. I've needed to go back to thinking about the construction of my building. This involved looking back at the tech case studies and my understanding of the Ritblat Building. Essentially, my building can stand up without the aid of the existing facade. I really wanted to continue to use timber, mainly for the creche, and I think I came to the conclusion that I could use timber for the structure of my previous design so I am going to carry on with this idea. I have then been able to use a similar construction as the Ritblat Building. Having worked through this, I should be able to finally start CADding them up!
I need to finish working out how to join the existing facade to the new structure but I took a couple of books out of the library a dew weeks ago so these will hopefully help me to resolve this problem.
I have a lot to do over Easter. One of the main things is my visuals. I've been told to find a style I love and essentially copy that style. There are a couple of styles that I really like and hopefully I can incorporate both of them. The first is Frank Lloyd Wright's drawings. Obviously, they were done by hand but I'm better at sketching than at photoshop anyway so this will be better for me. The other one isn't architecture related but not too unlike Wright's style. Being a hiker, I love looking at Wainwright's sketches of the Lake District and have tried to imitate them in my own sketches. While he very rarely, if ever, even includes a building in his sketches, the pen and ink style is definitely something I'd like to do.
Another thing that I'm going to have a go at is Revit. Now that I know the construction and form of my design, I think I can have another go at Revit. I did basic tutorials over the summer to get an idea of the program but not used it since, so if nothing else, I need to re-familiarise myself with it.
So hand in number two has been and gone and this last couple of weeks has seen me trying to get on with my case studies and my IDR. After looking through the part B brief, I realised that I didn't actually have the work to talk about so in order to do that, I needed to work out exactly how my building is constructed. This is where my case study work came in.
The Ritblat building is my case study as well as a precedent. The timber construction is exactly what I want to achieve with mine. Therefore in order to help me construct my own building, I started to deconstruct that one. I'll admit the plans weren't easy to read at the beginning but I think I've picked it up now and have been able to work out the construction techniques involved. This in turn has really helped me with my project as I have used a similar work method.
The drawings produced by Hawkins\Brown are awesome and I am hoping to achieve something in a similar style with my own drawings. There is so much detail on them though and I'm not entirely sure I have all the time that would be required! Worth a shot though.
The biggest issue with my construction at the moment is the existing brick work of the library. While I don't want to interfere too much with it, I know very little of the actual make up of the wall, especially whether there is insulation in there already. This potentially could change the entire construction of the vertical elements of my building - and the interior finish - and this is something that I am hoping to discuss with my tutors on Thursday. Once that problem is solved, I can then resolve the roof and work on getting the formal drawings done. I am also hoping to start work on Revit at the end of the week: I think I have more or less resolved my house construction so I figured it would be a good place to start.
While all of my tech is in sketches at the moment, they have really helped me to develop this and on Thursday, I'm hoping that I can get some help with the last details like DPMs etc and make sure everything is in it's place before I start to draw them up for real - and put it in Revit.
Currently feeling confident although this could all change on Thursday! Here's hoping
I feel like my journal (along with everything else) has been slightly abandoned recently due to the sheer volume of work. This week was spent mainly on AutoCAD and Sketch up, getting my building finalised and drawn up ready for today. I'm all CADed out!
Having printed out my plans etc for studio today, I was ready for them to be scribbled over. And that definitely happened! Which was good. When I was drawing them out, I didn't actually see them but during my tutorial things were pointed out that will definitely improve my design along with other things that I need to look at over the next couple of days. While many of these are in order to refine my centre, there are a couple of things to work on with my housing as well. Especially the site layout. I'm closer than I was but it's still not there yet.
After talking with my tutor, I had the chance to talk with a practising architect to get some help with my technical drawings and structural details. Unfortunately I ran out of time this week so I couldn't develop my detailed drawings but this is something that is going to happen this week. My precedent actually comes from my tech case study so this kills two birds with one stone. I am also going to look at the arrangement for the building (the Ritblat Building) as it is part of a primary school, therefore designed for children. I am hoping to develop my creche and create an environment suitable for children. I am also going to look at other precedents to help me with this.
I also seem to have actually forgotten how to draw plans. Like marking the door openings and hatching the walls and dotting upstairs floors and stairs and adding furniture (although I think the time constraint had some play in that one). This are all things that need to be (and will be) sorted out for the reviews . . . . next week.
