Constructing Journal Week 1Tutorial - Block Tower

During the tutorial we did an exercise in groups where we were required to build a tower as high as we could out of wooden blocks, however we were required to have an opening for something to fit through, as well as having a roof over the top. The idea was that we were to make a structure that worked well under compression and was stable under weight.

To make the arch we slowly brought the bricks closer and closer together, however as both sides were not even this lead to a far too wide opening and a weak arch. Making the opening too wide initially lead to it being hard to taper off the arch and connect both sides. We found that if any weight was put on top of it then it would collapse inwards.

Unfortunately our tower didn’t get to a great height or even have a roof, this was because the area inside the tower was too large to create a roof and the walls of the tower itself were far too unstable to even attempt to hold up a roof.

We ended up having to put some blocks side ways as a whole block some-times didnt fit due to the towers strange shape

Problems With the Tower Other Peoples’ Towers

In order for our tower to work better, be more stable, and be able to handle compression more, we had to fix multiple things. Firstly the area inside the tower was too large so made the walls flimsy. Secondly, as displayed in some of the other towers, we should have placed the blocks not only flat but on their edges as well to increase the stability. The other issue as mentioned before is that the arch was not constructed prop-erly as it was far too wide and could not withstand the pres-sure of the rest of the blocks. Perhaps a better way to build the opening would have been to build straight up, and used the beam idea from earlier to connect each side and form a closed over opening.

This tower was able to withstand great compression forces, and probably even more than the weight of two box’s of blocks. This is because of a variety of things. Firstly the area inside their tower was quite small so it was much easier to close over and create an arch. They also used less blocks to do the same job, so they spaced the blocks apart making the overall tower a lower density.

Lecture and Readings

This week was basically an introductory week to Constructing Environments so the lecture was telling us about the expectations of the subject and introducing some main ideas.

In the tutorial I learnt that when making beams across the top of the block tower (ours was too structurally unstable to attempt this) the beam wants to deflect and buckle, or in other words, the top part is coming together in compression, and the bottom part is stretching apart which is tension. The shape it flexes is concave. The beams are not able to deal with compres-sion, because the bottom of the beam is under tension. When making a beam, putting the rubber bands at the bottom of the beam will help take all the tension away. The same is for reinforced concrete beams; they have steel in the bottom as steel is high in tensile strength.

The reading this week and interactive structures didn’t really help in terms of learning about constructing, however it did provide an introduction to what is still to come.

Thermal mass is a term which is used to describe a particular materials abil-ity to store heat. Materials with thermal mass are able to absorb heat, then store it, then eventually release the heat again. A building material can be either heavy weight in which it has a high thermal mass and can store lots of heat, or lightweight, in which it has a low thermal mass and less of an ability to store heat. For example, a house with materials of high thermal

Next Tutorial - Balsa Wood Tower

For the next tutorial we have been given the task of build-ing a tower as high as possible with thin strips of balsa wood, which is very light and easily breakable. To the left is just an idea that my group had when we met up to discuss this activity and cut the wood. We may have to add some more supports but hope that it works and is stable.