Weekly Response 5 - Structure

Group 1
Dome: Odate Jukai Dome

From the first group, I have picked the Odate Jukai Dome to look at. The dome was designed by Toyo Ito, who completed the project in 1997. It is located in the Akita Prefecture of Japan, which is on the north side of the main island. This dome is particularly interesting because it is the one of the world's largest wooden domes, which is constructed with cypress wood and steel. It is used as a multipurpose sports facility, and was built to appear to be floating a few meters high in order to allow traffic to flow in and out easily. There is a glass facade around the building which is pushed in a few meters to further create the sense of the dome floating above ground. This floating appearance is possible due to steel columns that hold the dome up. The use of cypress wood connects the architecture to nature, while still showcasing the impressive technological aspect of the dome. Raising the dome, and using natural cypress wood with the clear glass help to create a transparency between nature and the structure. Another interesting aspect to look at is the outside of the dome. Its design was greatly inspired by wind, since the northern part of Japan has a fairly harsh climate. The grooves in the roof help to minimize the impact of winter monsoons, while also enhancing ventilation significantly during the summer months. This helps the dome to also be energy efficient. This structure is designed to be warm and welcoming to large gatherings of people with the use of wood and the natural lighting coming through the dome. Not only does it hold sporting events, but it holds performance shows and other large events as well. It is built to act as a shelter for the people of Akita, and to help connect the community as a whole.

Group 2

Truss: Northwest Corner Building

From the second group, I have chosen to look at the Northwest Corner Building, which is located in New York City, New York. The lead architect was José Raphael Moneo, who finished the project in 2010. It was was built to accommodate the need for a new science building for Columbia University. It holds courses such as biology, chemistry, engineering, and physics. The design of this building helps enhance the intellectual feel of the building. The steel structure provides an extremely firm sense, and it appears to be built to last. This building is interesting because the truss structure is built throughout the entire building. The beams are extremely large and go at 45 degree angles, which make it look very geometrical. Moneo had to design the building within a 65-foot square area at the corner of 120th and Broadway, and had to have a very complex structure in order to hold the building up since it was built over a gymnasium. The inside of the building is designed to create lot of open spaces and present a welcoming environment to draw students into the university. It is meant to be a space where ideas can be generated and shared easily. Above the gymnasium was seven double-height floors of open laboratory area, which were forty-foot concrete slabs, so this required a very intricate structural design in order to prevent collapse. The diagonal irregularities found on the exterior were specifically designed to contrast the forms of regular, basic structures. The exterior is covered in patterned aluminum fins, which cause light to glisten as one views the building. This sparkling effect makes the building stand out to the public, and helps make it look new and clean. The use of glass for a majority of the outside walls also repeats the theme of wanting to create an open sense in the university. I believe that the entire truss design is extremely interesting, effective, and also visually appealing to the building as a whole.

Weekly Response 05: Structure

This is RebildPorten, a visitor's centre and exhibition space in the Rebild Hills and Rold Forest of Rebild, Denmark. Designed by the architecture firm, CEBRA, RebildPorten acts as a gateway into the natural reserve behind it. I found this building interesting, because the structure heavily features a unique set of trusses as an external support. The building in a way reminded me of the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing. The fact that the trusses were wooden, though, stuck out to me as well. It seems as though most of the trusses we viewed in lecture were typically steel and patterned. The fact that this was a more random wooden pattern interested me, and I wanted to see if I could find out more about the purpose behind that design.
The architect describes having designed the building to feel similar to going into the forest that visitors later would do. The mismatched beams that meet one another at various points and heights can reflect the way tree branches cross over one another. This organization, along with the very natural wooden used to construct it, does a really good job of conveying this message of naturalness. In fact, this raw cut timber still gives off the scent of the woods, which further adds to the hiking-like experience one may have when passing under the beams.
From the inside, there is minimal structure to obstruct the space. There is just one large room inside, for the purpose of exhibitions. The effect that the trusses have in this regard, then, could also be similar to looking out through a group of trees. This whole building does a great job acting as a large transition for guests before they enter into the actual reserve. It shows the strength and serenity nature can have, and helps prepare them for their journey ahead.

This is a wing that was added as an addition to architect Louis Kahn’s Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. Designed by Architect Renzo Piano, and opened in 2013, the Piano Pavilion wing was tasked with complementing, but not directly copying, the original museum designed by Kahn (shown in the third image).

Piano did a great job of opening up the gallery space on the inside of the building by designing the structure to be built around it. When I initially saw the images of the Piano Pavilion, I instantly thought about how well it reflected an example of frame construction. The posts and beams that make up the framework dominate the outside of the building. The larger, tan-colored beams that run across the building are very wide and simple, which contrasts well with the much thinner glass that runs across the top, as the roof.

While each individual element of this building seems to be very solid and heavy, the fact that they are all so space out actually sees to add lightness to the final product. One thing that Kahn did when designing the original museum was stress the use of natural light. By removing the structure from the inside of the building, Piano was able to allow the most amount of light to come in through the roof as he could. Had he chosen a load-bearing structure, the glass roof likely wouldn’t have the same effect, and the light and open feeling inside the building would not have been possible.

Inside the gallery, Piano kept the moveable walls thin as well, and chose to use a natural hardwood for the floors. The beams that seemed so prominent from the outside now are just a minimal element from the inside, simply housing the lights. The gaps that were prominent on much of the outer construction now really develop this open space. The combination of these design choices all creates a modern and natural space, that can really create an intimate experience between the art this building houses and the visitors that have come to see it.

It's not re-vaulting, it's perfectly framed.

Barrel Vault

Tianjin West Railway Station

Tianjin, China

This building is a brand new train station in Tianjin that is on a high speed train line between Beijing and Shanghai. It was designed as the new hub of the Tianjin transportation system, and was commissioned by the Chinese Ministry of Railways and was designed by gmp architekten. The barrel vault itself is made of shaped steel and diamond-shaped glass panels. I selected this structure because of its beauty and simplicity. The cleanliness and brightness of the space is quite breathtaking and makes the building seem modern and “hi-tech”. This is an image that the architect deliberately attempts to create through the use of obviously artificial materials that harness the power of nature, in this case light. The building symbolizes several things, one of which is the power of technology and modernity, bringing these concepts to a country on the rise. The steel and glass used in the building are associated with a modern or contemporary style of architecture, and is a clear break from the past of bricks and mortar. Another astounding feature of the space is the impression of incredible size that it gives off. The concourse, and consequently the vault itself, is 400 meters or approximately 1300 feet long. The size of the building is of great importance, symbolizing once again the dominance of man over his environment. The size and scope of the building is a testament to the strength of engineering and the power of human ingenuity. By creating this enormous enclosed space, the architects and the clients are claiming ownership over the surrounding area through the imposing structure they have implanted in the natural environment. The materials and size combine in a display of wealth and power, as it takes immense amounts of resources to create an edifice this large. The barrel vault’s height and material make the building seem modern, impressive, domineering and expensive, all ideas that reflect the environment in which it was built.

Truss Bridge à Sky Gate Bridge R

http://www.japanese-greatest.com/civil-engineering-construction/truss-bridge.html

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/truss.html

A truss structure is a structure composed of triangular units and beams that act as the support. It ensures great rigidity, as the triangle is one of the most stable structures found in architecture. A truss works typically through its rigidity and its complements of forces, including tensile or compression forces.

The structure we are examining is the Sky Gate Bridge R, a truss bridge located in Japan. Completed in 1994, it acts as the main access bridge to the Kansai International Airport. The airport was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, although the architect of the bridge is uncertain. It is 3,750 m long and acts as both a highway system and a railroad system. The highway system runs above the railroad system, acting as dual transportation. One common thought about a bridge this long is that it would be considered a suspension bridge, but it surprisingly is not. It is a truss bridge whose main support is a girder system connected in the form of a triangle. A girder is merely a support beam.

This example is very fitting for that of a truss bridge and seems to stand out greatly from others. It is a dual transportation system that extends for a very long distance, and it is so interesting to learn that given a structure as long as this, it was supposed to be a suspension structure, as this is the typical design for something this long. But, with a change in the support system, the architects/engineers found a different way to produce this monstrosity. This to me is pretty outstanding, as it shows how aspects of architecture are so interchangeable and flexible in their use. There is more than one correct way to build something structurally, and that aspect of architecture is crucial for both application and knowledge purposes. 

*Note: Photos of this bridge were very difficult to find for some reason, but the picture on the left is a good depiction of the truss system and how it acts throughout the entire bridge. 

Dome à Beijing National Stadium, AKA Birds Nest 

Domes are geometrically ordered structures made predominantly of hemispheres that form a roof or a ceiling. One extremely special and unique dome is the Beijing National Stadium Dome, also known as the birds nest. This was used in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and is a structure that is composed of exposed steel bands. It is located in the Olympic Green Village, Chaoyang District and was designed by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron and Chinese architect Li Xinggang and the others. One very interesting aspect of this dome is that it was built in an earthquake zone, so it had to be made to withstand such forces. In order to do so, the stadium was built in two separate parts; one part is a steel lattice structure and the other is a concrete bowl. This was done in order to maintain flexibility of the structure so it could withstand seismic activity. These pieces of the building are not actually connected. This allows each portion of the structure to move independently from one another. This structure is extremely massive and was made to resist over 50,000 tons of vertical load.

In order to do so, a special plinth, or platform, was chosen during construction. Both the horizontal and vertical load are used to support the structure evenly. To me, this was an extremely outstanding structure, as its entire skeleton is exposed and this allows for the natural aspects of the building to be shown. What can be seen merely from the outside of the structure is how massive it actually is; one can physically feel the weight of the structure just when looking at the image alone, and I think that is an extremely interesting aspect of a building that can be deciphered merely through an image. Its intricate exterior shows how complex the building truly is, and this holds true considering it was built in order to withstand potential earthquakes. An additional extremely interesting aspect of this dome is that its roof is open. The philosophy behind building two separate structures is extremely interesting, as it allows for individual flexibility of both and the potential to withstand earthquakes. This dome is unlike one I have seen before and its features are no doubt unique and outstanding.