TECHNICAL
Understanding the technical details and how designs are developed and realized can provide extra insights on projects. I find myself at times marveling at the secrets behind the facade and find the way things are constructed even more magical than how they appear.
TULA HOUSE
PATKAU ARCHITECTS
WINTER 2017
AXONOMETRIC DRAWING
The residential building by Patkau Architects was built in 2012 and is cantilevering over a rocky cliff by the shoreline 44 ft over the Pacific Ocean in Strathcona, BC, Canada.
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The design was inspired by a nautilus shell with its rooms and interior space surrounding a courtyard dominated by a shallow pool/basin of water. The water feature and the ocean below together contribute to the imagery of a nautilus shell conceptually; the house looks to be a curled up shell floating on a large body of water.
The house has different levels of floor plates in response to the irregular terrain of the site. This axonometric drawing is done from scratch using the floor plans and elevations found in literature and periodic on this project. The drawing shows the complexity of the layout and the structure.
AGO
ALLAN SLAIGHT & EMMANUELLE GATTUSE STAIRCASE
FRANK GEHRY
FALL 2017
STRUCTURAL DIAGRAM
The structural support of the AGO staircase is within the form of the stairs itself.
Attached only at the landings that are adjacent to the entrances to the main gallery building, the exterior-exposed part must be self-supporting.
At the main landings that connect the stairwell to the building, Wide Flange beams are welded together along with thinner tubes that connect as joists so it structurally act as a modified Hollow Structural Section truss (which matches the truss roof of Walker Court, where the stairs is spouting out of).
This allows the main landings to be cantilevered out of the building as receiving parts for the stairwell.
In fact, the whole staircase is a twisted HSS truss suspending downwards by two sets of double helices (three in the exterior portion, the roof system is also comprised of the steel tubing under the ribs.
Stairs are void spaces that involves the encasing, the accessing apparatus, and the enormous structural mass. The illusion of it being structurally separated from the main building created an effective division of the heavy duty circulation facility from the delicate atmospheric exhibition area without having to compromise extra space from the volume.
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Frank Gehry has realized that as a set of stairs is structure in itself; a stairwell is perfectly sufficient in encompassing all the parts to hold itself up. One can then extrapolate this, literally rendering the stairs out of the building to, in turn, give the building more space.
Steel were welded to outline the shape of the tread so that concrete can be pour directly onto the structural skeleton of the stairs steps.
DETAIL SKETCHES
FALL 2017
FREEHAND DETAILING
An series of detail sketches done looking at physical environment.