Author: Lukasz Kostecki (Page 1 of 2)

From reading #4 from Building Construction Illustrated I have learned about wood, concrete, steel and masonry structural systems. I really liked how the book uses the illustrations to show the details of connection for each particular system, so we are able to understand how these are working. When skimming through the reading for the first time I was able to see that steel system is laid out differently that wood just by looking at the illustrations. It was clear to understand that wood beams are stacked on the girders while steel beams are aligned to the girders and welded. This chapter was also very important to understand our second drawing assignment. From this reading I started to understand how to estimate the span, depth, and width for the structural elements in each system. Also I have learned that the systems can be combined togetherness as the steel can be used for girders and beams, and precast concrete for the floor system. I believe this is a very important chapter to understand by young designers, as understanding these systems help to laid out and make use of structural grid.

From chapter 10 of Fundamentals of Building Construction I have learned about three types of masonry walls which are composite masonry wall, cavity wall, and load bearing masonry wall. The composite masonry wall use different types of concrete masonry in different parts of the wall. This is effectively method to increase capacity where needed and allows the use of weaker bricks where the forces are not strong. Cavity wall was the most interesting type of the three walls types as it consists of two wythes of masonry units that are separated by a thin airspace. By using this method the interior wythe is bearing all the loads so the exterior wythe can be built by smaller and more decorative bricks. The space between the wythes helps to insulate the building as well helps keep the water away from the interior of the building. Loadbearing masonry walls, are usually thick walls that are carrying the loads from the building. These type of wall can be also reinforced with steel rods to increase its capacity, and post tensioned to increase resistance against the tensile forces.

There are different materials from which buildings are constructed and each of these have their advantages and disadvantages. Building materials such as brick and concrete are very efficient in resisting the compression loads, however these are very weak when tension force is present and should be reinforced with steel. While steel is a great material for resisting both compression and tension, it is very expensive compared to the other materials. It also needs to be protected against corrosion and need to be fireproofed as it is losing its strength under high temperatures. Wood is a material that is cheap and relatively good in compression and tension, however as an organic material it deteriorate and decay. It is also not fire resistant. Therefore when designing a building we should consider all the advantages and disadvantages of the materials and choose the right material or combination of materials for the project needs. Continue reading

Brick and concrete masonry are two of the construction methods that are often used in our times as these methods are economical and durable. Both of these methods make use of smaller elements such as bricks and CMUs which are bonded together with mortar to create a structurally stable walls. Brick and concrete masonry are laid out to create patterns that visual pleasant to the eye. In my opinion, the  greatest advantage of this method of construction is that bricks and CMUs are fire resistant and does not require additional fire proofing as other materials such as wood or steel. The CMUs are larger than bricks so the concrete masonry is a more efficient method to construct the building faster, however in my opinion the brick masonry patterns make the building look better. The good thing is that these methods can be combined so the bricks can be used for the face of the exterior wall and CMUs can be stacked behind the bricks

During our last class we have visited Federal Hall once again however this time to concentrate more deeply on the elevations and longitudinal section through the rotunda. Unfortunately, because of the harsh weather we were not able to draw the elevations, so we have spent more time on sketching the section. As the Federal Hall contains many complex shapes as vaults and arches and it was difficult for me to start drawing the section. At the beginning I started drawing from the stairs as this part was the easiest for me to understand and I, however that was a mistake as I did not properly set up my drawing and when i got to the part where the section is cutting through the rotunda I was not able to fit my drawing, so I started drawing again. The most difficult part of the section drawing for me was to draw the beginning of rotunda as it is circular and I could not see how it would look in section.  The second drawing exercise was also very valuable for me as I was able to learn how the stone masonry relate to the other elements as the door, and understand the proportions.

In the reading 3 we have learned about the forces that are acting on the buildings. In my opinion this reading was more comprehensive than our previous readings as it had a lot of physics concepts involved which may be difficult to understand when seen these for the first time. Fortunately most of these concepts were familiar to me as I have started as a civil engineering student and I have studied these concepts before. It was a great refresher of these concepts for me as the Francis D.K. Ching was able to explain all these comprehensive subjects in much simpler language than the other books I have seen when I was taking engineering classes. The new concepts that I have learned from this chapter were joints & connections and how domes work. In addition reading chapter 3 from the book and refreshing the forces concepts, helped me to prepare and ace my structure II midterm.

During our last class we visited Brooklyn Bridge which is a great example of suspension bridge. Once we got to bridge, we also had a nice view at Manhattan Bridge which is a suspension bridge as well. This was a great place to study how the suspension bridges are working since we could see entire Manhattan Bridge and while standing on the Brooklyn Bridge, see the bridge elements with more details. By looking at these two bridges the first thing that stands out are the cable towers, which are massive and we can clearly see that these are the bridge elements that act in compression and carry the loads to foundations. On the other hand I was able to clearly see that the cables carry high tensile forces and are holding the roadways of the bridges. While we visited the bridge it was very windy, and I did not see any of the cable shaking, therefore I inferred that there are high tensile forces transferred through these cables. Cables that carry the tensile forces and the cable towers that act in compression to transfer loads to foundations combined together make the structure of suspension bridge. 

During our last class we started to practice the mechanical drawings on 24” by 36” tracing paper. In order to start drawing on such a large piece of paper, there are some steps that we need to do before we start. First thing that we should always do is to clean the desk on which we will be drawing as we should not have anything like under the piece of paper we need to draw on. After we clean the surface, we need to tape the tracing paper to the drawing board. When taping the paper, we should pull it a little, so we create the tension in paper and reduce the air pockets under the paper. When we tape one corner of the paper, we should tape the diagonally opposite corner the second. Last step after we taped the paper is to align the parallel edge to the edge of paper. After the paper is properly set up on the drawing board, we are ready to start the drawings.

The first thing that we should always start with is to set up the drawing on the center of the sheet of paper. We can do it by drawings to center lines one horizontal and one vertical. This is very important to place the drawing on the middle of the sheet of paper because if we would begin our drawing in different parts of the paper, then the probability of not fitting the drawing on the paper will increase. Starting the drawing from the center also helps to set up the limits and choose the right scale for the drawing. When beginning drawing the floor plan it is also important to start drawing the largest elements such as dimensions of the entire building, as well as the gridlines for the columns. We should always start with the biggest elements and draw the smallest details at the end, especially for the symmetrical buildings us Federal Hall.