In class we were presented with sections, plans and a list of terms. After incorporating the terms with the appropriate plans and sections, it gave me more of an understanding of what the terms mean. Even though most of the terms were familiar to me, some were not. Through this exercise, I’ve came to appreciate the meanings. We also had to shade in where we thought the plan was cut through. The plan I’ve selected seemed easy to me. When I proceeded to shade in the cuts, I’ve realized It was incorrect. The professor evaluated mine and realized I’ve made the mistake of assuming the cut was more than what it was. From this I’ve learned to take a few more seconds and double check to make sure the cuts are current. Check surrounding areas if I am ever unsure of where a section cut is. Because most likely the adjacent areas will help you answer that question. Overall I’ve took valuable lessons from this exercise!
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Everyone,
I re-opened the Module 2 dropbox folders. Please submit ASAP so I can discuss your grade with you next week.
See my previous post for the links.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Prof. Montgomery
For our second trip to Federal Hall, we were instructed to sketch a section. A section is an important piece of Architecture. It shows us the relationship between spaces, thickness of the wall or ground, and details that can tell us a lot about the structure. The part of Federal Hall we sketched included columns, a balcony, stairs, a wall that divided the spaces and entrances. Through careful observation, and after I was finished, I’ve realized that the little details make a big difference. Features that are in the far back will get drawn lightly. Any part of the structure which the section is being cut through will get pochade. This is the only exception for pochaing. Small details, such as the brick or columns, show the viewer the relationship to size as well. After sketching a section of Federal Hall, I am excited to start drawing sections.
During our last class we have revisited the drawings of the 3 buildings we have seen at the beginning of the semester and do another exercise of reading the drawings. This time the exercise was to find out how different types of drawings such as plans, elevations and sections relate to each other. Compared to the first time we did a similar exercise at the beginning of the semester I have seen that I made progress on reading the the drawings as I was able to pay more attention to smaller details and identify how the drawings relate to each other. In my opinion the entire class made substantial progress in reading the drawings as every student in my group was involved in identifying how the drawings relate to each other and identifying the architectural elements. I remember that at the beginning of the semester we were not able to pin up the drawings in the right order based on how they relate to each other. It was also a great opportunity to develop teamwork which is very important in architectural profession. I have seen a great improvement in working in team, as were able to divide the work along all the members of our group. While some group members were finishing up first building, some of us already started working on the second building, so we could finish on time.
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.
Everyone,
Here is the link to the Module 2 Drawings Submission folder: https://www.dropbox.com/request/s0bCzgkncNLIUTx482xv
Please be sure to double check your file names and file format. They must match the requirements in the syllabus.
Email me if you have any problems.
Prof. Montgomery
Sketching sections of the the federal hall building helped me to understand the relationship between all cutting walls and grounds. I was able to show not only the cut lines through the center on the building but the materials that were being used to style of support the structure. It is important to include accurate proportion through out your drawing because if you don’t, drawings will look distorted. A way to do this can by counting the tile on ground or brick on the walls to find heights and widths. To show scale in sketch drawing, the use of people at realistic heights can show the correlation of the person to the space.
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.
On Friday October 18th we have visited the highline which in my opinion is a great place to study about structural elements of buildings because of the new construction that takes place there. There are many buildings under construction that does not have yet completed the envelope, so the structural elements such as columns and beams are still exposed and it was easier for us to understand the structural grid system of these buildings. In addition to the buildings under construction we also looked at the existing buildings. Looking at some of the older existing building we were able to see how did the the building technology moved forward, as these older buildings were not properly protected against weather, moisture and temperature as the current standards require. The thing that struck me the most was the beginning of highline as I did not know that the part of highline was literally cut out. This was actually helpful for our trip as we were able to see the beams that support highline in section.
