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We are in the process of working on the final design. There are some things we would like to clarify
1. As pertaining to the brief for the Hospital, we have come up with the basic Architectural plans( which is not a requirement for the competition).In the process we have referred the National Building Code 2005 for hospital design.
2. We were wondering how we would calculate the ‘mass’ for design calculations if the functions for the spaces are not allocated in plan?
3. Based on the design plan, we have made a STRUCTURAL PLAN of the hospital by allocating appropriate RCC column, beam, Shear wall ,slab sizes constant for all floors with the amount of steel reducing as we move upwards.
4. Now considering a Column of size (500 x 500)mm how do we come up with a realistic plan to convert it into an MDF model?
5. As students of Architecture we have studied basic calculations for deformation regarding Static and Vertical Load but are unaware regarding STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS.
6. We have been able to work out the TOTAL STIFFNESS along both Principal directions as well as LUMPED MASS on each floor.
7. We would be highly obliged if you could advice us on how to achieve MULTI DEGREE FREEDOM (3 storied model) using the suggested materials including the scale of the model and the sizes to correctly represent the stiffness as Structural Dynamics including multi degree of freedom System of real structure idealisation is beyond the scope of our syllabus.
8. WE have assumed the structure to be in a Zone 3 earthquake region. |
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Hi Darshan
Don't worry about the calculations for the structural design. This challenge is all about thinking conceptually about the building, the types of forces on it and the structural elements required. First think about the types of loads on the building, then the layout of structural elements that you need to ensure that all loads are carried safely by the elements and transferred effectively to the ground.
The best way of checking that your building is robust is to build some test sections and test models and actually load them with vertical and horzontal loads. For ideas on testing see http://www.ideers.bris.ac.uk/comp/model_test.html.
Don't worry about being Architects and not Engineers, we run the the build part of this challenge with school pupils as young as 11 years old in the UK. They think this through conceptually and come up with some excellent designs which perform very well on the shaking-table.
Just think simply about this and you will be fine.
Good Luck  |
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 S. Mohanroop posted on Wednesday, September 08, 2010 - 04:03 am
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Hi,
First of all we (Team 1 - The Crescents) would like to thank you judges for guiding us so long through our preliminary and final ideas of our model and giving us useful and the needful feedback and making us come into the finals of the competition.
As it's time now to get geared up for the finals, we would like to bring out the best in us as any team will. So it would be really helpful if you can tell how we fared in our poster submissions as we understand there is certain percentage of marks allotted for various aspects of the poster. We would like to know where we did good and where did not live up to expectations. It will help us work on our setbacks and better our chances.
thank you. |
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Hi Team 1
You have a good structure for your model building and don't really need to improve that. Just check that you haven't broken Rule 7 for the structure. Also, make sure you design some fixings to hold your steel blocks in place.
On the architectural images, sometimes the building looks rectangular and sometimes hexagonal so you need to improve that. Also, the exterior is not as attractive as some of the other teams. You could think about different materials and colours for the windows and cladding. We have received some very professional looking architectural images from some teams, so you could concentrate on improving yours.
You could also do a little more on the benefits to Mr Dunwell. |
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Hi Wendy,
We are pretty excited about us getting through to the finals and are looking forward to give our best shot at it.
However, we would like to know what exactly were the jury comments on our entry.....where exactly we stand with respect to other teams....
Your reply in this regard will be really helpful in refining our design...to give ourselves a better chance at the finals.
Waiting for your reply.
Regards
The De_finers (team 13) |
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| It would be really helpful if you can tell how we fared in our poster submissions as we understand there is certain percentage of marks allotted for various aspects of the poster. We would like to know which aspects of the design we fared better (structural or architectural) so that we can work on the other part.(team-5-avishkara) |
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Hi Team 13
Your structural design is the most innovative of all the designs which is good. However, we haven't fully understood how you are going to make this work as an mdf model. You need to give a lot of thought to this to ensure:
1. that you know how to build your model in the time avialable on the day
2. to make sure it behaves in the way you envisage when subjected to the earthquakes on the shaking-table.
3. That you haven't broken the rules especially on the floor areas. You have a hole in the middle of each floor and looking at your poster I think you have included that in the total area for each floor. You may need to make some adjustments to the dimensions for your floors.
I suggest that you make a test model, if you haven't already done so.
Your achitectural image is looking very good but there are 2 or 3 that are better presented.
On the benefits you can do a lot better, you are not in the top 6 teams for that, so make sure you put a lot more thought into this. |
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Hi Team 5
You have a very good structural design and we expect your model to perform well on the shaking-table. You have used quite a lot of material in your model, but a lot of other teams have too - this means the cost of your building is one of the more expensive ones.
The architectural images are among the more attractive ones, but not the best.
On benefits, you need to concentrate on the social and economic benefits to the town and region - you have talked about the architectural and sustainability aspects.
I think Mr Dunwell may like to see a few more benefits to himself too. |
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I was wondering if you could tell us how we did in our posters as compared to other teams and what specific areas we are lagging behind so that we can concentrate on the weak points better.
Thanks
Anant |
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Hi Anant
Please let me know your team name and number so I am sure I am giving you the correct feedback. |
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Dear Sir,
Please provide us suggestions and your views on our structural and architectural design so that we can improve further.
Sailendra Kumar Halwai
TEAM NIT ROURKELA
TEAM NO. : 29 |
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| Oh m sorry dat i forgot to mention dat.. Team no. 20, Team Name: The Saviour |
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| Narayanan T posted on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - 04:34 am
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Hi ,
We are looking forward to give our best at the finals. we would like to know what exactly were the jury comments on our entry.....where exactly we stand with respect to other teams....
Your reply in this regard will be really helpful in refining our design...to give ourselves a better chance at the finals.
Waiting for your reply.
team 3 ,
trend setting archiz.. |
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Hi mem,
It would be very helpful to us in refining our design for the finals if you can tell our performance in the first stage.
Regards,
Team 4
DEQ Group |
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Hi mem,
At the time of model making, are we allowed to keep our laptop, printout of structural drawings with us?  |
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| You are allowed to keep your laptop and printouts of structural drawings with you at the final while you are making your models. |
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Hi Team 20
The design of your model looks good. Just make sure that the mdf strips for your columns are always continuous from the base up to the point where they are no longer needed. Breaks in column strips create weak points.
Think carefully about how you will be anchoring your columns too.
You need to do a lot of work on the architectural image for your building though. To give you an idea of how much, we have some architecture students in this competition who have produced some quite professional looking designs. You don't need to use professional architectural drawing software, but you can certainly make your building look a lot more attractive with some artistic sketches and colour.
The benefits that you have proposed are about average compared to all the other teams in the final, so a bit more work on these will help you. |
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Hi Team 29
You have a very good structural design and we expect your model to perform well on the shaking-table. You have used quite a lot of material in your model, but a lot of other teams have too - this means the cost of your building is one of the more expensive ones. You may like to think about how to econimise on material in places.
You need to do a lot of work on the architectural image for your building though. To give you an idea of how much, we have some architecture students in this competition who have produced some quite professional looking designs. You don't need to use professional architectural drawing software, but you can certainly make your building look a lot more attractive with some artistic sketches and colour.
Mr Dunwell definitely wants a specialist architect for this job as he is looking for a landmark structure - he is a proud man after all.
You also need to make clearer the benefits to Mr Dunwell. |
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Hi Team 3
You have an efficient structural design for your model building that should perform very well on the shaking table. Make sure that:
1. you have good anchorage at the base of the columns.
2. you design some fixings for the steel blocks for each floor.
Your architectural images are good. The building is not the most elegant of the entries, but if I lived in the town I would feel confident that the hospital is a robust structure that would survive an earthquake.
On the benefits you can do a lot better, you are not in the top 6 teams for that, so make sure you put a lot more thought into this for both the social and ecomonic benefits to the town and region and also to Mr Dunwell. |
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Hi Team 4
Your posters were excellent and in the top three. All I can say is that all the other teams are now trying to catch up with you!
To maintain your lead at the final, you will have to have an excellent presentation. Make sure that this is well thought out. Don't try too cram to much information in to the short time provided and then have to talk so fast we won't be able to understand you. Practice your talk a few times. Get some friends to listen to it and ask you some difficult questions (we'll be doing that on the day) so you also have some practice at answering them.
I can see that you have made a practice model, but I can't see ant fixings for the steel blocks on it. You will need those to hold the blocks in place. To build your structure within the available time on the day, make sure that you have a programme of work for every team member involved in the model building. |
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| Haripriya E posted on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 02:42 pm
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Hi,
Sorry about the very delayed query. Could you please enlighten me as to how our design and poster fared relative to the other teams and points we need to work on?
Team Guardians (30) |
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| Haripriya E posted on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 02:44 pm
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Hi,
Sorry about the confusion, its team no 32 |
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Hi Team 32
You have a good structural design which should perform well on the shaking-table.
You have done well on benefits but could improve them slightly to catch up with a few others.
You really need to concentrate on your architectural image though and improve that significantly. You are in the bottom 4 for that at the moment. |
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| Ahmad Wani posted on Thursday, September 16, 2010 - 04:03 am
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respected sir/madam,
could you plz tell us that on what fronts do we need to improve upon, with respect to the other teams? do we need to include each and every detail in the ppt considering time constraints? |
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Hi,
Please let us know where do we stand in the aspects of structure, Architectural images, social, economic benefits and the benefits to Mr. Dunwell, when compared to other teams
Team 1: The Crescents |
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Hi Team 1
I have already given you feedback above. |
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Hi Ahmad Wani
Please tell me your Team Number.
For your presentation. It is important that you get the most important points over to the panel of judges.
Do not have ppt slides so full of information that we can hardly read it - make sure you only show the main points on each slide and talk around it. Don't have so much information that you have to race through it and we will have trouble taking in what you have said.
Use a few select images to get the most important points about the building across to the panel.
Remember that you are trying to sell your design to Mr Dunwell - he isn't an engineer, so he won't be interested in minute engineering details just the overall concepts that make the builing earthquake resistant. He will want to know that he has an attractive landmark structure that will be safe during an earthquake and that this hospitial provides great benefits to the local town and region and also to him. Remember he is a proud man and a businessman. He wants the best value for money. |
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Hi Wendy,
we are Team - 13
We have a core ( hole in each floor) for the entire height of the building . The core will be used for the circulation and services and other purposes , hence the area has been included.
Hope we have answered your 3rd point and not deviated from the rules in terms of area calculation. if so , please do let us know about it.
Regards,
Team - 13 ( De_finers ) |
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Hi Team 13
As the core is part of the interior of the building, you can include the area in the total floor area. If you had intended this core to be an open courtyard/atrium then it would have to have been excluded. So I conclude that you are not breaking the rules.
However, I see that you have some wide vertical members around the perimeter of the core. Make sure that you are not breaking Rule 7 for the structure though, as people will still need access to the services shaft. |
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| Ahmad Wani posted on Thursday, September 16, 2010 - 09:30 am
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sorry madam, i forgot to specify, my team number is 18 (Mighty Chinar) ..
also, i would like to know how it would affect the ppt if i dont show pictures of my trial model in it, considering we wont probably be able to make it [due to reasons specified in the team (advice from expert area)]..
thank you for all the help.. |
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Hi Team 18
I can't go into how specific details will affect the overall judging of your presentation as we will be comparing presentations on the day. The trial model is more important for you to ensure that you can actually build it in the available time. For a trial model, you don't need the actual materials, you can improvise with another material of a similar size.
Regarding your posters, your posters were both very good but I'll still make specific comments:
1. Your structural design looks good and will perform well on the shaking-table. However, you must have used the most material as yours is the most expensive amongst the finalists. You are unlikely to have the most-efficient model building when tested, so you could try and economise on the use of materials in places. For example, why use a cotton brace in addition to a single mdf brace. Either use one mdf brace which will do the job adequately or use cotton cross bracing. Also, have you planned the most efficient use of the materials that you will buy - will there be any left over pieces of mdf?
2. Architecturally, you about in the middle with your images, so you could concentrate on developing those.
3. You have done well on benefits. |
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Hi Wendy,
Another clarification - we aren't breaking rule 7.
Between the vertical members , which are in the core's perimeter - there are equal number of shear walls and openings in the alternate bays ( as it is a polygon )... which will give accessibility ...
one more doubt . can the base plate be counted as one of the horizontal floor ??(rule 1)
to be more clear - to attain at least 4 horizontal floors
option a - base plate + 3
option b - base plate + 4
is option a correct?
Thank you so much Wendy |
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Sorry Wendy ,
the before posted message was - by team 13- |
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Hi,
This is team 23- Quake Factor.
First off all, we would like to thank the judges for selecting us for the finals.
We got a couple of doubts regarding our submissions:
1. In our design, we provided the central core as a lift well. Can we change the core's purpose to a central atrium. The incentive for us being a reduced floor area which still complies with the minimum area specs.
2. Also We are using papers as the tension wall. As it has made our structure costly,can we remove them so as to make the structure more economical?The change wont be affecting the strength of our design in any means.
3. We would also like to know how our structural design fares against that of other participants. We understand that our architectural view leaves a lot to be desired.
Regards,
Quake Factor. |
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Hi Harshini
At least 4 horizontal floors includes the base so that will be
option a = base plate + 3 floors
This is equivalent to a 3 storey building.
You have to keep with your 4 storey building now, as that is the design approved so far. If you want to change your total floor area, then you will need to alter the overall dimensions of your floors. |
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Hi Team 23
1. You can change the lift well to an atrium as this does not affect your design significantly.
2. You can remove the paper walls. Looking at your drawing this should not be a problem structurally as you seem to have adequate bracing otherwise. Alternatively, it may be more efficient to use the paper walls and get rid of the bracing which will be heavier if it is MDF.
3. You have a good structural design which should perform well on the shaking-table. You really need to concentrate on your architectural image as you correctly note. |
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| Ahmad Wani posted on Saturday, September 18, 2010 - 12:30 pm
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hi madam,
Would we be provided with some kind of instrument to shape/make notches in the MDF?
what about a drill to make holes in the base board? had we provided with a very few architectural images? on what fronts could we improve the same? we have economized the model, as much as possible. ma'am, we are using an epoxy fast setting compound in place of hot melt glue, to make trial models, does that have the same consistency as the latter? any more critical suggestions would be really helpful. |
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Hi,
This is in regard to the 2nd point you made in reply to our earlier query.
1. Will the weight of MDF count as a factor in deciding the efficiency ?
2. We decided on the present system of bracing on the basis that each floor is supposed to carry a certain amount of vertical load along with the seismic action. We concluded that the paper bracing while good for carrying tension just cannot take the vertical load as well as a bracing system.
3. In the technical justification that we're required to show in our presentation, are we supposed to restrict ourselves to just explaining the functions of the different components or can we include details of any sort of testing that we have done on our models with the results ?
Regards,
QUAKE FACTOR....TEAM 23 |
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Hi Ahmad
For information on equipment, see http://www.ideers.bris.ac.uk/Discussion/messages/101/1175.html?1247772353
I have already given feedback on your architectural images. They are not bad but compared to others, you are in the middle. it is up to you whether and how you make them more attractive.
Don't worry about the glue you used for the trial model compared to the hot melt glue. The hot melt glue is very effective. |
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Hi Team 23
It is cost of the materials that affects the efficiency ratio, but we based that roughly on the density of the materials.
Please read our other responses above on presentations. |
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Ma'am,
Thank you for replying to our queries. We will tweak our fixture in accordance to the rules of the coompetition.
Another doubt is regarding the vertical load magnitude. You have specified that the blocks provided will have a weight of 635g amd that the loading intensity of the floor is 10g/cm2. Now if our the calculated quantity of weight for our model/floor comes about to be say 2700g...would we have to design the floor to withstand 4 blocks or 5 ?
Regards,
QUAKE FACTOR- Team 23 |
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| S. Mohanroop posted on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - 10:48 am
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Hi,
Can we use our protractors and smaller scales that we bring on the build day for our convenience. |
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| S. Mohanroop posted on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - 10:49 am
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| And also calculators. |
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| You can use your own protractors and calculators on the day and measuring devices. I am not sure what you mean by "smaller scales" |
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Hi Wendy,
1. are we allowed to change the building orientation alone? the building is rotated at 45' along the central axis.(building is symmetrical on all axis)
2. Are we allowed to change our floor dimensions to reduce the number of floors from our floor plates to Base Plate + 3 rather than our present base plate + 4.....the total area remains the same...
Please advice.
Regards
De_finers |
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| S. Mohanroop posted on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - 04:37 pm
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Hi,
We have improved our architectural images considering your feedback. We would like to know if the present perspective views are better so we were wondering if we can post our architectural images in our private discussion area for your feedback. |
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Ma'am,
Thank you for replying to our queries. We will tweak our fixture in accordance to the rules of the coompetition.
Another doubt is regarding the vertical load magnitude. You have specified that the blocks provided will have a weight of 635g amd that the loading intensity of the floor is 10g/cm2. Now if our the calculated quantity of weight for our model/floor comes about to be say 2700g...would we have to design the floor to withstand 4 blocks or 5 ?
Regards,
QUAKE FACTOR- Team 23 |
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This is my very last answer to all the teams before the final.
De_finers
You can change the number of floors as long as the overall look and structural principles for your building are unchanged. You can also change the orientation.
S. Mohanroop
I am not going to break the rules by allowing you to post something in your Private Team Area now. What would the other teams think . I have given you feedback and it is up to you to use your own judgement now.
Quake factor
For 2700g, you would need 4.25 blocks so you would have to put 5 blocks on the floor. You can reduce the floor area if you want but don't change the overall appearance of your building.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL |
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