Closer to the deadline

Overhauling and Structure

The material palette I wish to utilize remains much the same as the interim, but I now have a more refined facade resolution.

Dealing with structure I have looked at the St Mary Axe Foster precedent and have fiddled a bit with my floor plans, but am leaving them be until I finalize the positions of the sheer walls which will dictate the new unit dimensions along with the beams. With that said I am looking at some alternatives and need a little bit of clarifications on the limitation of the systems at my disposal. Which is a result of the following explorations.

The above two drawings describe an alternative system with hss columns and long diagonal members which would run through multiple floors which would relieve the shear. Further I'm wondering whether or not I can have vertical members in this set up. instead of the diagonal ones foster uses in the facade because it is imperative I retain the vertical quality that relates back to my idea of the privacy gradient and deliniation of spaces as such. The diagonal elements are remnants of a printout of the model I made please overlook them for this scenario.

This illustration is fairly self explanatory. I have stuck to the shear walls capped with hss beams and supported by another set welded perpendicular to those. I understand that foster accomplished an unobstructed floor plate with his design but as appealing as the idea is it seems out of reach due to the nature of my form and relationship to the buildings next to me.

the decision to utilize hss is coming from the fact that I wish to expose my ceilings even in the residential levels to provide a more industrial yet clean aesthetic and as a system to deal with cables for the DMZ. I am also looking into a raised floor system to distribute utilities.

perspective wall section, atelier bow-wow inspired

At Vince's request, here's the perspective wall section I've been working on. Atelier Bow-Wow inspired.. I think I'm going to buy that book, it's only about 60$ (used) on Amazon, or 87$ (new). The print is going to be 24"x70" if I scale it at 1:20.. I'll need the help of some tall people to post this up...

Missing labeling and some finer details, but starting on the second one before that.

edit: added some labels and fixed some stuff..

Danielle's Options

This should help you get started based upon what was submitted at the Interim.
I would suggest that you use aluminum panels but you NEVER would weld aluminum to steel (the temperature differential is too great that would cause the aluminum to melt). That is why we have the steel mounting elements for the panels.  I have oversimplified the drawing but it should provide you ample information to proceed in developing the alcove and typical condition. Take note that you will need columns but based upon the breakup of the curved conditions, you could easily use a combination of glazing (see the spider/glass conditions in Gary's detail) and the aluminum panels to make this work in your favor.
I also suggest you see the Dexia B.I.L. Building by Vasconi and Associates in Luxembourg for the potential to use exposed structures to highlight steel as well as make it easier for you to develop this upcoming section. Though it is not perfectly rounded it offers another option for you to proceed with.

Detailing Deadline is coming up and.....

I'm confused on the connection detail for my "wrapping" components on my exterior. The wrapping members will only appear to be continuous pieces throughout the structure rather than physically being connected from exterior to interior - I can imagine this would have caused a lot of thermal bridging problems. The way I have figured it thus far is that these pieces that will be made up of a vertical truss system (welded connections) and then wrapped in the aluminum panel cladding - also welded to the truss structure? The part I am not sure about is the interface between the interior and exterior and how the connection to the interior columns/floor slabs can happen through the exterior wall structure. Where I do not have these panels I imagine the rest of my facade to be a curtain wall.

Swiss Re Structure

This should make life easier - just look to the Foster precedent and you're going to have an easy week... All things relative...

First Stab at Detailing

This is my first attempt at detailing my Gould Street facade diagrid system. (Sorry the image is dark - I'm currently without a scanner)

I looked into some precedents of diagrid facades and found a Y-mullion but I am not sure if I am using it properly or understanding how it works completely. i imagine that the millions would more or less be vertical and it would be the glazing itself with the sealant that would create a diagrid shape based on triangulation.

One more detail down...

This should work. Take note of the clearance for the bow truss to work well.

Bowtrusses, Cantilevers, and OWSJ

In my corner Yonge/Gould triple and double storey height spaces, I want to have approximately 10 meters span without columns at the end. I talked with you earlier and you noted that OWSJ cannot frame into Bow trusses, since that's not what bow trusses are used for. Do you have any other suggestions as to go about this?

BTW to my lovely classmates, there's a countdown for questions and hand-holding answers apparently... 2 left?

Detailing: Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them...

Here:

You could use the ball connectors but it makes you and your instructors look like you really had little to no idea how structure works. Yes, there are masterworks (i.e. Botta) that use ball connections in steel but it was either due to early development of the technologies or an aesthetic call.  You are better than that.
Obviously you would facet and have the end conditions rounded out; just remember that the poor construction workers would have to put the perimeter formwork when casting the edge.
As for the "acrylic" - take a look at a document created by one of our grads (that also gets dangerously close to breaking copyright laws) on the Graz Concert Hall/Gallery by a GOOD designer with Cook in his name - Peter COOK from Archigram.

And just to keep things moving - there will be a finite number of questions which will have responses with this level of detail and hand-holding.  It is to encourage Section ONE to keep working. 

I'm here to put you back on schedule.

3D Truss to 3D Truss and other fun details

I haven't been able to find a good way to make this connection other than with a simple weld, which I'm not sure would hold. It would look like the connection of an OWSJ to an I-beam, plain and simple. Another approach would be to go with something more like this [LINK]. But this would break the HSS member and maybe make the vertical structure more prone to buckling. The closest precedent I could find is Foster's Sainsbury Centre, but his vertical 3D truss does not extend beyond the connection. What can I do? Weld? Pin? Bolt? Bubble gum?

Second Issue. My floor plate is curved along the x-axis, and corrugated steel is not. What can I do to put a a corrugated steel decking with concrete topping on my building? Do I divide the floor plate into trapezoids and have each section use corrugated steel going on it's tangent, or is it possible to have a custom curved piece of corrugated steel rolled just for me?

The same issue arises when I layout the duct work, I have to find a way to curve it along the main hallway.

Same issue with cutting a longitudinal section... Damn curves.

Regarding the curved panels on the side of my building... Acrylic it is.

Secret to the Third Space

Don't label it.

Can we use this?

Here is a demo of a transparent laptop screen. Could we perhaps use this into the exterior glazing  of our building even if it hasn't been previously implemented before considering that it probably isn't very far from hitting the market?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwCi-WqMIFA

Studio Project Bingo

Bring the frustration and humiliation of a studio review to your own self-critical design process! Better yet, examine each others' projects through the Studio Bingo lens and see how close your peers' projects come to being TRASH.

First one to five in a row "wins" an all inclusive repeat of second year!

Demitri's Interim Progress

Overall the project was pretty well received, however a couple of important changes should be considered when proceeding with the design:

1. Reduce the amount of communal space of your residential floor plans, this will provide more space for units.
2. Add living space within each unit.
3. In your married units, don't locate the washrooms on the exterior wall! 
4. Redesign the accessible units. They are not to code.
5. Both fire stairs exit onto lobby. This will not work.
6. Fix the labeling of my grid on the lower levels.
7. Make sure that the living rooms have windows.
8. Try to get rid of the shared kitchen idea. This is a graduate residence.
9. Fix the large mass wall along Yonge Street...

P3 Interim

 Currently, I am working on redesigning my residential floors (allocating more space to the rooms and have less communal space) and figuring out how the pods will work structurally.  Additionally I will be looking at how to better my Yonge Street facade condition.

P3 Interim

I apologize in advance about all the text, as I haven't been posting on the blog, as this is a new iteration that hasn't been previously posted and will require some explanation.

The inspiration behind this iteration is based on the Master Plan's postulate of densification through vertical construction.  This idea and it's implications were explored through the use of double height spaces on the ground level and more significantly on the residential levels.

At ground level, the beholder maybe not be particularly aware of the DMZ workspace above the 'DMZ Awareness Zone' due to the enormous canted electric current wall/canvas.  This wall looms over the occupants who maybe be working,eating, relaxing at the tables along Gould Street.  At the second level, the DMZ members would be more aware of the public's presence.  The 'digital canvas' would bypass the need for a DMZ member to explain to the public about the DMZ.  The public can choose to educate themselves about the DMZ by peering into the work area when the electric current glass is off, or by watching videos or images that would be projected onto the digital canvas when the glass wall is turned on into an opaque state.

Access to the residential levels is only possible at every other level due to the double height suites, with the exception of the barrier-free units.  Since the access corridor is located on the lower level, suites can stretch across whole building, providing North and South views to most of the suites.

DMZ AWARENESS ZONE:

TYPICAL BARRIER FREE UNIT:

TYPICAL MARRIED UNIT: 

TYPICAL SINGLE UNIT:

TYPICAL DOUBLE UNIT: 

Remarks from crit:

While Baruch complimented the ground level and DMZ workspace and referred to it as 'a building within a building', the entrances need to be resolved. They are a bit underwhelming, and open up to a bit of dead space before transitioning into the residence entrance, or DMZ Awareness Zone.

Baruch described the residential units as being high end as lofts like these in Toronto would sell for $500,000+.  There were some concerns about them especially about how the loft level would be structured above the kitchen. A column would most likely be added to support it.  Another option I'm going to explore and calculate is extending the slab above the stairs to connect back to the wall, if there is enough head clearance.  I also plan on redesigning the barrier-free units to make them feel empowered and dignified, a topic of concern for most projects.

Going into my crit I believed my Gould Street elevation was one of the weaker aspects to my building as it is underdeveloped, it was met with praise by Baruch (???).  He liked the proportions and composition, but I still need to decide on a material palette and exploration its implications on facade.  We were both in agreement though that the Yonge Street facade needs to be strengthened.

The two uppermost residential levels, with the canted walls, will be reevaluated and will most likely conform to my current residential plans.  The proposed library space on the upper most level has already been met with opposition, as the grads have sufficient space in their units to work.  I've entertained ideas of developing it into an executive DMZ workspace, but I'm not sure if distancing it from the ground level DMZ space is a good idea.  It's roof structure was designed to bring it light, but it was pointed out that there would be a lot of reflected light coming from the Snohetta building.

Next Steps:

I admit the concept around the design is a bit weak, but I intend to explore the idea of double height spaces even further, and their implications that they may have.  Another supplementary concept may need to be introduced to carry my design towards the final, and to loosen up my form which I feel is pretty rigid.  With regards to P3B, I plan on detailing the canted electric current wall and it's structure.  Can anyone suggest another unique detail that I can explore?