Week 3

For this week's tasks we were required to do 3 sketches of our chosen house and show how the structural elements of the house will fail after a certain period of years and after being affected by natural disasters.  

This is my first sketch of the rudin house. This sketch shows how the concrete walls have collapsed in certain areas thus revealing the timber frames, how the glass has cracked due to high winds and water and how also the metal elements have stained due to moisture. 

This sketch is a close up of a window and wall. It shows the cracked internal gyprock revealing the timber frame and also shows the cracked flooring revealing the floor boards.

The above sketch is of the roof. It shows the structure underneath the cladding as well as how the concrete has cracked due to the weather conditions.

I then continued working on my rudin house model and continued adding details to it to show the state of decay after 100 years of no human existence. I took the model that we were given and retraced it by ensuring that I kept 4 sided polygon surfaces where ever I could so that the texture will apply more efficiently to the object. Some of the surfaces on the initial model did not join to other surfaces so I spent the time to ensure that my model contain cleans surfaces to make modelling the decay an easier and cleaner process.

This week's lecture was rather informative of how different structures look like once they have been abandoned. We were also made aware of the various tools and plugins that we have at our disposal when working on our buildings inside of 3ds max to create a realistic affect of the state of decay that our buildings will have faced after 100 years. All in all this week's lecture was informative and has enabled me to gain a better idea of the characteristics of an abandoned building. 

Week 2

For this week's tasks we were required to develop textures using Photoshop and apply them to our model in cryengine by exporting them using the crytif Photoshop plugin. Below I experimented with applying specular effects to a concrete texture which I then applied to my model.

Concrete texture without spec map

Concrete texture with spec map

We were then required to research the properties of 3 materials and the process involved in making each material, the life time of each, what conditions will corrode these materials, structural pros and cons and the main use of each of these materials. The 3 materials that I have chosen are concrete, glass and steel.

Concrete

How is concrete made:

Concrete is made by mixing water, cement, stone and sand. The quantity of each of these materials added to the concrete mix is determined by the type of application. A concrete mix needed to serve air crafts will posses different properties to concrete serving cars.

Life span of concrete:

Concrete actually hardens as it ages thus having an outstanding life span of 30 years on average based on the climate and environment conditions that the concrete is serving under.

What conditions will corrode concrete: 

Concrete degradation may have various causes. Concrete can be damaged by fire, aggregate expansion, sea water effects, bacterial corrosion, calcium leaching, physical damage and chemical damage (from carbonation, chlorides, sulphates and distilled water).

Structural pros and cons of concrete:

Concrete can be put under intense pressure and has excellent compression properties but does not preform as well when under tension and this is why concrete is usually reinforced with steel. 

Glass

How is glass made:

Glass is manufactured by melting sand, soda ash, dolomite and limestone together.

Life span of glass:

Glass lasts for decades and there is no exact life span associated with glass hence to why it is a primary material used in construction. However, the form of the object constructed using glass changes its form over many decades.

Structural pros and cons of glass:

Glass is very brittle and has limited structural adequacy in tension or compression unless it is reinforced using sealants or other form of aggregates or is tempered by heat.

Steel

How is steel made:

Steel is iron that has most of the impurities removed.

Life span of steel:

There is no solid answer as to how long the life span of steel is because it is dependant on the environmental conditions that the steel is exposed to and the application that the steel is used in.

What conditions will corrode steel:

Steel rust because it is an alloy of iron and rust is basically an oxide of iron that is formed when iron reacts with oxygen gas in the presence of moisture or water. After a time of exposure to these conditions for some time, steel corrodes.

Structural pros and cons of steel:

Steel is excellent in tension and is the best chosen material when requiring materials to withstand tension but is weak in compression and this is why concrete that has strong compression properties is always combined with steel that has strong tension properties to create reinforced concrete. 

This week's lecture was excellent in providing examples of the common materials used when constructing a building such as steel and concrete and how each of these materials shares independent properties and characteristics that when combined can be capable of supporting a building. This week's lecture also showed a few examples of how each of these material look like once exposed to corrosion or damage over several years.

Week 1

As part of the second experiment for this semester, we were required to install the required plugin to be able to export our model from 3ds max to cryengine. After following the tutorial I managed to export a sample model that I created using 3ds max to my cryengine scene which I created in the first experiment. 

I then re-exported another model which I created inside of 3ds max to ensure that I had adequately learned the process involved to be able to export from 3ds max to cryengine.

The next part of this week's individual study was to talk about each of the three houses in terms of their materials, design and history.

The Barcelona pavilion was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The design of this house is influenced by the l style of modernism. The main materials and structural elements that make up the Barcelona pavilion are steel frames with glass and polished stone.

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/1297020019-bcn-pavilion-gandolas-528x352.jpg

The house in Bordeaux was designed by Rem Koolhaas in 1998 in Bordeaux, France. The main concept behind the house in Bordeaux is laying three floors that are different in nature over each other to create a contrast between spaces. The main materials used are concrete, steel and glass which create and overall nice contrast between the materials throughout the house.

http://www.infoteli.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/House-in-Bordeaux-Architecture-by-Rem-Koolhaas.jpg

The Rudin House designed by Architects Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron in 1996 is rather a standard looking house that is shaped using four main external walls with a gable roof and chimneys. This house almost blends in with the surrounding environment and context but includes a touch of modernism by using large openings in the shape of windows and doors. 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wONFWEsgJrOgDxwfgneV7ed7WVqMUk4OvBmY9GFCEpHbupLjvL1O4phrzHRwtWimI0Y4pIrKBfGkggx6klDB0az6DTY2eRumG7WNOptEklgmT1Aw_hM3ifbOTbDuQM-p_wu4X6TwZC0/s1600/rudin+house.jpg

This week's lecture was an introduction to experiment two which is about life after people. This lecture also included a few examples of structures that have been abandoned by humans for many years which showed how the different materials and structural elements in each of those buildings behaved over that particular period since they were abandoned by humans.