A World History of Architechture

A World History of architecture is a book written by  Michael Fazio and By  Marian Moffett, it is a book which outlines history oh architecture in a number of different country's and throughout the century's. "Updated with expanded coverage of twenty-first century architecture, this new edition uniquely comprises a detailed survey of Western architecture as well as architecture from the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, India, Russia, China and Japan. Significant revision also includes photographs and textual discussion of around 50 new buildings. Written in a clear and engaging style, the text encourages readers to examine the pragmatic, innovative and aesthetic attributes of buildings. Artistic, economic, environmental, political, social and technological contexts are discussed" (Michael Fazio, 2013) From this book, i noticed a repetition of materials that has been used constantly throughout the century and also throughout the architects in different locations. Some of these materials are wood and concrete, this is another reason why I have decided to use both materials In my building design and also in my physical model. These Classic materials posses qualities that are acoustic, strong, flexible, aesthetically pleasing and many more.

Concrete mould

now that the MDF mould was all cut and ready to be put together, it is time to start working on the base of the model which will be made out of concrete. to do this, I decided to use the method of the concrete mould where I would create the mould, pour concrete in it, wait till it set and take out the MDF pieces gently. 

I am pleased that the mould did  come out successfully and it has turned out the way I wanted it to, but there where some problems I had to deal with before it was complete. in some of the areas of the mould, the concrete was not wet enough so it did not go all the way down into the mould which caused gaps in the walls. to solve this problem i had to get more concrete but very wet concrete s that i was able to fill it in the gaps. This technique helped fill the gaps and made the mould complete for the base of the model.

Climate change

It can be stated that climate change is one of the worlds biggest threat to the human race, this is because it has the ability to destroy the world as we know it. The most common topic when looking at climate change is the fact that the icebergs in the north and south pole will eventually melt and cover the world with sea water. although it seems as if there is no stopping this from happening, there is in fact many different ways people can contribute to the  prevention of climate change.

"The Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives."(Nasa, climate change,2013) This suggests that the climate is continuously changing, which means that as humans we will have to adapt our lifestyles according to these major changes.

This is a diagram that illustrates climate change effectively and shows what parts of our world are in danger, as evidence on this diagram, the number of the things in danger is very high. on the other hand, some of the ways people contribute to the prevention of climate change is to ride a bicycle rather than driving because driving increases pollution. Recycling is also a popular way of tackling climate change, so that we are not using all of our natural resources.
Climate change has a clear connection to my FMP, because as the sea levels are increasing, this means there is more chance of floods and it is time for architects to start designing buildings with climate change in mind.

Health and safety when using machines

Part of my model, is to make a concrete mould as the base and ground floor of the house. To do this, i decided to use MDF to make the mould. Due to the lazer cutter being fully booked, I had to use the saw machines to cut out the different parts of my mould. When using these machines, it is important that the health and safety requirements are met. 

To ensure that I was safe and protected whilst using the saw machine, I made sure I had my goggles, ear defenders and did not pass my fingers past the safety line. The vacuum also has to be on at all times when using the saw machine so that it can get rid of all the dust coming from the machine.

The machines itself is very easy to use, and i was able to guide the MDF in straight lines so that i had a good quality cut. although the laser cutter is quicker and more accurate with straight lines, the mould was successful and i'm confident that it will form the right shape when the concrete is poured inside .

The sand disc was also very useful, this is because it gave an even and smooth surface to the pieces of the mould. although the sand disc also has a vacuum, it produces more dust rather than the saw machine. For this machine I used the same safety requirements and did not pass my fingers past the safety line. 

Marlies Rohmer Architects

Marlies Rohmer Architects, is an Architecture firm based in Amsterdam. It is a famous firm in the area which take part in my different projects around netherlands and the rest of the world. The CEO Marlies Rohmer, is a very established architects in the industry and is the creator of Ijburg district floating houses. I have decided to look at Marlies Rohmer as inspiration, because the ijburg project is very similar to my own.

The technique used in this project to keep the house afloat is a similar technique used in the Amphibious house in marlow on the bank of the river thames. They have used hollow concrete tanks filled with floating materials, this keeps the house floating and the concrete gives the base a good weight to keep the house stable. Although this project is a series of houses, I can still take something away due to the fact its on water but I will experiment doing a series of houses as experiments.

After looking at how this project was designed and constructed, I have decided to use concrete as my base, because it has been used in two different floating home projects. Concrete also passed the experiments against water and it performs well on water. The only negative aspect about the concrete is the brutal texture which some people may not agree with but it adds a sense of protection and shell to the house which makes it harder to break into.

Little Venice

For research on how people live on floats, I decided to visit little venice where the regents canal meets the paddington arm of the grand union canal. Before people started using the canal as their home, it was mainly used for transporting goods such as coffee, sugar, tea etc into London. It is a very historical place and is special in many ways.

During my visit, I met Gary who has been living in little venice for 5 years. Gary's views are mostly positive rather than negative. He said he managed to save a lot of money because instead of spending 100,000  on a house, he spent 15,000 on a boat for him and his partner. Gary also stated that it is a very peacefully as it is not very populated and the sound of the water allows him to sleep in peace. 

On the other hand, there are lots of down sides to living on a boat. Firstly, it is hard to own a car due to no parking space with residential parking for the people on the canals. Secondly, Gary finds the boat very tight and the head space is very limited for him and his wife. These are problems I will answer if I decide to build my design on water rather than fixed on land.  

Material experiments

This is an experiment to help me decide on  materials to use, the materials being experimented in this blog are wooden matchsticks. this material has been extracted from my visit to the RIBA building for the creation from catastrophe exhibition. To respond to this exhibition I have made small match stick model to see the performance of wood in water. This is because in the exhibition the people built their houses with wood as their main material.

This experiment was very successful because as seen in the video, the material floats on water. Its also successful due to many other reasons. The materials is very accessible and cheap which makes the experiment successful because it means I can definitely build the real thing using this material. The aesthetic features of the material is also very realistic when comparing to timbers used in real building, which also makes this materials ideal for me to use.

 Now that I know the material works well on water, I will be building another model in this material based on one of my chosen design ideas so that I can see how it will look for the real thing.

I will be testing other materials that i intend in using for my final model and will document them both on my blog and sketchbook.