Major Project - Construction in the manner of Louis Kahn

Louis Kahn - Hero Architect

Louis Kahn is a well known modernist era architect. I intend to complete my Construction Project in the style of a Louis Kahn Building. For this project we are developing a schematic plan for an open plan - column free warehouse with two storey office building attached. A 5X5m section of this building will be modelled at 1:10 showing the construction systems in use.


Kahn developed his famous style late in his career. Here are some of his buildings which are solid, light filled and show Kahns' strong influence from strong classical forms. They also betray his keen interest in expressing the natural imperfection of materials such as in situ concrete construction and the use of Travertine stone for paving.

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth Texas, 1966-72

Gallery Space Showing Silver Effect of Light

View of Skylight providing indirect lighting

Outside View Showing Repetative Structure and Impressive Craftsmanship of Concrete Forms

Phillips Exeter Library at Exeter, New Hampshire, 1967-72

Staircase to the mezanine level of the building

View looking up at Great Hall

Custom Built Carelles at Perimeter of Building for Natural Lighting

Salk Institute of Biological Sciences at La Jolla, California, 1959-65

View from Underneath Study Towers facing Central Courtyard

View toward Study Towers showing Teak Studies placed in alternate levels of the towers

Central Couryard, Travertine Paving flanked by Study Towers with views of the Ocean

Sketching So That We May Understand!

Guide to My Sketches Below

The following images have accumulated resulting from tutorial lessons where we have sketched sections of a hypothetical Portal Frame Building with Offices attached. See diagram above which shows what aspect of the plan above has been sketched. Sketching is a great way to understand the way a building is constructed because by drawing each element you begin to understand the relationship between components of a building.

Figure 1. Section Through a Warehouse Portal Frame

Figure 1 shows a section through the Portal Frame of the Warehouse to the footings. I have decided that the concrete wall panels shown are probably pre-cast because there are footings seperate to an infil slab. Usually, tilt-up panels are cast on top of an existing slab, like a raft slab, used for the building. Pre-cast walls are probably more likely therefore to sit on pad or strip footings with an infil slab constructed later. Another interesting point here is the Construction Joint in the Infil slab - which would have occured between pours of the floor slab and is common when very large areas are concreted. These joints in the concrete are held together by deformed dowels - steel bars such as a Y20 Dowel which grip either side of the concrete.

Figure 2. Section through a Warehouse Portal Frame and Attached Office
The above section (Figure 2) does not relate to the first picture (Guide to My Sketches). It cannot because the Warehouse is oriented in the wrong direction. In the Guide the warehouse side that recieves the roof slope with the guttering abutts the office. This drawing however was discussed in tutorials and you can see how a Warehouse Portal Frame with concrete panel walls can abut a different type of construction for an office - that of a clad steel frame and concrete floors. The first floor level shows how a suspended concrete floor may be constucted using a proprietary product called 'Bondek'. Because the ridges in the bondek are made of steel - the product has its own intrinsic steel 'joists' which support the mass of the concrete poured above.

Figure 3. Detail of Warehouse Portal Frame - Gutter Connection.
This figure shows an up close view of a rafter connecting to a concrete panel wall on the vertical face and to Z Purlins on the Horizontal face to which the Roofing is attached. Note the colorbond is angled into the gutter to prevent water dripping back to the wall. Also, there is a layer of Safety Mesh (important during construction) and Sarking (insulation) placed under the colorbond. Rafters do not just bolt into the walls. The concrete panels are constructed out of concrete which contains steel reinforcement. Concrete contributes good compressive strength and the steel contributes very good tensile strength - thus it holds the concrete together. Cast into concrete panels are items called 'Cast In - Inserts'. The above concrete panel would contain these inserts which connect inside the panel to the steel reinforcement. These Inserts are used for the rafter to connect to.

nb. Cast in inserts are also often used for bracing to be attached during construction - after bracing is removed they are patched over or in some cases, it is embraced as part of the aesthetic - see the posted photos of the 'Centre for Biological Research' by Louis Kahn at San Jose, California.


Section 4. Peeled Back view of the end of the Warehouse Roof
Note from this drawing how the Z purlins attach to the Rafters and over this a layer of safety mesh and Sarking is laid, before the Rood Cladding is fixed to the Z Purlins. It is important that along the edge, that capping is used to finish the line of the structure and protect the weather from entering.

Figure. 5. Detail of Spreader Gutter Between Warehouse and Office Structure

Note here that the gutter delivers storm water from the Warehouse Roof to the lower office Roof. The water outlet is chanelled along a series of pipes to spread out the water discharge along more surface area of the office roof. The proper construction/detailing of flashing between the Office Roof and the Cladding on the Warehouse Wall is essential to prevent a leaking Office Roof.


Figure 6. Detail of Capping on Front Parapet Wall of Office Building

Imagine you are standing in front of the Office Building and you would like to Jazz up the Parapet Wall - Cladding! Perhaps you could put your building Branding there? This detail shows how the water is directed behind the parapet wall and onto the roof cladding so that it may move down to a box gutter. Note how the angle is created with plywood on wood blocking and how the flashings interlock past each other and sealant and backing rod is incorporated to prevent water entry to the wooden elements.

Initial Sketches - see how far I've come

Just so you know - my sketching has improved - here are some of my less embarassing attempts to draw construction. I have re-drawn these sketches which are posted in the Section 'Sketching so that we may understand!"

Site Visit - Portal Frame for Wine Bottling / Manufacture

The picture above shows the Wine Bottling / Manufacturing Buildings. The larger portal frame houses the manufacturing hall. Visible with their two semicircular roofs are the attached office and ammenities structures which connect directly to the manufacturing hall.

As you enter the site the structure of the Manufacturing Shed becomes clearer. The column supports are exposed on the outside running up to meet what is a curved steel rafter of roof. The roof is clad with colorbond sheeting and short concrete panels are used for walls. The office/ammenities sections abutt the Manufacturing section and a box gutter is utilised at the junction however the external facade of the Manufacturing section utilises external guttering. View is to the North West

Inside the building with a view also to the North West, the Western End of the structure is visible. On the East and the West the structural components are placed inside, underneath the colorbond skin. The red Columns are visible with attached Girts (horizontal members). Interestingly there is no bracing visible at the ends of thi wall, however this is likely to be because there is another structure at the North End of this room, providing bracing to the structure. There is however significant cross bracing on the roof of the structure preventing the building from toppling in Easterly or Westerly winds.

Above, are the columns on the North and South ends of the building which extend up from the exterior of the building to protrude underneatht the roof colorbond cladding. These columns reach inward to meet trussed steel rafters. This shape providing a lateral buttressing effect, stabilising the structure, perhaps another explanation for the lack of bracing on the edges of the East and West walls? Purlins are attached to the tops of the columns and the rafters to which the cladding is fixed and the sarking insulation layer is visible from the inside.

A great way of understanding the structure of a building is to sketch. Above I have shown a schematic diagram of a section through the Southern Wall of the Manufacturing Shed. The Walls shown are probably tilt up walls due to the regional locale of the building, however I could be wrong there. The steel column structure is shown, internalising underneath the roof cladding of the building to bend and meet the trussed steel rafters.

The Beginning - Observing Built Forms

The beginning of this unit encourages us to get out into the built landscape to pay attention to the method/s of construction of 'Portal Frames - Houses of Industry' - which is our theme for this semester.

Following are photos of a Wine Manufacturing site in Nagambie, Victoria where Portal Frame Construction has been adopted to house a Winery and Bottling operation. Architect designed (Alby Richards), I think the curved use of corrugated iron in these warehouses and sheds is interesting and a pleasing aesthetic.

INTRODUCTION

This Blog tracks my progress through the Construction & Structures 2 Unit which I am undertaking as part of the Architecture Degree at Deakin University, in Geelong, Australia. Enjoy!