Thursday, March 15, 2007

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.

Monday, March 12, 2007

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.









Wednesday, March 7, 2007

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!