Draft Technical Report

8/12/2019 Draft Technical Report

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CONTENTS

2 Strategy3-4 Structure5-6 Environmental Design7-8 Skin9-10 Integration

Appendices

11 Precedents

12 Micro desk study13 Construction & Orientation


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STRATEGY

Design Drivers Multigenerational living : children, parents, grandparents Flexibility over time : Internal walls, external envelope

Building for Life 12Code for Sustainable Homes

Offsite PrefabricationLightweight Construction

Air Heating, Passive Solar

Reclaim materials from demolition

Design ApplicationConstruction strategy (RIBA stage 2)

Disused warehousebecomes temporary

factory whilst thebuilding progresses

Prefabricated sectionsare erected on site

Design Drivers

Buildings have commercial ground floor and resi-dential upper floors.

Ground Floor constructed from brick reclaimedfrom on-site demolitions.

Upper Stories timber framed (glulam, engi-neered timber?) allowing for addition of pref-bricated panels to create building envelope asrequired.

This project is to be a residential development for employees of a Chinese firm moving someof its operations to Liverpool. This will initially hold a mixture of local workers and somenewly arrived from China. In addition, many of the units will be sold to people unconnected tothe company.

Reasearch has shown a preference for extended families to live together within the Chinesecommunity, so the individual dwelling units are to be designed in such a way as to be able toexpand or contract as fits the needs of the family.

The location is already close to shops, restaurants and leisure facilities, but some provisionshould be made for small retail units to serve the new residents.

This stage of development fits with stages 0 and 1 of the RIBA plan of work.


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STRUCTURE

Substructure Strategy

Possible Base Connections for Glulam Columns

Concrete Raft

Piles?

Concrete Raft

Piles

The ground under the proposed site is mainly loose glacial till and likely to include an amountof rubble and foundations from previous buldings. Due to the severe bombing recieved dur-ing the Second World War, there is also a chance of unexploded ordnance being present (see

micro-desk study p12). In addition to this, a disused railway tunnel runs beneath the site.

The site will therefore require a thorough survey n accordance with RIBA stage 2 beforeground works can begin and the building may require deep piling for stability.

http://www.woodsolutions.com.au/Applications-Products/Poles-Beams


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It is proposed to adapt the traditional Chinese dou-gong construction technique (see appendix,page 13) to p rovide a timber framework for the building.

The design process involved rationalising the complex traditional structure to a system ofsimple components which could be reailsed iusing modern engineered timber.

A set of prototype parts were laser cut and assembled to approximate the traditional struc-ture. After experimentation, a further set of modified and additional parts were cut. Onceunneccesary pieces had been discarded, a set of five bracket parts was settled upon.

In the exploded assembly diagram above, it can be seen that one bracket part (in orange) ispurely decorative, whilst all others perform a structural role.

In order to control costs and speed construction, more modern joining techniques will be usedon upper storeys, whilst this system will be used for columns at ground floor to provide visu-al impact and rhythm to the buildings.

This corresponds to stages 2 and 3 of the RIBA plan of work.

STRUCTURE

Bracket Assembly

Experimental Column

Gong

Dou

Long Gong

Discarded Pieces


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ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Environmental Design Strategy

Individual units :Each housing unit is autonomous and will be subject to alterations and modifications during itslifespan, therefore the key points are an insulated unit envelopeand control of solar gain.

Courtyard allowssunlight to all units

Overhang shadessoutherly units

Setback opens courtyard -allowing light to northerlyunits

Manually adjustedshading elements?

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/crowd-pleaser-everyman-theatre-by-haworth-tompkins/8660835.article

http://passivehouseto.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/wall-cross-section-for-all-exterior.html

Lightweight construction,avoiding thermal bridging

Lack of thermal masssuggests air heating & heatrecovery ventilation

http://www.glennhowells.co.uk/content/housing/83/0/9

The site is relatively open to the south, making available sunlight plentiful. As can be seenabove, the construction system dictates the way that energy can be dealt with.


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Performance Based Methodology

The exact building form and alignment of the scheme dependsupon environmental factors - hence the performance leads thedesign.

Following a compliance-based methodology on this projectwould seem too inflexible and involve a certain amount of back-

tracking and retro-fitting.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Student Halls Housing

Phoenix Dragon

In addition to the impact on the residents of the building, overshadowing of adjacent buildingswas taken into account. In the shadow plot above, both propsed buildings, Dragon and Phoe-nox cam be seen to overshadoewtheir neighbours.

In the case of Dragon, most of the shdow falls on blind walls, so does not cause a problem.Phoenix casts shadows directly over residents windows and therefore has been altered inlater versions of the scheme.

In order to get a better Idea of the impact these buildings would have, I ran a series of solarstudies to discover where the shadows were being cast (appendix page 12) and adjusted di-mensions accordingly.


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SKIN

Multiple envelopes :Each housing unit is self-contained and wrapped in its own lightweight insulated envelope.The commercial plinth floor is of more traditional bricks & mortar construction.

The separate nature of each individual unit means that there needs to be greater exposed sur-face area than in a more traditional building. All-round insulation is therefore important.

In looking for materials, the kinds of system used in prefabricated buildings (appendix page 11)have been taken into account. These include glass fibre insulation and cladding over steel ortimber structures or prefabricated panels sealed with tape or rubber gaskets.

The choices of material on the next page are informed by performance, durability, environ-mental impact, availability and price.


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SKIN

WALL:

FLOOR:

ROOF: epdm membrane, polystyrene insulationosb deck, engineered timber structureplasterboard ceiling, paint

chipboard flooringdense pack cellulose insulationengineered timber joistsosb boarding

Fibrece

mentcladdingandtimberbattens,

brea

ther

membrane,OSB/3sheathing,timberframe,

de

nsepack

cellulos

einsulation,vapourcontrollayer,plast

erboard

onbattens,paint

Sources http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/greenguide/presentations/Presentation_SurfaceDesignShow_Feb09_ExternalCladdingAndFacades.pdf http://www.bre.co.uk/greenguide/ggelement.jsp?buildingType=Housing&category=1009&parent=6&elementType=10121 http://totnesedap.org.uk/book/appendices/appendix-c/embodied-energy-in-building-materials/ http://www.marleyeternit.co.uk/Facades/EQUITONE/Pictura.aspx

MATERIAL CHOICES

EPDM: durability, low maintainance, recycling possibilities

OSB: lower environmental impact than plywood

Engineered Timber: strength, weight, locked-in carbon

Cellulose: recycled, locked-in carbon, beats fibreglass for

moisture and air-permeability

Plasterboard:availability, cost, ease of use

Chipboard: availability, cost, ease of use, locked-in carbon

Fibre Cement: relatively low embodied energy

Polystyrene: weight, rigidity

www.ajbuildingslibrary.co.uk/projects/display/id/6759#tabs-Working-details

www.ecotimberframe.ie/passive_wall.php

www.rubber4roofs.co.uk/EPDM-Uses/EPDM-Warm-Deck-Roof-Design/


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INTEGRATION

Possible unit types

Kitchen Bathroom

Airing Cupboard

Services Shaft

The need for ventilation and heat recovery lead to the incorporation of a common air duct forall unit types. This duct developed into a shaft system which could also serve each dwellingwith electricity, gas and sewerage.

Placing the kitchen and bathroom adjacent to this shaft allows cable and pipe runs to be keptshort, and means that smoke and steam from cooking and washing can easily be extractedand energy recovered at rooftop heat exchangers.


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INTEGRATION

This cutaway shows the principal systems in place.

The remaining area with the most potential is the roof. As a rain collector it could harvest

around 1.1 million litres per year, based on an average annual Liverpool rainfall of 869 mm.Assuming an occupancy of 180 residents, this would meet around 10% of their requirements.

If used for photovoltaic panels it could produce around 200 MWh per annum, depending onthe type of technology used.

Heat exchangeventilation

Lift shaft & stairs,leading to deck access

Timber Framework

Units adapted tofamily requirements

Pipework&cabling

1327 m2roof area


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APPENDIX

Flexible spaces: precedents

Park Road Apartments, LondonNicholas Grimshaw and Terry Farrell, 1968

Large open floor plates are made possible by using a centralstructural core containing services and structural columnsset back from the perimeter behind glazing. As a result, morethan 70 lay-out options were initially available - with manylater alterations possible due to non-loadbearing walls.

Casa Evolutiva, UmbriaRenzo Piano and Peter Rice, 1978

This modular structure allows spaces to be added, sub-tracted, divided or multiplied as necessary; rails along theperimeter walls allow framing members to be fastened in andflooring members can be clipped on to the added frame.

Spacebox, UtrechtMart de Jong, 2003

T30 Hotel, HunanBroadGroup, 2012

Prefabrication: examples


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Micro Desk Study

Historical Usage

Geology

Existing Structure

n r uln i v r i t n t r l

L n c h ir

, 1 1 :c l :

_

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200m

L n r Inf r t i n r u Lt n C r n c y ri h t 1 . F E U C TI L U E L Y.

N1920s - pre WWII bombing

Extent of Site

N Wapping Tunnel ventilation shaft(disused and capped)

Bedrock: Helsby Sandstone FormationSandstone-dominated, with sporadicconglomerates, particularly towards

the base, and siltstones.

Superficial:Devensian Till

Unexploded Bomb Risk

. .

.

. . .

.

I

IRRAL

MERSE I

I

Liverpool

Birkenhead

Bebington

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Crosby

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APPENDIX

Solar Study

winter

spring

summer


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Traditional Chinese Construction

Existing buildings serving Liverpools Chinese commu-nity display their identity either by crude pastiche orby application of Chinese motifs to existing buildings.

I believe a stronger, more truthful sense of identitywould be engendered by reinterpreting traditionalforms of counstruction.

Existing Liverpool Chinese Vernacular

Dou Gong Bracket System

A defining feature of traditional oriental t imber con-struction is the use of the dou gong bracket system.This derives from constructuon techniques developedin the Tang Dynasty (618 A. D.907 A.D.)

The dou gong is intended to convert bending forcesfrom beams and girders into vertical forces into the

columns. The cross-arm and lever-arm members re-duce the clear span of the main beam and gi rder. Theyin turn undergo short span bending until the forcesare transferred to the column via the bracket in bear-ing. Depending on the span and load, multilayer dougong brackets can be made to transfer high loads(Lam et al 2008)

References

China.org.cn. 2014. Structures of Pagodas. [online] Available at:

http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/43490.htm [Accessed:10 Mar 2014].

chrispy thoughts. 2013. The wooden Pagodas of China. [online]Available at: http://chrispythoughts.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/the-wooden-pagodas-of-china/ [Accessed: 11 Mar 2014].

Lam, F., He, M. and Yao, C. 2008. Example of Traditional Tall TimberBuildings in China the Yingxian Pagoda. Structural Engineering Inter-national, 18 (2), pp. 126--129.

Zhu, E., Chen, Z. , Pan, J. and Lam, F. 2012. Structural Performanceof Dou Gong Brackets of Yingxian Wood Pagoda Under VerticalLoading. World, 15 p. 19.

Chinese Pavillion, Shanghai Expo 2010.Dou gong reinterpreted in steel.

Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

Orientation for housing

BedZED, HackbridgeBill Dunster 2000-2002

Alton West, WandsworthLCC, 1959

Accordia, CambridgeFeilden Clegg Bradley, 2003-2011

Borneo Sporenburg, AmsterdamWest 8, 1999

Trellick Tower, North KensingtonErn Goldfinger 1972

Unit dHabitation, MarseilleLe Corbusier, 1947-1952

Exterior building orientation would appear to bemore reliant on local context than requirementsfor sunlight or considerations of solar gain.

APPENDIX


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DRAGONPHOENIXL I V E R P O O L

Environmental Technology & Design

AO4002

Andrew Paul

Documents

Draft Technical Report