Week 7 Studio Journal Marta Elefterijadis 640888

Constructing Environments - Sem2

In this week’s studio we visited a particular site in Richmond, located on Victoria Street just near Victoria Gardens.

Here was a site whereby the building of several residential apartment blocks were in the process of being built and furnished.

Week 7 Studio Journal Marta Elefterijadis 640888

Constructing Environments - Sem2

As mentioned, this is a site with several blocks of apartments, which means that it requires several shipments of material on a daily basis in order to keep up with the extremely rapid building production that goes on on-site.

This level of construction requires around 400 workers as explained on the day, and the rapid schedule is predomnantly due to the fact that the building developers cannot allow for mass losses of money, as residents are those who will ultimaely pay off the site and proceed to give profits.

Below we can see the underground parking . This sapce is not only designed to accomodate for the resident’s cars, but also to assist with ventilation, as well as provide a means for containing the source of the water and energy that is supplied up throughout the rest of the buildings.

Week 7 Studio Journal Marta Elefterijadis 640888

Constructing Environments - Sem2

In this the Green Centre of a crop of apartment buildings, we can see that much water proofing needs to take place particularly because of the building of a swimming pool as can be seen on the first picture to the right.

Not only this, but this space is also planned to contain a layer of grass and/or vegetation which again requires much water proofing and water resistant membranes in order to make sure that no leaks occur on any of the levels below.

The surrounding apartment buildings are to have a total of 8 storeys each.

Week 7 Studio Journal Marta Elefterijadis 640888

Constructing Environments - Sem2

Again, special waterproofing membranes and techniques must be used not only on the exterior of the building, but also within the apartments themselves.

On the balconies, special double proofed membranes must be put in place to be able to resist all kinds of weather treatments, while on the inside of the apartment, special flooring is used particularly in the kitchen area, and again on the floors and tiled walls of the bathroom (especially within the bath/shower section).