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alexandre robert MccorMack

Alexandre ROBERT McCORMACKADDRESS : 97 Rue des Augustines, 1090 BruxellesEMAIL : ARMcCk@gmail.comTEL : 0032 (0)4 71 64 26 50

EDUCATION ARCHITECTURAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING

2011 - 2013

2008 - 2011

2007

ULB / VUB, Belgium - BRUFaceMasters degree (English) - “Distinction”

ULB, Belgium - Ecole polytechnique de Bruxelles Bachelor degree (French)

Lycée St Louis, France - Scientific Baccalauréat « Mention bien » (French)Specialisation in plastic arts (7 years)

2012 - 2013 Master thesis “Non-Stabilised Rammed Earth Constructions : Material Characteristics and Application to Urban Co-Housing in Brussels”

Brussels Engineering Faculty ULB / VUB

PROGRAM SKILLS

2D/3

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PERSONALITY

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

LANGUAGES

Engl

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Span

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Broekbakema Office - Architectural Assistant and Biomimicry Researcher03/02/2014 – Ongoing, Rotterdam, NetherlandsArchitect and Biomimicry SpecialistAdvisor in building physics, sustainable strategies and techniques

Conceptual to technical designArchitectural teamwork designArchitectural integration of sustainable strategiesConception and innovation for reducing construction costsPresentation

Innovator, Insightful, Communicative and sociable,Artistic and creative engineer,Visionnary

OngoingFeb 2014(6 months)

Date of Birth : 02/02/1989Nationalities : Irlandais/Français

Driving Licence B

The world is older than we'll ever be. humbleness abides.

Masterplanning.................................

Biomimicry.........................................

Architecture.....................................

Master Thesis...................................

MASTERPLANURBan planningRepaiRing the uRban tissue

MASTERPLANURBan planningRepaiRing the uRban tissue

FUNCTION

PHILOSPHY

YEAR

SITE

COURSE Design Studio I - Team Work (4 students)

Master I - 1st Semester

Surface Covered : 28 137 m²Surface Built on Ground : 10 771 m²

La Chapelle Trainstaton, Brussels

SIZE

Residence, Hotel, Art Gallery, Cinema Nightclub, Youth Hostel, Sports CenterTrainstation, Skatepark

Our sentiment was that the neighbourhood has great potentialOur position was to work closely with the existing buildings

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The train bridge crossing has completely scarred the neighbourhood. Our first aim was to create a visual connection between the north and south side like a Ying and Yang. This would also help integrate the bridge and the activities underneath as part of a whole rather than a burden and an eyesore. From there on, the urban fabric was recreated in harmony with the rest, providing new opportunities for activities, open spaces, social interaction and sunlight.

Gare de La Chappelle, Brussels

ARCHITECTUREBUILDINGDesIGNSuStainableStrategieS

BUILDINGDesIGNSuStainableStrategieS

FUNCTION

PHILOSPHY

YEAR

SITE

COURSE Design Studio II

Master I - 2nd Semester

Surface Built on Ground : 3 347 m²Livable Surface : 16 735 m²

Building south-side bridge of masterplanLa Chapelle Trainstaton, Brussels

SIZE

Nightclub, Youth Hostel, Sports Center, Restaurant, Library, Conference Hall.

Circulation is based on social interaction.The building is a lung for itself and the district.

YOUT

H Ho

stel

TWO STARTING-POINTCIRCULATION

SPOR

TS CE

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The heated air in the hostel rooms, sports center and public spaces rises up all the way to the greenhouse compartment through vents. The cooled air drops down into the atrium which also acts as a second CO2 transformer. The oxygenated air then permeates the frequented areas.

O2 O2

CO2 Ventilation Greenhouse

Atrium

AIR PURIFICATION DESIGN CO2 to O2 Converter

TWO STARTING-POINTCIRCULATION

Restaurant

GreenHouse

Exterior Garden Hostel RoomsInterior court

The restaurant on the upper level has di-rect access to the open and closed gardens so it can serve fresh food. The whole function of the building is to re-produce O2 from the CO2 created by the in-habitants. It is therefore a closed system. The building benefits itself and the neigh-bourhood.

FUNCTIONAL MIXITYDifferent experiences

Water Havesting System

The slope of the atrium glass roof is designed so the flow of the rain water falls into the exterior rooftop garden. All the extra water is stored under the build-ing and is usable for toilets, washing machines, gar-dening, etc...

Translucent Solar Panels

A large area is covered with new technology translu-cent solar panels. A comfortable spectrum is allowed through and the rest is transformed into energy for the building and district.

BIOMIMICRYArchitecturAlengineeringStructuralanalySiS

BIOMIMICRYArchitecturAlengineering

FUNCTION

PROGRAMS

YEAR

SITE

COURSE Spatial Structures - Parametric Design

Master I

Surface Built : 177 m²

Temporary

SIZE

Exhibition Pavilion

Rhino 3D, GrasshopperAutoCad 3D, VBAEasy, SCIA Engineer

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cerastoderMa edule

In 2010, I assisted at a conference on biomimicry given by domain expert Janine Benyus. It inspired me to implement the thought process into architectural design. The course on spatial structures was a good oppoortunity to try it out. It quickly showed that the complexity of biological structures are difficult to grasp and the analytics are a major part in the research. To maximise the intelligent aspects of a biological system, an iterative process is favoured, where the analysis is reimplemented and the whole cycle starts over.

The shell grows by gradually depositiing calcium around it’s egdes. Each transversal line repre-sents a winter cycle. These transversal lines were the basis for the modelling. The geodesic lines from the starting point were created using AutoCad and Rhino. st

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growing the structureFroM the bottoM

The cerastoderma edule is a common seashell that has been structurally optimised through an evolutionary process. It's an inspiration for spatial structural design The spatial structure is designed as a temporary exhibition pavilion for a public square. It has a height reaching aproximately 7m, its length and width are respectively 16m and 13m. The reaction forces on the far end

points of the structure are far less greater than those at the concentrated point. This leaves the possibility to push the structure from the bottom by adding steel or concrete gradually. There would be no need for cranes or hoisting infrastructure.

A linear approximation was found between the radius and lentgh of the shell. The growth and shape of the shell are governed by an Archimedean spiral and polar equation.

ANALYSIS OF EXISTANT STRUCTURE

UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE

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MASTER THESISNoN-StabiliSedRammed eaRthCoNStRuCtioNSMaterial CharaCteristiCsand appliCation to UrbanCo-hoUsing in brUssels

MASTER THESIS

FUNCTION

PHILOSOPHY

YEAR

SITE

COURSE Master Thesis

Master II

Ground surface Unit : 1500 m²Livable surface : 4670 m²Basement : 1500 m²

Tour et Taxi, Brussels

SIZE

Co-Operative Housing

Implementing sustainable features from insulation, embodied energy, life cycle assessment to social interaction and sharing. Densifying the function suitable for the urban outfit.

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Sunlight was an important factor to be considered. The nature of the walls does not allow large openings. Linear walls were placed inside the building which became an interesting plan for costs, exploiting hygrometric proprerties of RE, avoiding contact with insulating layers and creating large penetrations for daylight.

The project consists of a Co-Operative

Housing Project made from Rammed Earth

in an urban area in Brussels (Tour et Taxi).

The local soil was found to be adapted for

construction. The amount of soil used in the

walls corresponds to the amount excavated

for the basement and foundations.

The goal was to create a building simple on

the construction process thus reducing

costs and labor.

EARLY LATE

A group of residences co-operating together by distributing the chores and tasks among them. They live as a community, generally sharing meals 2-3 times a week and own common spaces. A multi-generational community is necessary, where for example the elder take care of the children while parents are at work. Different sociological backgrounds are beneficial as each can bring own their skills to the community.The challenge of an urban co-housing project was to densify these features.

Co-Housing

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The inhabitants experience the thickness and massivi-ty of the walls by walking through them. passers-by can also interact with this unfamiliar structure, observing and feeling the walls where they are ex-ternal.

Level 0 Level 1

Non-Stabilised Rammed Earth walls are typically thick. After laboratory compression tests and an estimation of loads, it was approximated with a safety factor of 3.5 (1.25 for concrete) that a 4 storey building was feasible with 70cm thick walls.

Level 2

An equilibrium between inti-macy and social interaction is provided. The living rooms face outdoors with small bal-conies. The entrances are turned towards the heart of the building. The circulation area is strategically spacious where vertical circulation oc-curs allowing people to stop and interact.

The grain size distribution is a standard way to classify the type of sdil. CRATerre suggests that the ideal soil for rammed earth must have a more or less uniform distribution. During compression tests, the samples with a finer grain size tended to have greater resistance. It seems that rammed earth achieves it’s resistance mainly through capillary forc-es rather than the grain structure which tends to be the norm in a concrete mix.

Cylindrical samples of 15cm high were put under compression tests at different moisture contents. Before complete fail-ure, the material shows some cracks. The right moisture content is crucial to resistance of the material. A variation of 2% can double or triple the compres-sive strength. Generally, the strength achieved was 2.2MPa. After hygromet-ric equilibrium and optimal moisture con-tent, the maximum compressive strength achieved was 7MPa.

Compressive Strength Grain-Size Distribution

In April 2011, I participated in a Rammed Earth Workshop. It consisted of building a 50m² hunting pavilion. It is very seldomly we find an opportunity to take part in a full rammed earth project. The experience was incredible as it had suscitated more than just learning the technique. The touch and feel of earth is heartening and opened up aspects of construction I had never sus-pected before. The social aspect was one of them and it created a bond between all par-ticipants.It was almost unbelievable that such a soft and brittle material could become so strong and resistant. I needed to find out more about the science behind it all.

Having discovered the influence of hy-grometry on the rammed earth speci-mens,the question of whether rammed earth was suitable for both interior and exterior conditions was raised. Samples were left to meet hygrometric equilibrium after 28 days under a rela-tive humidity of 40% representing interi-or conditions and that of 90% represent-ing external rainy conditions.It was demonstrated that under the ide-al initial water content, the wall would have a tendency to dry thus increasing it’s resistance through time by increasing suction.

Hygrometry