WEEK  1  –  TUTORIAL  2/08    In  the  first  week  tutorial  our  tutor  Lisa  has  made  an  introduction  to  the  subject.  This  introduction  intended  to  give  students  an  overview  of  the  year  and,  highlighted  the  different  assessment  of  the  semester.  As  it  was  the  first  tutorial  of  the  subject  the  tutor  asked  us  to  “break  the  ice”  with  other  students  by  introducing  ourselves  one  to  another.  Afterwards,  Lisa  split  the  initial  groups  of  students  so  that  everyone  got  to  know  each  other  and  she  formed  new  groups  for  the  activity.  As  the  studio  was  based  on  the  principle  of  “compression”  ,  each  groups  had  to  built  the  higher  tower  possible  by  using  blocks  of  wood  shaped  in  rectangular  forms.  Each  group  were  using  the  different  techniques  of  compression  to  build  their  tower,  with  different  templates  for  the  foundation  of  their  structure.  Which  lead  to  different  types/shapes  of  structures.      The  three  types  of  compression  learned  in  the  tutorial  were  as  follow:    

                                     

 

In   order   to   build   the   tower,  my   group   and   I   had   chosen   a   square   shaped  structure  as  the  foundation.  We've  started  building  the  tower  by  the  same  technique  shown  above   in  Figure  1.1.  After  6   layers  of  wooden  blocks  we  decided  to  change  the  template  of  the  compression  structure  and  opted  for  columns   (Figure   1.3).   That   was   not   a   good   idea...   As   we   were   getting  higher,   18   layers,   we   came   to   the   assumption   that   we   have   changed   the  template  of  our  structure  too  early.  This  has  affected  our  tower  in  terms  of  stability   (Figure   1.6).   We   also   realised   that   our   square   used   as   the  foundation  of  the  tower  was  too  big  and  it  would  take  a  long  time  before  it  becomes  a  high  tower.  The  group  has  accepted  that  it  was  a  failure  in  terms  of  height,  but  we  still  tried  to  provide  a  cross-­‐shaped  foundation  inside  the  square   (Figure   1.5).  This  could  have  helped  by  adding   load  bearing  walls  for  a  possible  roof.  Saddly   time  caught  us  and  the   tutorial  had  come  to  an  end.  

Figure  1.1   Figure  1.2   Figure  1.3  

   Figure  1.4  Building  the  tower.

Figure  1.5  New  “X”  shaped  foundation  inside  tower.  

 

Figure  1.6  Tower  is  at  a  collapsing  point  

Roof  is  collapsing