Pinal A. Desai

M.Sc Year 1. TU Delft.

8 weeks

Assignment:

As a part of Building Technology seminar, we were required to analyse the facade of the Pathe Cinema in Rotterdam and suggest a new facade that will solve the observed problems. This was to be shown by giving a construction drawing and structural design along with the climate design. Technical drawings of connection details were also required. Finally, a reflection based on two peer reviews concluded the project.

Climate design:

On analysis, it was observed that the facade allows alot of dust accumulation and hence, even though expenses would be made regularly in cleaning, the facade still looks covered in dust. Also, the internal climate is too hot in summer and too cold in winter. These factors need to be taken into account. The solution proposed was an unconventional double glass facade: one with a funnel effect for draft ventilation. Glass was selected which provides also the transparency and allows natural sunlight in the foyer and circulation spaces.

Mechanical heating/cooling is enabled via the under floor polyethylene pipes connected in a parallel system. Water mixed with antifreeze liquid such as propylene glycol passes through the entire building and heats/cools the system via the heat exchanger placed well below the ground. Although the maximum temperature required for heating the liquid is about 29 degrees, the heat load is reduced considerably by the extracting the heat generated in the projector room and the screening rooms and transferring it to the foyer.

Structure design:

Steel was selected due to its ability of taking loads on minimal footprint. Steel framework with a spider system is used to compensate the weight of glass. To obtain a stable construction, a triangular system of steel column and under floor beam is used. Additional steel purlins are used in horizontal direction to counter the wind force. A hollow rectangular profile is chosen so that the connections can easily be made with clamps.

Maintenance for cleaning is provided for both the size and installation of the double skin, including the louvers at the bottom. For the main structure, Steel profiles of 150x100mm, 3mm thick are used. For ease of transportation, all the sections have a maximum length of 3mts and are mass produced in factory and the components are assembled on site.

M.Sc Year 1. TU Delft.

 8 weeks

 Team with : Peter Polhuijs, Puttakhun Vongsingha

 Assignment: The course assignment was to design a glass (roof) structure that covers an area of is 42m by 28m or a similar area in size. There is no height limit. The roof structure and the columns or load bearing walls should be made from glass (panels). However, if there are design problems which cannot be solved in glass, steel connections or tension cables may be applied. The function of the area under the glass structure is not defined; therefore it can be anything from a museum, to a playground or any public or commercial space. We choose to make a folded plate dome to create a strong structure while giving a good architectural appeal. In a dome the structure behaves omni-directional and can therefore handle vertical load in every direction.

Design: We used the factory standard size of float glass (3210x6000mm).  Using Sentry glass by DuPoint, we could design a laminated glass in order to achieve panels larger than 3210x6000. Sentry glass was chosen because of the safety factor that allows the laminated glass panel to stay intact even when faced with high impact. The initial design proposal of low dome was modified to high dome due to possible lower tensile stresses and less deflection. The design was modified to avoid unnecessary large peak stresses. Connection details: Various types of connection methods were studied. It was concluded to use hinge connections to allow panel movement in 3-axis while avoiding peak stresses and bending moments under standard load conditions. The hinges are connected to panels using adhesives.

Structural analysis: Software 'fx+ for Diana ' was used. 4 load cases were considered: Dead weight, snow load, wind load, All three loads (serviceability limit state) and all load multiplied with safety factors (Ultimate limit state). Maximum displacement, stresses and bending moments were studied from the results. after studying the support reactions, support details were drawn: pin joint was used along with roller joints to allow x and y direction movements.

M.Sc Year 1. TU Delft.

8 weeks

Team with : Peter Polhuijs, Puttakhun Vongsingha

Assignment parallel with Folded Plate Glass Dome

 The assignment was to redesign a Heinz Isler concrete shell structure that covers a sloped area of 42m by 28m, with a height difference of 4m. The height of the structure should be around 10m. The function underneath the structure is an open air theatre. Therefore the design is a wide span structure; there shouldn’t be any columns or supports in the covered area of the structure.

The design process involved workshops about physical form finding, computer regeneration of the design, FEM calculations and structure analysis.

Form Finding: Multiple physical models were made by hanging fabric covered in wax. When the wax is cured, the fabric will become stiff. The fabric before being stiff in the hanging position, will form the in the near optimum shape. There is only tension in fabric surface, with no or bending moments. After being cured and flipped, the tension in the membrane will become compression and has the structure behaviour of a shell structure. For convenience of reference, we scaled our model designs roughly to 1:200.

A larger gypsum model was made to scale 1:100 in a similar method. The surface is thinner and structural behaviour will be more visible and closer to thin concrete shell.

FEM: The model was drawn up in Rhinoceros software. To make calculations we used different softwares packages. The NUBS-geometry was imported from Rhinoceros to FX+ for Diana to create a mesh, apply loads and constrains. Then, the calculation was done in Diana and export to iDiana to present the results.

Load cases: A total of 6 load cases were used. These are. Dead weight & snow load in z direction, wind load in x direction , wind load in y direction , serviceability limit state with wind load in x direction (all loads), serviceability limit state with wind load in y direction (all loads) and ultimate limit state (all loads multiplied by safety factor) in x and y direction respectively.</pr>

Displacement, support reactions, bending moment and stresses were studied. Based on these, reinforcement plan was dawn, and extra reinforcement was provided at the supports as well as at the cut outs and dip n the structure to allow for the additional stresses.

M.Sc Year 2. TU Delft.

4 weeks

Assignment: This studio was divided into 2 parts: 4 weeks of site study as a group and 4 weeks of individual elaboration on the problems identified. The group consisted of a total of 4 students from TU Delft and 3 students from Hanoi Architecture University, Vietnam. In this portfolio, only the solution developed individually is elaborated.

The site is based in silk Village, 10 kilometers from the Hanoi city center. During the study and by talking to the locals, it was realized that the river was causing health problems. At the same time, the Public space was reducing. These two problems are focused on this project.

Design: The solution developed was of wet-land pods: that was made of bio-composite and could be used for urban farming.

The first step of the design incorporated growing reed on the river banks to clean the pollution. A reed fully matures to its fill height of about 1.2 meters in approximately one year. After processing for about 3-4 weeks, it can be further used. The reed fibers can be used in the natural fibers reinforcement in the bio composites. However, as reed is susceptible to weather decomposition over long time as compared to metal and glass reinforcements, to improve the durability of the bio-composites an additional layer of resin must be used.

It was observed that the drain from village is directly let out into the river. While one idea would take some of the drain to filtration plant, a part of the drain is made to flow though the hexagonal pods in order to achieve a clean drinking system through vertical and horizontal wet-land system. Thus the drain water is cleaned through a natural process before it enters the river, while the system offers the regeneration of the lost green space.

After the river is relatively clean, it can be used as a point of interaction for social meet and greet, even small street side cafes. Thus, the individual hexagonal pods would form a canopy, supported by stacked hexagonal pods. The space below can be used for interaction. The hollow spaces in canopy pods are covered in glass so that people can walk over them. These canopy pods can be accessible via staircase formed by pods on the outside of the canopy.

MSc semester 2.

6 weeks.

Assignment: As a part of the course 'Extreme', we were required to design a research station for 6 upto 12 Scientists in Antarctica. The most important aspect to be considered was the transport as only a special cargo flight an be used to transport the building elements. Thus, the building parts must stick to certain maximum dimension. Standard fire safety and thermal comfort must be considered while designing. Energy plan must be drawn along with HVAC planning and assembly drawings.

 The solution arose from observing a Zorb ball used for sports and leisure. Its unique character of being able to inflate and hence, easy construction made it easy to transport. The maximum size of the module was arcs fitting within 6meter x3meter which is well within the maximum dimensions. Its modular quality leave room for flexible functions, meaning that the Research facility can adapt to different programs as per number of people. Whats more, this module can also be transported easily if the columns are replaced by sledges, making possible a movable working station for summer time usage.

The form was derived in Rhino. After generating the 3-D, 2-D drawings were generated in AutoCAD. these were analysed together with Energy consumption, HVAC plan, structure and construction detail. Initially, a Steel Wire mesh was added on the exterior for additional support, considering the Katabatic winds. However, the Steel wire mesh was unnecessary and an optimized ribbed structure was designed, thus reducing the load and easing the transport. This would also mean reducing the amount of flights required to transport the system.

The material is ETFE, using air as insulation material. Because of its transparent nature, it is possible to use different lights and printed foil to make desired patterns. However, the location of this station should be restricted to a non- hail-storm prone winter location.

As a part of the first year Master course, we were to design and build to full size, a working prototype of a module for facade, inkeeping with this year's theme of sun-shading.

We normally see the traditional sunshades that are of a definite pattern. What if , this pattern changed every time we used it? That is the basic inspiration of our proposal. Inspired by the concept of sand picture, we made a rotating window , filled with sand such that it provides sun-shading while also generating a different pattern each time it rotates.

So, the experiments began with testing the liquids with different viscosities, sand textures and sizes. Finally we concluded that vodka mixed with mineral water was the ideal liquid choice mixed with Scheveningen beach sand mixed with IKEA decorative sand to attain different sand colours. A variety of CAD-CAM programmes was used for its generation. The basic layout for sizes and proportion was designed in grasshopper , a plug in for rhino, and the precise gear design was achieved by website specializing in wood-gear design. For precision purpose, they were laser cut and assembled precisely in place. Due to budget and time constraints, sandwich panels of plexi-glass were used on which the gear-windows were mounted for smooth functioning of the gears.