STUDIO ARC300: THIRD YEAR DESIGN
University of Kansas, School of Architecture and Urban Design
Nils Gore, Assistant Professor

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Marshall Morrison

Hidden Strength

Structure is arguable one of the most important elements of almost anything. It is the difference between a building and a pile of rocks, it is the difference between a car and a pile of scrap metal, and it is the difference between a person and a pile of flesh. It is to little surprise how intriguing structures are to study. Even structure as simple as the corrugation of a piece of corrugated cardboard is in its own way fascinating. It is amazing that three flimsy pieces of cardboard, when folded in the right way, can become so strong. This was the idea that inspired the direction I chose to take the cardboard box project.

If folding and connecting three pieces of cardboard can increase its strength exponentially, could the same be true in the construction of a box itself? In other words I wanted to know if there was a technique that I could use to build a box that used a minimum of material but put out a maximum of strength. I started by affixing two one square foot sides to zigzagging vertical pieces. The idea behind this was that corrugation was inherently stronger when it was compressed in one direction than it was in the other direction. This was successful because I learned from it. I learned that it is not only the strength of the vertical pieces that affected their effectiveness but also the quantity. In future experimenting I found that if I used thinner verticals but more of them, 6 at two inches wide as opposed to 2 and six inches, the box would be stronger, and less material would be used. I also found that there was a balance to the ratio of the width to the quantity of the supports. When I built the box with 12-one inch supports it was the weakest of all the boxes because the individual supports were so weak that they would break before they had a chance to work together, so finding the perfect ratio of width to number was crucial to increasing the strength of the box.

Another variable of the box's strength was the angle that the verticals came down at. I found that if I varied the angles throughout the length of the box it would hold stronger. I also paired the verticals up, so each angle had two verticals, and each vertical went in a different direction.

Although my experimenting was successful, and I was able to create a strong box with minimal material I feel that there is still a better way to do this. I think there is more to be learned in experimenting with verticals coming at angles. Although I was able to experiment with both the size of the supports and the angles at which they were attached I would still be curios as to see how the height of the boxes would change the results as well and patterns in which the vertical supports could be placed. It would be interesting to further what I have learned with the cardboard boxes by translating it into architecture. What if columns weren’t straight up and down? Could columns be stronger if they were oriented in special ways and at special angles?

Idea to Item
What is it that makes a great architect? What are the characteristics that a great architect possesses? Is it the ability to do clean, clear, and concise drawings? Is it the ability to make models that put the sculptures of the masters to shame? That has something to do with it, but it also has to do with the ability to understand the act of designing in all of its aspects. What good are unprecedented drawings if the product of those specifications is of poor quality because of bad forethought in designing? After a designer has designed a project, it takes a large leap between being designing and being produced. It changes from an idea to an item. It comes into existence. Unfortunately anything is not possible and there are a variety of variables that enter the equation when a project is being built. Whether it be something as large as a skyscraper or as small as a whirligig there is the same risk of something can going wrong in production. It is the job of the craftsman to watch for these problems and solve them as they occur, but it is the job of the designer to foresee these problems and prepare for them. This is a major lesson to learn from a designer’s point of view, and it is the lesson taught when taking on a project such as a whirligig. As mentioned before problems arise in the building of both skyscrapers as well as whirligigs. Obviously the problems a whirligig designer and the designer of a skyscraper are going to run into are not the same, but the lesson to foresee and prepare for problems is shared by all designers, so it is probably a good idea to learn the lesson on the whirligig.

When working on a project it is very easy to let your mind wander. The whirligig project is no exception. As a designer you can come up with hundreds of ideas about how wind works and how wind power works and how you can exhibit your ideas, but not all of your ideas will be possible or even plausible. Some ideas work and can be built and some will remain forever as ideas. It is the designers job to come up with the ideas and then weed out the bad ones, sort through the good ones, and then when one idea is chosen convey this idea to a builder, or build it himself. In order to do this successfully the designer must know many things about construction including materials and building techniques. Building techniques refers to how a worker works with a material, what tools a worker uses, as well as how this could be improved or specialized as needed for the designer’s project. If a designer is able to do all of these things, even if it is not the designer building the product, it should still maintain its quality.

In the whirligig project it was very important to understand the materials that were chosen to use. The project was approached with the idea that if the designer got to know the materials that were going to be used it would feed the design of the whirligig as much as the design would call for certain materials. It is an important lesson for a designer to learn about materials. The more a designer learns about materials the more doors that open to the designer. This idea goes hand in hand with the idea that materials and designs feed one another. The more materials a designer has at his disposal and the more materials a designer has at his disposal the more options the designer has when designing. This idea goes hand in hand with the idea that materials and designs feed one another. It is also important for the designer to not only know that material exist but also how they work. A designer needs to know what characteristics a material possesses in order to successfully use that material. What good is a material if, due to a lack of knowledge, a designer cannot exploit that material? In the case of my whirligig I chose three metals: copper, brass, and aluminum. I chose these metals because I knew that it was important for all the materials for the whirligig to be weather proof. It was now my job to find out about these materials and how they would relate to the idea I was going to use for my whirligig. The idea I wanted to explore in the whirligig project was that a whirligig was built to help define wind, so how could I, as a designer, define wind with my design? It was this idea that suggested the use of aluminum.

Aluminum is a light, soft and malleable metal. Unfortunately there are many downfalls to aluminum as well. Included in these downfalls is the fact that it cannot be soldered. This makes it very difficult to work with as far as construction goes. Because I wanted to use aluminum because of its other characteristics, I had to overcome this obstacle. I exploited another of aluminum’s characteristics to overcome its downfall. Its easy malleability loaned it to being shaped into workable pieces. I decided that if I built a number of flaps out of aluminum I could then connect these flaps with another metal. The way in which I went about constructing these flaps was to bend flat pieces of aluminum around a 1/16th inch brass tube. This worked fine, but I needed a uniform way to construct these flaps. In order to do this I made a simple jig. It consisted of a 1/16th inch brass tube and a larger, heavier, 1/4 inch brass pole that penetrated two pieces of wood on either end. The idea was that the aluminum could be placed in between the two pieces of brass and would be held in place by the wood while I bent it around the tube. The jig was a success and I was now able to make a multitude of uniform, aluminum flaps, but I still did not know how I would connect all of the flaps, but I did have an idea of how I wanted the aluminum to work with the wind. I wanted to make a grid of these flaps, but to do this I needed to create the grid to hang them on.

To overcome my next obstacle, connecting the aluminum flaps, I chose to use brass. I chose brass because it is not only easy to work with because of its easy malleability, but I was also able to solder it. This made it possible to construct a grid out of brass tubes. I decided to use the same 1/16th inch brass tubing to create the rows that the flaps would hang on. I had decided to make the aluminum flaps 1 inch wide by 2 inches long and the brass grid 11/2 square feet, so it would require eleven rows of flaps. I then made two columns on either end of the rows to complete the grid. This was only partially successful. While the easy malleability of the brass was at first a good quality, the pipes were too weak to support the weight of the flaps, and the rows were sagging. This problem was easily solved with the addition of two more columns in the middle of the grid.

The columns consisted of 1/8th inch brass tubing in which I had drilled 5/64th inch holes to support the rows. This would again have to be uniform. In order for the grid to work and the rows to be straight it was necessary that all of the holes be aligned. The jig consisted of two short pieces of the 1/16th inch tubing and a woodblock. The first hole was marked and drilled. This hole was arbitrary because the tube’s perimeter is identical all the way around. Then the first piece of the 1/16th inch tube is hammered into the woodblock going through the hole in the 1/8th inch tube. Now the second hole can be drilled with consistency. After the second hole is drill the second short piece of tube is penetrated through it and into the woodblock. This will hold the tube until all the holes can be drilled.

Although the brass grid and all of the aluminum flaps were constructed, I still needed a way to stand and orient the whirligig. I chose to put it on copper tubing for two reasons. The first is that it is cheap and the second that it is readily available in the size that I need. Price and availability are two factors that come into designing that should be given their just importance. What good is a design that no one can pay for? It is part of the designer’s job to keep in mind cost when designing. Likewise, you can’t build a product out of things you don’t have. A designer must know the material market he has at his disposal.

The copper tubing that I chose to use is standard 1/4 inch tubing. I cut the tubing into two equal lengths that criss-cross underneath the grid. The ends of the tubing are then bent upward and a 9/64th inch hole was drilled an inch from ends. I was then able to insert brass tubing of the grid into the copper tubing of the stand. Another favorable characteristic of copper is that like brass it can be soldered. I could therefore solder the grid to the stand. One of the differences between brass and copper is that copper heats at a much slower rate than brass. This is a characteristic that the worker must keep in mind when working with these materials or else the joint will not be soldered well.

There are reasons that a scientist or an engineer or a designer does a test run. The most important is to see if their ideas work, and to learn the lessons offered from them. The whirligig is not a building, but it does offer many of the same lessons to an architect that constructing a building would offer. It is also offers a lot of room for error that a building does not. In working with whirligigs I was able to learn about the characteristics of the materials. Included in these characteristics are the physical properties and the economics of them as well as how the materials can be manipulated. I also learned about how the methods used in construction can exponentially change the uniformity and consistency and quality of the final product. A simple jig can control many of the variables that would cause inconsistency. A designer with the knowledge of how a product goes from idea to item has a distinct advantage over a designer who does not. The designer that knows how things are built and materials used also has a better chance of getting a desirable product even when he is not the builder. This is because the designer can design a product with the materials in mind, and the materials can feed the design as the designer designs. Making the match between project and materials more natural and less pressured by a lack of a better alternative.