Concerns over a Framework of Unprotected Steel and Water Leakages
Every building should meet the construction requirements by the set laws. The construction laws relate to the effects of material used for construction, use, or functions of the building and assurance of human safety and protection. This building has a framework of unprotected steel. The inspection further shows that there has been penetration of water causing rotting, strong smell with greater effects on the ground and first floor which have been mainly manifestations of the effects of corrosion.
First, the health club falls under the category of public buildings and has to meet fire requirements. This is about fire safety and the effects of fire on construction materials. Steel falls under the category of components of lightweight building materials. The safety of the building also has to consider the effects on firefighters in the event of a fire. Bragginan points out that the truss plays a major role in fire fighting (p. 61). He asserts that although all lightweight building components used in truss construction have equal levels of hazard, the effects out of fire are different in the perspective of construction. The framework of steel reveals that the steel truss is subject to compression in the event of fire while the steel bolt has the risk of heat conduction to the wood and eventually destroying it through decomposition (Bragginan, p. 62). The surface fasteners of sheet metal pose a challenge in the event of a fire due to their ability to conduct and transmit heat to the wood causing collapse of the truss.
The dominance of steel in the framework of the building is critical due to its fast ability to succumb to fire effects. Although steel is non-combustible, it fails at temperatures of 1000ºF at which its load carrying capacity is lost by about 40% and has the greatest thrust (Bragginan, p. 61). There is no fire resistance for unprotected steel and has the greatest effects of collapse. The remedy to the effects of unprotected steel usage would be to use steel girders and gypsum sheathing from the ceiling or floor assembly for the protection of the steel. Further because of the ability of steel to twist, bend, warp or sag in the events of heat, it is recommendable to protect it through encasing with insulating material. Since unprotected steel has no galvanized coat, its rate of corrosion accelerates and this requires that it is galvanized or covered with protective material (Vaysburd and Emmons 193). The smell from the building poses a health hazard. The mildew on the walls needs to be cleaned up using bleach-added commercial products. This is not only to get rid of it but also the smell. The wall should be covered with pigmented finishes if it is plywood and a protective sealant such as paint for wood siding.
Corrosion plays a very significant role in degrading buildings. Unprotected steel framings are subject to corrosion because of the exposure to natural elements such as water and air (Vaysburd and Emmons 190). The corrosive effect on the floor is likely to have sagging effects thus lowering the stability of the building due to the effect on the first and ground floors. There is need to clean the effects of the mildew using commercially or homemade solutions of detergent and bleaches and eventual application of waterproof finishes. This is due to the use of timber for the floors. The corrosive effects have caused it to swell and shrink and this is likely to advance to checks and splits. This effect means the timber cannot support the first floor. It is recommendable that the timber is replaced with pre-stressed concrete beams (Vaysburd and Emmons, p. 194).
Pre-stressed concrete
This is structural and architectural material characterized with great strength due to its ability to withstand stress from whatever load. This is used to make concrete beams with two materials: steel strands of high tensile strength for tension and concrete of high strength for compression (Vaysburd and Emmons 193). The pre-stressing process involves the stretching of the steel strands at the individual ends of the long casting beds between abutments. Pouring of the concrete is then done into the forms to enclose the strands. The bonding of the concrete to the tensioned steel occurs as it sets and upon attainment of the required strength, the release of the strands from the abutments is done. This stage causes the concrete to compress and a creation of resistance that is built into service loads. Pre-stressed concrete beams have noticeable chamber or arch. The lower portion of the beam is highly compressed creating an upward force causing the beam not to have to carry its weight (Vaysburd and Emmons, p. 193). The loads applied to the beam are counteracted by this upward force.
Recommended timber for the floor
Timber has effects of swelling and shrinking in events of water. This causes it to split. It is recommended that plywood that is set on concrete beams be used for the floor. This is because of the lightness, finish and strength that allow the floor to remain strong. This is also due to the sanding and coating that gives it the ability to handle high traffic. The timber used for the plywood needs to be hardwood with pre-finished qualities that enhance its look. Since the building is to be a health club, finished plywood allows ease of use, cleaning, and maintenance (Vaysburd and Emmons, p. 194).
Works Cited
Bragginan, Francis. “Don’t hit the steel-a myth.” Journal of Fire engineering 137.5 (1984): 61-62.
Vaysburd, Alexander and Peter Emmons. “How to make today’s repairs durable for tomorrow: corrosion protection in concrete repair.” Journal of Construction 14.4 (2002): 189-197.
Identify what causes the duration overruns in the construction of new academic campuses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Evaluate the significance and relate the causes of overruns using the viewpoint of the project owner, consultant, and contractor.
The objective of this paper is to examine the issue of duration overrun using the example of Saudi Arabia and the perspectives of project stakeholders.
Justification for Research Problem: (Why is the research problem important to the industry, and why should you do the research?)
One of the significant factors of any project’s success is delivering the project on time. The main issue is that delays cause time overrun, cost overrun, conflicts, and project abandonment (Fugar and Agyakwah-Baah 2010). However, this topic is sensitive due to many factors that affect the project timeline (Assaf et al. 1995). The variety of factors that can impact the delivery of the project can relate to issues with one of the three parties – owner, consultant, or contractor. By identifying and addressing this problem, the project managers will be able to overcome the quality and cost problems associated with overruns.
In the last decades, KSA experiencing a construction boom due to its economic thrive. Therefore, it is the most suitable time for universities to improve their campuses—however, these projects experience delays due to many causes (Albogamy et al. 2012). Whereas, there are few studies on duration overrun in projects construction undertaken in KSA as well as in the Middle East region.
Therefore, there is an essential requisite for such a study to identify the causes resulting in duration overrun in the construction of KSA academic campuses. Additionally, this study will evaluate the importance of addressing overruns and examine this problem from the viewpoint of the project parties.
Knowledge Areas for Literature Review
Project duration overrun can be defined as the delay of delivering a venture on an agreed timeline with an end date (Stumpf 2000). In the modern world, many studies claim that project construction success is dependant on completing the project within a specific timeline, agreed with a budget, and specified quality outcomes (Aziz 2013). The Knowledge area for this study will focus on finding the causes of projects duration overrun and their connection to project success.
Initial References to be Considered
In general, this research will examine fifteen scholarly sources published within the last 25 years, which outline the fundamental causes of project delays. Specifically, the review will focus on case studies that relate to Saudi Arabia public construction projects, including studies by Albogamy, Scott and Dawood (no date), Al-Kharashi and Skitmore (2009), Falqi (2005), Alzara et al. (2016), and Elawi et al. (2016), which cite issues with the contractor as a primary problem.
These case studies will help define the categories of problems most commonly considered in similar projects with specifics to the responsible party, for example, project owner, consultant, or contractor. Other sources included in the research are focused on the issue of delays in project management in general, including studies by Frank and Agyakwah-Baah (2010), Khoshgoftar et al. (2010), Mahamid, Bruland and Dmaidi (2012), Marzouk and El-Rasas (2014), Shebob et al. (2011) that help examine the context of project delays.
Literature Review
In most construction projects, whether simple or complicated, a case of exceeding the project time plan might occur due to some circumstances (Shebob et al. 2011). Duration overrun in construction is defined as the exceeding of a contracted timeline.
When considering project management, accounting for possible delays or other problems is a part of contingency planning, however, in some cases, delays may be a result of systemic error of planning and can be addressed before the project begins. According to Albogamy, Scott, and Dawood (no date), approximately 70% of public sector projects in Saudi Arabia are delayed, which signifies the importance of this research for understanding the causes, impact, and possible ways of addressing these overruns. As a result, the inability to deliver a public service on time, financial losses, and quality issues have to be addressed apart from managing the project itself.
Albogamy, Scott, and Dawood (no date) report that based on their assessment of Saudi Arabia’s public sector projects and literature review the client or owner-related problems are the most significant and usually cause delays. Other studies that provide an assessment of the delay issue in project management are examined as well.
Not all of the examined literature is focused on Saudi Arabia, however, using the cases of other countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa can be helpful to determine the root cause of the issue of the delays because of similarities in culture, religion, and other aspects. One example is Almutairi (2016), who argues that in Kuwait, projects get delayed because the application of project management planning and managing tools is inadequate. Other causes are related to cost-cutting and the strategy of choosing unreliable contractors. Next, Aziz (2013) offers an outlook on the central issues with Egyptian projects, where owner-related factors are associated with payment delays, as well as others, and the authors determined nine critical categories of factors.
Therefore, this research uses articles that outline the possible issues that can result in project delays and can be used to examine the specifics of Saudi Arabia. The majority of authors, for example, Bjorvatn and Wald (2018) define at least nine categories of possible causes, suggesting that the examined issue is complicated. Table 1 is an assessment of case studies specific to Saudi Arabia’s construction projects that outline its main reasons for delays.
Author
Study Title
Delay causes
Albogamy, Scott and Dawood (no date)
“Addressing Construction Delays in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”
The most significant are the owner or client-related factors.
Al-Kharashi and Skitmore (2009)
“Causes of Delays in Saudi Arabian Public Sector Construction Projects”
Mainly, issues with contractors cause delays.
Alzara et al. (2016)
Using PIPS To Minimise Causes Of Delay In Saudi Arabian Construction Projects: University Case Study”
Both owner and contractor issues are identified, including the delay of approving the design, payment, and other problems.
Elawi et al. (2016)
“Owners’ Perspective Of Factors Contributing To Project Delay: Case Studies Of Road And Bridge Projects In Saudi Arabia”
The authors determined ten risk factors, which can be grouped into five categories. Land acquisition is a significant problem. Next, the lack of a contractor’s expertise is the second most important problem.
Falqi (2005)
“Delays in Project Completion: A Comparative Study of Construction Delay Factors in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom”
Consultants and project owners report issues with contractors as the main cause.
Table 1. Project delays case studies in Saudi Arabia.
References:
Albogamy, Abdullah, Darren Scott, and Nashwan Dawood. no date. “Addressing Construction Delays in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” Semantic Scholar. Web.
Al-Kharashi, Mohammed and Skitmore, Mohammed. 2009. “Causes of Delays in Saudi Arabian Public Sector Construction Projects.” Construction Management and Economics 27(1): 3 – 23.
Almutairi, Naser. 2016. “Causes Of Delays On Construction Projects In Kuwait According To Opinion Of Engineers Working In Kuwait.” Journal of Engineering Research and Application 6 (12): 84-96.
Alzara, Majed, Jacob Kashiwagi, Dean Kashiwagi, and Abdulrahman Al-Tassan. 2016. “Using PIPS To Minimise Causes Of Delay In Saudi Arabian Construction Projects: University Case Study.” Procedia Engineering 145: 932-939. Web.
Assaf, Sadi, Mohammed Al-Khalil, and Muhammad Al-Hazmi. 1995. “Causes of Delay in Large Building Construction Projects.” Journal of Management in Engineering 11 (2): 45-50. Web.
Aziz, Remon. 2013. “Ranking of Delay Factors in Construction Projects After Egyptian Revolution.” Alexandria Engineering Journal, 52: 387–406.
Bjorvatn, Torbjørn, and Andreas Wald. 2018. “Project Complexity And Team-Level Absorptive Capacity As Drivers Of Project Management Performance”. International Journal of Project Management 36 (6): 876-888. Elsevier BV. Web.
Elawi, Ghazi Saad A., Mohammed Algahtany, and Dean Kashiwagi. 2016. “Owners’ Perspective Of Factors Contributing To Project Delay: Case Studies Of Road And Bridge Projects In Saudi Arabia.” Procedia Engineering 145: 1402-1409. Web.
Falqi, Ibrahim. 2004. “Delays in Project Completion: A Comparative Study of Construction Delay Factors in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.” Master’s thesis, Heriot-Watt University. Web.
Frank, Frank and Adwoa Agyakwah-Baah. 2010. “Delays in Building Construction Projects in Ghana.” Australasian Journal of Construction Economics and Building 10 (1/2): 103‐116.
Khoshgoftar, Mohammad, Abu Hassan Abu Bakar, and Omar Osman. 2010. “Causes of Delays In Iranian Construction Projects.” The International Journal of Construction Management 10 (2): 53-69.
Mahamid, Ibrahim, Amund Bruland, and Nabil Dmaidi. 2012. “Causes of Delay in Road Construction Projects.” Journal of Management In Engineering 28(3): 300-310.
Marzouk, Mohamed and Tarek El-Rasas. 2014. “Analysing Delay Causes In Egyptian Construction Projects.” Journal of Advanced Research 5: 49–55. Web.
Shebob, Abdulhamid, Nashwan Dawood, and Qiang Xu. 2011. “Analysing Construction Delay Factors: A Case Study Of Building Construction Project In Libya.” Paper presented at the 27th Annual ARCOM Conference, Bristol, United Kingdom. Web.
Saudi Arabia has been in the spotlight for frequent delays in building works. This is further enhanced in the public domain particularly in government-sanction construction projects. There are various reasons why government construction work takes longer than initially anticipated. Alsuliman (2019) explains that one such reason is the lack of proper planning between the owner, consultants, and contractors. Each party’s roles must be clearly defined at the inception of the project to help avoid such delays. Additionally, Mahamid, Bruland, and Dmaidi (2012) confirm that lack of clarity among the consultants and the contractors can also lead to delay in projects. To solve this, it is vital that all the people involved in the project fully understand the end product that is expected by the owner of the construction (in this case, it would be the government). Thirdly, the tendering process has also been blamed for the delays as it allows for less competent people to be awarded the tenders. This section of the study focuses on the research methodology that will be used to realize the set research objectives. The segment will elaborate on the best method for the study, present a tentative work schedule, explain anticipated outcomes and also elaborate on the significance of the research.
Objectives of the Research
To identify the primary causes for duration overruns in government-sanctioned construction of new academic campuses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
To determine the significance of project overruns and relate the causes realised to the project owner, consultant, and contractor.
Research Method
The first step will be to adopt a quantitative research methodology. One of the reasons why this approach is best suited for the study is that it allows for random sampling. In turn, this removes any form of personal bias from the study. It is important to note that reliable research methodologies remove any form of bias in order to present viable and verifiable data. Secondly, the researcher selected this methodology as it efficiently summarizes complex data. Whereas the researcher anticipates the data that will be collected to be relatively simple, the quantitative approach will ensure that the data is summarised in simple demonstrations such as graphs and charts for more straightforward explanations and understanding. Since the project targets construction works, the sample size is relatively large due to the numerous construction projects the country is conducting. The second step will be the identification of the study participants through random sampling. Critically, 120 participants are expected to partake in primary data collection. The research sample population will be obtained from the construction sector through the guidance of the relevant government department in charge of the continuous development of university campuses in the country. The project will test three variables that will be based on the research objectives.
Work Schedule
The work schedule will be divided into 13 weeks. The first week will be dedicated to desktop research to understand the topic thoroughly. The researcher will also collect various peer-reviewed articles that have been done on the topic. These studies will give more in-depth insights into what other people have done concerning enhancing the study at hand. Week two will be dedicated to the development of the appropriate research tool for the collection of the primary data. The tool will then be tested for viability and reliability in the third week. Week four through to week seven will involve the collection of primary data from the identified sample. An additional one week (week eight) will be dedicated to properly documenting all the primary data collected. It is important to note that the information will be collected digitally, but it will have to be sorted to remove any incomplete data. The researcher will compile both secondary and primary data in the ninth week. Week ten through to week twelve will be dedicated to analysing the data and writing the report. The last week (week thirteen) will be for proofing the report and submitting the work.
Anticipated Outcomes
It is anticipated that a majority of the primary causes of duration overruns will be tied to the consultant and contractors. On the same note, it is also expected that the low-bidding approach will be identified as the leading cause of overruns in construction projects. As previously stated, the tendering process allows for substandard contractors to be awarded the jobs as they give low quotations. Thirdly, it is also expected that the contractor and consultant viewpoints will be similar yet significantly different from the owner’s viewpoint.
Significance
The study is significant due to the extensive construction works that are currently being done in KSA. Additionally, the need for more university campuses makes the study more relevant. Indeed, understanding the different reasons construction projects delay will help all parties involved (owner, consultant, and contractor) to be better prepared in the future, thereby avoiding duration overruns. The findings that will be realised can, therefore, be used by the government, consultants, and contractors in the future.
Mahamid, Ibrahim, Amund Bruland, and Nabil Dmaidi. 2012. “Causes of Delay in Road Construction Projects.” Journal of Management in Engineering 28 (3): 300-310.
Since computers were created, they have changed the way professionals in various professions have perceived their practice. Many philosophers, theorists, graphic designers, and architects have pondered upon the possible consequences computers can bring to their work. It is in practice a notion that encourages conjecture, research, and implementation- but is not only the reason for which there is a lot of importunate inquiring.
Presently it’s obvious that we are unable to sneak into the future, and thus are unable to outline the future insinuations of technological advances, moreover, no one would deny that newer ideologies, inventions and discoveries need transition time to develop and transform into useful forms and their influences may be unforeseen. The fundamental principles of the present revolution in almost all aspects of life has been catalyzed by the introduction of computers, therefore it has become more and more intricate to revert back to the conventions. It must be shown that what the future will implicate: (Jencks, N/A 2000). Following are some of the modern techniques, which are in some or the other way examples of computer architecture.
This is one of the models approaches by the modern architects.
Following are some examples of how, architects try to create newer and innovative models through virtual software:
In this image it can be seen that how on-screen methods could be used for modeling purposes.
This image shows that how models may be created, using digital techniques.
Computerization has introduced a broad range of advances; presently architects have implemented a number of sophisticated computer systems in their professional practices in a way that is more discovering precise and based on the vision that computerization will spectacularly transform the scope of architecture in various forms such as the designing process and moreover the stages of experience and organization. As many of us perceive that digital architecture is a faction, however, it is a way that helps us know and understand and bonds various efforts to develop the benefits of computers in architecture, moreover it lets us know various opportunities that may be possible beyond designing approaches.
Progressions and Revolutions of New Architecture
At the beginning of this century, it is the knowledge revolution that is changing the form of urban design and architecture. The purpose and temperament of architectural creativeness and perception are significantly transformed by the most modern digital techniques, obscuring the association between virtual and actual, between statistics and substance and between macrobiotic and lifeless thus leading the world into a state from where prosperous forms are budding.
Therefore in the perception of the above discussion, it could be said that today architects are experimenting with organizing new and modern ‘Real’ manufactured artifacts and ‘Virtual’ or soft models to produce an architectural environment of combination and assimilation and to test whether the computer-generated ideas and models could possibly be produced in reality, the Reichstg in Berlin by Norman Foster, 1999 can be a good example of this (Methewson, N/A, 2004).
Presently a modern time-space argot is rewriting the mold of the metropolis into such as wire and satellite correlations span considerable material distances parallel to curved earthly geography describing itself to be related to space. Today buildings and structures are actually set free from the traditional point, due to the visual and non-visual techniques of electron-scanning, mobile cognition or satellite-imaging and heat sensing and thus huge structures can be perceived as lesser forms of immobility and steadiness and more likely to be fields of organized manifestation. (Methewson, N/A, 2004)
The ideology of a place has therefore as immediate information barter replaces customary modes of mobility. With the help of digital cognition, buildings and structures can be viewed at once from anywhere, and by not moving at all we are able to analyze everything. If the most influential and ultramodern notions of the early twentieth century had designed an architecture based on the notion of ‘Machine Age’, today the modern architects are now creating poetic, pragmatic and transformative reactions to the urban networks, technologies and post mechanical progressions of the ‘Information Age’.
They are involved in developing spacious customs and conventions for the world today that is fixed and fixed, here-there and there-here, located and dislocated. Their architecture is neither transforming nor the utopian one, but the one which evolves with transmutation and contextualization, this could be supported by the creation or building of the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, USA, by Frank O. Gehry, 2003. Their developments and discoveries are prompting a whole phase shift in the way s we perceive and comprehend space, materiality and the moment of the beginning of the new millennium. (Methewson, N/A, 2004)
Today we come across deviators extraordinary, from the basic outline of the city in our lifetimes. This may be because the demarcations between natural and urban, and between urban space and between public and private spaces are smudging, whilst on the other hand, families who had lived in the skyscrapers of 1950’s or malls of 1960 are increasingly becoming retired because of age or infirmity or marginalized, the structures in urban areas like gated exurban estates, featureless information factories, hopelessly tangled parking lots and anonymous strip mall are developing with the country sides and ecosystem of our wired megalopolises, the Webb Bridge, in Melbourne, Australia, created by Denton Corker Marshall and Robert Owen, 2003 serves as a good example of the above notion. At the boundless edges of settlement, municipal forms evolve and grow nearly immediately, appearing in the world as if for the night, fully fashioned by the forces of universal entrepreneurship. (Methewson, N/A, 2004)
Virtual Versus the Actual
The phenomenon of the real and virtual twining is not limited to the scope of technology and time. If not earlier the ideology of the real spaces enhanced by the virtual id has been in practice since the 17th century. The Reichstg Berlin-Norman by Foster, from the nineteenth century can be looked upon.
For instance, the mystifying structure of the garden maze, or the mirrored gallery with its infinite reflections, are the spaces where according to the virtualized reason of distortion, reflection and simulation, vision warps and bends, and are in a number of aspects originators of amalgamated material-real and virtual-electronic structures: the genuine being registered in a world network (data-maze) and the virtual as the points of interface (data mirrors). If the real-virtual might have existed in the seventeenth century, in the garden mazes and mirrored halls of the wealthy, presently it is more fairly allocated across social groups and cities. (Mitchell, N/A, 1996)
With the help of modern and complex simulations and sequences the state of the structures are not any longer defined by the conventional parameter of volume, dimension and scale, irregular and multivalent invisible forces and proclivity can also influence forms (Figure 1). Use of software programs that involve time factors like automotive and pedestrian movement, environmental aspects such as the effects of sun and wind, and the urban population conditions such as the site density or the ratio of population. Modern architects are creating buildings which in which there is a significant role played by the real and virtual media technologies. (Mitchell, N/A, 1996)
Figure 1. London City Hall-Norman Foster, 2002.
Embryonic Prospect Dimensions
Today a perfect virtual layout of informational exchange has substituted surroundings as a pointer space and reorganized chronological series paralleled to the earth’s surface. The world wide “Soft architectures” generated from the digital technologies from under, over and vie the concrete “Hard architectures” of the present present-day cities, thus creating a situation which indeterminate and floating, an environment between the subjective and collective, private and public, emblematically rich multidimensional space as an astonishing perspective of the architectural examination.
We have developed our telecommunication and infrastructure networks which have been differentiated by disturbed and irrevocable super-sophisticate modifications that are way far from the understanding level of a common human mind, presently. It’s no longer the case that we converse with relatives, peers or family absolutely in a certain position, rather we commune the home milieu and crossways cultures and time zones (Figure 2). (Mitchell, N/A, 1996)
Figure 2. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, Frank O. Gehry, 1997.
The introduction of computers to the manufacturing and designing, have brought up irreversible changes to the ways buildings are structures and function. Nearly about a decade earlier offices and buildings were replicated the designs and drawing by hands, they were then reviewed by concerned professionals, before which revisions were done thoroughly by hands. Presently 3-D CAD models are used for this purpose which can be easily sent and received via electronic media within workstations and terminals and can be numerously modified without in the most user friendly manner. The scope of the computer processing is ever increasing so are the advances in software development and are becoming cheaper day by day, therefore it is now that personal designing studios and complex offices are enjoying the benefits of the electronic advances. (Rajchman, N/A, 1998)
Possibly the most captivating and famous example of the scope to which these advances have influenced the practices of an architect and artistic performance is the exploitation of the complex-curve-generation software, numeric command-machine and digitization devices in the Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (Figures 3). An automotive and aeronautic manufacturing and design software known as CATIA, enable Gerhy to create accurate 3-D models of every single feature of the stone and titanium objects, moreover the complex structure of the interior including the staircase and curtains, walls were also generated before hand to the deliverance of details if the design (in CATIA format) to the Spanish contractors.
Figure 4. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, Frank O. Gehry, 1997.
Not any longer it is the case that architecture of a certain structure has to be created through conventional planning and elevation. Today offices, schools, universities, industries and other structures can be fully created in three-dimensional profiting, modeling and prototyping and manufacturing interfaces and hardware therefore overlapping the levels of construction, conceptualization, fabrication, production, spatial experience and data formations. (Rajchman, N/A, 1998)
Soft complex-curved facades molded in data-space will be introduced to actual space as bent or torque changeable panels, glass-fiber skins or copper, as sheets in steel, or plastics: massive involutes elements designed in data-space will become crushed or turned elements in aluminum or wood, or cut as shape for quick-setting substances, metals or rubbers. (Rajchman, N/A, 1998)
No longer then the computer will be a facilitation , production or engineering toll under the authority of an architect but an entity creating its own knowledge of the designing procedure., it may act as a associate here the famous Disney Concert Hall by Frank O. Gehry can be referenced again along with the Kunsthaus Art Museum in Austria, by Peter cook and Colin Fournier (Rajchman, N/A, 1998)
Presently the profession of architecture id increasingly becoming a digital mutual junction, fundamentally on the basis of maneuvering of the robotic creations, on the other hand the architect itself is at liberty from the creating of new and modern structures. (Rajchman, N/A, 1998)
Digital Variety
Apart from the above discussion the new and modern techniques which include the three-dimensional ones and the four-dimensional ones in the field of architecture have recently created a range of directions in which their scope extends. By the help of generative methods and processes which are based on the fundamentals of genetic algorithms, topological space, parametric design, isomorphic surfaces, key-shape animation and dynamic systems, it is now possible to create shapes of various kinds or it may be appropriate to say that any form or design can be created.
As just mentioned that it is now possible to create innovations easily it is also been taken care of in these technologies that the actual construction remains within or can be limited to the given budgets. Or it could be said that the progression of designing and constructing a certain project, as technology advances, are becoming more and more undeviating and sophisticated, this may be due to fact that due to advanced mediums of communication it is now possible to exchange information with greater scope of speed and flexibility.
This change i.e. from conventional deigning methods to newer and modern digitalized methods, in the architectural techniques have had impacts which are far reaching, it is digitally-based junction of illustration and creation development that characterizes the most significant prospect for a philosophical revolution of the occupation and, by expansion, of the total construction diligence. A great deal of the matter globe at present, from the simplest user goods to the most complicated aircrafts, is fashioned and formed by means of a procedure in which psychoanalysis, drawing, assembly, fabrication and demonstration are fetching comparatively flawless mutual course of action that is exclusively reliant on digital knowledge. However, there is lone obtrusive immunity i.e. the construction industry which is prone to change, although extremely gradually, but however changes (Kolarevic, p.7, 2007)
Conclusion
It is no longer required from the architects to produce architecture the motionless conventional planning, elevation and section. As it is now possible to create three dimensional models of any forms of buildings with prototyping, modeling and profiting, thus reducing the time frame and making as the process less cumbersome as the stages of conceptualization, alterations, finalizations, approval by the senior mangers can be done easily, quickly or eliminated at the first place. The distinctive environment of systematic production and hard work can now be combined in the CADICAM means of modeling and designing, through which arithmetically differentiated models and chronologically created objects can be easily created with substantial scope of precision, and in a cost effective manner.
The recent changes or n other words improvements in the architecture of the twenty first century i.e. from the “hard” states of military and industrial expertise for instance automobile, biplane and transoceanic streamliner, to an improved and flexible investigation of wider technological circumstances (the flexible technology of leisure such as gaming and other forms of entertainment and domesticity or the interface model of the computer such as the operating systems and other application programs), is a never ending symptom of the need or anxiety of humans for creativity.
References
Jencks, Charles: 2000, Architecture 2000 and Beyond, John Wiley and Sons, Baffins Lane, Chichester.
Kolarevic, Branko, 2007, Architecture in Digital Age – Design and Manufacturing Taylor and Francis Group.
As early as the 1930’s Dior building was the best fashion house in the world and still is today with very many of its brands in various parts. It was established by fashion guru Christian Dior after the Second World War 11 as a worldwide brand with several products. Many of the products at the beginning were mainly clothes that were important particularly after the war since Dior realized that it was vital for a new look after the Second World War. After which he ventured into other beauty products. Dior house’s first products were Belle Époque worn with long skirts because they were some of the dresses that Christian’s mother wore in the early 1990s. Unfortunately, the owner of Dior, Christian passed away but it did not mean the end of his hard work but the management was taken up by Madame Zehnmacker (Cicero, L. 1994; 7).
Dior building is one of the most splendid and designer houses in the world belonging to the fashion guru Christian Dior. It is tall, regal and modest magnificence that goes beyond the price, quality, and value and with varying architectural decors. Dior building itself is wrapped in translucent glass that allows a clear view of the floors beneath achieved by using glass on the outside and the inside is the acrylic aluminum. For over forty years Dior building has brought many people to New York from various places around the world. It creates timeless pieces that have both a youthful appeal and old that leave them with a lasting gaze. It’s enthralling scents, handbags, women wear, accessories and men’s wear all years in and out and they can be found in departmental stores all over the world.
This paper will discuss the representation and the metaphor of the Dior building.
Significance of Dior building
With the increasing number of fashion houses in the growing economic sector, the Dior was not left out. This building is found in New York but has a variety of stores in different countries like one is in Japan. The one in New York represents a splendid fashion house with a wide range of wears for all ages and genders. Designed by two architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa commonly called (SANAA). It is spotless white covering the whole trapezoidal area with shape edges. The creation of this building was stirred by crucial splendor in the fashion industry the Couture dress. Standing at the height of 30 meters tall. The white color signifies the magnificence that is determined by the light during daytime and light saturation at night. The white horizontal aluminum brands represent the continuous division of the building into various uneven segments. Whereas the slender white box illustrates the sophistication of femininity that allows it to stand out distinctively. It is also an air of ambiguity that welcomes people from all parts of the world to a step in the magnificence world of fashion. Various floors are linked by the stare core that has a glass tower standing out from the basement to the top of the building. The interior décor is designed with wooden panels, romance, ceilings that are molded, and a traditional Dior that contrasts with modern glazed walls. The interior of the building is a different world that awaits disclosure. Instead of the eight floors of boutique space perceived from outside, there is only one basement floor and five floors above the ground. The basement and the first three floors are devoted to the various retail lines under the Dior umbrella; there is one multi-purpose occasion’s space on the fourth floor and a rooftop garden above (Eisenman, et al, 1998: 78). Each retail line with the Dior building has got its own name and unique ambiance. Ladieswear and accessories are mainly located on the second floor. The third floor is mainly for general beauty with the theme of backstage that is customers and those admiring the products experience the runway of the Dior fashion show and an opportunity to test new products in the beauty industry such as nails and skincare products (Fishman, R.1977: 14). Inside is an underground floor that is the Dior Homme store used for particular designs like the white lacquer, black lacquer plisse, polished metal, black stone floor, strip lighting and fitting room. These are traditional designs of Dior but they have been integrated into a more modern design and shopping house. The polished metal is used in series to indicate the reflective facade within the building (Hearn, M.1981; 7).
The Dior plisse is used to represent the architectural feature of black lacquer bands. The graphic element is depicted by the light within the corridors, floors and ceilings. The fitting room is an interaction room and image analysis area. It represents the notion of time management and self-awareness. The fitting mirrors commonly called dressing rooms depicts projection area with cameras and videos where pictures of the person within the building appear on graphic screens (Conrad, U. 1990; 4-7).
Metaphorical representation of Dior building
The metaphoric with this building is being an umbrella, feminine and the misinterpretation of floors and the reason behind is an enlargement of space from the necessary 1.5 meters to a larger height that suits all the fascia composition. SANNA articulated and competently integrated all the features to create a slender building to a required maximum height that is supported by a changeable degree of transparency and the mechanical spaces are not clear. By an umbrella, the building houses several stores with major in fashion but different products and designs (Hays, K1998; 9).
The building is feminine in the sense that its interior is assorted with thermoformed acrylic hangings that are able to manifest a consistent image and able to provoke customers’ imagination while shopping. From inside looking at the cityscape one is able to see a fairyland overwhelmed by white fluffy clouds (Cicero, L. 1994; 7). This is a building where one can experience a lifetime shopping spree.
References
Cicero, L.TransHarry Caplan. Cambridge, MA, 1994;
Conrad, U. Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture. Trans. Michael Bullock. Cambridge, MA, 1990, 4-7
Rigid-Core High-Rise Buildings.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 50: 68–71.
Hearn, M. Romanesque Sculpture: The Revival of Monumental Stone Sculpture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Century.1981; 7
Hays, K. Architecture Theory since 1968.Cambridge, MA, 1998; 9
Fishman, R. Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. Cambridge, MA, 1977: 14
Hart et, al. Paper Palaces: TheRise of the Renaissance Architectural Treatise. New Haven, 1998:85
Eisenman, et al.Houses of Cards. New York, 1987:78
Ghirardo, D. Architecture after Modernism. London.1996:10
Gideon, S. Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition. Cambridge, MA.1991:71
The building which was created by Walter Gropius in 1926 is considered to be one of the best architectural projects of the twentieth century. It was very fresh and new to use modern materials and combine magnificence and light space (‘Architecture!’ 2007). The author was inspired by American buildings of that time because skyscrapers seemed to have no walls and, at the same time, they were huge monoliths with walls made of glass.
The modern era was waiting for people that would come and change everything. Changes were typical of all progressive people, though not every individual was able to fulfill the project of such scale as the Bauhaus Building. The original project took into account the place and time; however, it became an amazing combination of ‘aesthetic avant-garde and heavy industry’ (‘Architecture!’ 2007).
One of the distinctive features of the building is its many-sided perspective, its façade with numerous parts of the same monolith, and multi-functional purpose. As it was aimed to be the workshop, the studio, and the housing place for students, it played the role of a small town where all components were within the building.
The Bauhaus was built in a year; it is hard to imagine that the project of such complicated design could be built within one year. People that came to the presentation of the Building and inauguration of Walter Gropius (as he was supposed to become a director of the School for Architecture) saw a tremendous cube made of light, glass, and regular forms which became a distinctive feature of the Modern design (‘Architecture!’ 2007).
The initial project included a part within a building where professors would be able to live, though finally separate houses were placed standing by themselves. The design is complicated and simple at the same time because forms and regular proportions involve the visitors and observers into the modern world which is inclined to be full of geometry, proportions, flat roofs (this aspect was considered to be non-typical of German style), and a lot of glass.
Walter Gropius can be treated as the pioneer of the modern style in architecture; his techniques and innovations made the Bauhaus Building one of the most regularly shaped, though asymmetric multi-purpose projects of the twentieth century. Some methods introduced by Gropius became an integral part of the modern architectural design. The choice of place was made deliberately in order not to be limited with space, landscape, and other buildings.
The Great Representative of the Modern Design
A brief comment on Gropius’s biography
Walter Gropius was a German-born architect, designer, and educator. He studied architecture in Berlin and Munich. His first projects were influenced by the works of another great architect Frank Lloyd Wright who was famous among architects for his ‘horizontality and the wide overhanging eaves’ (Gale 2005-2006). It is clear that further Gropius developed features of his individual style and techniques that can be attributed to his architectural design.
As argued by Moffett, Fazio, and Wodehause (2003, p.511), Walter Gropius’s father was an architect as well; Walter obtained his knowledge and experience on architectural design in Peter Behrens’ office, after that he established an independent practice with his colleague Adolf Meyer. They managed to complete several architectural projects before the World War I, and only one project after it as Meyer died in 1924 (Gale 2005-2006).
Walter Gropius was one of the architects that were searching for an appropriate method in architecture that would combine ‘aesthetic expression [and] … industrial movement’ (Moffett, Fazio, Wodehause 2003, p.511). The Bauhaus building appeared to be a perfect combination of aesthetic and practical, industrial needs and desire to create beautiful things, a single building and a great number of its functions.
Gropius was one of the German architects influenced by ‘the British Arts and Crafts movement and who attempted to go further by adapting good design to machine production’ (Gale 2005-2006). This passion for arts and crafts can be clearly observed in the Bauhaus Building. The proportions and regular forms are distinctive feature of the British Arts and Crafts movement. The ‘idea of fundamental unity’ (Gropius 1965, p.51) was implemented in the course of planning the project of a workshop, studio, and housing for students and teachers. The building can be attributed to the earlier works of the architect.
Career before, during, and after the Bauhaus
Walter Gropius was invited to become a director of the school of fine arts, so, he became a director when the war was about to end. As he was invited to obtain position of a director of two schools, he decided to combine both positions in one building; this was the State Building House. The main goal of Gropius was to combine arts and industrial innovations. An aesthetic movement could be traced in industrial cities where the architectural projects of Walter Gropius took place (Gale 2005-2006).
It is clear that the architect wanted to give the industry an artistic direction, which appeared to be possible when the Bauhaus in Weimar was finished. The position of an educator demanded to keep the balance between the technical and artistic, rational and spiritual, emotional and physical parts as he had to be an artist and an educator at the same time. The British Arts and crafts movement influenced the architect greatly, though it did not deprive him of individual style and techniques typical of Gropius only.
It is obvious that a great architect encountered critical appraisal of his work in the Bauhaus in Weimar. So, he had to leave; however, he had created a new design of another Bauhaus Building which was supposed to be located in Dessau. This work was finished in a year and enraptured all visitors that were invited to the Gropius’ inauguration (‘Architecture!’ 2007). The building appeared as a beacon with a great amount of glass on its walls. The modern design will borrow this technique and make it its distinctive feature (curtain wall façade).
In 1928 Walter Gropius was forced to resign because he did not want the whole institution to suffer consequences of his opposition (the art school of Bauhaus) to the Nazism regime. Meanwhile, the school was doomed to be closed under another director after moving to Berlin (Gale 2005-2006). After having resigned, Gropius was engaged into minor projects specialized on housing development and creation of dwellings, to say more exactly, the architectural projects in the native country did not seem to of great interest for the architect.
America suggested wider perspectives for such an outstanding architect as Walter Gropius; he was invited to hold the ‘chair of architecture at Harvard from 1938 to 1952’ (Gale 2005-2006). After having retired from Harvard, he established an architectural practice and devoted all his time and effort to it. The work in America can be considered a period after the Bauhaus and it is natural that the career of Gropius was not marked with bright spots.
Walter Gropius is an outstanding architect of his time, though the authorities of his native country did not recognize the great talent. His techniques were used in British architecture during the period of the World War II because he influenced it greatly before the war had begun. The Nazis authorities seemed to lack understanding the major concepts of the Bauhaus Building in Dessau as well as the successive regime (‘Architecture!’ 2007).
Though the critical appraisal of the Gropius’ major and the most prominent work affected the contemporary understanding of his project by ordinary people, the architectural world was influenced by the movement in architectural design which was then called Modernism.
Urban Scale Project
Design theories and concepts on which the design of the scheme is based
Though the discussion of the urban scale projects is mostly associated with metropolitan cities, suchlike New York, it is necessary to consider one of the first projects of urban design introduced in the beginning of the twentieth century. As suggested by Simino, repetition can be considered a very important part of the modern design project because
[t]he repetition of the frame creates an order within the project. It’s linear quality regulates the movement through the site, in which the pedestrian, shopper, or resident becomes an active participant (1999, p.13).
The design of the scheme is base don the concepts of the combination of aesthetic expression and heavy industry. The project was created on the fundamental concepts of the architectural style of that time. The modern design was not typical and Gropius benefited from using modern materials which made the building technologically advanced.
The urban style was characterized by combination of simple methods in order to create an overall impression of monolithic building, symmetry and hierarchy were rejected and replaced by original cascades of parts of the same building. The concept consisted in making the building many-sided and multi-purpose; it had to be observed fro different angles because a façade of one part could not persuade an observer in its magnificence.
Simino (1999) suggests the most distinctive features of the urban style as used in the project of the Bauhaus building, it must support the density and structure of the area, contribute to the variety of uses, provide quality spaces, and create an interactive edge bounded by the street and the adjacent structures. Buildings are often seen as fragments within urban areas. Views are obscured by adjacent buildings, prohibiting a person from observing the entire structure at one time. Instead, individual spaces are perceived. These areas exist as spaces between buildings, facades, thresholds, entrances, windows, balconies, light, and material (p.1).
As you can see, the structure was the major concept in the design on which the scheme is based. It also presupposes that the forms are diverse, asymmetry is present, lack of hierarchy in terms of size, proportions, and height of separate parts of a building.
All the rough materials which were used in the construction were not expected to be concealed. Every detail could be observed and it was aimed at inspiring the students of the school of arts. Walls were painted in unusual colours which were not typical of studios and workshops; this was done in order to emphasize the asymmetry of walls and construction as a whole. The place was another concept which was the basis for the project design as it was chosen not to limit the building in its form and structure. The landscape presupposed that the industrial town should acquire an artistic feature.
The built form and typological characteristics of the design
The use of modern materials and its avant-garde techniques singled the Bauhaus Building in Dessau out of other different buildings created in the period of Modern Movement. Its construction, size, and purpose contribute greatly to the overall image of the Bauhaus.
The main problem of the scheme was to combine ‘imaginative design and technical proficiency’ (Gropius 1965, p.52). The students were working on the interior design of the Bauhaus Building; everything that can be considered handicraft was created by students of different faculties of the Bauhaus. ‘The large building site provided by the city, near to Dessau’s city centre, allowed for cubic building elements to be erected in an unconstrained, asymmetrical way’ (Lurfer & Sigel 2004, p.38)
It is natural that the overall impression suggests that the original idea of the architect was realized to the full extent.
The facades were made of an unusual design; the form of the building can be recognized only from the bird’s eye view. This contributes to the overall impression of the building of the future. It seems to be built in advance while its time had not come yet. As cited in Lupfer and Sigel (2004), facades were created asymmetrical deliberately:
a building created in the sprit of today spurns the impressive appearance created by symmetrical facades. Only by walking around such buildings is it possible to comprehend their corporeality and the function of their members (p.38).
The many-sided facades can be considered one of the typical features of the design. As the urban project presupposes that there should be three diverse scales (town, building, and people), ‘[t]hree different scales exist within the urban context, that of the town, the building, and the person. At each scale, the urban context and the presence of man come together’ (Simino 1999, p.3), it is necessary to analyze the appropriateness of the urban techniques in the Bauhaus Building project.
The town benefited from the construction of the building because it combines characteristic features of the artistic techniques and the technical innovations. The whole project consists of numerous minor projects, suchlike colour of the walls and handicraft, which resembles greatly the gross machines on the production line that consist of minor details. Every detail of the heavy industry made it possible to create the embodiment of the artistic project, aesthetic expression, and emotion.
The people acquired a unique opportunity to live and work within the specific building which is aimed to give as much light for the working process as possible, though it managed to conceal the part of the class in order to hide the students from the outer world. It is natural that the artistic environment predisposes to create and invent. All techniques were used to make the place as convenient and functional as it may be. As a rule, the Modern Movement is considered to be an embodiment of functionality and usefulness.
A transition between inner and outer space is very vague, though some parts of the building are concealed from the outside viewers in the street. The rooms are full of light and the part of the building which was supposed to be used as a dormitory for students was deliberately made a bit higher than others. The construction suggests that the rooms of the dormitory would be lighted with the last rays of the setting sun.
Evaluation of the scheme in use, and the reactions of the public to the design
The scheme can be considered one of the most effective in use as it presupposed the multi-functional premises in a single building. The first project suggested that there should be several part of the school of arts which would be treated as a whole. Every part should be unique and appropriate taking into account its purpose, though it should also be a part of the whole. The goal was to combine different purposes and techniques under one roof.
In addition, the roof appeared to be not as typical of the German architectural style as it was flat. ‘The curtain wall, consisting of small panes of glass and steel mullions, creates a unified facade’ (Simino 1999, p.23).This celebrated building is attributed to the international architectural heritage (‘Architecture!’ 2007). This building was recognized as one of the buildings with the most exceptional character. Its design was innovative for its contemporaries because the author of the project can be considered one of the pioneers of the twentieth century architectural projects.
Its innovative design leaves no space for usage of the old established forms and techniques. Technical virtuosity of Walter Gropius makes successive generations admire his talent and enormous desire to create unusual buildings. It can be considered the brightest example of the Modern Movement projects because it includes all distinctive features of this movement.
As introduced by Lupfer and Sigel (2004), the construction was created to combine different parts of a building:
The flat-roofed, interconnected building segments were each dedicated to precisely defined functions. One wing was planned as an independent technical (vocational) school and equipped with classrooms, administrative offices and a library. A two-storey bridge resting on four concrete piers connected the school to the workshops (p. 40).
The multi-purpose building can be considered rather effective with a view to its multiple levels, facades, and premises.
Though the first reaction of the public was amazement and admiration as people that had arrived to the inauguration of Walter Gropius saw a cube made of glass and light. The authorities did not express their admiration and made everything possible to force Gropius to resign. Neither Nazis, nor the post-war authorities recognized the genuine importance of the Gropius’ contribution to the national traditions in architecture and design.
The international recognition did not make to wait long and influenced the British architectural techniques of the period of the World War II. It is natural that the progressive ideas of the architect were not always treated as it should have been, though his methods contributed greatly to the development of the international Modern Movement. It was spread all over the world, though Gropius was inspired with American buildings before creating the project of the Bauhaus Building in Dessau.
Conclusion
To conclude, the Modern Movement in architecture was established by separate architects that contributed greatly to the overall characteristics of the movement. It is natural that Walter Gropius and his major and the most outstanding project the Bauhaus Building in Dessau is considered one of the pioneers of the Modernism in architecture. The cubic form and irregular, asymmetric construction which is designed of glass, curtain wall facades which are aimed to make the outer walls lighter and more transparent can be considered the distinctive features of the Bauhaus Building. The combination of form and space as well as aesthetic avant-garde and industrial technologies contributes greatly to the major idea and concept of the building. The revolutionary thinking found its expression in the progressive project of that era.
All the techniques and traits that can be traced in the design of the inner and outer space of the Bauhaus Building can be attributed to all architectural projects which are claimed to belong to the Modern Movement in architecture. The flat roof, asymmetric construction, multiple facades made of glass (curtain wall facade which is used in order to make the outer walls non-structural ones) all these and other features can be treated as the mixture of the functional design.
Though the first impression of people was exciting, the authorities did not happen to support the progressive movement. The innovations introduced by Walter Gropius in his major architectural work the Bauhaus Building in Dessau influenced the major part of the world in terms of architectural movement which rooted from progressive ideas.
References
Architecture! Walter Gropius – The Dessau Bauhaus 2007, YouTube, Web.
Gale, T 2005-2006, Encyclopedia of World Biography on Walter Gropius, Encyclopedia of World Biography, Web.
Gropius, W 1965, The New Architecture And The Bauhaus, MIT Press, Massachusetts.
Lupfer, G & Sigel, P 2004, Walter Gropius, 1883-1969: The Promoter of a New Form, Taschen, Los Angeles.
Moffett, M, Fazio, M W & Wodehouse, L 2003, A World History of Architecture, Laurence King Publishing, London.
Simino, S 1999, ‘Thoughts on architecture…’, March thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
The report investigates the internal and external designs of a domestic building located at 45 Chelmsford, Chelmer Village, and Essex. The report will be divided into two sections. Section A provides external components of the building. Section B provides the internal part of the building that discusses the installation of the electrical part and other internal features of the building. The internal part of the building consists of the floor plan and electrical installation. All the electrical installations used for the building are in line with the regulations of the British standard.
The building selected for this report was built in 2005 and is located at 45 Chelmsford, Chelmer Village, and Essex. The building serves as a domestic building for Mr. Paul Christine. Mr. Paul Christine provided the information in this report on 5th December 2009 (See the picture of the building in Figure 5).
Figure 5. Picture of the building
External Features of the Building
This section provides the external features of the building selected. The external features consist of materials, bricks, blocks, and concrete used to build the house described in this report. In addition, the external features of the building also consist of a cavity wall, roof structure, and ground floor. (Ely, The Plan Collection, (2008). The building materials used for external features are a combination of the modern method of construction (MMC) and the traditional method. An MMC is a type of construction method that makes use of timber panels for construction. Typically, the MMC is the latest method of construction adopted because it is easy to construct. The home building chosen for this report has also adopted traditional methods of construction such as bricks, blocks, and concrete. (Parliamentary Science and Technology, 2003, Forticrete, (2008).
Walls of the Building
For the wall of the building, the aggregate concrete block is used for the wall. It should be noted that the fixing of the aggregate concrete block for the building embraces the medium fixing that filled the hollow portion of the building. The use of medium fixing of the building has heavy gauge fixing, and in the building, there are some design requirements that were followed. The block strengths are considered in the construction of the building. In addition, the building engineer choose the correct method of fixing the system that was suitable for weather hollow and suit loading. The wall design of the building is not impaired, and there are no holes whatsoever in the building. (Bassetlaw).
Meanwhile, each block used for constructing the building has a fixing of 35mm from the end of each block. (See the wall of the building in Figure 5)
Structural Stability
The external walls of the building is being supported by the partitions of the internal frames which includes flank walls, roof timber, and floor joists. The structural viability of the building complies with the BS 5628, Part 1: 1992 of code of practice of structural building.
Materials for the Window
The building also adopted window frames and timber frames for construction. The Timber frame and timber panels are the materials used for the construction of the windows of the building. (The Info Shop, 2008). Typically, these materials have provided sound insulation with a high-level standard. Moreover, this house contains thermal insulation that is used to ensure that there is absolute minimization of heat loss.
Insulation of the Building
The system of insulation employed for the building is with the regulation of EnEV 2004 requirements. Typically the annual heating demand is approximately < 15 kWh/m²a, and since the building was built in 2005, the building adopted the regulation of insulation system of 2004 with 30% energy-efficient system.
Roof
Moreover, the roof of the building consists of light red colour that has a specification size of 38mm x 25mm as well as has a span of 600mm. In addition, the fixing was made by an aluminium nail with the specification of 50mm x 3.35mm, which is in line with BS 5534:2003.
The roofing for the building has a strong overlock and underlock that is effective for rain drainage. Moreover, the roofing also has interlocking features that have the performance of blocking the ice and providing better rain drainage. All the roofing of the building is in line with BS 5534:2003. Thus, the setting of the roof is incorrect procedure there is adequate strength used in footholds to ensure adequate protection of the slates. (Forticrete, 2008). In addition, part of the materials contains light red roofing that is appropriate to ensure that there is a minimization of environmental impact.
Fire Protection
The external wall of the building complies with the Approved document B that describes the system of fire resistance for the building. Typically, the fire resistance procedure of the building is in line with fire resistance of 30mins to 120mins. The bricks used for the building have the component of resisting fire with the optimum standard. The external wall of the building consists of brickworks that can reduce the spread of fire in case of fire occurrence.
Damp Proof Course for the Building
The external wall of the building is built to protect the building from moisture. Thus, the external wall is in line with Damped Proof Course to protect the external wall of the building against moisture. Typically, the materials used for the protection against moisture are bricks that are in line with BS 743 and BS 8215 specifications. Typically, the design and installation are in line with the code of practice of DPC masonry construction.
Opening
Head
The head is in form of beams that were made from the MMC materials. The MMC materials are made up of a Timber frame.
Jamb
The Jambs is referred to the vertical part of the building, which shows the opening on the cavity of the wall. Thus, to prevent moisture from entering the cavity it is essential to seal the cavity. Thus, fig 1 shows the wall jamb of the building.
Fig 1: Wall jamb of the building.
Internal Features of the Building
This section consists of the internal part of the building. The internal part of the building consists of the floor plan and electrical installation in the building.
Typically, the floor plan of the building gives the dimension that specifies the length of the wall, and the sizes of the room. Essentially, these floor plans contribute to the electrical fitting system in the house.
Floor Plan
The floor plan reveals the ground floor of the building, and on the ground floor, there is a principal room that is 10.34m long. The shape and dimensions of the room are 6.83m x 3.45m and 5.64m x 3.33m. In addition, the room has cupboards that are double-shelved.
The internal features of the building also consist of Kitchenette, with a dimension of 2.08m x 1.68m. The kitchen also has a fitted floor cupboard that has a radiator, wall cupboard, and other spaces. (Aggregate Industries, 2009).
The dimension of the first floor of the building is 6.1m x 3.35m that including the staircase. The dimension of the room is also 6.1m x 3.35m with radiator and strip lights. (See Figure 6 for the floor plan of the building).
Figure 6. Floor plan of the building
Electrical Installation
The electrical installation of the building is in line with the approved standard. The electrical installation is in line with the regulation of the EEC construction product of voltage directive of (93/68/EC). Essentially, the technical specification of the British standard is to ensure the safety, convenience, and welfare of the people living in the houses in the UK. (Communities and Local Government, 2005).
Consumer Unit
The consumer unit of the building consists of a modern type, which contains a main switch, residual current device, and circuit breaker. The consumer unit distributes electrical energy throughout the building. (See fig 2 for the consumer unit of the building).
The labels of the consumer unit are as follows:
A = Main switch
B = Circuit breakers
C = Residual current device
Fig 2: photo of the Consumer unit of the building.
In addition, the wire installation in the building is in line with UK standards and all the electrical apparatus in the building are mainly low voltages, and the conductor with direct contact is 120 volts. (Borough, 2009). There are electrical heating systems in all rooms that lead to the floor up to the ceiling. The entire plug used in the building is 13A plugs and all the sockets in the building are 13A, which is in line with the Part B of electrical safety guidance. The installation of the outside wall of the building contains RCD protection in order to ensure safety. In the kitchen, the installation of lighting the kitchen consists of a prefabricated system that consists of products of CE marked, and it contains the outlet of 13 A sockets. (Office of the Depute Prime Minister, 2006). (See Fig. 3 for the socket installation).
Fig 3: Socket installation.
Lighting
The lighting of the building investigated in this report is categorized as a modern building. Thus, the wiring is in line with modern electrical regulations of Approve Part P. The wiring of the building is also in line with wiring regulations of (BS 7671).
Circuits
The circuits in the building consist of lighting circuits for the transmission of power from one point to the other. In line with Part P of the UK Building Regulations, the transmission of power from the circuit starts from the main switch. It should be noted the cable entering the house is connected to the main fuse, and this has a value of 60-100A. The installation of the electrical circuits is in line with BS 7671:2008.
Electrical Service
All electrical wiring that enters the building is connected through the meter to the panel board. Typically, the provision of electricity to the building is directly from the distribution panel. (See fig 4 on how the light is distributed to the building).
Fig 4: Wiring from distribution panel.
Safety
To avoid electrocution, there is a precaution that is followed in the electrical installation in order to prevent fire and electrocution. The circuit breaker has been installed to enhance electrical safety and a fire panel has also been installed, and this is in line with the Approved P of electrical safety.
Conclusion
This report provides general design features of a house building located in Essex in the UK. The house building is one story building occupied by one family as the living house. There are several design specifications described in this report. The building was built by the combination of the modern method of construction and the traditional method. The modern method of construction used to construct this building consisted of a timber frame that was used to design all the windows used in the house. The other external part of the dwelling was built with the traditional method. The wall of the building was built with solid brick. The internal feature of the building contains floor plans and electrical installations. The electrical installations of the building used for this report are in line with the regulation of EEC construction product of voltage directive of (93/68/EC).
The World Health Organization (WHO) gives statistics implying that at the least ten percent of the global populace lives with a certain form of disability. A massive eighty percent of these individuals are in the developing nations, where development of various infrastructures is being encouraged in order to make the conditions their conducive for all citizens (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010).
Most existing and upcoming buildings and other structures to be used by people do not have the essential user-friendly aspects for the disabled. This is attributable to the social model of the physical condition of persons. In this model, the physical condition of the individual is viewed to be only a fraction of the predicament. It demonstrates that civilization is set up to fully cater for the requirements of the non-disabled. The handicapped suffer from an inadequately designed setting, transportation they are unable to use and communication arrangements they cannot understand (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). These obstacles of outlook and admittance bar the handicapped from obtaining good education and learning facilities, good jobs and from living a complete social life. Consequently, there have been proposals to alter usual housing practices so that new structures have these features.
This study looks at the difficulties that handicapped individuals face when entering buildings and subsequent use of facilities and other provisions in buildings like bathrooms, telephones positioned at a suitable elevation, soap dispensers located at appropriate heights among others (Hahn, 1988, p. 7).
It then looks at various design options catering for this special group of persons and then chooses the most feasible solution for carrying this out. Persons with disabilities are not any different from non-disabled people and thus they have a right to be treated in the same respect as any other person.
Introduction
Accessibility is a term referring to the extent to which a building or a part of it is reachable by as many people of all forms as possible, be they disabled, handicapped or sound in all aspects (Hull, 1979, p. 4). The concentration is mainly on the handicapped that use equipment and devices like wheelchairs and crutches. They need to go wherever they wish to, just like the rest of humanity, through the assistance of this equipment.
The aspect of accessibility is mainly linked to the international design standards and it is all about making man-made structures like buildings and parking lots reachable to all people, whether handicapped or not. This is what is commonly referred to as direct access. Indirect access on the other hand involves making a provision for the entity under consideration to support the use of the handicapper’s assistive technology to gain access.
The disability rights movement roots for not only equivalent physical access but also access to the same facilities and other services in building(s) for the handicapped as it is for the physically sound individuals (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). Examples of these facilities include bathrooms with sufficiently wide doors and enough turning space inside, alarm codes at the right height, reachable ways into and through the place of abode, supported walls in cloakrooms for later placement of grab bars, tickets booths at the suitable height for everyone at cinema halls among other provisions.
A wheelchair occupant should be able to reach whatever he or she wishes by hand with a minimal shift of their leg(s) and body trunk. Cooking areas and sinks should be planned to offer provision for legs of the chair user to be accommodated at the underside.
Definition
Universal design whereby buildings and other structures meet the requirements of all people, their physical status notwithstanding should be the aim of every architect. Physically impaired persons and especially those on wheelchairs find it difficult to gain access into many public and residential buildings due to lack of surfaces where the wheelchairs can move smoothly. They also find it difficult to use amenities in these buildings like bathrooms and kitchens due to their configuration to use by only physically sound people.
History
Accessibility design is a universal idea tracing its roots with the Disability Movement and presumes that the main idea of non-discrimination to all humans is ordinary. The International Building Code, commonly referred to as (IBC) is a reproduction building standard built up by the International Code Council, ICC.
The accessibility interest group traces its origin with the public rights movement and the Public Rights Act of 1964. The origin lies in the framework and putting into practice of regulations relating to accessibility. The foremost nationally accepted design standard in America was released in 1961 and was based on study conducted by the University of Illinois (Lifchez, 1987, p. 14). It offered vital reference for private and state entities in matters relating to building design, taking the plight of the handicapped into consideration. As from 1968, the federal government has always addressed issues relating to accessibility.
The first serious endeavor to tackle construction design as a matter for handicapped persons took place at a 1958 convention backed by among others the President’s order on service of the disabled. These codes were brought up by Timothy Nugent at the University of Illinois with support from the state, legal fraternity, health, commerce and specialized relations. It bore requirements to get rid of any obstacles that bar individuals from using buildings and other amenities (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). It also contained standards for constructing facilities such as elevators, bathroom stalls and parking for the handicapped. It was on record as the first technologically constituted design principle on accessibility globally.
Many building owners, however, were not quick to enforce these standards at the time as they were unaware of the societal gains of having them in place. This led to local authorities moving in to ensure the requirements were adhered to.
An unofficial faction of federal representatives had come up with an advisory steer for federal entities on enabling civic buildings to be reachable during the late 1950s but it was not until 1965 when an alteration of the Rehabilitation Act led to the federal government recognizing this as a matter requiring attention.
In 1968, the National Commission on Architectural Barriers was launched and gave out a description titled Design for all Americans and it had details regarding the ignorance of most private and public entities about the existence of obstacles and their elimination. In an assessment of about three thousand architects, only seven hundred responded and a paltry 35% of them had an idea what ANSI A117.1 of the year 1961 was (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010).
There was none of the four main construction standards that made any allusion to architectural blockades or their elimination. The construction sector producers and suppliers were not in the know about the being there of universal codes. This led civic administrators making conclusions that there was not enough public appreciation to produce public plans addressing reach of buildings and other related structures.
The report also made references to several inadequacies in the ANSI standard that played down on its functionality to planners. The standard failed to clearly describe the scale of its practicality, which is the amenity types, aspects of a building and the number of those elements. It thus proved difficult to put into operation as its language was not clear and it had a small number of portrayals to assist designers in interpretation of the information.
Later in 1971, the ANSI standard of 1961 was reasserted minus any revision by the American National Standard Institute and its use went on for another decade as a support document for the crafting of federal regulations (Lifchez, 1987, p. 15). Designers remained in uncertainty due to various standard-setting entities and clashing obligations.
The Congress then drew and passed a new act in 1968, the Architectural Barriers Act. One of the push factors for this was the opinion that the use of civic money on relooking at these standards was not a worthwhile undertaking minus the doing away of architectural obstacles. The proponents lay emphasis on the thought that these obstacles were in place due to short-sightedness and their being expunged would come about with enlightenment of the designers and planners and the public in general. This holdup stayed in place for up to two decades and it hampered access to both private and public buildings and other facilities.
The Barriers Act authorized that buildings and related amenities planned and put up using federal finance would have to take care of accessibility to all. Three federal agencies that would set these standards were set up (Lifchez, 1987, p. 16). The Act also had to undergo two key adjustments in 1970 and 1976 before it could start having ay considerable achievement on the accessibility of public buildings and amenities.
Transformation in society mind-set has then followed slowly and largely as a result of enlightenment endeavors that have accompanied new legislations. This is in addition to the federal regulations, health developments and also advances in assistive technology. The most important issue was the change of characterization of disability from therapeutic and economic point of view which gives disabilities approach from the point of view of practical and occupational restrictions, to an outlook that lay focus on the hindering aspects of the surroundings that restrict the feasible contacts of disabled individuals.
In this budge, the handicapped have come out as a marginal group that is not subjugated by their disabilities but by conditions that can be altered for the better by way of legislation (Hull, 1979, p. 6). A main element of subjugation of a marginal group is the notion of biological inadequacy by the majority. Other marginal groupings have been able to refute this theory, while on the other hand, the noticeable bodily differences of the handicapped stirs up responses of the effect that this group of people is more of subordinate. In order for public plans to be achieved, the mindsets that result in the discrimination of the handicapped must be dealt with in equal measures with practical alterations in the physical set up.
The handicapped rights movement traces its origin in the public rights movement of the 1960s. The 1964 Civil Rights Act had the objective of mainly doing away with bias based on race and it opened up ground for a number of other marginalized groups to demand for their rights. This led to the crafting of the Rehabilitation Act in 1973 (Hull, 1979, p. 7).
The strongpoint of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was the fact that it majorly echoed title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It was a key issue in the transfer of disability concerns from societal and medical services to a civil rights ground. Much emphasis was however laid on the foundation for change with issues of execution being at the back seat. This is what really led to the delay in issuing of regulations for the implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Three vital ideas came up in the 1970s, program ease of access, normalizing and independent living (Hahn, 1988, p. 10). None of these straightforwardly dealt with the practical aspects of accessibility, but each had a mention of consideration of the handicapped by firms or entities that own buildings.
Disabled children got a sigh of relief in the year 1975 when the All Handicapped Children Act got passed. The Congress passed it and it entitled all disabled children in public learning institutions to free education. It aimed at eliminating discrimination of any form since it encouraged that the handicapped children be learning with the non-disabled at all time’s possible (Hahn, 1988, p. 10). Public schools had to do away with any obstacles barring handicapped children from accessing all available facilities.
As the state-run disability guiding principle was being redefined, the handicapped in local society were in the process of forming a socio-political pressure group. The movement was established in Berkeley, California, and this where the first hub for independent living was launched. The handicapped championed for their rights and this was replicated throughout the nation among the disabled who had at one time or another come face to face with discrimination. Independent living centers came up in their numbers in line with state and local authority offices on disability (Lifchez, 1987, p. 16).
State and local authorities made more progress than the federal government. Many states implemented the ANSI code and required meeting the terms and conditions for facilities that they were financing. At the end of 1966, 30 states had this in place and at the end of 1973, it was only one state that had not done so and his was Kentucky.
The 1980s was a chilling phase for the handicapped due to the opinion that it was okay to do away with government. This threatened the rights that the handicapped had won over the years. The disability movement proved to be adequately built to champion the right s of the disabled since it stood the period unlike other movements. In fact, it stood firm against deregulation of Section 504 and the Architectural Barriers Act.
Minimum guiding principles for accessible plan were published in 1981 by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, ATBCB (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). New appointees to this board by the then President Reagan opposed the guidelines, but the guidelines had to be reissued in the following year due to irresistible public demand.
In 1988, the Civil Rights Restoration Act was drafted to fix the adjustments that had been done to the framework of public rights enactment by the governmental and legal rulings in the early 1980s. The act was fuelled by a gender-discrimination case at the time. It was the first time that the handicapped society was wholly acknowledged as an equal player in the lawmaking and the championing course for public rights.
The Civil Rights Act that had been enacted in 1968 was amended into the Fair Housing Amendments Act. This covered both the handicapped and family set ups with children. Accessible shelter was enlarged to multifamily and it meant that a handicapped person could find accessible accommodation in the open market (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010).
The president’s appointees to the National Council on Disability drafted the Americans with Disabilities Act and presented it to the Congress. The disability movement and all wings of the political system at the time spoke with one voice that a relook was needed into the free convention of equivalent chance and rights.
Within a period of two years, this legislation was passed by Congress and signed by the then President Bush. The Congressmen understood their responsibility to deliver civil right to all American citizens. The gains of the act are cross-cutting and for eternity. Persons not benefitting directly from the provision know someone else who is benefitting. Strategists foresaw vital repercussions for the future from the act in terms of running expenditures of prospectively dependent citizens. Demographic experts project an increase in the life expectancy.
Catering for the requirements of the handicapped by way of unrestricted accessibility enables saving a lot of funds in institutional care. More than two thirds of the handicapped are unemployed and the reason is the outlook towards them by the physically upright and physical obstacles which bar their access to existing opportunities.
The American with Disabilities Act is remarkable both nationally and on the world stage. The United States guarantees unbiased rights within a legitimate convention. The act is an edge above other public rights groupings since a person can become a member at any time of their life.
In March 1991, the Fair Housing Act was enacted and its requirements were aimed at privately owned residences and publicly assisted buildings, stressing on the need to incorporate elements of accessible design.
Also in the same year, the American with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines, ADAAG, was crafted. It held guidelines for public housing and business amenities both in private and public areas. It was revised later that year to cater for transport facilities.
In 1998, the Americans with Disabilities Act was altered to offer guiding principles in the design of both state and local authority and facilities meant for child use. Later in 2002, the Help America Vote Act was enacted to offer guidelines for voting facilities that offer unbiased reach for all to the voting areas (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). The Americans with Disabilities Act and the ABA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities were brought up to date and printed in the Federal Register in 2004.
Other research
Wheel chair lift
This mechanical equipment is used to raise a wheel chair together with its occupant in a bid to go over a step or any other vertical obstacle. A hydraulic wheelchair lift is convenient and can be used for both homes and public buildings. The major principle here is the use of hydraulics for even movement and hydraulic fluid the lift to smoothly adjust to in the case of any impulsive changes in velocity or surface (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). These types of lifts are preferred as they do not concern their operators/owners with electricity requirements.
The most convenient and practical one should have a pivotal frame such that it is able to swing from within and without the building or apartment in which it is used, a slip frame that is movable telescopically vis-à-vis to the swing and a flat surface to accommodate the wheelchair held at the bottom end of the slip frame.
The wheelchair platform is pivoted at a flat location in a vertical folded position. This arrangement needs to be coplanar with the sway frame such that the whole assemblage can be kept in the building or elsewhere when not in use.
A hydraulic butt with a power rap in one direction and a return stroke in the reverse course offers the provision for lifting up leads inclined on converse sides of the sway frame (Hahn, 1988, p. 15). This is operationally linked to both the side frame and the wheelchair platform.
The power stroke of the butt makes the slip and the held platform to be hoisted to the floor level of the building or apartment for transfer of the wheelchair with its occupant. This stroke also results in the pivotal transfer of the wheelchair platform back to its folded up position after the load of the wheelchair has been taken out of the platform.
There is a provision made to ensure that the mechanical energy resulting from the displacement of the wheelchair platform back to its rest place is preserved. This energy is then later utilized in the unfolding movements of the sway frame and the platform (Hahn, 1988, p. 17). The pivoted displacement of the platform and the descending slip is enhanced by gravity and the velocity is regulated by discharge of hydraulic pressure which is accumulated at the end of the butt.
Most of the previously designed lifts proved to be burdensome and complicated in their construction, in addition to being expensive and time consuming in their mounting and routine repairs. It is required that the makeup should be simple but effective, thus allowing for timely and less costly maintenance.
As long as this solution is viable, it may not be accessible to all. The handicapped and especially those in the developing world are not able to afford this equipment. It might also prove to be unreliable due to malfunctioning. Therefore, it would be better to establish a permanent provision like ramps to aid the disabled enter buildings more easily instead of a movable device which can malfunction at any time.
Innovative new escalator
This type of escalator is meant to fully deal with accessibility issues for the disabled on wheelchair, the aged and people with huge loads (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). On the normal escalators, this group of persons finds it difficult to both go up or down and waste lots of time in the process.
The escalator is an improvement on the existing ones. For instance, when a person on wheelchair wants to use, then they press a push button that causes the rungs of the escalator to move as one to shape a platform that holds the wheelchair.
After the wheelchair and its occupant are well placed the escalator moves as normal until the user reaches the other end. After the user has left the escalator, the platform reverts back to its initial number of independent rungs.
This innovation also incorporates a remote control system to make it easier to use since access to a button may prove difficult for almost all disability cases. Light and audio signals are also present to cater for the needs of the visually impaired and the deaf.
Any occurrences of power blackouts especially when users are midway are taken care of by a back-up battery system.
This innovation has done well in saving on energy costs in a much better way than the present day escalators. It is projected to save 30% of energy. Its tread girdle that moves about the upper and lower planes of the incline is the same for upward and downward movement. This means it functions in a closed circuit.
Elevators
The disabled encounter quite a number of problems when using elevators and these problems include; insufficient room in the elevator cab, unreachable buttons, narrow entrances and inadequate opening duration intervals.
Proper planning and design is required in order to solve these hitches. Accessible elevators ought to reach all the floors of any building that is usually accessed by the society (Hahn, 1988, p. 18). These provisions also need to be wide enough; standard dimensions require a least measure of 1 meter by 1.3 meters with the door opening being at least an eighth of a meter.
The elevator cab needs a handrail on all sides apart from the door and these should be mounted at a distance of between 0.8 and 0.85 meters from the floor. For accessible reach, the control panel needs to be placed between 0.9 and 1.2 meters form the floor. All push buttons on the control panel need to be illuminated always, with a least diameter of 20 millimeters. For the elevator hall indicator to be visible to all, it needs to be placed at about 1.8 meters from the floor level. Handicapped users experience problems with the opening intervals and thus the intervals need to be fixed to suit their needs. A least opening period of five seconds needs to be provided, with re-opening activators (Hahn, 1988, p. 19). A combination of audiovisual signals is needed for the deaf and visually impaired. Elevator floors and the floor surface immediately after the elevator needs to be well treaded to keep skidding at bay.
All these recommendations are best suited for high-rise buildings with elevators. However, most buildings in the developing world going up to fifth floors do not have provisions for elevators and they thus need alternative accessibility provisions like ramps that are discussed below.
Recommended solutions
Wheelchair ramp
This refers to an inclined level surface that can be set up in addition to or in the place of a set of steps. This provision allows wheelchair users as well as people pushing or pulling wheeled equipment to enter and exit buildings more conveniently, and these ramps can be permanent, semi-permanent or transferable (Lifchez, 1987, p. 17). Putting wheelchair ramps in place offers access to various buildings and other amenities within the building to wheelchair users and thus offers these persons the independence they deserve.
Permanent ramps are fixed or cemented in place as their name suggests, while the semi-permanent ones lie on the floor and transferable ramps have the provision of folding for convenient movement form one place to another.
Permanent ramps are mostly made from masonry work, but can also be made from steel and wood in other places. Masonry ramps offer excellent durability and are followed by steel ramps (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). However, steel ramps are more costly. Wooden ramps do not offer a good durability and are not recommended for very busy places like public buildings. They are better suited for home use. Semi-permanent ramps are also mainly steel and wooden while their portable counterparts are mainly aluminum.
Quite a number of modern day ramps are foldable into convenient sizes and are easy to carry for the case of buildings that have not been modified to cater for wheelchair users. They most fit for those who are mobile and with personal vehicles. An example is the modular ramp which is all aluminum and can be used for both homes and public buildings. Its elements are standard and allow for assembly in a matter of a few minutes. It also has grab rails and can be easily transferred to a different area.
The single fold ramp is handy in its set up process and in handling. It folds up at the central point and has a handle for easy carrying. Its construction also ensures that it is light. It opens to an area 30 inches wide and thus is able to accommodate all wheelchairs (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010).
The multifold ramp is also exceptional and folds to be carried like a briefcase. Its open space is also 30 inches wide and the whole set up is light in weight. It has a weight capacity of 600 pounds per square foot with a surface offering sufficient traction for the wheelchair and its occupant.
These features need to be well designed so that they are safe and convenient to use. Standards have been set to ensure this. For instance, the Americans with Disabilities Act advocate a 3:12 slope gradient for unoccupied wheelchairs which is an angle of fourteen degrees (Lifchez, 1987, p. 17). The UK standards state that a slope gradient of 1:6 is suitable for temporary ramps in the case of assisted wheelchairs. Ramp adjustments need to be in line with the set standards on wheelchair regulations.
Accessible design of the interiors
Wheelchair users need comfort and functionality of the wheelchair accessible public buildings and homes, just like the rest of humanity. The aim of this is to ensure that persons on wheelchair are able to do whatever they feel like doing with minimal or no aid from others. They also need provision for space for themselves and safety. This architectural design is not actually meant to only work for wheelchair users, but also for children, the visually impaired and the elderly (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). This guarantees that the home will be there to be used by all from different walks.
Accessible passage with adequate turning room should be offered in all common areas. In multi-storey buildings, at least two lifts serving the desired specification are needed (Hull, 1979, p. 21). These lifts need to connect passage areas at every echelon.
Enough space is required virtually everywhere to permit a wheelchair to turn 1800 through all doorways and around corners.
One of the initial areas to be looked at usually is the entryways and corridors. These ones need to be wide enough, a least width of 32-inches for a wheelchair, easily approachable and should not be having any apparent holdups like rungs and precipitous doorsills. The corridors also require grab bars at the right height such that the user(s) reaches them comfortably.
Accessible bathrooms for all begin with sufficiently wide doorways and an enough turn radius. A double bedroom requires a possibility for a straight link between it and a bathroom (Lifchez, 1987, p. 18). Restrooms must then be free of any barriers with mirrors mounted at the right height for ease of use, usually not more than 34-inches from the flooring.
The restrooms also need to provide the user with the alternative of either an accessible shower bath or a bath, so that they are able to use whichever they please. Grab bars are a necessity in the bath tub and the shower area. A water closet having side, sloping and anterior transfer spaces with an accessible washbasin is also needed.
The design of kitchens should allow accessibility for the handicapped in wheelchairs and those with other impairments. The standard height for counters and sinks should be at most 34-inches from the ground (Lifchez, 1987, p. 18).
Extra legroom is required under the counters, tables and sinks. The arrangement and organization between various areas should be done to well to permit ease of movement and turning.
Mounting and installation of burning appliances should take the handicapped into consideration. Knobs and other regulatory provision need to be on the front instead of being behind the burners so that the operator does not get burned or scalded whenever using them.
There are other very important considerations such as switches and telephone positions which need to be at accessible heights to all users (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010).
Homes whose initial design did not take the above into consideration need to be modified adequately so that the conditions are met. Most ranch style homes have the main flooring elevated a bit higher than the earth level with a generally level plan allowing for space beneath for electrical and plumbing works. Adjustments on such houses are considerably undemanding since all that the outside entry requires is a gently sloping ramp that can be placed over the existing staircase. It can be permanent, semi-permanent or portable, as may be found appropriate.
Split level houses are usually planned with various interior staircases and half-floor corridors. There is also an entry section at the floor plane and a flight of steps in the entrance. The task of transforming such homes may be a bit demanding since room is unavailable for setting up wheelchair ramps which are long sloping (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). This calls for wheelchair lifts at the veranda next to the stairwell. Alternatively, stair lifts can be installed in the stairwells.
Multi-storey homes are appropriately modified through setting up of a residential elevator and this is less costly as compared to commercial ones. Provision of ramps and accessible interiors is the most effective solution for the handicapped since this allows them virtually in any building. Solutions such as wheelchair lifts, escalators and elevators work well but are unavailable in some areas like homes and buildings going up to four floors.
Conclusion
The design of buildings needs to not only to take into account the needs of all those who are physically sound, but also the impaired persons. Home designs should not only consider the initial dwellers, there should be a provision for future adjustments and modifications to fit into the requirements of any special needs like for those of the elderly or the disabled (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010). This is what is commonly referred to as adaptability.
For instance, provision for a future home elevator requires that closet spaces should be set up in every storey, placed perpendicularly with similar measurements and position. At the appropriate time, the closet storey and ceilings are taken out and elevator equipment set up in the resulting allowance.
The producers of wheelchair equipment like ramps and lifts have to consult the wheelchair producers so that whatever products that they come up with end up complimenting each other. For instance, there is no need of producing a ramp whose width cannot accommodate a given wheelchair (National Institute of Building Sciences, USA, 2010).
Regimes in various nations need to be very strict in the implementation of set accessibility standards, especially for public and commercial buildings. Old buildings without these standards need to be modified appropriately while upcoming ones need to be accessible to all.
For the general public and those who are fortunate enough to be physically sound, it should be a shameful act to be biased against the handicapped in any matters. These are fellow men and women and they are entitled to equal employment, education, transport and other matters that every person requires to live a free and full life.
Equal access ensures that a worthwhile life is provided for the handicapped and thus they get to advance themselves, their families and other people they interact with in their day-to-day endeavors (Hahn, 1988, p. 7).
Reference List
Hahn, H. (1988). “The Politics of Physical Differences: Disability and Discrimination.” Journal of Social Issues, No. 1. 7-19.
Hull, K. (1979). The Rights of Physically Handicapped People. New York: Avon Books. 4-28.
Lifchez, R. (1987). Rethinking Architecture: Design Students and Physically Disabled People. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. 14 – 18.
National Institute of Building Sciences, (2010). An Authoritative Source of Innovative Solutions for the Built Environment. 1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 700 | Washington, DC 20005-4950. Web.
Quality assurance in construction has proved to have unpredictable outcomes after the implementation of different quality assurances by different firms. Measures are therefore being put in place to find ways of formulating implementation models that will ensure that more positive outcomes, which are also predictable, are reached so that quality assurances can be effective. Good personnel training coupled with an audit is just but a few of the aspects that are being integrated with construction to ensure that quality assurances are efficient and effective in bringing positive results.
Introduction
Unlike several years ago, corporate responsibility is assuming a more central part in the day-to-day activities of large business organizations. With evidenced cases of scandals and catastrophes in the building industry, public scrutiny has assumed a new level forcing the companies to increase their measures to ensure quality and hence competitiveness. Consequently, the competitive spearhead of each organization is purely dependent on the quality of the products and services offered by the organization. Therefore, what are the main endeavors assumed by these companies to ensure quality and hence sharpen their competitive edge? This report highlights the main techniques used by civil and structural engineers to ensure quality assurance during building and construction projects. This objective will be achieved through the examination of modern techniques, steps and procedures implemented to ensure quality.
Cornick (1988) defines quality as a “conformance to requirements, which is attained through management for improvement by all project participants, and this should result in assurance by demonstration” (p.211). Johnson (2003) posits that quality assurance and quality control are very important aspects of building projects. However, one might wonder what should be done to ensure quality assurance in a given project. In his analysis, Cornick further outlines four fundamentals that define quality. To begin with, the definition must put into consideration the expectations and needs of the client. However, these needs have to be realistic and measurable.
Results
There is a wide field of activities that are covered by quality assurance, which includes planning and development to just mention a few. Quality assurance implementation was introduced in Australia in the early years of 1990. The expected outcomes of the implementation of these quality assurance programs in construction are not clear due to the fact that different companies have been successful in implementing these strategies but others have had failures in doing the same. This leaves a question as to the effectiveness of the assurance program and its reliability since the success of all the firms engaging in quality assurance is not guaranteed (Karim, Marosszeky & Kumaraswamy, 2005, p. 798). Furthermore, research carried out shows that these variations are brought about by the fact that different construction firms have different construction ideas despite the fact that the constructions might be similar, the fact remains that each construction is unique.
Different outcomes have been achieved in the implementation of quality assurance especially that of ISO 9000. Due to this variability, there are assumptions that have been created to come up with reasons why these quality assurances do not result in positive outcomes when they are implemented by different companies. One of the assumptions that have been reached is that the methodologies for the implementation of these quality assurance strategies are different for the different companies so that one company achieves the desired effect while another uses its own methodologies which causes it to fail in the implementation. Due to this, research is ongoing to determine the basis of the successes of different companies and the failure of others. Once this is achieved, then an implementing method can be reached so that it can provide a guide that will ensure all the quality assurance programs are effective rather than hanging on the possibilities of whether the program will be effective and provide desired positive outcomes (Karim, Marosszeky & Kumaraswamy, 2005, p. 784). Preferred firms were picked out to do this investigation and this included the comparison between the probable causes and the effect connection that exists between the different results and the procedures that are undertaken during the implementation process in addition to corporate culture together with other factors that might have a direct cause to the failure of some quality assurances.
After a considerable survey was carried out, it was agreed that the possible results of a quality assurance strategy are not always assured to keep on going consistently, rather the results may differ from one firm to another. Consequently, only a few firms are actually able to have desired positive outcomes consistently without the failures that are encountered by the majority of firms, which fall in this section of failed outcomes. Other firms are recorded to have never received any positive outcomes with the use of quality assurance. Irrespective of this, the majority of firms usually have results that are not predictable and this means that they usually have unpredictable results. Due to this unpredictability of the outcomes, another approach has been taken, that is, instead of studying the outcomes of the entire organization as a whole, better results would be achieved if the outcome were scrutinized individually so that the basic concepts behind the procedures carried out to reach this outcome could be grasped. With such a study, a possible implementation model could be reached since it is clear that the outcome reached is directly related to the implementation process that was followed.
Another factor that can be considered is the fact that audits have been incorporated with the responsibility of measuring the efficiency of the quality assurance strategy or system (Eduardo & SchindeI-Bidinelli, 1996, p. 35). The background objective behind these quality audits is to determine the quality of the measuring equipment that is intended to be used during the construction together with the judgment of establishing the quality of the products that are going to be used during the construction. A process audit is also carried out which has the main function of conducting a comprehensive assessment regarding the effectiveness of quality assurance. This is done by conducting a detailed examination of the sequence of the process to be carried out during the construction process. This includes the equipment that is to be utilized, the documentation of the whole procedure and how it will be conducted, the drawings of the construction that is yet to be made, an examination of the working papers that are being used in the processes that are underway and finally critical observations of the conducts of the persons who are in charge of the whole process (Eduardo & SchindeI-Bidinelli, 1996, p. 36). The main function of the quality assurance system is to ensure that the standards of the end product of construction are of high quality and to achieve these adhesive agents have been in use to ensure that constructions carried out have the result of being of high quality and reliable.
Comments and analysis
Quality assurance is becoming such an important aspect in the construction industry and as a result, it should be put into serious consideration during the building process. A good quality assurance program has its own benefits such as it ensures that there is safety and time in addition to the materials that are used during the construction ate saved, the product that is produced is also of high quality and this ensures customer satisfaction, which is always the main focus of every producer. Keeping in mind that there are various outcomes that result from the implementation of a quality assurance system, and then there should be a close observation that should be made on the projects that have had positive outcomes so that implementation models can be created from these strategies (Delgado-Hernandez & Aspinwall, 2008, p. 1014). This will ensure that the unpredictability of the possible outcomes of the various is dealt with and the outcomes can be manipulated so that an implementation model is achieved that will ensure that all the outcomes produce positive outcomes.
Considering that each construction venture has its own unique qualities, the manipulation needs to be elaborate unlike in the case of manufacturing a product where the production of a certain product is done with the same degree of preparation. Manufacturing also differs from construction since the manufacturer is the client and so the objectives of the manufacturer are similar to those of the client since they are one and the same. This differs from construction because the designs created from the construction are made by a firm that differs from the construction firm that is going to engage in the actual construction. The quality assurance for the manufacturing firm, therefore, differs from that of a construction firm. In addition to those two aspects mentioned, another aspect that greatly differs is the economic situation of a construction firm (Delgado-Hernandez & Aspinwall, 2008, p.1024). The economics applied in construction are far more volatile as compared to those of a manufacturing firm and therefore the quality assessment proves to be more complex. These factors have to be put in mind when formulating a quality assessment strategy for a construction firm.
The audits can also prove to be helpful in ensuring that the quality assurance programs are effective and that they give the desired positive outcomes that are needed by construction firms (Eduardo M. & SchindeI-Bidinelli, 1996, p. 35). Some things that are evaluated by the auditors can lead to the achievement of positive outcomes by the implementation of these quality assurance systems. Some of the things that are observed by the auditors include a detailed observation of the specification of the manufacturing process of the adhesive bonding to be used during the construction. The auditors also obtain information concerning the process being applied and its connection with the quality that is desired by the constructor, also it confirms that the person conducting the construction is adequately trained and whether the description process documented is being observed by the personnel. The requirements that are made by the auditors make it easier for the achievement of positive outcomes during and after the implementation of the quality assurance systems (Cornick, 1988, p. 225).
Conclusions
Current constructions require that there are positive outcomes that come out of the quality assurance systems. There is one factor that is clear for the achievement of efficient quality assurance and that entirely depends on the training of the personnel involved in the construction. If personnel are trained appropriately then there are chances that the quality assurance strategy is effective. In addition to this, the development of a quality assurance model will reduce and help to eliminate the chances of the unpredictability of the outcomes of the various quality assurances used by different firms (Sroufe & Curkovic, 2008, p. 511). This coupled with the role played by audits will help to enhance the effectiveness of the various quality assurance systems since the audit reports prepared by the auditors usually show the weak points of the construction process by showing the negative aspects of the construction. With these weak points shown, then there are preventive measures that can be taken to prevent negative outcomes.
Summary
A quality assurance system will be best arrived at with the close examination of procedures that have resulted in positive outcomes. This examination will help to determine whether an implementation model can be arrived at so that the quality assurance system used by different firms could be more predictable as compared to the current state where most firms cannot predict whether the quality assurance systems will yield positive results. The audit is also another aspect that will reduce the failure of these quality assurance systems since it points out the weak points that can be focused on as a preventive measure.
List of References
Cornick, T.C., 1988. Quality management model for building projects. Project management, 6 (4), pp.221-227.
Delgado-Hernandez, D. J. & Aspinwall, E., 2008. A framework for building quality into construction projects – Part I. Total Quality Management, 19 (10), pp.1013–1028.
Eduardo M. & SchindeI-Bidinelli, 1996. Quality assurance – adhesive bonding audits: New approaches to quality assurance and to QA monitoring Audits. Int. J. Adhesion and Adhesives, 16, pp. 33-37.
Karim, K., Marosszeky, M. & Kumaraswamy, M., 2005. Organizational Effectiveness Model for Quality Management Systems in the Australian Construction Industry. Total Quality Management, 16 (6), pp.793–806.
Sroufe, R. & Curkovic, S., 2008. An examination of ISO 9000:2000 and supply chain quality assurance. Journal of Operations Management, 26, pp. 503–520.
As everything else developed by humans, reinforced concrete buildings are prone to mistakes that affect their safety, reliability, and ability to serve the intended purpose optimally. Most of such mistakes do not happen by design; but they do happen all the same. To counter the ensuing shortcomings and prevent catastrophes, structural diagnostics are essential. The common purpose of a diagnostic investigation is however to analyze and draw conclusions “about the cause of an observed behavior” (Krysander 16).
To offer a clear understanding of the nature of reinforced concrete buildings, it is worth noting that concrete is made from the combination of cement, gravel, sand, and water. Once the four identified components are mixed, a chemical reaction that binds them into a solid mass occurs. The use of steel to reinforce concrete building was discovered in the 1850s when one William Wilkinson proposed a patent for using steel rods for the reinforcement of concrete structures (Brown 129). In an ideal situation, Wilkinson hypothesized that concrete’s compressive behavior would protect the steel from chemical and physical attacks hence preserving its tensile properties and thus preserving its potential as a reinforcing component. Notably however, not all buildings conform to the ideal situation hypothesized in (Brown 129). Specifically, it is worth noting that existing reinforced concrete buildings may be compromised right from the construction phase. This is in addition to the fact that the integrity the reinforced concrete buildings depreciate overtime due to exposure to different environments.
To start with, it is worth noting that some structures have complex forensic engineering, rehabilitation and restoration challenges. To address such challenges, architects and other professionals in the construction industry rely on structural diagnostics as the main information-gathering tool. Based on information attained, the architects then customize solutions that address the individual challenges facing individual structures. As (Pepenar 1) notes for example, diagnostic investigation is a necessary tool in determining resistance, stability, and durability of concrete structures. Usually, diagnostic investigations enables the detection of damages, and this enables investigators to recommend intervention measures, which in turn serve to prevent human losses, material losses, undesirable ecological effects and technological accidents.
Establishing the origin or cause of structural shortcomings or failures is also another reason why structural diagnostics are necessary. Knowing that microscopic defects are likely to occur in constructions, civil engineers usually account for the same by using materials that yield the appropriate strength in order to ensure that the construction performs to its best possible design specifications. However, other damages that are beyond the civil engineers’ ability to account for during the design and construction phase usually occur. Such damages may occur from unanticipated environmental events such as seismic activity, material degradation due to exposure to environmental conditions, or overloading conditions that may weaken the materials used in the construction among other reasons.
Usually, diagnostic investigations consider several concepts in a targeted building. To start with, (Pepenar 2) notes that a building is “regarded and analyzed as a whole, taking into account its initial design as well as the evolution of its condition up to the moment of intervention.” As such, diagnostic investigations into a building cannot be partial since even localized defects may alter load distribution mechanisms that were initially envisaged by the building designers. Secondly, (Pepenar 2) notes that although the design activities and investigations may appear independent, they are mutually interconnected since making diagnosis requires the structural engineers to inspect initial designs against the buildings current form. Finally, (Pepenar 2) notes that corrosion is inevitable in reinforced concrete buildings. However, to gauge the extent of corrosion that a building is exposed to, investigators must establish the corrosive agents in every building (Langford and Broomfield 33). In principle, there are different types of corrosives; as such, the effects that the different corrosives have on reinforced concrete buildings vary. This raises the need for an investigator to identify factors contributing to corrosion in the targeted building correctly, if indeed the necessary preventative or corrective measures are to be identified.
After carrying out a diagnostic investigation, the investigator should ideally classify the inspected building in one of the following categories:
No action needed since the building has met the “safety and serviceability requirements” having shown no distress signs (Pepenar 2).
Repair and strengthening needed to meet the criteria initially set by the owner or user since the building is distressed or deficient
Badly damaged building, which cannot be repaired or strengthened. In such a case, the building should be demolished
While it is acceptable that human error accounts for a significant number of structural inadequacies, sudden occurrences that are beyond the human being’s capacity to control also weaken reinforced concrete structures. Combined, human error and unforeseen circumstances lead to a blend of factors that include deficient designs, poor reinforcement, poor construction, corrosion of reinforcement, and structural systems that cannot resist the forces of natural hazards such as earthquakes or cyclones. With continued use, the foundation of reinforced concrete buildings may end up settling in a manner that may cause structural weaknesses, while extreme loading may cause distress on the structure.
(Krysander 12) sums up the importance of diagnostic investigation by observing that it not only increases safety, but also the reliability of reinforced concrete structures. Further, diagnostic investigation is necessary for protecting the environment and improving maintenance practices targeting existing reinforced concrete buildings. This is especially important since (Arya and Agarwal 2) have listed lack of maintenance as one of the main reasons why buildings deteriorate with time, some to the extent that they cannot be rehabilitated. With proper diagnostic investigations however, necessary interventions can be designed to counter defects that occur on the construction materials.
After the diagnostic investigation is complete, the investigator needs to record any observed or detected damages. He or she should also find what caused the damage or distress in addition to assessing the extent of the damage. Further, the investigator should estimate the overall strength of the building’s structural components (Arya & Agarwal 3). Out of the records created during the investigation, the investigator is then able to design a rehabilitation plan that strengthens and prevents further deterioration on existing reinforced concrete buildings. Ideally, the investigator should group buildings into one of the three categories as discussed elsewhere in this paper (i.e. no sign of distress , hence no action needed; building distressed hence repairs or reinforcement needed; and building badly distressed, hence the need to demolish it).
The table below contains incidents that could have been avoided if the necessary diagnostic investigation of reinforced concrete buildings had been carried out. Notably, most collapses occurred on illegally constructed additions that were made on the main buildings. Such include rooftop structures and balconies. As evident from the six story building that collapsed on 29th January 2010 in Mau Tau Wai Road, Hung Hom, such incident not only lead to injuries, but loss of human life as well.
Hong Kong Serious Structural Damage in Recent Years
Date
Location
Incident
Nos. of Death / Injury
7-Mar-01
Ngau Tau Kok
Collapse of external walls of illegal rooftop structures during demolition
0 / 0
17-Apr-01
Kowloon City
Collapse of illegally built canopy
0 / 1
8-Jun-01
Chai Wan
Collapse of the roof of an illegally built unit
0 / 0
25-Mar-02
To Kwan Wan
Collapse of illegal balcony
0 / 7
11-Aug-02
Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Collapse of canopy
0 / 3
9-Nov-03
Sha Tsui Road, Tsuen Wan
Falling of external finish
0 / 5
10-Jul-04
Cheung Fai Road, Tsing Yi
Collapse of a warehouse balconies
0 / 0
7-Aug-07
Kim Shin Lane, Cheung Sha Wan
Concrete fell from the building canopy
0 / 5
21-Jun-08
Kings Road, North Point
Fallen of a decorative wall panel in height
0 / 2
8-Jul-08
Connaught Road West, Sheung Wan
Tilt of six-storey building
0 / 0
1-Sep-08
Yuet Wah Street, Kwun Tong
Collapse of illegal balcony
0 / 0
29-Jan-10
Ma Tau Wai Road, Hung Hom
Collapse of a six-story building
4 / 2
The Scope
A diagnostic investigation on existing reinforced concrete building usually takes three core steps. They are: i) analyzing the technical documents of the building; ii) determining the building’s current state; and iii) investigating the building’s current state (Pepenar 2). As (Lo 129) notes however, the scope of the investigation can cover “the structural integrity, the external finishes, and the fire safety.”
Analyzing the technical documents of the building
From existing technical documents, the investigator is able to gather the building’s biography, which includes its description, design, and execution plan. Additionally, the technical documents contains the service life of the building as envisaged by the initial designer, and may also contain information about interventions carried out in the course of the building’s existence.
The technical documents contain data from the building’s owner (at the time of construction), and the design engineer. In the documents, the investigator should find the specifications of the materials used during construction, quality certificates issued by authorities, and the conclusion documents made by the owner, builder, and the design engineer.
The specification of the materials used is especially important to a diagnostic investigation since an investigator is able to relate the material’s susceptibility to defects such as corrosion. As (Grantham and Gray 4) note for example, concrete is made of several components, which include cement, water, and aggregate. Cement can be classified into ordinary Portland cement, sulfate resisting cement, and high alumina cement. The ordinary Portland cement has significant alkali content and hence the investigator ought to consider possible alkali reactions. Additionally, the investigator needs to consider whether those responsible for constructing the building cured the concrete adequately in order to avoid shrinkage cracking, or thermal cracking when exposed to varying temperatures. The sulfate resisting cement on the other hand contains chloride salts, and where used, the investigator ought to consider an increased risk of corrosion. On its part, the high Alumina cement is more prone to chemical attacks, and as (Grantham and Gray 4 ) note, construction experts are have in the past raised concern over its loss of strength and carbonation. As such, an investigator checking a building where the high alumina salt has been used ought to check whether the concrete is strong enough, and whether reinforcement corrosion has occurred.
In addition to the cement used for construction, (Reed, Schoonees and Salmond 30), suggest that water should also be a focus of the investigator’s scrutiny. Ideally, the original documents detailing the materials used in the construction should specify if the water used has any dissolved salts, lead or other minerals that may affect how the cement settles. By a visual observation of the concrete, an investigator may be able to determine whether too little or too much water was used in the construction. Usually, the telltale signs of inefficient use of water are evident where there is porous concrete or concrete that does not compact easily.
The quality of the aggregates used in reinforced concrete buildings should also capture the attention of the investigator. According to (Grantham and Gray 4-5), impurities such as potassium salts, chlorides, sodium, or sulfates affects the quality of the aggregates. Additionally, the investigator ought to consider the physical properties of the aggregates in order to establish their crushing value, and ascertain whether the aggregates are porous, expandable, or shrinkable.
Some of the other considerations that an investigator may want to consider when analyzing the technical documents of a building include the type and quality steel and the admixtures used in the construction or any subsequent repairs. Steel can be galvanized, stainless, ferritic, weathering, high yield, or mild steel. Notably however, “Steel is rarely responsible for the problems with reinforced concrete. Corrosion of the steel, where it is put, or whether it is put there at all…” should be the investigators point of focus (Grantham and Gray 5).
Admixtures rarely bring out problems in concrete reinforced buildings, but the investigator need to consider possibility of insufficient or overuse of the same when carrying out a diagnostic investigation. (Grantham and Gray 5) for example note that the incorrect use of polymeric bonding agents may end up presenting as bonding problems in the concrete reinforced building in future. Additionally, buildings where chlorides were used could be exposed to increased reinforcement corrosion.
Determining the building’s current state
According to (Pepenar 2), determining the current state of a building requires one to consider its exposure to aggressive environment from both within and externally. Additionally, a diagnostic investigator needs to consider the technological processes taking place in the building. Further, the investigator needs to consider the functions of those technical installations and their impact on the building. (Grantham and Gray 15) state that the initial survey is essential since the investigator is able to study the specific areas such as the ground or roof levels, and identify any problem areas.
Investigating the building’s current state
Investigating the building’s current state takes several approaches, which include “ the visual examination, the use of non-destructive methods, and the use of methods that require taking samples, but which do not endanger the durability, strength and stability” of the building (Pepenar 2).
Some of the physical features that the investigator may want to look out for include damp or wet surfaces, surface deposits, varying texture or color, past remedial spots, grout loss or honeycombing, hollow surfaces, rust staining or corroded steel, spalling, and cracks (Grantham and Gray 15).
To back up the visual evidence, investigators may take pictures of the structural damages or defects. Ideally, the pictures should be colored in order to provide the clearest details possible. The visual investigation also enables the investigator to verify whether the construction accurately followed the original drawings. If not, the investigator is able to identify any alterations made in the construction, without the proper indications being made in the original documents (Arya and Agarwal 7).
Non-destructive diagnostic investigation methods are on the other hand, used to establish the characteristics of certain construction elements (Pepenar 2). For example, an investigator may use such a method to verify the presence of cracks, segregations, or to determine if any metallic pieces are in the concrete, hence suggesting that corrosion is taking place.
Taking samples from a building is done on the condition that the sample taking does not “endanger the durability, resistance and stability” of the building (Pepenar 3). The samples are necessary in determining the extent of changes on the concrete and the type and extent of damage occasioned by the changes. Usually, samples are tested to determine their physico-mechanical, electrochemical and physico-chemical. Such tests determine the chemical characteristics in a sample, in addition to determining the humidity, alkalinity, and porosity of the concrete samples. Where the samples include steel reinforcement, the tests establish their physico-chemical and mechanical characteristics. As (Pepenar 3) notes, the state of corrosion in steel reinforcement depended on the nature of corrosion, the physical properties of the reinforcement, the reinforcement’s physic-mechanical characteristics, and the structure of the steel reinforcement.
The result of a diagnostic investigation is a verdict, which forms the framework for recommending or taking up intervention measures. In a case where temporary measures are needed for purposes of preventing potential or imminent structural failures, a preliminary examination is advisable. Such preliminary investigation is especially necessary in the aftermath of natural disasters since they help experts in structural engineering determine whether buildings are safe for human occupation (Arya and Agarwal 8). Here, the investigator conducts a visual analysis of the building and gauges it against the knowledge that he or she has pertaining to structural construction. The preliminary conclusions from such an exercise are however meant to provide short-term answers and the investigator should assume a more detailed investigation. Among the notable observations that an investigator may make include diagonal tension cracks, which may occur after soil liquefaction, landslides and even surface fault rupture. When such occurrences happen, differential settlement may occur in the reinforced concrete buildings hence explaining the diagonal tension cracks.
The detailed investigation includes measurements conducted on site and in laboratory settings. Such an investigation aims at pointing out the main damages or defects in the building and explaining their causes. Usually, defects can occur from corrosion, technological installations, or may even occur from other structural features such as the sewage system, the ventilation, or even the waterproofing installations.
Defects that an investigator may detect
Depending on the diagnostic tools that a structural investigator uses, he or she may detect outright defects such as cracks that appear on the building’s exterior, to more concealed defects such as interior voids and cavities. Even where cracks are apparent, the structural investigator may want to conduct a deeper investigation in order to find out their length and depth beyond what is apparent on the surface.
Concrete hardness, quality, and strength
Diagnostic investigation also included monitoring the changes that occur to concrete. According to (Neville 451-452), the structure of concrete changes overtimes, especially when the building comes into contact with water, sulfates and frost among other things. In the event of a fire engulfing a reinforced concrete building, estimating the concrete’s strength is especially essential in order to determine the viability of the building’s continual use.
Determining the surface hardness of an existing reinforced concrete building is identified as one of the ways that structural investigators can determine the hardness, quality, and strength of concrete. Among the widely accepted diagnostic investigation tool is the Schmidt rebound Hammer, which was developed in the 1940s by Ernst Schmidt. According to (Grantham and Gray 40), the rebound hammer test “is based on the principle that the rebound of an elastic mass depends on the hardness of the surface upon which it impinges…” To enhance accuracy, it is recommended that the investigator should take 12 readings in his or her area of interest, and then get an average of all the readings.
The structural investigator may also want to test the penetration resistance, maturity, internal fractures, and temperature-matched curing properties of the concrete. In addition to the Schmidt rebound hammer test that determines the surface hardness of the concrete, other methods used to determine the quality, durability or deterioration of the concrete include mechanical, electronic, radioactive, and microscopic tests. Using such, the investigator is able to determine factors such as the air content in the concrete, its expansion properties, its sulfate content, absorption levels, relative humidity, abrasion resistance, and permeability among others (Arya and Agarwal 9).
Corrosion rate
It is a certainty among construction professionals that steel corrodes when exposed to the right conditions. As such, an investigator needs to establish if indeed the subject building contains corroded steel, and if so, he or she must be able to estimate the extent of the corrosion. Some of the factors that affect or contribute towards corrosion include the cover thickness, the quality (diffusivity and permeability) of concrete, environmental conditions, cracks on the concrete, and the pH value and chloride content in the concrete cover.
(Grantham and Gray 56) identify the GECOR 6 device as the most accurate among other devices in measuring corrosion. To measure the concrete’s resistivity electrical tests are needed, while measuring the cover depth requires electromagnetic tests. Carbonation depth on the other hand requires either chemical or microscopic tests, while discovering the chloride concentration in the concrete requires the structural investigator to perform chemical or electrical tests (Arya and Agarwal 9).
The half-cell potential test is on the other hand recommended as suitable for detecting the most corroded zones, since the equipment used places value on each steel part that is examined. The lowest values represent the most corroded parts. To enhance the chances of accuracy, (Grantham and Gray 51) recommends that the half-cell potential test should not be used in isolation; rather, it should be used together with identified levels of chloride content and the amounts of carbonation detected in steel.
When a chemical analysis on the concrete is performed, (Arya and Agarwal 10) observe that the pH value and chloride content is checked. Ideally, concrete whose chloride content is low and the pH value greater than 11.5 is deemed to harbor no corroded steel. In cases where the chloride content is high and the pH value high, the steel therein is prone to corrosion and further tests would be required to establish the extent of such corrosion. In cases where the pH value is low and the chloride contents high, then the steel therein is more likely to be corroded. As such, further tests would be needed to verify the extent of the corrosion.
To determine if there are indeed any changes in the steel, the investigator should take samples from the target reinforced concrete building. The investigator should however uphold caution in order to obtain such specimens from locations that have comparably minimal load, and hence negligible stress levels. To ensure that no harm is caused to the building, the investigator should ensure that the site where the samples are taken is repaired according to the specifications issued by a structural designer (Arya and Agarwal 14).
Profiling soil at the site
When performing diagnostic investigation on existing reinforced concrete buildings, it is also necessary that the structural investigator profile the soil where the concrete building is located. Ideally, the soil profile helps the investigator determine whether the foundation laid is strong and deep enough to support the building and its weight when in use. Broadly, soil profiles are categorized as soft, stiff, rocky, soft rich, and very dense soil (Arya and Agarwal 15). Each of the identified categories requires different considerations when laying the foundation. As such, the diagnostic investigator needs to determine whether indeed the constructor considered the properties of the soil, and whether the foundation is suitable in the identified soil profile.
Conclusion
It is evident that diagnostic investigation of existing reinforced concrete buildings is essential if the necessary repairs are to be carried out, or if injuries and deaths that occur when buildings collapse are to be averted. Regardless of how strong, stable or well constructed a building is, structural weaknesses and defects are bound to occur as time passes on since the building is exposed to different conditions within its external and internal environments. As such, the importance of diagnostic investigations cannot be overemphasized especially as a means of designing timely interventions, or demolishing buildings that are unfit for human use.
As evident in this report, the scope of diagnostic investigation is wide, but the bulk of the work lies in determining the quality of the concrete. Determining whether the steel reinforcement is corroded is also an important part of the diagnostic investigation since corrosion in steel creates weak points in the reinforcement, which may compromise the integrity of the building, and most especially its ability to bear the load initially envisaged during construction. Other areas that the investigator needs to focus on include determining whether the constructors met the acceptable requirements when laying down the foundation. This necessitates profiling the soil where the construction is based and studying the technical construction documents. Overall, a diagnostic investigator needs to analyze and draw conclusions about the current form of an existing reinforced building. To accomplish such a goal however, he would need to know all the requisite processes and procedures essential for every part of the investigation.
Works Cited
Arya, Anand, and Ankush Agarwal. “Condition Assessment of Buildings for Repair and Upgrading.” GoI-UNDP Disaster, Risk Management Program (2006), 1-16. Web.
Grantham, Michael, and Mike Gray. “Diagnosis, Inspection, Testing and Repair of Reinforced Concrete Structures.” MG associates 2000. Web.
Brown, Joyce. “W.B Wilkinson (1819-1902) and his Place in the History of Reinforced Concrete.” Transactions of the Newcomen Society 39 (1967): 129-142.
Reed, Peter John, Kate Schoones, and Jeremy Salmond. Historic Concrete Structures in New Zealand. Overview, Maintenance, and management. Wellington, NZ: Science & Technical Publishing, Dept. of Conservation, 2008.