Spans and Envelopes

Semester 5 | 1920 | A17 Batch

Mentors : Dipti Bhaindarkar | Milind Mahale

– Yamini Patil and Dipti Bhaindarkar

The first week of Technology Module for Semester 5 introduced the students to prevailing practices in long span system design and operable and responsible facade systems. 

Some of the structural which the students analyzed are as follows :

Precedent Studies : Long Span Structures 

1. 294 Vitra House by Herzog De Meuron

2. Wind Water Bar Vietnam

3. Liège-Guillemins Railway Station in Belgium

4. Centre Pompidou Metz, France

5. TWA Flight Center / Eero Saarinen

6. Pavilion of Portugal – Expo 98

7. Scotish Parliament

8. Tokyo International Glass Hall

9. German Pavilion, Expo 67 / Frei Otto and Rolf Gutbrod

10. Oriente Station | Lisbon, Portugal

Wind War Bar, Vietnam

Centre Pompidou Metz, France

Scotish Parliament

Precedent Studies : Building Envelopes 

1. Al Bahar Towers Abu Dhabi

2. Institut du Monde Arabe / Enrique Jan + Jean Nouvel + Architecture-Studio

3. The Gardens by the Bay in Singapore by Wilkinson Eyre Architects

4. One Ocean, Thematic Pavilion Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea

5. Q1 Headquarters Building in Essen Germany

Al Bahar Towers Abu Dhabi

Architecturally Exposed Structural Systems 

1. The Shard Observation Level | London, England

2. Cannon Street Station and Office Building | London, England

3. National Archives of Canada | Gatineau, QC, Canada

4. Oriente Station | Lisbon, Portugal

5. ABC Museum | Madrid, Spain

6. The Centre Pompidou | Paris, France

7. Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suárez Airport | Madrid, Spain

Each group analyzed the structural diagram and decoded the logic of long span. The building envelope study included analyzing the site context and hence the responses and mechanisms which were adopted for various projects. Each example allowed the students to explore the possibility of using different materials to attain a long span envelope. Techniques like arches, domes, portals, shells and grids were studied. On the last day of module students discussed their projects with Mr. Sankalpa, Professor, CEPT. Sankalpa through his lecture highlighted various concepts of structure as a mesh, linkages and assembly, free body diagrammatic understanding of forces.