DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION - LABORATORY I (LAB B)
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2020/2021
- Teacher
- THEO ZAFFAGNINI
- Credits
- 11
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
Training objectives
- During the course a project of a Construction System of a building will be developed, considering the building both as a whole and in its own parts, organized and integrated. The goal of the course is for the student to acquire a greater awareness of the relationship that is generated between the elements of activities and spaces, on one hand, and functions of technical elements on the other. The design will have to consider the complexity and framework that affect a construction complex. For this purpose the course is organized in three different disciplines: construction technology (characterizing didactic unit), a first Structural design assessment (complementary didactic unit) and Economics for construction (complementary didactic unit).
Knowledge
- The basics and founding principles of technological culture of design, construction process, building quality, construction complex and construction system;
- Concept of environmental, social and economical sustainability through an interdisciplinary approach;
- User needs, procedures and regulations that define how operators relate to each other during the process;
- Techniques and procedures of management of building phases;
- Correct use of materials and energetic resources and techniques to obtain optimal conditions for the satisfaction of human needs and high construction quality.
- Theories and methods of analysis and design of environmental systems;
- Building materials proprieties: physical, mechanical, morphological characteristics and their rate of performance; manufacture methods.
- The role of materials, components and building systems in the architectural and technological design, in building process, in the maintenance and management of a building.
- Building Technical Evolution: from history of the building systems to forecast innovation.
Building in compliant to the known higher standards in practice and effective Building Standards for constructions
Skills
- Production of ideas and projects on all workings scales, particularly applied to building, up to the development of executive details, that satisfy contextually technical-performative needs and coherent aesthetic and morphological control;
- Understanding and management of basic problems in the ideation of the building shell, in relation to the enclosed spaces, including the interactions with the structural fabric and the technical plans, so to coordinate the different abilities that contribute to the building of a construction complex.
- Multi-scalar design approaches capability: from concept design to the architectural technology detail through selected and appropriate digital supports and drawings;
- Technical knowledge to design (and to build) socially, economically and environmental suitably to contexts (where indoor comfort and sustainability as design are priority). Design capability based on balance of user needs, economic limitations and available resources and existing building standards;
- Interaction capability within research groups, coordination and networking skills within groups of experts from different scientific or productive fields.
- Technical knowledge of complex industry prefab building systems and of related modular coordination issues;
- Ability in compared evaluative techniques considering building materials, products and systems related to building environment, to characteristics and qualities of the building process and to building company management models. Prerequisites
- Students can sit the exam only if they have previously passed the following exams:
- Materials and Planning of Construction Elements
- Architectural Design Lab. I
Students can sign up only if they have acquired knowledge in the following thematic sectors:
- materials, in their physical, morphological and performance characteristics and the relative production process.
- Good industry practice and norms for a correct building practice Course programme
- The subjects of the course concern tools for designing, control methodologies, traditional and innovative techniques which contribute to the definition of the project of the building.
The definition of the Construction System is based on the sustainability approach for performances and needs, especially the environmental ones.
The course is articulated over around twenty lectures that will cover various topics including:
- environmental control in the design (orientation, study of the environmental context, distance from borders, prevailing winds and solar diagrams),
- Wood (physical-mechanical characteristics and material performance, manufacturing, derivatives and lamellar wood, fire related behavior, joint , norms, etc )
- Dry wood construction systems (focus on the Blockhouse systems, Timber skeleton frame, Balloon frame, Western frame, Platform framed systems, Cross/Xlam panels systems);
- security notions (brief outline of passive and active prevention of fires, anti-seismic design in wood structures);
- energy efficiency in the project (conductivity, heat transmittance, heat phase shift, vapor diffusion, heat bridges, relevant norms);
- Heat and acoustic insulation (materials, performance, types, duration);
- Technical plan integration in dry wood construction;
- Typology of external closing and related abacus (construction materials and dimensional and performative characteristic for doors, windows, skylights, obscuring systems)
- Statics basics (with focus on foundations, constraints and main joints, timber connectors, metal plate fasteners for dry wood based buildings, anti-seismic solutions, sizing of wood structures, etc.)
- basics of Cost Accounting (pricing, metric estimative calculation, comparative financial evaluation between different technical solutions, etc.)
Based in the three main subjects, other lessons are dedicated to the presentation of basic content and to the development of the extended exercise. Didactic methods
- The course is articulated in lectures, an extended exercise (E.L.) and some short “ex tempore” exercises in the classroom for a gradual approach to the project. There will be regular controls on the assigned project, workshops, practical activities of building constructions, meetings with building and construction companies.
The extended exercise (E.L.) will concern the design of a building which is located in a predetermined site and it is constructed with dry technologies (mainly wood). Parts of the building may be constructed with traditional technologies (bricks, concrete, etc). The project will specifically include integrated design within the building of elements of sustainability and energy efficiency.
The course will also include practical activities in a building site (named "building school”) with the assistance of qualified instructors: the students will measure up directly with the challenges of building a small portion of a construction, in which they will see a number of technical elements at stake.
The bulk of the work will be done in the classroom. Learning assessment procedures
- During the course there will be exercises, developed over the course of the week, about project activities that focus on different aspects of the theme of the extended exercise.
These will be divided in teacher aided exercises and short (ex tempore ) exercises, in the number of five, that consist in training on a specific aspect of the extended exercise, once concluded it will be evaluated; these evaluations are structured to become parts of the development of the extended exercise. All exercises, included the extended one, are to be completed individually.
Works for final exam: introduction of the project (including the indication of the selected site), brief description of the performances of the building system; structural schemes; design proposal, which includes: plans, facades, detailed sections, detailed axonometric sections, abacus of the components (doors, windows), details of joints; model or 3D.
The final evaluation consists in presentation and individual discussion of the design proposal, proving the understanding of what has been taught during the course. Reference texts
- ZAFFAGNINI M. (editor), Progettare nel processo edilizio, Ed. L. Parma, Bologna 1981, pagg.517
DAVOLI P., Costruire con il legno, Hoepli, Milano 2001.
BENEDETTI C. (editor), Costruire in legno. Edifici a basso consumo energetico, Bolzano University Press, Bolzano 2009.
