Journal Week 2 Frame In this week’s studio, students were divided into groups to build a tower frame using balsa wood. Basic concepts of structure, form and staAcs were taken into account in building the frame. A square base is used in this challenge. The iniAal idea of using this square base is to allow the weight of the frame to be segregated more evenly to the ground. My group also used the concept of ‘cross bracing’ to stabilize the structure against lateral forces from either direcAon. To ensure the forces are transferred from one structural element to the next, we used pinned joints between joined elements. Pinned Joint using pins
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Journal Week 2 -‐ Frame In this week’s studio, students were divided into groups to build a tower frame using balsa wood. Basic concepts of structure, form and staAcs were taken into account in building the frame.
A square base is used in this challenge. The iniAal idea of using this square base is to allow the weight of the frame to be segregated more evenly to the ground. My group also used the concept of ‘cross bracing’ to stabilize the structure against lateral forces from either direcAon.
To ensure the forces are transferred from one structural element to the next, we used pinned joints between joined elements.
Pinned Joint using pins
The same concepts were conAnuously used to finish the frame. However, due to the lack of pieces of balsa wood, aNenAon was mostly placed onto creaAng the frame, hence neglecAng the stability/strength.
End product
AQer compleAng the structure, it was tested for its stability and strength to withhold some objects. A couple of the wood snapped once weight was applied onto the tower.
One of the main reasons why the wood broke was because there foundaAon system of the tower is not well built. This was mainly because there was lack of wood. The second reason why the building is not stable could be because of the square base. Thirdly, I find the efficiency of balsa wood really poor. It breaks too easily.