Archinect - News

Meet the bricklaying robot that can build a house in 3 days

2018-12-20T11:56:00-05:00

The 180-sqm, three bedroom, two bathroom structure was completed in under three days by Hadrian X, a new version of the robot.

Designed by an Australian company, Fast Brick Construction, the first version of Hadrian X was unveiled in 2015. Today the robot is capable of building and assessing a house from start to finish. Throughout its testing at the factory, it succeeded at completing a two-course structure, involving all combinations of brick cuts, sizes, and layering configurations; a larger two-room house from CAD model as well as an eleven-course pillar built from slab to cap height.

When supplied with a 3D model, the machine converts it into code that then uses proprietary software to calculate the location of every brick in the building. Once a concrete slab is laid, the laser-scanning technology surveys the foundation and then loads and arranges bricks using a 28m articulated telescopic boom. The components are held together by a special adhesive applied to each block through the robotic laying head. Hadrian X's laser alignment system provides an accuracy of within 0.5 mm.

Concerns over another sinking building in San Francisco

2018-06-28T16:17:00-04:00

In a city where a tilting 58-story tower has attracted international attention, the construction of big buildings now is scrutinized for any sign that a newcomer might be causing structural damage to its neighbors. Which is why a full investigation was launched this winter after an anonymous complaint that the excavations for a pair of new, extra-tall towers were harming the 18-story high-rise in between. And the scrutiny is certain to continue [...].

"The building in question is 25 Jessie St., an 18-story tower from the early 1980s," reports the SF Chronicle, and so far the structure has only sunk less than an inch—far less than the infamous Millennium "Leaning" Tower just two blocks away that has sunk 17 inches and tilted 14 inches to the east over the past ten years.

Win “The Structure of Design: An Engineer’s Extraordinary Life in Architecture” by Leslie E. Robertson!

2017-09-01T12:00:00-04:00

“The Structure of Design: An Engineer's Extraordinary Life in Architecture” examines the long career of Leslie Earl Robertson, one of the most celebrated structural engineers in modern architecture. Thanks to publisher The Monacelli Press, Archinect is giving away five copies of the book to our readers! Read on for more about the book.

In this personal and accessible chronicle of the engineer's innovative career, Robertson details the partnerships and problem-solving that have forged classics of modern architecture including the IBM buildings in Pittsburgh and Seattle, the World Trade Center in New York, AT&T Headquarters in New York, the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, the Suzhou Museum, the Miho Museum Bridge, and the Shanghai World Financial Center.

Photo courtesy of The Monacelli Press.

Among other key projects, this book delves into the extensive collaborations with titans of architectural practice, as well as leading sculptors of ...

2,500-year-old Chinese wood joints that make buildings earthquake-proof

2017-07-24T20:19:00-04:00

Over thousands of years, the building science of timber framing developed independently in both Northern Europe and China. But one big difference between the regions is that China, by virtue of its size and geological traits, is prone to devastating earthquakes. Ancient Chinese builders thus needed a way to create wooden structures that could not be shaken apart, and that were not so stiff that its support members would shatter.

Known as dougong, these earthquake-resistant series of brackets were designed and engineered roughly 500 B.C. When interlocked together, the joints transfer weight to supporting columns, containing so many redundancies they can not be shaken apart. By spreading their tolerances over multiple joints they retain flexibility that prevents cracking and splitting.

Perhaps the most surprising element of the system is that the columns are not sunken into the foundation nor moored, but are freestanding.

The sinking towers of San Francisco

2016-10-24T14:33:00-04:00

Facing a legal and public-relations nightmare with its sinking and leaning Millennium Tower, the San Francisco highrise’s developer is redesigning the foundation of its newest luxury condo project up Mission Street — with the idea of going all the way down to bedrock. [...] the 58-story Millennium Tower at 301 Mission St. [has] sunk 16 inches and is leaning 2 inches to the northwest. That condo high-rise sits on a concrete slab with piles driven 60 to 80 feet deep, well short of bedrock.

In contrast, the 706 Mission St. tower was designed without any piles. Instead, it was to be held up by a four-story basement garage sitting on a bowl-shaped concrete slab, 12 feet thick at the center and 5 feet thick at the edges.

The Millennium Tower is already sinking even though it was built just a few years ago. The problems plaguing the site raise questions about the integrity of buildings built on bay fill that aren't anchored to bedrock. The SF Chronicle broke the story a few months ago.

More news from the Bay Area:

Cheesegrater skyscraper loses another bolt – the third one in three months

2015-01-15T14:36:00-05:00

The owners of the 222-metre (734ft) “Cheesegrater” building, the second tallest building in the City of London, are to replace dozens of long bolts on its structure after it was revealed that another one had fractured. The bolts, among 3,000 on the building’s 15,000-tonne frame, are each just under a metre long. Two snapped in November, with some debris falling to the ground from the fifth floor. Nobody was hurt, but an area below the tower is still cordoned off.

Previously: Bolt part falls off Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City of London

Bolt part falls off Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City of London

2014-11-06T13:41:00-05:00

No-one was injured but an area around the 47-storey Leadenhall Building in the city has been cordoned off. It fell from the fifth floor to the ground at the side of the building - another bolt also broke off but was contained within the skyscraper. It is understood the bolts are about the size of an arm and the piece that fell was about the size of a hand.

Bamboo architecture for dystopian times

2014-08-25T13:10:00-04:00

Extraordinary as it is, Big Bambú is not unique. The Starns’ project is part of an increasingly popular trend of installations emerging at the intersection of art, architecture, and activism. Hand-built and naturally sourced, these works employ aspects of sculpture, design, and performance to address a wide range of social, spiritual, and environmental deficiencies. They have been loosely gathered under the somewhat paradoxical term “natural architecture,” [...]

Structural Awards 2014 shortlist is announced

2014-08-01T17:52:00-04:00

It's that time of year again. The Institution of Structural Engineers revealed the 2014 shortlist for their annual Structural Awards today. The awards recognize achievement, innovation, and excellence in the field of structural engineering in addition to promoting its significant role in the creation of inventive design solutions.

Here's a glimpse of the shortlisted projects:

Find more photos and other details on Bustler.

Grand Bazaar in Istanbul in Danger of Collapse?

2013-08-30T13:33:00-04:00

It's one of largest and most popular covered markets in the world -- but now management claims vendors have weakened the structure of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar to the point it may collapse. Merchants view the situation differently.

How to make big things out of small pieces

2013-08-18T12:42:00-04:00

MIT researchers have developed a lightweight structure whose tiny blocks can be snapped together much like the bricks of a child’s construction toy. The new material, the researchers say, could revolutionize the assembly of airplanes, spacecraft, and even larger structures, such as dikes and levees.

Finding 3D printed materials unsuitable for structural applications, this group of researchers has been investigating new ways of building "big things out of small pieces". The configurations proposed are claimed to be much less susceptible to sudden failure, providing redundancy and predictable, incremental yields for easier repairs. The researchers have also been examining different configurations that would allow new geometries including joints that aren't fixed, opening a host of new possibilities in engineering reactive or robotic structures.

The Science Channel Peels a City Apart to Show How Structures Survive Disasters

2013-02-01T11:53:00-05:00

Science Channel’s upcoming series, Strip the City, uses oversized CGI effects to take a very deep look into the engineering behind some of the most iconic municipalities and the potentially disastrous natural elements they must overcome. Working with architects, engineers and historians, the producers have unearthed the specific elements that help San Francisco’s bridge survive tremors and Dubai’s towering skyscrapers stand firm in soft, unstable desert sands.

Structureless structure?

2012-08-20T11:05:00-04:00

The general Idea from my interpretation was to produce a lightweight structure that uses minimal material yet uses technology to account for the lack of girth and material. - Rogelio Mercado

The buildings are always designed with redundant structural assemblies to resist forces that might happen maybe .001 time of their existence and sometimes never. So what happens when all that structural apparatus and weight has taken out from an experimental "structure" is explained to a group of traveling students by Prof. Haag from HOCHSCHULE BIBERACH UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES in Stuttgart, Germany. This fascinating video shot by Cal Poly student Rogelio Mercado shows how the actuators placed in four corners re-distribute the weight continuously and keep the large plywood sheet dome from collapsing.