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2024 | Buch

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Building-Construction Design - From Principle to Detail

Volume 1 – Fundamentals

verfasst von: José Luis Moro

Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Construction is the means by which designing architects and engineers transform

a design idea into built reality. It is from this perspective that the subject of

'building construction design' is dealt with by the architect José Luis Moro in

three comprehensive volumes. Each is dedicated to the methodological,

physical and functional fundamentals, the conception of a constructional

solution, and finally its implementation in the constructional detail.

Not only do the three volumes provide extensive content; they also ensure the

greatest possible clarity in the text and graphics, in order to make it easier for

learners to access the material. Importantly, they focus not only on conveying

technical and scientific information, but also on demonstrating the complex

relationships and interactions between design, material and construction. Great

importance was attached to developing consistent, overarching and meaningful

correlations between the numerous and highly diverse topics covered.

After an introduction to planning theory topics, Volume 1 ("Fundamentals") addresses

sustainability issues in the context of constructional design. This is followed by a

discussion of the most important material-related considerations and their consequences

for the constructional application of the materials. The range of currently available

industrial building products is also presented. Furthermore, the essential requirements

and functions that building structures must fulfill from a structural, building physics, building

acoustics and fire protection perspective are examined. In closing, the book considers

questions of durability.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Constructional Design

Frontmatter

1. Constructional Design

Abstract

Constructional design, which is the main focus of this book, is embedded within the overall conceptual building design and has a close relationship to general architectural design issues, which sometimes exert a notable influence upon it. Being a planning process, it needs to incorporate various parameters deriving from the manufacture, transport, and final erection of building components, which eventually make up the final building on site. This planning procedure is often not perfectly linear, but can be subject to recursive iteration loops when no further progress appears to be possible after having followed a particular design solution. In any case, distilling basic principles of effect which provide a better understanding of the problems to be solved and make available a broader range of possible solutions is a sound and promising strategy for any constructional designer.

José Luis Moro

Structure

Frontmatter

2. Order and Subdivision

Abstract

Almost all buildings need to be composed from individual parts which are small enough to be manufactured and transported but large enough to save erection or assembly work. As a result, these parts need to be carefully co-ordinated and adapted to each other in a functional sense. This means that a complete building, as well as a single building component, usually are differentiated into single parts which are assigned some specific function, or also more than one function. Modern building technology, which is mainly characterised by its high degree of industrialisation, features a particularly high degree of differentiation and specialisation, operating frequently with mono-functional components. Professional constructional design requires a sound understanding of the rules of functional subdivision of building structures.

José Luis Moro

3. Industrialised Building

Abstract

Modern building construction is profoundly influenced by its industrial character, which puts it apart from most traditional building of the past, the latter having been erected by artisanal methods instead, and which elicited completely novel conceptual architectural designs and never-before-seen constructional solutions. One of contemporary building’s most defining features is the strict separation between manufacturing plant and building site, so that, as a result, parts making up a building need to be transported, which limits their sizes and weights. Recent developments based upon the introduction of digital tools into building design, however, have had a profound influence on the way buildings are conceived and executed and are rendering some of the most ingrained precepts of classic industrialised building obsolete. We are probable witnessing the inception of a totally new way in which buildings are designed and erected.

José Luis Moro

4. Dimensional Order

Abstract

As discussed previously, almost all buildings need to be composed from individual parts which are small enough to be manufactured and transported but large enough to save erection or assembly work. As a result, these parts need to be carefully co-ordinated and adapted to each other not only in functional terms, but also, particularly, in dimensional and geometric terms. Hence, the overall building as conceptualised and envisaged in the architectural project is subdivided into convenient parts which fit into a general spatial organising system devised by the designer. Since most elements used in construction today are industrial, the most widely used spatial ordering systems are modular, i. e. are based on a recurring basic spatial unit. In order to facilitate the work of the designer and, especially, in order to make industrial parts produced in stock dimensionally compatible with each other, generally accepted codes and standards were introduced. Also axial grids, which can be used for different functional parts, are important for achieving a rational and consistent modular organisation of the building structure.

José Luis Moro

Sustainability

Frontmatter

5. Context

Abstract

Recent developments in building construction have led to the concept of ‘sustainable building’. It includes a way of designing, manufacturing, erecting, using, and eventually disposing of buildings which makes the most effective and frugal possible use of resources, thereby precluding the endangering of the bases of human existence and ensuring the subsistence of future generations. Novel methods of evaluation of the sustainability of buildings and, particularly, building constructions are powerful tools for optimising the environmental footprint of buildings, their economic viability and their social compatibility.

José Luis Moro

6. Ecology

Abstract

Building constructions consume a large amount of energetic and material resources of a country and therefore have a profound impact upon the environment as a result of their manufacture, erection, operation, and final disposal. These factors are part of the building designer’s planning work and are also governed by constructional design issues. Therefore, it is important to quantify the associated consumption of resources as well as the environmental impact produced by any particular construction job. The coding provides appropriate tools and methods for this purpose which are centred mainly upon the life-cycle assessment (LCA).

José Luis Moro

7. Economy

Abstract

Keeping building costs within reasonable margins has always been one of the foremost goals of any design process. In the usual design practice, costs liable to be controlled by the designer were direct building costs of manufacture, transportation an erection on the building site. With the emerhgence of a more sustainability-oriented conception of the design process, however, costs are being increasingly considered which result also from the operation, maintenance, and final disposal of the building. Therefore, the designer’s view is centred upon a more holistic understanding of the planner’s task. For this purpose, certain prognoses need to be made regarding the prospective service life of the building which are associated with a certain degree of uncertainty but can be based upon a fund of empirical values.

José Luis Moro

8. Social Issues

Abstract

Apart from the environmental and economic issues discussed in the preceding chapters, also social and cultural implications of a particular building project need to be taken into account if an all-encompassing sustainability is to achieved. These include the building’s impact upon the living environment, its influence upon the cultural context in which the user is embedded, the latter’s perception of the aesthetics, the spatial configuration, the tactile quality of the surrounding surfaces, the acoustic quality of spaces, as well as many others. The final goal of this design task is ensuring a maximum of psychological and physiological well-being of the user.

José Luis Moro

9. Life-Cycle Assessment

Abstract

In order to evaluate the environmental impact of the production, use, and final disposal of building materials and components with the final aim of assessing their adequacy in terms of sustainability, a detailed quantitative registration of the particular associated consumption of resources as well as of their environmental impact is required. This design task is supported by a collection of related LCA data compiled in the Environmental Product Declarations provided by manufacturers and regulated by international norms.

José Luis Moro

10. Recycling

Abstract

If a holistic assessment of a building structure’s performance in terms of sustainability is to be conducted, it is necessary to evaluate its adequacy for a final recycling at the end of its service life. An important goal in this context is to try to reuse, if not he whole building, at least parts of the highest constructional complexity possible. At the lowest available level of complexity, materials are recycled, or downcycled for subordinate purposes as the case may be. In this respect, different building materials behave in vastly diverging manners. An important contribution of the designer is to provide the most conducive circumstances possible for a future recycling of a building structure. This entails a proper constructional design as well as the adequate choice of detachable connections.

José Luis Moro

Materials

Frontmatter

11. Matter

Abstract

For a professional constructional design, a profound knowledge of the behavior of building materials under different external influences like load, temperature, weather, fire, chemical action, and many others is fundamental. In this respect, materials use to behave in a wide gamut of ways which the constructional designer needs to foresee in order to avoid grave failures which can lead to substantial material, but also human, losses. Most materials can be grouped within major material categories which share a more or less common behaviour, like metals, mineral materials, or organic materials. Their properties can usually be derived from their basic atomic or molecular structure, a basic knowledge of which helps understand the way materials react under the aforementioned influences. For this reason, this chapter includes an overview of the submicroscopic composition of the most important building materials.

José Luis Moro

12. Technical Materials

Abstract

Apart from the strictly physicals aspects of the basic matters adequate for building purposes as discussed in the preceding chapter, their special characteristics as technical materials also need to be taken into account, i.e. as materials which are employed in the context of a particular building task and are supposed to fulfill functions which go beyond the merely mechanical of physical ones, as already noted in a previous chapter. Technical materials are also subject to a particular perception by the onlooker and, through their properties, they strongly influence the design process of the overall building.

José Luis Moro

13. Stone

Abstract

Stone is one of the oldest materials used by humanity for building purposes. Even today, it is widely used in the form of manufactured mineral material like ceramics, lime-sandstone, concrete, aerated concrete, or light concrete. It is considered here in the variant executed from single masonry units and combined in a masonry bond to form areal components, particularly walls. The main rules governing the patterns of load-bearing arrangements of masonry blocks are discussed as well as their mechanical behavior under load.

José Luis Moro

14. Concrete

Abstract

Concrete is a moldable material, in fact the only one suitable for building purposes, which features very special characteristics. It allows erecting buildings from one piece, without junctures, and can adopt any desired form by pouring it into an adequate mold. Being a mineral material with brittle behavior, it needs to be reinforced with steel to acquire tensile strength. Its deformational and general mechanical behavior is visco-elastic, i.e. it is capable of adjusting self-actingly to loads peaks, thereby neutralising associated hazards. Its rather complex behavior needs to be well understood for ist constructional use.

José Luis Moro

15. Wood

Abstract

Wood is the only biological material used for building purposes. It stands out from other materials not only because it is a naturally renewable material (which the other materials are not), but also because it is liable to decompose when basic circumstances are not ensured, because it features an extreme anisotropy due to its fibrous structure, because its microscopic structure is extraordinarily complex, and because it is subjected to strong, difficult to control deformations under diverse influences. In terms of sustainability, it has a virtually unchallenged record as the material with the most favourable environmental footprint and a renewable material which, given a sustainable stewardship of forests, can be made available with no restrictions whatsoever.

José Luis Moro

16. Steel

Abstract

Steel is a highly sophisticated industrial material with very high strength values as compared to other competing materials. It is elaborated in an energy-consuming smelting and shaping process which heavily jeopardises its environmental suitability, in spite of its being almost fully recyclable. The most widespread procedure to manufacture steel parts is the rolling process. It yields semi-finished, strictly standardised products which subsequently are further processed by cutting, welding etc. to form the final components. Structural steel grades also feature a high degree of ductility, which means they are able to undergo plastic deformations under stress peaks, a feature which enables them to adapt to critical situations. In general, steel shows a rather benevolent load-bearing behavior and, as a result also of its extraordinarily high strength, is suitable for the most demanding building tasks, as wide-spanning bridge structures.

José Luis Moro

17. Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

Reinforced concrete is a composite material from steel and concrete. Both material components are combined so that they support each other, so to say, by neutralizing their respective weaknesses: e.g. the brittleness of concrete being compensated by the tenacity of the steel reinforcement; the tendency to buckling of slender steel bars being blocked by the concrete matrix. Although the convergence of these two materials belonging to two widely diverging material categories is not without deformational conflicts, both materials nevertheless adapt to each other thanks to their benevolent ductile (steel) or visco-elastic (concrete) behaviour.

José Luis Moro

18. Glass

Abstract

Glass is a material which stands our from competing ones due to some important features: it has a noncrystalline amorphous molecular structure which yields the material behavior of an undercooled viscous melt without discernible melting point. It is extremely brittle and is liable to crack and disintegrate as a result even of minimal superficial blemishes. Hence, particular safety measures are required for most glass constructions. On the other hand, there are different methods of tempering glass which result in an enhanced behaviour under stress and increased security. The most prominent property of glass is, of course, its transparency, which makes it suitable for some important functions, like allowing for through-view and for penetration of light and solar energy, which are beyond the scope of other materials.

José Luis Moro

19. Synthetics

Abstract

Synthetics are organic materials with a non-crystalline, amorphous molecular structure which yields a material property similar to a viscous undercooled melt lacking a discernible melting point. They are hydrocarbons with a rather wide gamut of molecular structural patterns, ranging from only loose to strong, crystal-like interconnectedness. Hence, their materials properties also diverge from soft and malleable to hard and brittle. Still, they lack the necessary strength for primary load-bearing functions and are therefore mainly used for interior fit-out. Their chemical composition can be deliberately influenced by means of the different synthesising procedures used for their manufacture.

José Luis Moro

Building Products

Frontmatter

20. Manufactured Stones

Abstract

Artificial masonry units are regulated within a strict dimensional co-ordination system in order to always fit into regular masonry bonds without needing to be cut to size. They can be made form different mineral materials which have properties ranging from high compressive strength to high thermal-insulation capacity. Both characteristics are, however, mutually exclusive and are only available in form of highly specialised industrial products. Inorder to execute masonry bonds as well as in order to protect the exposed masonry from weathering by adequate renderings, different mortars need to be used. In modern masonry construction, the latter are also specialised for particular functions, e.g. for being processed in thin layers for an enhanced thermal insulation or for being applied upon a thermal-insulation layer like in external thermal-insulation composite systems.

José Luis Moro

21. Wood Products

Abstract

Wood is a natural material which is obtained by sawing logs into a desired cross-section. Hence, all wooden parts are, from the outset, of linear shape. Traditional timber structures therefore used to be frameworks of bar-like components. Modern wood technology, however, has made available a wide gamut of industrial-type wood derivates. They allow manipulating the otherwise very demanding basic properties of wood—e. g. its pronounced anisotropy, its tendency to uncontrollable warping—by forming new wooden parts from smaller wooden parts or particles. Thereby, also two-dimensional, plate-like wooden elements can be produced—a novelty in timber construction. Particularly solid-wood derivates have introduced profound changes in the way wood material is used in building constructions.

José Luis Moro

22. Steel Products

Abstract

Steel can be produced in different grades in adaptation to the particular building task it is supposed to fulfill. This can be achieved by means of diverse procedures of cold-processing or by adequate alloying. Thereby, e.g. extremely high strengths can be provided, like for instance with high-yielding steel grades, or particular properties like weather-resistance or complete resistance to corrosion. Apart from the most commonly used hot or cold-rolled profiles, two-dimensional parts like corrugated steel sheets can also be manufactured. Concrete reinforcement steel is another steel product widely used in building practice. Finally, ropes and cables in various execution types provide the constructional basic element for tensile structures.

José Luis Moro

23. Glass Products

Abstract

Glass products, being made from the only durable transparent material suitable for permanent use as a part of building envelopes, fulfill an important function for the visual connection between inside and outside spaces as well as for different processes of building physics. The basic contemporary glass type, float glass, can be transformed by diverse procedures and by combining it in composite glazing constructions in order to provide sufficient thermal insulation, as well as solar, acoustic, and fire protection. Tempered safety glasses, moreover, ensure the required security for certain applications like overhead glazings or fully glazed façades by virtue of their mechanical strength and their particular breakage behaviour.

José Luis Moro

24. Synthetic Products

Abstract

Synthetic products play a major role in contemporary building construction, albeit not as a primary load-bearing material. A variety of products, particularly for fit-out purposes, are composed of synthetics. Also sealing compounds, like silicone sealants, or elastomeric sealing membranes are extensively used. The strongly diverging material properties which can be achieved with plastics open up a wide gamut of applications, among them also transparent materials like polycarbonates, bearings from PTFE, or insulating materials like rigid foams.

José Luis Moro

Functions

Frontmatter

25. Spectrum

Abstract

Building construction can be regarded as the totality of technical measures taken in order to ensure that the functions of a building required to allow for basic human activities to unfold within them are reliably and durably fulfilled. These functions must be differentiated into separate hierarchical levels depending on whether the whole building is contemplated or a particular constructional solution, or other levels of complexity located in between. The set of functions most relevant to constructional design are the so-called constructional partial functions which encompass the most important protective functions, like against humidity, heat or cold, noise, or fire, but also the fundamental function of load bearing.

José Luis Moro

26. Force Transmission

(with Dr. Matthias Weißbach)

Abstract

The basic function of force transmission, which is essential to every building structure no matter what its particular usage is, is analysed in this chapter at the level of the single component, not at the one of the load-bearing structure. Hence, the focus of this study are the effects which different loads yield upon a generic planar envelope component, i.e. an exemplary wall, floor, or roof. Since in building practice these kind of building components are in most cases not made from a single seamless material but are composed of a number of individual parts, which are put together following a particular characteristic geometric pattern, the effects of the load upon these constructional arrangements will be analysed, i.e. especially the internal forces which are elicited thereby.

José Luis Moro

27. Hygrothermal Functions

Abstract

Hygrothermal functions ensure that the required environmental conditions are met which need to be guaranteed in order for the interior spaces to be habitable, safe, and healthy. This pertains basically envelope components, both interior and exterior. From a constructional point of view, the most important factor influencing the physical appropriateness of a particular envelope component in this respect is its specific layering from different materials. Depending on the material properties of the layers, certain sequences are unobjectionable from a point of view of buildings physics, other, in contrast, are potentially failure-prone and hence need to be avoided in constructional design. A proper knowledge of the physical processes governing the behavior of surface components separating spaces with a gradient of different media or physical conditions is therefore fundamental to a successful detail design.

José Luis Moro

28. Sound Protection

Abstract

The main focus of constructional design in building in acoustic terms is the sound-insulation of interior spaces from external noise sources, be it located outside the building or in neighboring interior spaces, so that no intolerable perturbances are to be expected. In constructional terms, both the material composition and the particular layering of an envelope component are crucial to its acoustic behaviour. Sound can be either insulated either by sufficient mass or alternatively by a system of vibrating parallel leaves as are to be found in multileaf or multi-layer components. Special attention must be given in the latter case to parameters like the bending stiffness and the areal mass of the leaves, as well as their separation and the resilience of their mutual connection.

José Luis Moro

29. Fire Protection

Abstract

From a constructional point of view, the most important parameters governing the suitability of a particular envelope component for fire-protection purposes are the fire behavior of the materials it is composed of as well as its constructional make-up. Further, the combustibility of a material also matters since it increases the fire load and hence the fire hazard present in a building. In this chapter, the constructional measures are discussed necessary to achieve a certain fire-resistance duration of a building component, a measure which is intended to reduce the damage produced by a fire and, particularly, to allow dwellers to safely evacuate the burning building.

José Luis Moro

30. Durability

Abstract

Buildings are expected to be fully functional for the time period of their service life. While this period is not explicitly fixed in most cases, the usual present expectancy is for a building to last between 50 and 100 years, much longer than is expected from other technical objects. Building structures are exposed to a number of corrosive or detrimental actions which slowly degrade its fabric and need to be dealt with already in the design period, predominantly during the constructional design. Thus, diverse measures of material preservation need to be taken, especially against moisture which is the most hazardous action buildings are exposed to, in particular when certain vulnerable materials are involved like wood or steel. The simplest and most basic measure is to make sure that water or humidity cannot accumulate on component surfaces and is drained as quickly as possible.

José Luis Moro

Titel: Building-Construction Design - From Principle to Detail
verfasst von: José Luis Moro
Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-662-61742-7
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-61741-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-61742-7