M18 Arctic Station
exploring the beauty of exposed steel constructions.
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Mod 18: “Steel Construction II” - assignment in groups of 2 | Timeframe: 5 weeks
Task: movable arctic research station, steel construction -> design and details
Personal focus: reference to Mod. 9, celebrating the beauty of steel constructions,
reworking/fixing insulation errors made in Mod. 9, suspended construction
The concept originated through several rough sketches with suspended constructions. It was important to me to have the opportunity to review the mistakes I made in Assignment 9. Keeping that in mind I came up with a modular design, allowing the repeating sequence of gas filled insulation elements that I first worked on in Assignment 9. Combining those elements with a suspended construction made this construction easy to erect, as well as easy to move and elevated to keep distance from the freezing ground.
The first concepts allowed a height adjustable fuselage, as well as a square layout of the four elements for heat preservation and easier connection of the four individual tubes plus disconnecting and securing the tubes for easier transport. The individual tubes were then connected with joints, with inspiration taken from buses and high speed trains. The joints could be shut to allow separation of the tubes for improved transport of the tubes with the provided vehicles stored in the station.
In order to adjust to my partners ideas of interior design, those concepts were later on discarded to allow a middle section and long layout of the tubes as seen in the final design. Even though I didn’t agree with the design changes, as they posed a bunch of issues to the construction design, I was willing to compromise as it was a teamwork project.
The steel frames are suspended from the crane like structure outside the building. Even though it first appears the stress is on the outer frame, it is mainly directed into the rails running along the entire construcion, using the upper frames as stabilisation and resulting in an easier suspension of the lower frames. This design improves stability and prevents the building from twisting over heavy wind load as found in the arctic.
The individual elements consist of rounded frames, allowing a perfect distribution of stress along the frames and rails. This also allowed for a separation of the inner and outer layer. The frames were then mounted on overhead rails, again suspending the construction to prevent a solid connection between the inside and outside to prevent heat dissipation.
To keep a sleek appearance the windows are flush with the outside. The multiple layers also prevent heat dissipation.
In early concepts the outer layer had very thin insulation, giving a near transparent outer shell with great visibility of the steel construction similar to assignment 9 and formed a protective layer all around the building. The inner layer, formed between and around the inner frames was well insulated. This insulation method was now improved by using capillary panels to prevent air circulations within the insulation elements, resulting in a far better insulation. The chosen materials for the capillary panels, as well as the outermost skin are translucent to give the building a glowing appearance at night as well as giving natural lighting during the day.
This idea was later discarded in order to compromise with my teammate. The final design had a translucent outer layer with a solid inner layer with clay walls with thin double insulation and overhead windows.
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