Textbook Online

This textbook can be accessed through your Course Folders

There is a seperate pdf file for each of the chapters

Digging Trenches

Think about all these different activities and then put them in chronological order. What should come first? Then what?

Aggregates

The following images are from Stone Masonry, a Training Guide produced by the United Nations for those working in the Developing Countries

Page 15

Page 16

Page 20

Robot Bricklayer

Source: Google ebooks

To open in new window, click Popular Mechanics

Gilbreth

link


History

Biography

St Pancras Station

Presenter Tom Dyckhoff tours the newly rebuilt
St Pancras station in London, just before it reopened
as the Eurostar terminal in 2007

Image and text from BBC

He gives a history of the original Gothic architectural style designed by William Henry Barlow, discovering the way design and engineering work together

The concourse is fronted by the Gothic-style Midland Hotel designed by George Gilbert Scott, an architectural marvel which was very nearly demolished in the 1960s

Image and text from BBC

A detailed look at the old and the new St Pancras illustrates the way in which both now sit happily
alongside each other

The video gives plenty of opportunity to study architectural details of the building - turrets, spires, arches, staircases, platforms and concourses

To view the video-clip, click images or Train Travel

For a Presentation by the architect, see below

Management

A description of some of the management roles involved in the restoration of London's St Pancras railway station

Image and text from BBC

It focuses on Alastair Lansley, the Chief Architect, Ailie MacAdam, the Project Director and Claire Carr, the Project Engineer

To view the video-clip, click image or Occupations

Nerves of Steel

The Forth Railway Bridge is the world's first major steel bridge. At 1.5 miles (2.5 km) in length and with gigantic girder spans of 521m, it ranks as one of the great feats of civilisation

Image and text from BBC

Dan Cruickshank explains how the 145 acre surface is currently maintained by a team of seven abseilers

In the past, the bridge was maintained by a labour intensive and highly dangerous method of traditional painting

To view the video-clip, click image or Forth Bridge

Cantilever

Dan Cruickshank demonstrates the cantilever principle used to build the Forth Rail Bridge

Image and text from BBC

The construction challenges posed by the Forth Rail Bridge were immense. The spans necessary were almost four times as large as any railway bridge previously

To view the video-clip, click image or Human Cantilever

Brutalism

Constructed in Portsmouth in the mid 1960s, the Tricorn Centre was a well-known example of brutalist architecture which was demolished in 2004. In 2001 it was voted by BBC Radio 4 listeners as the most hated building in the UK

David Adjaye shows us around the centre explaining its history. We see how the centre provided shops, car park, apartments, and a nightclub within one concrete structure

Image and text from BBC

Another structure, the London Southbank Centre, is also showcased. This is a similar example of 1960s brutalist architecture and houses the famous Hayward art gallery

To view the video-clip, click image or Ugly Concrete

Maintenance

This is critical to the survival of any building

Despite recognition that the best way of protecting and maintaining buildings is to undertake a combination of proactive and reactive maintenance, such a policy is rarely adopted or implemented, and when it is undertaken it often results in varying degrees of success

Image and text from BBC

This report looks at the damage caused by poor maintenance and also follows the work of a South London Emergency Maintenance Team. To view the video-clip, click image or Vandalism

Slavonic Studies

At the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the thermal mass of brickwork plays an important role

Completed this year at a cost of £10m, SSEES has a total floor area of 3,437m2 over seven-storeys, including a research library and a unique book collection

Images from ssees.ucl.ac.uk

A glass atrium rising through the building forms part of the cooling system along with perimeter stacks, roof mounted chimneys, an ingenious architrave for exhausting air from the stair zone and a magnificent brick elevation

Image and text from: Brick Development Association

The massive cavity brickwork of the facade consists of an outer 215mm thick solid brick wall, tied across a 100mm cavity to an inner 215mm solid brick wall that is fair-faced to capitalise on the thermal mass of the construction

Image and text from: Brick Development Association

At 32m long, the brickwork of the main facade is low absorption, machine-made bricks laid in a relatively soft (1:2:9) lime mortar designed to cope with changes in temperature and moisture without the need for movement joints

Image and text from: Brick Development Association

Professor Alan Short, principal of Short and Associates, likens the building to a small urban palace. ‘We looked at Gaudi but also at late Romanesque and medieval European churches. Being Bloomsbury, we could have designed in a Georgian idiom but instead have created a kind of palazzo that expresses the dynamism of SSEES’

Image and text from: Brick Development Association

Intensifying this grandeur are outsized, asymmetric soldier arches – some three courses deep – that oversail reveals by up to 600mm and recall monumental Roman brick architecture. Clear references to both Gaudi and Moorish Spain can be seen in the wonderful stair hall

Eco-Friendly

Architecture in the UK is the biggest contributor to climate change. Fifty per cent of energy consumption
and greenhouse emissions stems from the design of our buildings

Image and text from BBC

Tom Dyckhoff showcases the RSPB Visitor Centre at Rainham Marshes in Essex, the Jubilee Wharf housing project in Penryn, Cornwall and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London

These are three excellent but very different examples
of eco-friendly planet-saving architecture

To view the video-clip, click image or New Buildings

Computers

How does IT help the architects and construction workers involved in designing and building a brand new school?

Image and text from BBC

From computer aided design (CAD) to environmental modelling software and project planning programs,
IT is essential at every stage of the process. To view the video-clip, click image or Computers and Construction

Wooden Structure

A group of volunteers assemble a simple wooden structure using basic tools and materials - and a set of instructions

To start with, the pieces of wood are measured and cut into the lengths needed, using tape measures and saws

The group sets out the corner posts, securing them by digging earth foundations and checking they're upright by using a spirit level

The lengths of timber are joined together using hammers and nails. A technique called 'splicing' is used to join two lengths of wood together to make longer lengths needed for the building

Image and text from BBC

Once the outer frames of the walls are made, diagonal bracing is nailed in position to give added strength and to keep the structure stable in windy conditions

Finally, rafters are added to make a framework for the roof

To view the video-clip, click image or Timber House

Greenfield Site

An illustration of the economic, social and environmental impacts of building on a greenfield site

Image and text from BBC

The implications for business parks, housing and wildfowl parks are explained and the costs of each proposal are outlined. To view the video-clip, click image or Site Development

Hockington

Over the next 15 years, 4 million homes will be built in Britain, with many likely to be on greenfield sites in or close to rural areas

Presenter Charlotte Smith shows us how the environment can be better protected by using cutting edge environmentally friendly house-building technology

Image and text from BBC

This shows how five homes in Hockington in Nottinghamshire are hidden from view by being constructed partially underground with technology
which allows them their own natural water supply
and heat source

To view the video-clip, click image or Hockington

Stone Mason

A stonemason explains why Limestone is used for buildings and statues

Screen shot

To view the video-clip, click image or Stone Mason

Post-War Britain

Black and white footage of slums, bomb damage and prefabricated housing from the 1940s and 1950s

An original documentary from 1949 illustrates how prefabricated houses were built

Image and text from BBC

Colour footage of 1950s and 1960s brick flats and school is also shown, illustrating the need for permanent housing and facilities

To view the video-clip, click image or Post-War Britain

Cement Additives

Removes grittiness from mortar
Improves workability and adhesion
Conforms to BS 4887 Part 11986
Minimises cracking and crazing
Reduces water to cement ratio

For cold weather protection
Reduces initial and final set time
Increases the strength of cement
Improves resistance to water chemicals and abrasions

Reduce water penetration
Delays the setting time
Improves workability of the mix
Protects against driving rain and damp
Slow setting time to enable large areas to be worked

All text and images from Cement Additives at Wickes

Mixing Mortar

Cement is the basic ingredient in concrete and mortar. Modern cement was developed by a French man, Louis Vicat, in the early 19th century



The Romans used a basic form of cement, thousands of years ago. Cement is now the second most consumed product in the world after water!



Mortar and concrete require mixing in the correct quantities by volume

This is relatively easy as all you need to do is find a suitable container. Buckets are great for this but it is a good idea to have a separate bucket for the cement as it soon sucks the moisture from the sand and sticks to the bucket



The correct ratios of ingredients, are shown below. It doesn't matter what a unit is as long as all the units are the same size by volume

	Cement	Sand	Lime	Gravel
Concrete	1 Unit	2 Unit		3 Unit
Strong and durable mortar	1 Unit	4 Unit	¼ Unit
Reasonably durable mortar	1 Unit	5 Unit	1 Unit
Weak mix suitable for calcium silicate bricks	1 Unit	8 Unit	2 Unit

Mortar or concrete can be mixed by hand using a suitable spade, but it is hard work and a cement mixer makes it far easier

All text and images from Ultimate Handyman

Mortar Crossword

Click the image or Crossword to complete this on-line

For a printable version, click Paper-Copy

Jobs Crossword

Image from: homebuilding.co.uk

To complete this on-line
click the image below or Crossword

Mortar.org.uk

This web-site is quite good for information about Mortar. Click image or MIA

Click Video to see the short film

Screen Shot

From HowCast

Oh hum...that was a bit strange.
I am sure we could do better...

From: HowCast

Australian Bricklaying

Notice how much mortar is laid, without any dropping
on the floor. The bed-joint is continuous and uninterrupted, and there is enough for about 3 bricks

All from one trowel!

Visit to Trent

This exhibition was an excellent introduction to Architecture and the Built Environment

Photo taken 3rd Feb '11

Photo taken 3rd Feb '11

Photo taken 3rd Feb '11

Photo taken 3rd Feb '11

Photo taken 3rd Feb '11

But our visit was spoilt by the actions of several students

The consequence of this behaviour means that any further trips, including The Self Build Show are now unlikely to happen