Site Planning & Visualization

For a final project in school we are asked to develop the production plan for the excavation, substructure, superstructure, and masonry and stonework for a proposed addition to our school. Over the course of the semester we had developed these plans individually and for the final project we were asked to combine them. In doing so I decided to use Google SketchUp to visualize the site utilization.


The first image is a view of at the end of the excavation phase. At this point the perimeter fence has been established and the loader and haul trucks are shown in position.

The second image is a view of the caisson installation. Starting at the west the caisson installation will proceed eastward. Then the area to the south will be completed and finally the corner that connects the two. Then grade beams will be formed and poured (this portion was not included in the scope of work, but was included in the model).

The Third image shows the crane location. At this point trailers and restroom facilities have been established on site. The tower crane was selected for its ability to access all parts of the site from one location. Space on the site is limited, so the tower crane helps to alleviate safety hazards and crane relocation issues.

The fourth image is a visualization of the scaffolding from the perpective of a worker on the south side of the building.

This was one of the best benefits of using the SketchUp model It not only allowed a 360-degree 3D view of the site, it also allowed me to see worker perspectives. In a couple of seconds I was able to see what it would be like for a crane operator about to pic a column, stoneworker on scaffolding, and a construction manager or field engineer stepping out of the trailer to see work in progress on the south side of the building (Fifth image).

SketchUp is not a parametric program, it cannot take schedules in to account. But as a free program, it could be used for visualization, and if the proper process was created, I think it could be used for low-level construction animation. The level of detail in the rendering is high, the Google Warehouse has a lot of construction equipment that cuts down on modeling time, and there is the potential to bring models from SketchUp into NavisWorks however, as a zero- or low-cost option, it could prove very helpful in communication with trades.
The Google SketchUp site has a couple of Construction Case Studies showing how professional construction companies use sketchUp for site visualization and safety.

Below is a small video of another project for school in which we were able to bring the SketchUp Model into NavisWorks and automatically synch up the MS Project schedule to it.

Thermography

10:00 pm
78 degrees
Partly cloudy

I've borrowed a thermal imaging camera from the department. The assignment I have is to learn how to use, what problems arise, and how to better use it in the future. I went out this evening and took some images of the townhouse I live in, then I threw them all into Picasa, then into PhotoSynth to try and stitch them all together and see if you could get a low-cost 3D thermal image.

This is what I got. 8% synth on 80 plus images. I think I have to take two or three times as many in order to get them to synth properly.

What I learned or what I got to see visually was:
1. Brick retained much more heat than the aluminum siding above
2. Bushes, trees, and foliage are cooler, and obstruct readings
3. The outside edge of a facade can be cooler than the interior surface (so there is not an even distribution of heat across a surface).
4. Windows require several images to capture what is really happening
5. Dryer and vent projections require several images in order to capture what is really happening

For instance. Here (above image) is a shot of a dryer vent (shown in the center) from about 20 feet away.
Here (above image) is that same dryer vent from below. You can see that there is a 3.9 degree difference in the readings. Also there seems to be considerable leakage in this area (shown in yellow in both) however, this could be an effect of the outdoor light which was on (first image, lower righthand corner).

Another interesting find was on the indoor imaging. When I shot the west wall I saw that the location of the studs and where the ceiling meets the wall was around 80 degrees, the surface of the wall between the studs was around 78, and the actual joint where ceiling meets wall was above 82.5 degrees. So in a small area there is a 4 degree difference. Albeit not very much, but I am measuring in the spring when the weather is much warmer. So with the rest of the time I have this camera I am going to try a couple of more times to get enough thermal scans to get an image into photosynth.

Frontier Culture Museum

Saturday, April 4th
Windy & Clear

ROAD TRIP. No better way to clear the mind than with a roadtrip. Saturday was spent driving up to the Frontier Culture Museum along I-81, in Staunton, VA. The museum is collection of frontier housing types which demonstrate living and working conditions from the 17th to 19th century. There is an English style cottage from the 1600s, some Irish dwellings from the 1700s, a german farmhouse and barns also from the 1700s. On the other side of the property one can find the American frontier houses from the late 1600s to the middle of the 1800s.

View Larger Map

The best part of the trip was seeing the construction of these buildings. The English, and German, and American homes were heavy timber structures. The Irish cottages were stone with some timber framing for the roof.

English cottage (c.1630)

American Farm House (c.1840)

Log Cabin (c.2009)
This is a side view of the log cabin. Interestingly enough the log cabin was brought over by Swedish settlers to Delaware. The employees of the FCM work to show the authenticity of the period. On the way out we watched as one guy split a log for fence rails. While he was quatering the log he asked me if I would like to give it a try.

After finding a crack in the wood he drove some iron wedges in with a small hammer. Then he used a mallet made from a tree stump and branch to start splitting. I got to finish off the last half of it. The picture does not capture the weight of that mallet or the sound. The log made this incredible ripping noise as it was being separated.

When it was all said and done we had had a great day and learned a lot about early frontier archicture and construction.

As a side project: I want to start a side project of trying to find a way to introduce a colonial period kitchen into a modern day kitchen. The kitchens in these buildings were about 10 feet wide and the floor of the room was the hearth. What would it be like to be in a modern day kitchen and able to cook on a stove top as well as bake bread in a brick oven? Something to think about at least.