3D design week day 2

today our main task was to research bridges and then eventually, in groups, build a bridge for a remote controlled car to drive across. the research consisted of some fieldwork, taking pictures of bridges around ravensbourne, and looking through books in the library and content on websites. we were asked to briefly explore 3 types of structures: spanning, tension and stilted.

Spanning:

http://cenews.com/article/7719/west-virginia-geology-demands-complex-bridge-foundations

Span is the distance between two intermediate supports for a structure, e.g. a beam or a bridge. A span can be closed by a solid beam or by a rope. The first kind is used for bridges, the second one for power lines, overhead telecommunication lines, some type of antennas or for aerial tramways. 


Stilted:



http://www.s4c.cymru/04wal/location-images/large/IMG_0879.jpg


Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a structure or building to stand at a distance above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, waves or shifting soil or sand.


Tensile: 

A tensile structure is a construction of elements carrying only tension and no         compression or bending. The term tensileshould not be confused with tensegrity, which is a structural form with both tension and compression elements. Tensile structuresare the most common type of thin-shell structures.

Building The Bridge:

we were put into groups of around 9/10 and given 12 sheets of cardboard, a bunch of elastic bands, 2 rolls of packing tape and around 30 sticks of bamboo. as a group we firstly decided that we were going to attempt to make a jump in the middle of the bridge but we had to make it in such a way that it the car could make it over going both ways. this proved to be a challenge because we had originally planned to make one side of the bridge lower than the other to make the jump easier. we started off by doubling up lengths of bamboo to make it more secure, we were only allowed 2 points of the structure hitting the floor so we decided to have many sticks of bamboo coming up from the one spot on the ground. this would be the main support for the structure. the images below show the creative process involved in the building of it. in the end it was successful and the car managed to drive both ways. i really enjoyed this activity, seeing my idea come into realisation was satisfying, and even more satisfying was seeing the car make the jump. however working in such a large group was frustrating as we all had different ideas about how we wanted to build certain aspects or how we wanted it to look, but it all worked out in the end.