Famous Buildings and Structures That Uses Timber
Famous Buildings and Structures That Uses Timber
Famous Buildings and Structures That Uses Timber
FINAL EXAMINATION
Built in 1714 during the reign of Peter the Great, the Church of the Transfiguration shown here
has 22 soaring onion domes sheathed in hundreds of aspen shingles.
No nails were used in the construction of the cathedral, and today many of the spruce logs are
weakened by insects and rot. In addition, a shortage of funds has lead to neglect and poorly
executed restoration efforts.
This other magnificent building in Temple of Heaven is a single-gabled circular building built on
a white marble stone base: the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The building is smaller in size but is
as interesting as its neighbor for it was where various memorial tablets of God were placed.
Indeed, the Imperial Vault of Heaven is made of bricks and timber and surrounded by the Echo
Wall, a smooth circular wall that has the specificity to transmit sounds over large distance, from
one tip of the wall to another. The best way to appreciate this building in Temple of Heaven is
to look at it from far away so that the vault will reveal its blue umbrella.
The pagoda has a height of 32.45 meters (122 feet) and its
base is about 6.1x6.1 metres (20x20 feet) square.
The main hall of the the temple (kond) which is located side-by-side to the Pagoda is widely
regarded as the second oldest wood building extant in the world. The hall measures 8.5 meters
by 15.2 meters. Extensive damage was caused to this old structure due to fire which broke out
on January 26, 1949. Although it has been reconstructed it is estimated that about only fifteen
to twenty percent of the original seventh century Kondo materials is left in the current building.
Due to this unfortunate fire damage and subsequent restoration the main hall is considered as
the second oldest and the Pagoda is considered to be the oldest wooden structure in the World.
It is also listed in the Guinness World Records.
In 1993, the complex was included in UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Treasure of
Japan.
Borgund stave-church has withstood the ravages of time as the timber groundframe rests on
stone foundations. The wood does not rot, as it is not in contact with the damp earth.
1. The timber may have been seasoned on the root, drawing the tar to the surface. Once felled,
it was trimmed to shape. A stave-church can consist of 2,000 pieces.
2. The sturdy framework was put together on the ground and then raised upright, probably
with the help of long poles.
3. The construction takes its name from the major uprights or staves that form the framework
of the central room. They are capped with carved faces.
4. The staves are held firmly together with pincer beams.
5. The diagonal cross-braces are named after St Andrew who was crucified on a diagonal cross.
6. The rounded arches are made from angled joints or knees taken from strong, naturally
curved parts of the tree between the trunk and the roots.
7. The external wall-planks are set vertically in a frame consisting of groundframe, wall plates
and corner posts.
8. Limited light entered through the round portholes. The present window in the end wall is
more recent, but there was probably a window here in medieval times.
The construction itself was a model of efficiency as well, based on the emerging
principles of industrialism, assembly lines and division of labor. To maintain the strict schedule,
pieces like steel beams and stonework were prepared off-site, then delivered ready to be
inserted into place by workers. A series of hoists and narrow-gauge tracks inside the building
moved the pieces to the top-most floors, while large external winches were used for heavy
stone pieces. Workers perched hundreds of feet above street level as they riveted steel girders.
While the project was considered very safe for the era and complexity, six workers died. As
many as 3,500 workers were at the job site at one time, with the weekly payroll sometimes
approaching $250,000 [Source: Berman]. Because it would have been impossible to get all the
workers down from the site, then back up again in a timely manner for their lunch break, food
concessions were placed every few floors.
The towers architects and building contractors deliberately placed the massive steel
columns on the exterior to showcase a new product of the time called Cor-ten steel. Cor-ten
was resistant to the corrosive effects of rain, snow, ice, fog, and other weather conditions by
forming a coating of dark brown oxidation over the metal. The Cor-ten steel was manufactured
in the former U.S. Steel Homestead Works plant. This treatment saved the building managers
money over time by cutting the cost of painting or rust-prevention maintenance over the life of
the building.
3.) THE AKASHI-KAIKYO BRIDGE
Statistics / Facts:
In 1998, Japanese engineers stretched the limits of bridge engineering with the completion of
the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Currently the longest spanning suspension bridge in the world, the
Akashi Kaiko Bridge stretches 12,828 feet across the Akashi Strait to link the city of Kobe with
Awaji-shima Island. It would take four Brooklyn Bridges to span the same distance!
The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge isn't just long -- it's also extremely tall. Its two towers, at 928 feet,
soar higher than any other bridge towers in the world.
The design features a two-hinged stiffening girder system, which allows the entire structure to
endure earthquakes (8.5 on the Richter scale), 286 kph winds, and extreme sea currents. The
Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge also has pendulums designed to damp forces. The bridge expands up to 2
meters a day because of heating. It is located at a height of 280 meters and is the highest
suspension bridge on earth. Its two towers each stand as tall as 80 story building with a central
span just over a mile. It's also the longest suspension bridge in the world nearly twice the
length of San Francisco golden gate and at $4.3 billion it's the most expensive bridge ever build.
The Akashi Strait is a busy shipping port, so engineers had to design a bridge that would not
block shipping traffic. They also had to consider the weather. Japan experiences some of the
worst weathers on the planet. Gale winds whip through the Strait. Rain pours down at a rate of
57 inches per year. Hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes rattle and thrash the island almost
annually.
How did the Japanese engineers get around these problems? They supported their bridge with
a truss, or complex network of triangular braces, beneath the roadway. The open network of
triangles makes the bridge very rigid, but it also allows the wind to blow right through the
structure. In addition, engineers placed 20 tuned mass dampers (TMDs) in each tower. The
TMDs swing in the opposite direction of the wind sway. So when the wind blows the bridge in
one direction, the TMDs sway in the opposite direction, effectively "balancing" the bridge and
canceling out the sway. With this design, the Akashi Kaikyo can handle 180-mile-per-hour
winds, and it can withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.5 on the Richter scale.
By comparison, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge is 366 meters longer than the former record holder,
Denmark's Store Baelt (East Bridge), which also officially opened in 1998. It is also 580 meters
longer than England's Humber Bridge, which was constructed in 1981. The Akashi-Kaikyo
Bridge is also 692 meters longer than New York's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (constructed in
1964), the longest suspension bridge in the United States. It is 710 meters longer than the San
Francisco's world-famous Golden Gate Bridge, built in 1937.
Here's how this bridge stacks up against some of the longest-spanning bridges in the world.
(Total length, in feet Akashi Kaikyo Bridge 12,828')
A. The bridge is so long, it would take eight years Towers laid end to end to span the same
distance.
B. The length of the cables used in the bridge totals 300,000 kilometers. That's enough to
circle the earth 7 times!
C. The bridge was originally designed to be 12,825 feet. But on January 17, 1995, the
Great Hanshin Earthquake stretched the bridge an additional three feet.
D. The bridge holds three records: it is the longest, tallest, and most expensive suspension
bridge ever built.
E. Over 2 million workers, billions of dollars, 181,000 tons of steel and 1.4 million cubic
meters of concrete were used in its construction
F. Its foundation is as deep as a 20 storey apartment blocks, towers almost as tall as the
Eiffel towers in Paris.
G. Its span is nearly 2 km (1/3 times more than any other suspension bridge built ever
before)
H.
J. Two main cable suspended across the water, held up by two towers
A bridge across Sydney Harbour had been proposed by many people since 1815, but it
was not until 1922 that the New South Wales Government began to seriously consider the
project. There were 20 different designs submitted, but the winning one was from Dorman,
Long and Company. John Job Crew Bradfield was the head engineer involved in building the
bridge - the road surface on the bridge is named the Bradfield Highway after him. Refer Image1
In 1925 work on both ends of the bridge began at the same time - at Dawes point in the
south and McMahon's Point in the north. The construction work moved inwards and met in the
middle five years later.
Building the steel arch of the bridge was an immense task - apart from designing a way
to keep the arch up in the air while it was being built, the engineers also had to come up with a
way of letting the steel arch expand and contract. Steel expands (gets bigger) when it is warm
(like on a hot day) and contracts (gets smaller) when it is cold. The arch of the Harbour Bridge
rises and falls 18cm, depending on whether it is hot or cold. The engineers got around this
problem by installing two massive hinges on both ends of the bridge that allow it to move,
without the arch collapsing in on itself. The arch was held up in the air during construction by
hundreds of thick steel cables that were attached to the ends of the incomplete arch and
threaded down through U-shaped tunnels built into the sandstone foundations. Refer Image2
By the end of 1929 the arch was well underway. Huge 'creeper' cranes were used to lift
the large steel sections of the arch into place and they were then held in place by rivets. Over
six million rivets were used in the construction of the Harbour Bridge. In August 1930 the two
halves of the arch finally met. The next stage was to build the road deck. The creeper cranes
were used again to hoist the 'hangers' (the vertical pieces of steel that connect the arch and the
road deck) and the platforms that formed the road deck.
By the end of 1931 the bridge was complete and had undergone a series of tests to
make sure it was safe. The official opening took place on 19 March 1932. The New South Wales
Premier, Jack Lang, had decided that he would open the Harbour Bridge, instead of inviting a
member of the Royal family to open it. Before he could cut the rope, however, a uniformed
man rode up on a horse and slashed the ceremonial ribbon with a sword. His name was F.E. De
Groote and he was a member of the right-wing paramilitary organisation the 'New Guard'. De
Groote was protesting 'in the name of the decent and loyal citizens of New South Wales' against
Jack Lang performing the opening ceremony and not the King. As De Groote was arrested, the
ribbon was re-tied and Jack Lang officially opened the Harbour Bridge.
Nearly every aspect of the buildings design is steeped in symbolism. The number 101
represents January 1, the first day of the year. As such, the building has become a central
component of New Years celebrations in Taiwan. Every year, all of the towers lights are turned
off and each of the stacked modules light up in sequential order, counting down the last eight
seconds before the New Year, which is followed by a dazzling fireworks display.
FINAL EXAMINATION