Click the link above to see my full 3D printing journey!
In the weekly Monday-morning meeting, secretary Amy read out the various meetings and tasks each of my colleagues had to do this coming week. Along with many meetings and another CPD, announced to be on Tuesday lunchtime, she read out how an architect, Rob, had a site visit to the Winchester Westdown's campus.
'Doesn't really look like anyone's coming with me on this one'
Rob said,
'So you know, feel free to join if you want...'
The perfect opportunity! Once the meeting had finished I grabbed myself a coffee from the already-pressed cafetiere and went over to Rob's desk. I asked if I could come with him on his site visit, to which he said of course, and explained how I would need to go downstairs and ask Jess for some boots. We arranged to go at 11 o'clock the next day, and I went downstairs to ask Jess for these boots.
'What's you size?'
She asked uncertainly, glancing down at my tiny feet when I told her 3 (!) I ended up with a hard hat, a high-vis jacket, and size 5 boots!
'Wear two pairs of thick socks!'
She laughed, and handed me my kit for Tuesday!
Next, I decided to pursue my earlier thoughts on learning how to 3D print, and went to ask Marco, whom I had previously worked with on Canford School Library, since I had been told he was the 'expert' on the 3D printer! To my surprise, I got the feeling that not many people in the office knew how to use the 3D printer. I guess since it's such a modern advancement, and the majority of the senior architects in the office are a little older, this is in fact a fairly modern skill to have - all the more reason for me to learn! I thought. It would be great if I could potentially bring something new to a team one day in this sense.
Marco set me up on a Sketchup file, since he said this is where you can model a building easiest for 3D printing, before converting it into an 'STL' file, which the printer recognises. He explained how I would be making a small building which they were going to be testing different roof layouts on, for Birkhamsted School Campus. Marco showed me a large massing site model, on which they had 3D printed all of the buildings, and he explained how it's super useful to use models like this in order to test options such as storey heights, landscaping details, and sun paths.
This site massing-model shows the Birkhamsted campus, and the initial first design idea the team had proposed all the way back in 2018
Site massing model showing the campus and the landscaping strategy the team had proposed
L-shaped building shown closest to the camera, which I was modelling a roof option for
I would be 3D modelling a new roof option for the L-shaped building, pictured closest to the camera in the above left-hand photo.
I set about modelling on Sketchup, with input and tips from Marco along the way. He explained the scale of the printer to me, and how super thin parts of the model just wouldn't get picked up by the printer, as they'd be way too flimsy and just immediately snap. I can't remember the exact measurement, but he said something like the window indentations on the model below would have to be minimum 300 mm. This actually really helped me to understand the method of printing and put it into context - since I had heard about 3D printing before, but never really got to grips with the scale, way of printing and file set up.
This image shows a small 3D printed model that was sitting on my desk, separate to the Birkhamsted project - I have included it in order to illustrate how tiny the window indentations would come out at 300 mm
Above is the original model that had been created in Sketchup by Marco and his team in order to create visuals, renders as well as technical drawings. Marco taught me the best way was to use a '3D tracing' method, and I used a keyboard short cut so that I was able to view a greyed-out version of the original model, whilst drawing my own, simpler version for printing - this way I was able to accurately draw and snap the geometry to the exact original measurements.
on Tuesday afternoon after I was back from my site visit, I ended up bugging my desk neighbour, Tim for a lot of help on Sketchup. I had spoken to Tim last week about 3D printing when I initially came up with the idea of learning how to do it, and he had printed his little building over the course of Monday. He showed me his model which was extremely clean, and luckily said he didn't mind helping me at all since he had a '3D printing mindset on' !
He showed me how he had gone about modelling the building in Sketchup, and instead of using the 'Push-Pull' tool to create separate geometry like I was, he had created positive and negative spaces. He showed me how you can use a certain tool from the 'Solid Tools' bar, to 'Subtract' from shapes. He said it was probably a far better way of creating a model that the printer could recognise and thus create a very 'clean' print, as it avoided the glitches in Sketchup of the creation of random lines and faces. He showed me how it was done.
Image showing the method of creating 'negative spaces' within geometry:
Step 1: Create a cube
Step 2: Group the cube
Step 3: Copy and paste the same cube, and position it to slightly overlap the original cube
Step 3: Go to Solid Tools > Subtract > and then click on the secondary-created cube, that overlaps the original one
Step 4: You're left with the origonal cube with a negative space in it, where the secondary-created cube overlapped it
I felt as though this way would certainly be an easier way of creating a clean model as I was really struggling with random lines and faces that kept appearing, as they kept deleting necessary geometry when I tried getting rid of them! However, I had already got quite far in modelling each elevation of the building, and felt as though this other way might actually be a struggle for me to get my head round! I decided to carry on using the method Marco had taught me, but was pleased I'd been shown different methods for the future!
"I was surprisingly good at recognising each space from the memories I had of the renders, and I got to see for real all the rooms I had seen only before on a computer screen, as well as the fourth floor which I had drawn up the elevations for last week!"
Upon arriving at site we walked past this extremely tall scaffolding structure, which Rob told me was our site. After we had changed into our hard hats, high-vis jackets, and steel-cap boots (mine being two sizes too big for me!) up in the temporary shipping container office, Rob, I and the site manager Graham walked down to the site.
'You alright on scaffolding?'
Graham asked jokingly. I mean I didn't really have a choice did I! This would be my first time ever on scaffolding... Good job I didn't have a fear of heights!
Rob had been called on site to look and comment on certain things that Graham wanted to 'okay' with him before their building team could move onto the next task. Rob told me we were going to look at the colour of the brick-work mortar, and the finish on the concrete they were using in the interior of the building.
We walked along the very top floor - fourth floor - of the scaffolding structure, along what seemed liked to me very unstable planks of wood! Graham and Rob discussed the mortar colour, looking at how the builders had experimented with creating a natural brown with the aim for it to blend in with the bricks. However Rob decided that he preferred the grey, and I agreed- if that was worth anything!
Isaac told Rob how he had individually sanded and smoothed down the whole ceiling structure, [far left], changing its facade to a much smoother finish, compared to its original stained look [middle image].
I was in awe of the level of detail that went into each small part of such a huge building. What may seem obvious to an architect who has been on site for years, was just amazing for me to see as I was able to appreciate the hard work in real life form. Rob had a long chat with Graham and a builder Isaac, on the look of the concrete, and the different methods that had been used to finish each ceiling and column. It was particularly interesting for me to see as I have a great interest in concrete, and often use a rough and raw style finish in my own designs. I've done a lot of previous research into concrete finishes for projects in the past, and it was great to hear Rob explaining to me how these different methods had actually been used on each individual column.
Typical views of the site
One thing I fond great about the site visit was the way I could finally put into context and understand the design proposals that I had only seen rendered images of before! I was surprisingly good at recognising each space from the memories I had of the renders, and I got to see for real all the rooms I had seen only before on a computer screen, as well as the fourth floor which I had drawn up the elevations for last week!
Below I have shown images from the site, alongside the renders from which I had recognised the space.
Locally sourced flint covering the wall, in order to retain the typology and history of Winchester
I found it fascinating to see the level of detail in the building, as the builders had to put in each flint stone individually! Rob and Graham discussed how you could now get flint that came in blocks, so that you didn't have to do this;
'you just wouldn't get the same effect though- nothing like this'
Rob gestured towards the wall,
'It's brilliant'.
It was brilliant to see details of the building that I had noticed from the renders I'd looked at weeks before in the office, such as this slanted roof, designed in such a way as to increase the building's sunlight intake.
At lunchtime on Tuesday we all sat around the table downstairs with paper plates filled with sandwiches and nibbles, provided by the next door's cafe Leaf and Bean as we awaited our CPD talk to begin! I actually really enjoyed this month's talk, and was very interested in the content, especially after I was initially led to believe it was going to be on carpets! It was in fact all about Wellness in the workplace, and a man called Oliver Heath from Oliver Heath Design studio, Brighton, spoke as a member of the WELL Being Standard movement. WELL is a scheme and organisation, that forms designs based on improving wellness and recuperation for employees in their workplace, through biophyllic and well-being design. This is something we are heavily introduced to and interested in at university when designing, and I was again enormously surprised to see the puzzled looks on Design Engine team members as the talk was being given. There were endless questions at the end from my colleagues, who seemed utterly new to this idea of biophyllia improving wellness in the workplace. I am proud to be familiar with this concept, and feel as though this is 100% a primary feature and source of inspiration of every design I create!
Oliver gave us some case studies and examples of well-being designed into a work place, one example being Cundall's London Office, which became the first office in the UK to achieve a Gold rating in WELL.
Another case study he discussed was CBRE's office, Madrid, who's design was built around the idea of a woodland cabin, where central, group meeting spaces represented the cabin, and the outer seating and break-out areas where individuals could move around freely, was representative of the woods.
On Thursday morning, Marco invited me to join him and his team working on Birkhamsted school, which I was creating my 3D printed model for, for a meeting with Rod. Working on the project was lead architect Olly, Architect Alex, Part 2 Marco and Part 1 Elizabeth, who all worked on the ground floor of the office. They were going to be presenting to Rod three roof options for the building that they were designing. I got the feeling the building they were designing was a tricky one, and the site too due to multiple listed buildings within it, and a landscaping scheme that the client was obviously keen to maintain. The main comparison they were using to 'win' their design proposal case was a 3-storey high Tesco's, that had been built opposite the campus in 2014. The physical model I had seen on Monday was great as it showed how the Tesco really encroached upon the much smaller existing listed buildings in the site. Design Engine's aim was obviously to not re-create the Tesco situation through their design, which is why they were actually really keen for models of the building to be 3D printed, so that they could drop them into the site model and prove they matched the typologies of the listed builds.
The meeting was very fast-paced - as it always is with Rod - and was discussing stage 3 of the design phase, as the concept was still being tried and tested. As the Architect leading the project, Olly, explained the presentation and what they were showing, he paused suddenly - Monty, the chocolate Cocker Spaniel who was in the office that morning, had wondered into our meeting and popped his face in Olly's lap! The meeting suddenly got a whole lot more enjoyable with his little presence in the room! Monty did his rounds sniffing at everyones feet, and eventually plopped himself down beneath Elizabeth, and proceeded to sleep there for the rest of the meeting.
Rod looked at accommodation schedules to check the occupancy of each space - a very important point when designing schools especially, he noted. He and the team discussed the positives of the scheme, and that in fact they were designing within the budget, and were still left with £1.2 million for the design of another building that was yet to start.
It was very interesting to watch Rod work, as he grabbed bits of paper that the team had presented to him:
"do you mind if I rip this up?"
He asked. He didn't wait for an answer and proceeded to rip squares out of the printed Sketchup views the team had presented to him. He obviously wasn't keen on them. If a little brutal, his method was effective; he proceeded to use the squares to cover a building on the printed site plan, that the team were proposing to potentially demolish. You could immediately see the effect of demolishing the building, as it improved the landscape strategy and remained 'friendly' to the existing context.
I was surprised at just how similar the meeting was to my presentation and crits in uni, with Rod like the tutor, commenting on the presentational drawings, the Sketchup views, explaining how the views didn't really focus on what they were aiming to communicate to the client, and the architecture was almost distracting from the massing structure they were interested in. Communication and visual presentation is actually something that has been really prevalent and apparent throughout my time at Design Engine - it's taught me to rethink what I'm aiming to show, and I saw this again in the meeting and the 3D printing.
At that point the team were working against the clock, as Rod said they should send out a draft issue to the client that day by 2:30! Monty made a small whine as if he was feeling the pressure... although he probably just wanted his lunchtime walk.
